pick-up choice

[eviltwin]

Hi, I hope someone can give me a few suggestions.

I currently have an Ibanez RG with a H S H configuration, but the guitar sounds weak compared to my Epiphone Les Paul, so I have decided to change the pick-ups.

I enjoy playing G'n'R, Queensryche, Ozzy, Lynch Mob etc...... and I am considering the following pick-up's

Seymour Duncan - Screamin' Demon (bridge)
Alnico Pro II (neck & Bridge)
EMG - 81 (bridge) & 85 (neck)


If anyone has any suggestions for any other pick-up's that I should maybe consider it would be appreciated.

[szulc]

Depending on your amp you might not want to choose the EMG (active , means uses a battery). I like Seymour Duncan but I am happy witht the Pearly Gates and JB for bridge I didn't like the scearmin demon or duncan distortion. I use a Mesa Boogie studio preamp or an ADA Mp1. If you are using a Marshall with a Boss Ds-1 the screamin demon is nice. The EMGs are only useful to me when recording and the sound is actually not all that good just quiet and kind ofg sterile.

[eviltwin]

I'm using a Marshall JCM 900, 100w head with wah, chorus, delay and a tube screamer pedal.

i'll check out the seymour duncan pearly gates and JB.

thanx for the suggestions.

[EricV]

Hi there,

I definitely recommend checking out either a DiMarzio PAF Pro ( at least for the neck position ), a DiMarzio Tone Zone ( for the bridge position... it´s hotter than the PAF Pro ), or a Super Distortion. I use those plus several other DiMarzios, and they´re really nice.
It sure depends on the other gear, but I am pretty sure that your guitar won´t sound weak anymore with one of those PU´s

Let me know if you want more info about those, or check them out at the DiMarzio-website (http://www.dimarzio.com)
Hope this helps
Eric

[eviltwin]

Eric,

Thanx for the suggestions, I'll check out the website.:D

[metallibeast]

Depending on your amp you might not want to choose the EMG (active , means uses a battery).

Could you eleborate more on that? I never knew that EMG would not work(or sound well) with some amps.

I'm using Dimarzio Air Zone and Super Distortion. Both with boosted mids which I like alot!!! Love the Air Zone...really nice thick fat singing tone...good sustain. Super Distortion is ok...abit bright but sounds ok when you turn the tone down a bit.

-Beast

[szulc]

I find the midgrange peak in Dimarzio's shrill and unpleasant. THis is ok if you have an amp like a marshall and a 4X12 which is Upper Midrange starved but with a reasonably flat amp it sounds bad. In general EMG ior any other pickup that requires a battery sound sterile no matter what you play them through. THe tone of the EMG (89) is ok for the Neck position but the bridge sounds like a neck pickup with distortion. I like my Bridge pick to be bright and responsive and not sound 'woman tone' when you move up on the neck. The EMG's are great for running direct into a VS880 as long as you can Eq the &^%$ out of them to make them sound like a regular pickup. The pickups I like the best for Bridge are the Rio Grande Texas Barbeque, or Duncan Pearly Gates or Duncan JB. Some pickup have too much output and get that 'woman tone' (Which to me is the EC sound on the Sunshine of your love Lead). This is OK if you are on the Neck Pickup with the tone rolled off a bit but sucks on the bridge pickup. Neck Pickups I am less particular about but prefer a lower output pickup like a Duncan Jazz or Custom, I like single coils for clean sounds especially the neck and middle ickups of a strat. To answer you EMG question these pickups are LOW impedence which changes the way your preamp is loaded High Impedance preamps wont sound as good as low impedance preamps with these, but low impedance preamps (Like teh Roland VS880) sound pretty good, with them. Neary all tube amps have a High impedance input.

[João Paulo]

Hi...

What is the best pickup, Dimarzio Paf Pro or Seymour Duncan JB? There are any differences between??

[szulc]

This is a matter of opinion.
My opinion is: the dimarzios have a nasty upper midrange peak that I don't like. I think the duncans are better wound, less microphonic and generally sound better.

[szulc]

A guitar pickup is a magnet and a coil of wire wrapped around a bobbin. If the wire is thin and very long (several miles) the impedance of the pickup will be high, and the inductive reactance will also be high. Depending on how tightly wound the wire is and how well it is potted (Usually in wax, but some custom coils have polyurethane), the pickup will have microphonic noise or feedback. This is the squeal you hear whe you hold your guitar in front of the speaker and dampen the strings. The better pickups don't do this, because they are tightly wound and are potted properly. The potting causes some capacitance which rolls off your high frequency response. The type of magnet can change the sound. Harder magnets (Alnico) have a brite sound, softer magnets have a less brite sound. A humbucking pickup has two coils connected in series that have the magnets in opposite directions this causes the 60 hz (or 50hz if you are in Europe) hum of the electical power grid to be cancelled out. Because each coil get the string signal and the hum but because the them magnets are out of phase the hum is cancelled, so is some of your string signal, but because the coils are not in the same physical location, mostly the highs and lows are cut which gives humbuckers their characteristic midrange 'hump' If you play with a lot of distortion you want some method of cutting the hum down.
You can also use low impedance active pickups to reduce your hum, in general these are not for me.

[Daimonion]

Greetings to all... :)

as far as pickups are concerned, it's a matter of taste & what works for the guitar.

i have 2 Ibanez S540. i tried removing a Duncan Distortion neck humbucker from one guitar & installing it in the other but the new resident didn't sound good in its new home... sounds ridiculous isn't it? but it's like that with guitars...

so now i have 2 S540 with the following humbuckers:
1.S540- Duncan Full Shred (N) + Invader (B)
2.S540- Dimarzio Super 2 (N) + Mega Drive (B)

these guitars sound very good on their own turfs. i'm a big fan of Duncan, Dimarzio & recently, PRS pickups. EMGs are good, no doubt, but it's not my cup of tea. IMO, active units disregard the guitar's body resonance.