New pickups for Jackson RR3

[RideForVengance]

Hey, I've got an RR3 that I wanna replace the pickups in, since the stock ones are pretty bad. I was wondering if you had any recomendations... I'm playing through a Randall Warhead. Im gonna be playing mostly death metal with this guitar, whereas my strat, which is in standard tuning is for thrash / shred.

I really dont want a muddy sound. Tight low end is good, but too much bass really kills it. I want my guitar tone to really punch through, even if the bass is powerfull, the trebble needs to be really sharp and have alot of attack... bassically something thats really loud and defined, with good sustain. I'd also kinda like to avoid the cliche EMG setup since almost everyone seems to use that.

So... recomend me what you can in the way of Death metal pickups for an RR3.

 

[Leper_/-\ffinity]

I've got a JB in the bridge of mine, and I think this is exactly the pickup you're looking for.

 

[the alumnus]

dimarzio x2n might be an option. very very hot pickups, the only guitarist i know used it was chuck from death. i like 'em and they might have the tonal characteristics you're looking for.

 

[RideForVengance]

Looking at reviews, someone has said that the X2n doesnt have a sharp enough high end, apparently they have a hard time getting artificial harmonics out of it. Do you have any problems like this?


Also, what do you mean by "JB"? Who makes it?

 

[Ironbird666]

http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/products/humbuckersdescr.shtml#JB153Model

 

[Hexer]

a Duncan Dimebucker should do that kind of sound pretty well I think

 

[RideForVengance]

I dont really know what a Dimebucker would sound like... But I do know that Dime didnt play with dimebuckers, he used a Bill Lawrence XL500. Which I've been thinking about, since his tone was so fucking good.

 

[Nostalgiaplatz]

I have a jb on the bridge, too. I think it will do the screaming high-end. It works for me on my cheap jackson. But it won't give you the punchy output or tight low end you're looking for. Unless it's control changes from wood-to-wood, but... on mine it hardly allows me to do tight rhythms on it without going muddy.

A good EMG 81 replacer is Gibson Dirty Fingers or Seymour Duncan Invader, they're both high output pickups, which means that if you do a lot of clean guitar stuff, you should have another pickup on the bridge, because the output signal you feed your amp, will already have gain and will not sound very well. It's as if you placed a overdrive between your guitar and amp.

 

[RideForVengance]

dimarzio x2n might be an option. very very hot pickups, the only guitarist i know used it was chuck from death. i like 'em and they might have the tonal characteristics you're looking for.

I am a pretty big death fan, is there anything more you can tell me about those pickups?

 

[Hexer]

I am a pretty big death fan, is there anything more you can tell me about those pickups?

they're high output and pretty highgain, helps to get the last bit of gain out of the amp (I have one in my Marathon). I think playing harmonics is pretty easy with X2N (pinch harmonics).

about the Dimebucker again: I read an interview on the duncan-hp where Dime says that the Dimebucker was made to produce the same sound as the Lawrence-PUs he used, but in a different guitar. personally, I like the Dimebucker better than the X2N. not as much gain, but clearer, and therefor more agressive I think (doesnt get muddy at all) though it still sounds surprisingly good in clean-mode (though its not made for clean-playing of course)

 

[RideForVengance]

they're high output and pretty highgain, helps to get the last bit of gain out of the amp (I have one in my Marathon). I think playing harmonics is pretty easy with X2N (pinch harmonics).

about the Dimebucker again: I read an interview on the duncan-hp where Dime says that the Dimebucker was made to produce the same sound as the Lawrence-PUs he used, but in a different guitar. personally, I like the Dimebucker better than the X2N. not as much gain, but clearer, and therefor more agressive I think (doesnt get muddy at all) though it still sounds surprisingly good in clean-mode (though its not made for clean-playing of course)

Both of those sound pretty good. I have to admit, I have some trouble getting pinch harmonics out of my RR3, especially because I usually dont crank the gain all the way. I've never replaced pickups, how hard is it to actually do? Although it'd be easier to pay someone to do it, I'm kinda short on cash, and besides, my dad majored in Electrical Engineering so wiring audio equipment isnt anything new.

 

[Hexer]

I'm having a bit of problems with those pinch-harmonics, too

havent replaced PUs myself so far, but it should not be hard to do if you know a bit about soldering. when it comes to the wiring, its actually not much more than unsolder the wires of the old PU, take it out of the guitar, put the new PU in and solder its wires to the right spots (got a wiring diagram with the PU)

 

[RideForVengance]

Soldering is easy, I was afraid i might have to actually do something with the wires other than just hooking them up the Pickups.

The X2n got good reviews, and its only about $70 it seems, so in that case, I'll probably put one in the bridge once I get the cash.

Thanks for your help people, keep rockin.

 

[Nostalgiaplatz]

Chuck used 2 X2N pickups, bridge/neck, it's definitely the highest high-gain pickup in the market. Never heard that dimebucker, any artists that use it hexer? and btw, hows your recordings, haven't heard from you lately.

 

[Hexer]

I think Behemoth use the Dimebucker in some of their guitars (the 6-string Mayones customs). apart from that, I dont know of any artists that use it (except for myself lol)

I'll order a bit of new equipment soon (mic-pre) and then hopefully I'll finally be able to do some good recordings! I did a littel test-recording yesterday and I think I can say: the new stuff will sound quite a bit better than my older recordings!

 

[Md Player]

Yeah,X2N is very good.You should use that.BTW Muhammed Suicmez From Necrophagist using Dimarzio X2N too.Just one on the bridge.