i replaced my ibanez rg's stock neck pickups with dimarizio steve's special pickups. when doing leads the tone is really bright, compared to the dull and shitty sounding stock pickups. they are also really clear for doing sweeps. it gets a good amount of low end for rythms and even sounds surprisingly clean on low end sweeps as well.
Pickups question!
- Thread starter GuardianInFlames
- Start date
Bassmasta
Member
For Ibanez guitars, a pick-up change usually has to happen. I suggest a tone-zone in the bridge and a Air Norton in the neck position (similar to Petrucci's pickup setup)
Cheers.
Cheers.
Silverhaze
Little Piggy Slasher
Air Norton has long been at the top of my list for a neck pickup possibility, although a Duncan SH-1 and a Pearly Gates is on the list too.
I'm really leaning towards a Duncan SH-5 "Duncan Custom" for bridge at the moment. The popular SH-6 "Duncan Distortion" seems to be pretty hot, but I'm thinking the Custom might be tighter - leading to a nice crunch. You can hear all the Duncan pickups on their website, but it's only overdriven rather than heavy distortion....kind of hard to judge. I kind of forgot about the Tone Zone....I might have to investigate a little further on that one.
So many pickups....so hard to choose.....
I'm really leaning towards a Duncan SH-5 "Duncan Custom" for bridge at the moment. The popular SH-6 "Duncan Distortion" seems to be pretty hot, but I'm thinking the Custom might be tighter - leading to a nice crunch. You can hear all the Duncan pickups on their website, but it's only overdriven rather than heavy distortion....kind of hard to judge. I kind of forgot about the Tone Zone....I might have to investigate a little further on that one.
So many pickups....so hard to choose.....
Sunbane said:
really? I prefer the other way 'round. too much high end from the 81 with it in the bridge for you?
yea, i thought most people throw an EMG 81 in the bridge and then an 85 or a 60 in the neck. Thats what I myself may do with my ESP F200
Bryant
Mr. Sleepy
Sunbane said:Ehh? But they even come with everything pre-soldered and with quick-connect cables.I'd say that nowadays, installing EMG's isn't much harder than installing any other pickup. Unless you call having to swap the pots and jack nightmarish, which I can't understand at all.
I have rewired many guitars/basses and installed EMG's in dozens. Of course there are issues sometimes, but nothing overbearing unless you're having very tight routes in the guitar...
'bane
I agree. All of my guitars have normal passive pickups, but they sound fine in my axe and rig, but I have installed EMG 81's in a couple fo guitars I used to own. I like them and recommend them to someone who isn't happy with the pickups they have.
To be honest though, if you are not happy with your sound, the first place to look is your cabinet/amp. A pickup upgrade is not going to change the sound very dramatically unless the pickupps on your guitar are particularly poor.
Bryant
Sunbane
Metalistic Madman
Sunbane
Metalistic Madman
Uhhh...yeah. I called the national distributor for them in Sweden, and he had stopped selling them, because they never hit off over here. He gave me a phone-number to a small shop that bought those he had left, but when I called them, the only ones they had were strat singlecoil replacement kits. >_<Silverhaze said:
So that went out the window fast. A shame really, because I've heard a lot of good things about APC pickups. So, I'm sticking to EMG.
I've just caught wind of two used EMG humbuckers that are for sale. One 85 that I'd like to have in the bridge position and one 58 for the neck.
The 58 is cool - the "vintage" EMG precursor to the 85, which is no longer in production (you can have them custom built if you absolutely want one). I actually had one of these before...it was my first EMG and favourite pickup ....and I was kicking myself so hard after accidentally selling it with a Kramer ST100.
*EDIT:
Hehe, I went to pick up the 58 today. The guy turned out to be one of the local guitar gurus - he's probably been playing guitar since before I was in diapers. Anyway, it was fun to speak guitars with him. He said that he stopped using EMG's because they sounded "too nice" - that is, he thought the tone was too processed for his taste. He testified that they were very versatile though. He used them when he was in a cover band that played anything from country ballads to hard rock.
'bane
xenophobe
Active Member
Bryant said:
Well, if he has a decent amp and cabinet, a pickup change can be subtle or dramatic. Compare an EMG to a Bill Lawrence to a JB to a Super Distortion... Thru the same rig, they'll be quite a bit of difference, at least to my ears.
Even the differences between an 81 and 85 in the brige are quite noticable, at least to me.
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