Overall you can't go wrong with this one unless you really can't stand emgs and you expect no finish flaws at all.
Guitar is beautiful. Period.
You can crank up really nice tones from it.
Surprisingly the pickups work even without the battery.
Output is lower as you expect and the tone is somewhat different - not worst/better, different.
Cons.
Mine came with some fretboard and nut finish issues.
If you wouldn't look close enough you wouldn't notice.
Some tooling marks on the side and wood imperfections on two of the frets.
The nut is cut poorly and too deep. Doesn't impact intonation on mine, just a visual thing.
Overall, not enough to send it back, but it's there.
The guitar is NOT set-upped right out of the box. Mine wasn't.
Rod, action, intonation, WAY off.
Like done by somebody that didn't know what he was doing or not at all.
There is some neck-dive on this model as the neck is heavy and because of the top strap holder's (what is the name?) position.
Would I buy it again? F. Yes.
Guitar is stunning with some imperfections.
Buy it, but take a close look when it arrives.
Cheers.