Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

[james.fusco]

Hi there,

I'm looking to upgrade one of my guitars pickups to get a better tone on my new set up. The guitar I'm looking to upgrade is an Ibanez s570b ( The INF's don't cut through well enough). I'm looking for a high output passive pickup. I play Metalcore and the sound im looking to aim towards Trivium and Killswitch Engage. The rig I'm currently using is a Blackstar Series One 200 with Ibanez TS-9 and boss NS2.

Any advice would be great!

Cheers

James

[Rockstar216]

Re: Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

Hi and welcome to the forum. Both of those bands and the typical metal core tone comes from actives usually EMG or Blackouts but if you want passive I suggest the Duncan Distortion in the bridge and if you want to have decent cleans put a jazz or 59 in the neck

[james.fusco]

Re: Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

Thanks for the welcome and thanks for the info, I've heard Duncan Distortions pack a punch how are the 59s and jazz for distorted tones as well as cleans?

[TeleLubber]

Re: Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

You will definitely like the Duncan Distortion in the bridge.. I have those in 2 of my guitars, one paired with a '59n in my Gibson V.. one of my favorite combos.. the 59s are pretty good with almost any guitar/style you can think of..

The Jazz sounds great clean, and very good under lighter distortion tho I find myself messing about with the EQ..

What I like about the DD is it sounds great when you detune without getting farty/flabby.. it also sounds great if you wire it to an on/on or push pull pot to give you series/parallel.
It has a lot of character for such a high output pickup

Welcome to the forum

[Grindspine]

Re: Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

Reference this thread:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?226028-best-duncan-passive-pickup-for-metal&highlight=metal

Duncan Distortion pretty much reigns supreme. KSE does use EMGs, 81s if I am not mistaken.

Between the Duncan Distortion & EMG 81, those are what my two main guitars have in the bridge spots.

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

I have Ducnan Distortions, and I am playing a style very similar to yours. You can't go wrong with them.

[TokyoBoneman]

Re: Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

Duncan Distortion

[james.fusco]

Re: Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

Thanks for the great advice. Il see about getting a distortion in the bridge and a 59 in the neck at my local store. GREAT FORUM!

[VHTJay]

Re: Best pickup for Metal/ Metalcore

Haha the moment I saw "metalcore" the first pickup that came to mind was the distortion. Although it is a pretty versatile rock pickup it doesn't get much better for what you are after. It is tight, aggressive and in your face when gained up.