New Pickups

[APB_4]

Hey there I'm thinking about getting a new pickup as you probably guessed and was hoping for some useful pointers. I recently got a new amp (a Marshall JTM30) which sounds very nice but now I think that my guitar is sounding a little naff. It's an Aria STG-004 http://www.ariausa.com/series/stg004/stg004.htmlI was thinking about possibly getting a new guitar which could still be an option but i hope to be building my own in the not to distant future at Bailey Guitars http://www.baileyguitars.co.uk
so I don't want to spend more the £500 at the very most. So I listened to a load of the soundclips on the SD site and narrowed it down to the APH-1 Alnico II Pro, SH-12 Screamin' Demon, SH-6 Duncan Distortion, SH-PG1 Pearly Gates or possibly the LW-HMET1 Live Wire Heavy Metal. Quite a list I know but what would people recommend for playing stuff from Rock to Heavy Metal. I like playing Guns 'n' Roses, Metallica, Iron Maiden that sort of thing.

[Davey]

Re: New Pickups

SH4 JB
or SH5 custom bridge and the A2pro for guns n' roses leads, plus it nails daves lead sound pretty good.

the live wires will kill you.. anyone that ever had those metal live wires was never heard of again around these parts.
the SH6 is good for tallica, but it might be too compressed and brutal for guns and maiden.
the PG could be a good neck bucker, but it's more of a rock and not metal type of pup (not that you cant play metal with it though)
the demon is a fine choice for bridge, but i got no knowledge whatsoever about it, apart of the fact that george lynch uses em, so you might listen to his stuff to get a general idea. or ast TwilightOdyssey

i got a JB/59n combo and i absolutely LOVE it. nails everything with a little amp tweaking perfectly. tis what davey had sitting around in a couple of his strats (the JB) and used it in the jacky at donnington. the 59 is a paf pup which nails his leads spot on.

welcome to the forum BTW

*edit*
looked at the page you put in.. it's a HSS setup, so neck buckers are out of the question. but now you can load it with a hotrail bridge and hotrail neck if you change the pickguard for a SSS, the neck hotrail is what dave uses nowadays and is pretty nice, the bridge will have enough output and a killer tone for pretty much everything else.
well, i'd put in a custom bridge so it would fatten the sound up a bit and then take a single coil size bucker and put it in the neck.. maybe a lil'59

[APB_4]

Re: New Pickups

Thanks Davey. I was just thinking about getting a new bridge pickup for now and do you know any guitars that use those pickups as stock that i might be able to try at a shop?

[Davey]

Re: New Pickups

umf... the jackson RR3 and RR5, KE2 have the JB (well, just browse the jacksonguitars.com site and if you're lucky to find one in your local store, yay. they're mostly alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard so it's all similar to the aria.

for more clips of the JB, check my music page (in the signature)

the LWHM bucker resides in the modelA charvel i believe.
there was also a rhoads that has the distortion in the bridge, but i dont know which one ( i think it was a custom shop run)

for the custom.. i really have no idea in which guitars they come stock, if any, but browse the tips & clips forum and check out peoples clips to get ideas of the tone.

[jimlp]

Re: New Pickups

Not to get off topic but I would say that you bought the wrong amp to get those sounds unless you are using a pedal, a pickup will not help much.

[APB_4]

Re: New Pickups

Ye I've got a Korg AX1G and i was thinking about getting a Marshall Guv'nor or Jackhammer. What do ya think?

[Davey]

Re: New Pickups

well, the amp is only 30W, so it's pretty ok for bedroom practice. if you want real tone and gig with it, you should invest into a tube amp. not neccessarily a half-stack. a combo will get you there for now.
you can get a cool tone with your current one, but it's not a whole lot.

[APB_4]

Re: New Pickups

It is a valve amp my mate has a 100Watt solid state Marshall and mine is I think just a bit louder

[Davey]

Re: New Pickups

oh, it is a valve amp. i think you're ok then. it's not a big bad ol marshall, but better then a SS amp if you ask me.

[APB_4]

Re: New Pickups

Ye well seein' as i don't gig or anything i thought a JCM800 might be a little excessive and a 4x12 would block out most of the light.

[Davey]

Re: New Pickups

LOL
you could get a JCM800 combo =)

[APB_4]

Re: New Pickups

Ye but it is a good combo and i haven't had it that long yet but maybe some time.

[APB_4]

Re: New Pickups

Thanks Davey for putting me on to the SH-5 Duncan Custom and also Stevo for his cool soundclips. I've ordered the pickup and it should be arriving sometime this week I think.

[Davey]

Re: New Pickups

yay