I've had a PRS SE, two different schecters, a fender squire, and an ESP ltd ec1000 and a charvel so cal
I'll never part with the 1550 because its the one I always went back to when the others just didn't feel right to me.
Anyways its a guitar suited for metal, as that is just its heritage. I play Metallica, megadeth, emperor, oasis, lots of stuff on it. It's got stock passive humbucker-single-humbucker. I use the bridge pickup for the metal stuff and switch to the neck for leads or jazzy type chords. Rarely use the single coil for much.
You'll want humbuckers for the most part if you metal is your thing. I have no opinion on active versus passive.
What I like about it is the thinness of the neck. It just feel super smooth. The other guitars I had felt a bit like holding a bat to me.
I also got an ibanez rg 25th anniversary with dimarzio pickups. To be honest I still prefer the 1550 with its stock pickups.
The PRS, schecters, and ESP had emg active pickups. The charvel had Seymour Duncan's, and I still went back to the 1550.
I play at bedroom levels through an engl screamer, so maybe I never got to push those pickups at loud volumes, but the 1550 is a keeper for my needs.
Check out the ibanez rg25th for $900 or the rg2xxv for about $450.
