Pickups and distortion for pinch hormonics?

[Moloch]

I got a (wait for it..) bronze series warlock.. ouch.. I know.. I really enjoy pinch hormonics, but my metal zone broke, so I've been using a combo of DS1 and my built in distortion, with a marshall 30DX, not so easy for pinch hormonics.
So what pedal and pickups would you guys suggest?

 

[-Gavin-]

Well, i can tell you that i was playing my friends Bronze warlock through my Marshall AVT and then through my Band's Vamp patch, and i could get better pinch harmonics out of BDSM pickups than my EMGs (i.e, they sounded a lot cooler)

 

[-Gavin-]

But i guess (upon rereading) That i didn't answer your question.


Pedals i have NO experience with (I hate effects), so, i can only recomend the following pickups

Seymour Duncan Dimebucker
Seymour Duncan Invader
EMG 81/85/89
Dimarzio X2n (haven't used but heard great things)

 

[Leper_/-\ffinity]

If you know what you're doing you can do pinch harmonics with any kind of distortion, I mean just crank the gain on both your pedal and onboard and go for it man! It's all about gain....I mean shit, I play ph's on my acoustic. But definitely, just turn up the gain and go for it!

 

[nataservant]

PH's can be played on anything. You just have to find the right place on the string and have the right technique.

 

[bobvex]

PH's can be played on anything. You just have to find the right place on the string and have the right technique.

^ bingo

different strings have different "nodes" which are small areas on the string, those places are the "sweet spots" for pinch harmonics. just run yoru pick up and down, trying in various places, and remember the different tones for different positions.

 

[Katalepsy]

I got a (wait for it..) bronze series warlock.. ouch.. I know.. I really enjoy pinch hormonics, but my metal zone broke, so I've been using a combo of DS1 and my built in distortion, with a marshall 30DX, not so easy for pinch hormonics.
So what pedal and pickups would you guys suggest?

I'm gunna tell you the exact same thing I tell everyone else when they ask for suggestions...
1. Pickups: Seymour Duncan Live Wire Heavy Metal Bridge. Insane Mids, screaming harmonics, and depending on the amp, you can easily get a light top and insanely heavy bottom...It's beautiful

2. Distortion/Effects: DigiTech XMM Metal Master or you can go with the RP200A or above, cuz they fucking rock...And it's more flexible as far as your tone goes, and you get a noise gate, so that's always a plus.

I made the mistake of selling my XMM, and I seriously regret it, it is by far the best distortion I have EVER used, other than that of the Line 6 HD-147 Head. Oh yeah...And mixing an external distortion with onboard sounds like ass a lot of the time...If you're going to use an external distortion, turn your amp on clean.

 

[Moloch]

Ya I am pretty familar with the "sweet spots" but the resulting sound is nto nearly as pleasing to my ears, as some of even the low end setups at guitar center.
Ill check out the Seymour Duncan Live Wire Heavy Metal and the XMM..

 

[Katalepsy]

Ill check out the Seymour Duncan Live Wire Heavy Metal and the XMM..

The clips on the Duncan website are all with low gain, so if you like those clips, you'll fucking love how that thing sounds with really high gain and better EQ Settings. And as for the XMM, you can get any metal distortion tone you want...As long as it's heavy as fuck...I hope my recommendations will be helpful!

 

[Moloch]

The clips on the Duncan website are all with low gain, so if you like those clips, you'll fucking love how that thing sounds with really high gain and better EQ Settings. And as for the XMM, you can get any metal distortion tone you want...As long as it's heavy as fuck...I hope my recommendations will be helpful!

They look like a good combo for my birthday.
Anything special about pickup replacement?
Would an EQ be a good choise also to shape the sound to my likeing?

 

[Katalepsy]

The deal with the LW-HMET is that it requires 2 9v batteries, a resistor, a new input jack, and if you get the full set, which is about $160, you have to replace your pots and selector switch, and since you have a bronze warlock, the routing space is REALLY small, so it's better that you just go with the bridge model so you don't have to fuck with getting the pots to fit, it's even kind of a pain in the ass to get both batteries to fit in that tight space, but it's well worth it. I would recommend that you take it to a professional to have it installed, unless you are good with electronics, and working in tight spaces.

Also, I do think that an external EQ would be somewhat helpful in shaping your tone more how you want it, but keep in mind that the combination of the LW-HMET and XMM will give you the most INSANE mids you've ever heard. What you would really need a good EQ for would be bass, so you can get that heavy bottom and a badass midrange punch.

NOTE: The LW-HMET distorts on clean

If you would like, I can send you a clip of high gain with the live wire, although I don't have the XMM anymore and I currently use a really shitty *BC Rich* practice amp, with windows sound recorder.

 

[Moloch]

The deal with the LW-HMET is that it requires 2 9v batteries, a resistor, a new input jack, and if you get the full set, which is about $160, you have to replace your pots and selector switch, and since you have a bronze warlock, the routing space is REALLY small, so it's better that you just go with the bridge model so you don't have to fuck with getting the pots to fit, it's even kind of a pain in the ass to get both batteries to fit in that tight space, but it's well worth it. I would recommend that you take it to a professional to have it installed, unless you are good with electronics, and working in tight spaces.

Also, I do think that an external EQ would be somewhat helpful in shaping your tone more how you want it, but keep in mind that the combination of the LW-HMET and XMM will give you the most INSANE mids you've ever heard. What you would really need a good EQ for would be bass, so you can get that heavy bottom and a badass midrange punch.

NOTE: The LW-HMET distorts on clean

If you would like, I can send you a clip of high gain with the live wire, although I don't have the XMM anymore and I currently use a really shitty *BC Rich* practice amp, with windows sound recorder.

About those mids, I'm not really a big fan of mids, before my metalzone broke(battery wire came undone) I would turn the mids down a bit actually, I would like a nice thick sound for rhythem stuff, but some nice highs for solo stuff, and to get my first 3 strings to be more audibly, right now doing a minor or major power chord, they aren't audible enough when I turn on the distortion, which consists of my Ds1, and sometimes running the built on distortion with the pedal, for a fatter sound, but there isn't enough gain for pinch hormonics, or any decent soloing for that matter, so I gotta use the Ds1 to pump it up a bit.

 

[Katalepsy]

Well, perhaps you could just try out the XMM without getting a new pickup, and go from there. The thing with the DS1 is that it isn't a very good pedal if you want high gain, and overall, DigiTech pedals are MUCH better. A lot of people compare the XMM to The Metal Zone, and what I have found is that as far as distortion goes, they aren't anywhere near similar. DigiTech may be slightly more expensive, but it's well worth it. If you go to www.musiciansfriend.com you can hear clips of the XMM, and see what you think of it before you decide to buy it. And if you still can't get those pinch harmonics you want, then either the LW-HMET or the EMG-81/85 set. I personally don't like EMGs because they're too thick, but if that's the kind of sound you like, then that's probably the way to go.

 

[Moloch]

Well, perhaps you could just try out the XMM without getting a new pickup, and go from there. The thing with the DS1 is that it isn't a very good pedal if you want high gain, and overall, DigiTech pedals are MUCH better. A lot of people compare the XMM to The Metal Zone, and what I have found is that as far as distortion goes, they aren't anywhere near similar. DigiTech may be slightly more expensive, but it's well worth it. If you go to www.musiciansfriend.com you can hear clips of the XMM, and see what you think of it before you decide to buy it. And if you still can't get those pinch harmonics you want, then either the LW-HMET or the EMG-81/85 set. I personally don't like EMGs because they're too thick, but if that's the kind of sound you like, then that's probably the way to go.

Ya I did listen to clips, sounds much better than the metalcrap.
I do like how the XMM has a dod death metal mode..
Do you know know of any guitar players that use the semoure hmet?
The clips on the website aren't good since they're low gain, like you said.
Where can you get the EMG?
Listening to the 81/85 set, it sounds great, but not avail at guitar center.

 

[Hexer]

I think the Motorhead-guitarist uses the Live Wire HMETs (correct me if I'm wrong)

 

[Katalepsy]

Ya I did listen to clips, sounds much better than the metalcrap.
I do like how the XMM has a dod death metal mode..
Do you know know of any guitar players that use the semoure hmet?
The clips on the website aren't good since they're low gain, like you said.
Where can you get the EMG?
Listening to the 81/85 set, it sounds great, but not avail at guitar center.

Dimebag used LW-HMETs at one point with Pantera, I think that was on The Great Southern Trendkill, if you have ever heard that album (I love the guitar tone). I don't really know where to get EMG pickups, I haven't seen them anywhere, not even on Musicians Friend. You'll have to look around.

 

[Moloch]

Dimebag used LW-HMETs at one point with Pantera, I think that was on The Great Southern Trendkill, if you have ever heard that album (I love the guitar tone). I don't really know where to get EMG pickups, I haven't seen them anywhere, not even on Musicians Friend. You'll have to look around.

hehe, too bad I love the sound of them, are their seymour pickups that are comparable to the 81/85 series?

 

[Katalepsy]

Duncans and EMGs are on a completely different level as far as tone goes...If you like your distortion with a very heavy bottom and very little mids, then I guess EMGs would be the way to go, but for the best harmonics, Duncan Pickups, such as the Live Wires and their high output (i.e. SH-8 Invader) passives are probably the way to go. But like I say, it's very difficult to compare Duncans to EMGs, because they are A LOT different.

 

[Indiooo]

Not all EMGs are voiced equally, at all. The 81 is kinda scooped, the others aren't.

 

[Moloch]

So if I get just seymoure heavy metal, will I have to replace the pots and selector switch?
which is really haveing some dude do it for me..