new member humbucker selection help

[spike66]

hello. my name is spike. this is my first post to this forum..anyways here is my question, i have a strat styled bodied guitar . it is called a dean .eighty eight. the guitar is somewhat heavy and the pickups are called selects designed by emg. idon,t know how good the pups are and even what kind of wood the guitar is made of.i just know that i am not pleased with the tone andneed some help!!!my music interest are ,the scorpions ,ac/dc ,ozzy w/randy rhoadsand . and i also like classic rock ,hard rock and 80,s metal. i would like pups high output great treble but also good cleans and no noise basically great distortion and cleans'thanks..

[drew_half_empty]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

hm...phat cats maybe?

[mongrollo]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

I have searched your guitar in harmony-central and it is has a HSS configuration. Is this right? Do you want to change all of them or just the humbucker?

[75lespaul]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

I have the JB in a 1968 Epiphone Casino (like ES 335) and a Les Paul--both in the bridge. This pickup is what most metal guitarists used in the eighties and sounds (to me) great for older rock as well. A little hotter than the Duncan 59 or Antiquity which would also sound good for your applications--DEPENDING ON THE AMP. I've found the JB will play older rock on any amp I've had better than the PAF repros will play metal. Some amps they sound great with metal, some not so hot.

Hope this helps. I think you'll find this forum to be really on the money. I haven't had a bum steer yet. In the end, it's all about what pleases your ears.

[spike66]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

i would like to change the humbucker first and see how that goes .. i would also like to change the singles if the humbucker change goes well..? also will changing the pickups make a big difference as i don,t have the cash to buy a nice guitar right now!! iwould not like to waste the money on pups for a soso guitar if it won,t help ..

[tone4days]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

if you only change one pickup in that guitar and want to get close to the sounds you are looking for, there is really only once choice

change the bridge HB to a Seymour Duncan JB pickup ...

without a doubt, this will create an insant upgrade to the tone of the guitar

when you get more cash, try a lil'59 in the neck and a hot rails in the middle

outside of a better amp (tell us what you have now), changing pickups has got to be the easiest, least expensive way to improve the instrument's tone

welcome to the forum

cheers
t4d

[drew_half_empty]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

aside from new strings

[spike66]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

the amp i have now is a roland cube. i think that i need a little marshall or a fender the little cube has too many effects for my taste.and i am burnt out on the sound of it .also i dont know if it is my pups but it sounded good when i got it ,butnow i dont like it much .the cleans are not great and the distortion has feedback..iam thinking of getting the little marshall or fender and using ajeckyl and hyde dist peddal with it any suggestions would help alot

[Rainmaker]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

I can't chip in much besides the fact that the Cube has sh*tloads of bass... and more importantly, welcome to the forum!

Bee

[Rainmaker]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

By the way, try the cube with these settings, and tell me what you think...

No effects.
Low - 0
Mid - 10
Highs - 10

R-Fier, Gain on 8.5, Volume on about 2 to even things out.

Excellent sound - might seem a little extreme in more ways than one, but you get a decent tone.

[drew_half_empty]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

pretty much every amp has feedback man

[Kac]

Re: new member humbucker selection help

From what I've seen the cube is a pretty good amp... I've heard some bad things about small marshalls not lasting a real long time, but that might be just a certain circumstance. Before you buy a new amp, try it out with YOUR guitar..
As for pick-ups I'm sure the JB would sweeten up your sound, but I'm also a fan of the Duncan Distortion and I think Randy Rhoads would look down from heaven and be happy with it, I would reccomend some new single coils for good clean tone if you put in the DD... Considering your guitar is HSS, you might want to go JB, it seems to be a little more versitile.
Rock On