passive pickups which one to chose

[mr.L.]

Hi,

I'm thinking about purchasing a new passive bridge pickup. From the soundsamples I've heard I thinking about going for either the SD SH-4 JB or the SH-10 Full shred. The guitar it's going to be placed in is going to be used mainly for recording (which will be mainly metal but with a lot of odd and full chords so definition is needed). Does anyone of you have recording experience with both pickups that could give me some advice

 

[Mood Bender]

a JB is very close to an EMG81 although a bit looser

 

[LSD-Studio]

I HATE the sh-4 in alder guitars....
just barking crap!
nice rock-pu though...hate it for metal (in alder at least, pretty nice in mahogany tho)

 

[Curran]

I am not a big fan of SD's they are a little too blah for me. not a lot of character. I have always like what dimarzio pickups do. the Steve's Special in the bridge and the AirNorton in the neck have always been very impressive for me in the studio. Tons of distortion with clarity and no mud. chords sound great and cleans are sweet. I dig 'em. but live I always have to use EMG's to keep things quiet. Larry and Steve at dimarzio really make what I think are great pickups for "wild" tone ( you know like lots of distortion, maybe solid state instead of tubes, and guys that play more than a pentatonic scales). anyway now I am just ranting
Love Curran

 

[JeffTD]

I used to swear by 81's, but I just got an axe with a JB in the bridge, and am absolutely loving it. With a boost, it's plenty tight, and it just has this organic crunch that I've never been able to get out of an EMG. The dynamics on it rule, too, and leads absolutely sing.

That said, I'm going to be buying a Bare Knuckle Miracle Man in the next week or so, and it supposedly has a super tight low end like an EMG, but with a really organic and complex midrange, and a sparkley top end. They're supposed to have a character and liveliness that no other pickup brand has - can't wait to try it.

 

[Mood Bender]

That said, I'm going to be buying a Bare Knuckle Miracle Man in the next week or so

report back. I like my JB, but I seem to play my 81 more. a passive with the bottom-mid of a 81 and mid-top of a JB would be nice.

 

[Gnash]

You gotta check out the SH-6 (Seymour Duncan Distortion) If you like the JB, the SH6 is a JB on steroids. JBs just don't cut it for me anymore. Have not tried the SH10 yet, sounds like a bitchin' pup.

 

[broken81]

Seymour Duncan Distortion

Not sure what model number but i bought like 7 years ago when i didn't know a whole lot and just demanded best metal pickup i could get and thats the one i got.

Thing to this day with rust all over it still sounds absolutely amazing and best pickup i have owned....my verdict is still out on the 81 since i have not owned and only played for a few min..... But i just bough a Duncan invader and i think its garbage compared to my Duncan distortion with all that beautiful rust all over it.

 

[Sweetnothing]

Seymour Duncan Distortion

Not sure what model number

It's the SH-6

Besides, I have various guitars with SH-4's and well, while I noticed a loss of attack compared to previous pickups I've had ( Lawrence XL500, Dimarzio Pafpro, Evolution, and X2N) I dig the rawer sound of duncans on my mahogany guitars.
For other woods I'd choose Dimarzio's tho.

 

[JeffTD]

I find (and found, many times) the SH-6 to be just too brittle and too aggressive. The top end was really grating and annoying to me.

 

[greyskull]

Jb

 

[JBroll]

JB, Duncan Distortion, Dimarzio Dual Sound (Super Distortion, with a free push-pull pot so you can wire for single-coil or parallel).

Jeff

 

[J the TyranT]

I rock JB's in my ESP Custom and LP Custom... I want to try some other shit, but not because the JB is bad... only just to try it.

Put it this way... if you fucked a super model for 10 yrs, you'd wanna start nailing other ones just to do it... even if yers still has splendid tits.

J

 

[Gnash]

Man, when I worked at a music store (Musician's Friend), I had a new pickup every week. If you can try 'em all out, that's your best bet. You just gotta snip the wires, to look new, when you take 'em back. Or keep 'em! You gotta find which pup sounds the best in each of your axes. I've found that I like a Dimebucker in my Flying V, SH6s in my Ibanez', EMGs in some. One pup that just has the best tone in EVERYTHING I own, is a Dimarzio EVO (in the neck.) I have been inspired to flip to that pup almost every time I play a lead. I think it's called an EVO II now, but man I can't say enough good things about this pickup (for the neck!) It just sings.

 

[kev]

DUNCAN JB. My favourite passive pickup. I also have a duncan custom, and it seems to get owned by the jb.

 

[ConspiracyBass]

Not sure what tuning you use, but since I tune to B standard I put a DiMarzio D-Sonic in the bridge of my LP and it sounds awesome. Tight ass bottom end and enough mids to cut through any situation. The high end lacks a little, but I dig it.

 

[JBroll]

What size strings are you using? That may have an impact on how much treble you have (as higher tension will give you more high end). I'd also take out the tone pot if I were using those, but that's just me.

Jeff

 

[ConspiracyBass]

I use 14-18p-28-38-48-58. They're just the Ernie Ball 7-String Power Slinkys.

 

[J.DavisNJ]

The Duncan Custom (SH-5/TB-5) continues to be my favorite bridge pickup. Great clarity, lots of chunk, not overpowering...Just a great pickup. And I do play plenty of heavy death metal/prog. metal so it definitely has enough bite for that.

-Joe

 

[MilkAndCheese]

DiMarzio Evolution, EMG-HZ H4, and the Gibson 500T all rock.