Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

[Top-L]

Has anyone ever heard these pickups? I had these new in two guitars, sold them years ago (while I remember liking them), and recently scored a set on ebay to put in an s540. These were stock in Fugijen and Prestige Ibanez.

The bridge is 18K, neck 15K. They are ceramic. The bass is tight, the notes are full, there is a moderately agressive mid push, and the high top end is rolled off. Harmonics are easy to get, but they do not stand out on top like Dimarzios or alnico pups. The notes are really thick and present, but don't sound like metal. The neck pickup is a shredder, with that much heat, and the treble and bass are controlled so its great for lead runs and arpeggios with a bit of that high gain "swish" on attack. They are percussive for legato runs. They work in a wide range of distance from the strings, they can be opened up by moving them away.

If I had to guess the EQ curve I would say it was (B/m/t) = 4/6/4

Does SD make a pickup similar to this? Seems that the DMZ ceramics are either really bass heavy or super aggressive. These pickups seem to trade harmonics for a round and interesting mid. (It has the mid anger of a Super Distortion, but its not heavy or shrill because the bass is controlled, and the top is rolled off.) Switching between bridge and neck is seamless they both have well matched lead tones. These seem like finesse ceramic pickups.

[CTN]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

the way you describe it, the SH/TB-5 Custom is really similar except that it has bit more crispness and presence on the high end, and big punchy bass, but it's still tight.

[Top-L]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

Ive got to try that one.

[Top-L]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

Maybe the EQ is more like 6/6/4, it has a bit more bottom than a PAF Pro

[Top-L]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

Care to guess what this would sound like with an A5?

[CTN]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

that would make it a Custom 5.

I hate it for the most part.

It's a bit lower output, shrill treble, boomy bass, scooped out mids, and still has that sorta open PAF-esque sound to it. It's got really nice cleans, but with high gain stuff it just gets completely lost in a band mix. Unless your amp, cab, and everything else really boosts the mids.

A lot of people here like it in the bridge of an SG or sometimes an LP. But I hate the Custom 5 with a fierce, unrelenting passion.

[Top-L]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

that would make it a Custom 5.

I hate it for the most part.

It's a bit lower output, shrill treble, boomy bass, scooped out mids, and still has that sorta open PAF-esque sound to it. It's got really nice cleans, but with high gain stuff it just gets completely lost in a band mix. Unless your amp, cab, and everything else really boosts the mids.

A lot of people here like it in the bridge of an SG or sometimes an LP. But I hate the Custom 5 with a fierce, unrelenting passion.

This is a hotter wind, maybe it would be a bit tighter.

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

This is a hotter wind, maybe it would be a bit tighter.

Not necessarily... it might be tighter but it wouldnt be solely because its a hotter wind. The invader is a similar (if not identical wind) to the distortion and is much looser...

[darthphineas]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

How is the wind hotter? What is that idea based on? The DCR? There are pickups in the 10k - 13k range that have a tone that makes the quite hot. I've put this out there before, but I've had a 10k pup and a 13k pup in the same guitar using the same amp setting and the 10k pup had a tone that pushed the LEDs to the red more than the tone of the 13k.

An overwound or densely wound coil doesn't translate to tone or how it sits in the mix.


Sent from my armored battle station using Tapatalk

[koshikas]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

How is the wind hotter? What is that idea based on? The DCR? There are pickups in the 10k - 13k range that have a tone that makes the quite hot. I've put this out there before, but I've had a 10k pup and a 13k pup in the same guitar using the same amp setting and the 10k pup had a tone that pushed the LEDs to the red more than the tone of the 13k.

An overwound or densely wound coil doesn't translate to tone or how it sits in the mix.

to me, ur observation could be due to the, bigger/wider dynamic range of the not so overwound pickups compared to the compression of the overwound pickups. but the catch is due to apparent changes of the way the wire is wound (which i have no clue of), not all overwound pickups are similarly compressed sounding

[Top-L]

Re: Ibanez Quantum Pickups: Hot but civilized Ceramic, pickup like this?

Loving these. I just fixed the wiring and compared to another almost identical guitar with Steve Vai HSH set, these have more upper mids, less presence. They are similar to Evolutions in overall presentation, the top end has a different voice.