Please recommend me a pickup!

Rex Rocker

Rex Rocker

Call me Hugo!
Dec 21, 2007
2,257
1
38
Mexico
hey!

Ok, I know these threads are fairly common and you guys must be tired of them, but bare me with me please as I want some help from you more experienced guys to choose a pickup...

Ok... so the problem is... I really can't afford a better guitar right now, so I'm gonna have to stick with my Epi for a few more months... but I want my tone to be better, so I thought the solution would be getting a better bridge pickup (I'm not that worried about the neck pickup for now)

Now, first of all, the characteristics I'm looking for are the following

- Passive
- Pronounced and fat mids
- big yet controllable low end
- Smooth yet artiulate top end
- High output but not ultra-high (something along a Gibson ceramic pikup in terms of output)

So far I was thinking about a Dimarzio Super 3 and Tone Zone but I'd like to know what other suggestions do you have and what are your opinios on those?

oh, and also, please don't suggest me boutique stuff such as Ludgren or bare knukles... they're a bit ore than I'd like to spend and ot readily aailable here

thanks! :)
 
Maybe check out some Seymour Duncans???
Distortion, Invader, JB *Bit weakier but very wellrounded*
Also the Georger Lynch Screaming Demon :)
Awesome pickups!
 
thanks for the reply! :)

out of those, I really like the Invader, but I'm going for something clearer/not as high-output here...

other than that, I really don't like the Distortion or the JB, they both sound a bit too trebly for my taste (I think overall, that's the 'duncan voicing', tho), but the Custom 5 and Custom Custom kinda grabbed my attention...
 
Sounds to me like you want a Custom in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. Wouldn't go Distortion, it's just a JB with a ceramic magnet... think New York and New Jersey. One of them has class, style, and street smarts, the other thinks it's a badass because it like knows this badass motherfucker, dude, with all these fukn' guns n' sht, and he'll cap your ass if you talk shit about popped collars one more time, yo.

Invaders work great with brighter guitars... not with mahogany LP-style, which I assume you went for because you said Epi.

Jeff
 
Rex Rocker said:
thanks for the reply! :)

out of those, I really like the Invader, but I'm going for something clearer/not as high-output here...

other than that, I really don't like the Distortion or the JB, they both sound a bit too trebly for my taste (I think overall, that's the 'duncan voicing', tho), but the Custom 5 and Custom Custom kinda grabbed my attention...
Click to expand...

The Custom Custom worked out for me better in the neck because it is pretty tight in the lows, but didn't have enough girth in the bridge. Compared to the Duncan distortion, the Custom Custom is too lacking in the lows but was not terribly articulate. It actually didn't sound at all like the Tone Chart on the Duncan page suggested, the highs were pretty muffled. I have gotten good results with the duncan distortion in the bridge and a JB in the neck. The JB sounds a bit too mid-scooped in the bridge for my taste... it gives it a nice bite, but unless you play mid-scooped all the time, you can do better. The Custom 5 was kinda like a JB, but with more upper-mid honk.

If you want to look into more obscure options, the Bare knuckle Warpig is worth looking into, but it might be a bit cutting for the sound you want.
 
I'd say the Custom might be a good bet for you, too. It's not harsh. Not to my ears. It's fairly thick sounding.

Another you might consider are the Full Shred. The Full Shred is a very clear sounding pickup if you want to maintain good clarity.

I'm not sure I'd put a Tone Zone in a Les Paul. IMHO, Tone Zones can be muddy and undefined unless they are in a very bright/thin sounding guitar.

I'd say you wouldn't go wrong with a Custom or Full Shred. My first pick, probably the Custom.

You can go to Seymour Duncan's site and read up on them, compare them on the tone chart, and listen to samples. Check out their forum, too. There's tons of discussions about pickups.... And not just the Duncan's.
 
thanks man, will look into it :)

just thought I'd comment... the tone I'm into is smooth, fat and heavy... I'm going for something As I Lay Dying-ish except not as gainy... My no. 1 choice would be an EmG 85 for the bridge, but I really want to stay passive to avoid having to change pots and such...

I don't know if the Tone zone would be a good idea in a mahogany guitar (like I said, I like the AILD tone and those guys use EmG 85's in their les pauls) , but I'm leaning more and more towards the tighter and higher-output super 3... that pickup really grabbed my interest...

and btw, i'm not really that much of a downtuner... 99% of the time, i'm tuned to Drop D which y'all know it's not THAT low
 
UGGggghghhh, stay the hell away from the Tone Zone - I had that in my Ibanez RG, one of the brightest guitars I've ever played (it's neck-thru maple, meaning the entire core is maple) with Mahogany wings, and fuck if that wasn't the most woofy, bassy, atrocious tone I've ever heard.
 
my fav pickup (i have on rg 3120) is the steves special. NO not cuz john petrucci played it, but because I played it, and i like it.


i mean to each his own but i like how the mids are scooped on the pickup so it works well i feel like for articulate metal tones. it has a very clean tonal character and every note kind of rings out and shines through. for some reason even though the mids are scooped you hear a lot of pick attack.
 
I too would recommend the Duncan Custom. I have one (stock) in my Schecter C1 and it sounds like the pickup you're describing.

Personally, I'll eventually change it out for a JB, just for the fact that I think the lowend in the JB will sit better with my JSX.
 
Metaltastic said:
UGGggghghhh, stay the hell away from the Tone Zone - I had that in my Ibanez RG, one of the brightest guitars I've ever played (it's neck-thru maple, meaning the entire core is maple) with Mahogany wings, and fuck if that wasn't the most woofy, bassy, atrocious tone I've ever heard.
Click to expand...

I've heard a lot of good things out of them, and they run really well in parallel.

As for the Custom 5, the Custom has a ceramic magnet while the Custom Custom has Alnico 2 and the Custom 5 has Alnico 5. I'd personally put an Alnico 8 in any of them, myself... the best parts of Alnico and ceramic.

Also, never forget our friends the Steve's Special and Drop Sonic. Petrucci used them for a reason...

Jeff
 
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