One big reason I prefer active pickups to passives

[Metaltastic]

There's so much more selection (and thus frustration) potential with passives Yup, trying to decide what to replace the JB with in my inbound Jackson DK2 (Alder body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, licensed FR trem) from alan1990 - I wanna keep this one passive cuz it's gonna be my lead guitar, so here's what I've narrowed it down to (I'm looking for good balance with a slight upper mid emphasis, as a good lead tone is my main priority here)

SH-5 Duncan Custom
SH-15 Alternative VIII (worried this might be too middy/low middy for the tone I'm looking for from this guitar, but Lasse your input is welcome )
SH-10 Full Shred
SH-12 George Lynch Screamin' Demon
Dimarzio Evolution bridge

What sayest thou? And believe me, I've read through the product descriptions of all of these pickups ad naseum (and listened to the cheesy clips on the Duncan website), so please, only make suggestions if you have concrete experience

 

[Metaltastic]

And I can immediately rule out the Tone Zone, Custom 5, and JB, as I've owned (and been less than thrilled, for various reasons) with all of them

EDIT: And no Bareknuckles or anything else that'll be more than ~$90, please

 

[Rex Rocker]

I don't remember which one it was, but I thought one of the Evos, either the Evo or Evo 2 was, very loosely-speaking, kinda 81-ish in the sense that it was bright, tight-sounding and very attack-y, but with a bit more high mid content in there, and obviously less output and less compression.

I honestly don't know how that'd work out in an alder guitar, since I thought you prefered the 85 in brighter-sounding guitars?

 

[TheDriller]

I honestly don't know how that'd work out in an alder guitar, since I thought you prefered the 85 in brighter-sounding guitars?

Incidentally, today i replaced the 81 in my (alder body) guitar with an 85,
which im finding is a huge improvement.

 

[JBroll]

The last alder-bodied guitars I played sounded good with Customs... I'd be afraid of the Full Shred being too bright.

Jeff

 

[ParsonsMatt]

I really like the DiMarzio Evolution bridge for leads. And rhythms. And cleans.

 

[Notuern]

Ive had the SH-10 fullshred, and it sounded too thin.......... in my LES PAUL!
If you want clear upper mid emphasis, go with the Bill Lawrence XL-500.

 

[Nitrobattery]

It's a little more money, but totally worth it

http://motorcitypickups.com/products/afwayu.htm

 

[Dexter_prog]

I have a guitar with Dimarzio Evolution on bridge position. I don't find them to be anything special at all, they don't sound so much different than the stock ones my guitar had (Ibanez rg470 MIJ)

 

[slashvanyoung]

If you want clear upper mid emphasis, go with the Bill Lawrence XL-500.

They're also pretty rounded IMHO, as in not way too much or less of anything.

And blade humbuckers are cool for lead playing anyway because you have no "dead spots" (while bending etc.).

If Duncan, I'd probably go for the Custom Custom. The "regular" custom is cool but I prefer the creamy-ness of Alnico magnets to ceramics. Especially for leads, because ceramics often tend to sound harsh (just compare the JB to the Distortion).

 

[Notuern]

And blade humbuckers are cool for lead playing anyway because you have no "dead spots" (while bending etc.).

Yeah, i LOVE blade/rail-pickups(EMG's are railpickups btw.)!
Every time i play a guitar with rail's i think it sounds awesome.

IF you can find one, MMK45's in rail-version is by far the best pickup i have ever tried.
They are bright sounding for alder, but not too bright(Especially not for downtuned music.).
And no matter the amount of distortion you have, all your strings go through when playing open chords(Typical of rail pickups, but these ones are extremely balanced.).
The part that makes it a bit difficult is that these pickups where used in guitar built in the Japanese guitar factory named Matsumoku during the 80's(Mainly in Aria Pro II's.), which means that you have to buy a guitar to get a hold of one of them(Ive seen them loose on ebay once or twice over the past 3 years.).

 

[slashvanyoung]

When I read your first few lines, I was just about to ask "you mean the ones they put in the Aria Pros?"

Almost forgot about those. I used to have a Kramer with the non-rail version.

 

[JeffTD]

Rule out that goddamn Evo, gonna be bright as fuck in your axe!

I really, really dig the Alt8 in my alder/maple neckthru M-1, and it's definitely my 'lead guitar' and only guitar with passives.

Custom is gonna be a bit nasally in the top end in Alder, IMO, Full Shred will be way too thin/weak, and the SH-12 will be a bit weak and shrill.

 

[Notuern]

When I read your first few lines, I was just about to ask "you mean the ones they put in the Aria Pros?"

Almost forgot about those. I used to have a Kramer with the non-rail version.

Hah, kewl!

What do you think about them?

 

[bibz]

mmk45's are lovely! Nice and crunchy. I wouldnt rule out any pickups you've tried in other guitars btw, they all fare differently in different guitars. Even guitars with the same woods aren't necessarily similar in sound all the time imo. You can't go wrong with a Duncan Custom/Custom Custom/Custom 5/Custom 8/Custom-59 hybrid, theres an option there to knock ya socks off! The word custom looks weird to me now.

 

[Harry Hughes]

I can't imagine a BETTER pickup for lead guitar than the JB quite in an alder bodied Jackson. A friend of mine has the DK2S model, which I've played a bazillion times, and the stock JB sounded totally wicked for leads. But eh, different strokes for different folks
As for the "Dead spot" thing while bending, I'll be honest that I never really noticed it and if it were truly a problem, I severely doubt guys like Satch would be playing normal, non blade passives, given that the guy bends strings more often than I piss when I'm drunk.
Evo 2 is a good bet. It's like an Evo with some of the treble and presence shaved off, a little less output and just more nice on the ears for extended playing sessions.
I can't see you going wrong with the Evo 2, it's pretty much a match made in heaven with alder bodied, rosewood fretboard guitars.

 

[monolithsound]

My M-II is the same setup (alder body, maple neck and board, floyd) and the JB sounds awesome in it.

 

[Nebulous]

While I can only relate to a Mahogany bodied guitar for my experience with the Duncan Custom, if you're looking for a pup with a high mid voicing I don't think the SH5 is what you're looking for. It has a certain low mid honk to it, while only being slight (compared to the JB) it gives the SH5 an odd choked quality.
It is the reason I'm looking to swap it out eventually with a JB.

Maybe some reverse logic could be used here after having said all that. Given our tastes the SH5 could be your perfect pup haha.

 

[Josh Burgess]

JB/59 sounds awesome to me for leads... just listen to all the Arch Enemy stuff!

 

[MetalJonesy]

my fav duncan pup ive played, and still own is the duncan distortion, its v similar to the 81 i find, maybe a bit more pushing on the upper saturation, but really really nice for definition, smoothness and balls!