Abolyshed

You will definitely hear a significant difference, anyone would. PA speakers are designed to be as flat as possible to reproduce the sound they are amplifying as accurately as possible. Guitar speakers on the other hand, are specifically designed to color and add tone.

On clean they're not too bad, high gain they're fairly bad unless you spend enough time tweaking your sound to make them decent haha if you check my thread, there is a jam video using the stock rga 8 at jam and a recording of it using it stock http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/242133-jam-video-8-string-content.html#post3619939

I'm not overly sure sorry man. I haven't actually done a lot of research on the RGA 8. It was kind of an impulse buy haha. I'll do some research though and let you know Active or not though, they're not very good pickups haha.

There's no hard in raising the bass side of the bright at all, you're good to go.

That Im actually not sure about. I only had my RGA8 for about 3 months before I sold it. But I never experienced that problem. One problem I did have was that I couldn't get the string to stay clamped in there. They always seemed to just unravel with that bridge. I'm not sure if maybe that's what folks mean...?

2. Fret the 2nd and 12th frets and look at the distance between the string and 7th fret, same rules apply but you can just about get away with the string touching the fret, this will be a very low action though and may cause some buzz. If it is too low, loosen your truss rod 1/8 to 1/4 turn, if too high do the reverse.
3. Fret the 14th fret and look at the upper register, 16-22 most prominently, if you're getting play buzz up here you just need to raise the saddle a touch.

If you find buzz in one of the places, make the adjustment and then test the other points to make sure you haven't just moved a problem around. 74 is a little on the loose side for 27", it could just be the floppy string causing buzz, maybe try something bigger. I used a 90 for example, but strings that big sound a little different which is a new adjustment in itself.

Best of luck!

Is that an RG8? RGA8?

Raising saddles won't cause any unusual string breakages if the edge of the saddle isn't sharp, which you'll be able to feel with your finger, and even if it is sharp, it'd have to be pretty damn sharp to break a 74 at not incredibly high tension!

Anyway, you need to identify where the buzz is, setting up a guitar is a lot easier if you break it down into a few chunks.
1. Fret the third fret and look at the distance between the string and the first fret, you shouldn't really be able to see a gap but if you tap on the string above that fret it will make a noise (implying there is a gap). If the gap is more visible you're nut's too high, if the string is touching the frist fret your nut is too low, which will cause open string buzz.

You may just need to go up in gauge. I tend to have problems telling if the 8th string is intonated as well. The lower it gets the more the tuner seems to fluctuate. For what its worth, on my RG8 I'm running a 10 - 90 set from Circle K in drop E and it seems to fluctuate less than the 80 and 86 I used before but it still moves around a bit. As long as chords sound in tune its probably fine.

Yeah that sounds perfect for you honestly. Normal D-Activators SCREAM, I think they sound exactly as marketed. EMG's, but with passive characteristics.
The D-Activator X's sound a lot more like Blackouts, with a slightly tamed high end.

If you're a fan of EMG sound though, the normal D-Activator will get you closer to that. But with more low end, clearer and dynamic. A much better emg

Oh I meant they are brighter than the X2N. They are pretty much the mid ground between the X2N and D-Activator. They are extremely midrange heavy, and sound great for death metal, tech death, all heavy styles.
The difference in output is not translated through volume, more so gain. Through all my settings they are just as loud, but have a lot less distortion. The split sounds from each are really great too. Sound like a really beefy single coil.
I play mine through a Schecter C-1 Classic, which is mahogany winged, maple walnut neckthrough. I feel the pickups would be great in a brighter guitar.
All in all, I love mine and could talk about them all day, and if you don't like them...someone on the used market here would trade or buy.

No worries

Weren't you thinking about a Lundgren M8? If you're on a budget I wouldn't even consider them They quoted me €300 PER PICKUP for fanned pickups, £500, about $700 just on pickups.

Er no.

If you like the 81 on a six string, you like that feel and that sizzly in-your-face-ness you probably want the 808 in all honesty, and in fact EMG are releasing an 81-8H soon which will be right up your alley. The 808 definitely has that EMG compression built in that you really can't get away from because even the volume knob of the guitar is after the preamp that's causing the compression. The X has a really nice feel and strong Active-ish sound but with a more dynamic feel, much much more dynamic. It doesn't have that classic EMG sizzle though, at all, its much more organic and hollow sounding - in a good way.

If you like the compression, 81-8H or 808 and you'll be more than happy, if you like the sound but not the feel, 808X.

Part 2
The neck on both my RG2228's is known as the Ultra 8 Wizard. Most of these names sound flashier then they really are. Ibanez often make slight changes in neck thickness (I mean slight, as little as 0.5mm difference), Width and shape and slap on a new name. Follow this link (List of neck types - Ibanez Wiki), there's a full chart of all the Ibanez neck profiles with width at the nut, thickness at the 1st fret, 12th fret, last fret and radius. as you can see even the name given (e.g. Ultra-8 Prestige) has changed spec slightly between different years. sometimes just a slight change in width at the end of the fretboard! Crazy!!!

Hope this helps and gives you a bit more insight to what Ibanez do with certain models etc. If you have any more questions just let me know and I will answer to the best of my knowledge on the subject!
Cheers!

Part 1
The flame on the neck was just pure luck, a good piece of maple with a little bit of flame. I also have a Black RG2228 (With Lundgren M8 Pickups) and it has no flame in the neck at all.

That groove behind the nut is called a neck Volute. It helps improve strength and stability in the neck at it's thinnest point, the nut. Mainly used on higher end guitars, all Ibanez Prestige and J Custom's have one. The neck is the around the same thickness as most Ibanez necks, there is just more 'meat' at the volute which gives it that super thin carved neck look.

Not sure why they do that. Same price as the Black Ibanez RG2228A. It's normal white either. It's Galaxy White, it has small gold specks/flakes throughout the finish, its very hard to capture in a photo though!

The tension shouldn't damage your neck assuming you adjust the truss rod accordingly meaning, if you notice that you have more or less relief after having done what you did, then you should probably tighten or loosen the truss rod (respectively).

Yeah totally agree, Ibanez make it hard to establish if its a high end, mid or low range models sometimes. Some of their higher quality Prestige guitars come with Ibanez Pickups!!!
Here's the link to the model 8 string I've got. It's not on every countries Ibanez Website. The White one is a limited model, something like 20 were made.
Guitars - RG2228A | Ibanez guitars
I like the RGA Series, I just wish they had done a Prestige RGA8 with some cool finishes. I would have bought one. I love my 6 string Prestige RGA121
I'm totally in love with Ibanez too! Best 7 and 8 string guitars!

I think the cutaway is a hair more shallow on the RGA body. I'm not sure either is more high end really. It's my theory that the price difference is due to the hardware (fixed edge) difference.

Hey! The RG2228 comes from the factory with Dimarzio D Activator 8's, 1 Vol + 1 Tone Knob and a 5 way switch. Mine is completely stock other then a change to heavier strings for half a step down - Meshuggah Tuning (10 - 46 eb-Eb, 60 - Bb and 70 - F)
Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any more questions!