Best humbucker for distortion standard tuning

[Zombie 13X33]

Ok so I got a chance coming up to afford some new pickups or something. I really like my tb6. I have a Jackson hss dinky with a maple neck and poplar body. It has the tb6 and is my favorite guitar to play. I also have a lower end Ibanez. Around $229. It's got a shark toothed purple heart fretboard on a maple neck and basswood or poplar body. It's also hh hard tail



Budget is up to about 300 but doesn't have to be all of it.

I have a few ideas but I'm not sure exactly which way to go. One idea was to swap the tb6 into the Ibanez and get something new for the Jackson knowing I can swap it into the Ibanez if I liked it better before. My ideas were...

another distortion but a sh6 because the Ibanez has no floyd.

A nazgul

invader? Not a huge fan but it could be a good one too?

Or a jb. The jb sounds really good in all the videos.

Emg sa sa 81 set (this is just a dream of mine. If I get this this is all I would get. If I buy a humbucker I may be able to get a few things)

if I go emg its stuck and they wont get put into the Ibanez. The nazgul sounds just like an 81 in the video I saw that's why it's on this list. The jb was said to be used by dave mustain at one time.

With the exception of the emgs I could put them in the Ibanez if I dont like them for the Jackson and decide to go back to the distortion. I really just want something that breaks up and gets dirty easy. The distortion works really good for that but that's the only humbucker I own that's any good.
For the Jackson I also thought about getting some singles but there not as important to me right now..

Jb jr in neck and hot rails in the middle.

Quarter lbs singles with either the same middle or hot rail combination between neck and middle.

Someday I will get a neck pickup for the Ibanez. If it's the distortion in the bridge I may get a jb for the neck or something equivalent. Not worried about the Ibanez right now. Ot will get all the hand me downs.

I really want to have that Metallica sound. I know I need a better amp someday but I'm learning how to set it better every day. Fender lt25. I want as much distortion as I can get that not going to sound like crap. I want high output and pinch harmonics in every position. No more thoughts of jazzy neck or blues. Just going all out metal machine.

Hey also!?? What do you guys think of white pickups in the Jackson? I think it might look cool but I'm not sure. I was also thinking about the zebra look but I'm not sure. I dont exactly like the black and cream look. I wish it was just black and white and no I dont want to afford custom made even tho I wish I could because I would do some sort of red and black deal. What do you guys think?


This post was made for conversation and learning for my next coming purchases.

[Zombie 13X33]

Sorry for writing a book. It's hard not to for me.

[Hsb]

Which era of Metallica are wanting to recreate, in the earliest form they were using Distortions and Invaders, eventually making their way to EMGs. I love the Distortion and have a guitar that has a JB in it that sounds really good, previously not liking the JB. Another option would be the Black Winter which has been described as a modern Distortion.

Yes Mustaine did use a JB for some of his earlier Megadeth stuff.

As for white in the Jackson, I think a cream/black zebra would be cool. The cream would match the color of the fretboard better than white and the black would match the hardware.

[Mincer]

There are so many great pickups with distortion, which run the range from lower output pickups going into boosts and great amps, to higher output pickups that do a lot of the compression for you.

[Masta' C]

You need to invest in a better amp now, not later.

You'll get far more bang for your buck by upgrading your amp than from changing pickups.

You can get a brand new Boss Katana 100 for about the price you're looking to spend on pickups. The change from that LT25 will blow your mind!

[AdrianSD]

I think a lot of the tone is in the finge^H^H^nah, forget it, sorry It's in fact in the entire signal chain that includes the guitar, amp, pedals & speaker. I found in my case the biggest tone changes, for anything from pristine cleans to brutal high gain of the highest isotopic mass can be achieved by messing with the amp dials and changing the speaker(s). For all out Metallica or Megadeth a tubescreamer pushing an overdriven Marshall preferably going into a closed back cab, will get you 90-95% in the ballpark. Through an EQ in the effects loop and you'll get close to 98%. Everything else is fine tuning. As for pickups: I'm a metal head myself, although an aging one, but still loving a very heavy riff or two and my preferred bridge pickups are:
- SD Black Winter. If you like your TB-6 for metal I can guarantee you'll love BW, which can also do more than the Distortion.
- JB Alnico 8
- SD Custom, both ceramic and Alnico 8.
I found that for darker pickups, like DiMarzio Super Distortion or Invader, I need to dial back the bass and this affects the punch coming out of the speaker. But then, I'm not a fan of scooped sound at all, I like my mids and the balance between the rhythm and the lead tone is about juggling the mid freq spectrum. No ice pick highs (0.5 treble, presence to taste) or boomy bass.
So changing your amp is the best suggestion so far, you need to revisit your signal chain and use your ears. Have fun and don't go super loud

[AdrianSD]

[CaptainWhizz]

How does the Jackson with the TB6 sound through your LT25? If you already have a guitar with a Duncan Distortion in it, and you’re unable to get a good metal sound, it probably means the rest of your signal chain needs improving. An 8” speaker might not give you what you want.

I don’t know the prices/ availability in your area, but for a pretty cheap rig you can get a tone like this at about 3:45 in. Preamp and power amp plus a 12” cabinet will be flexible/ modular and allow you to upgrade elements later, such as buying a head.

EDIT: Some of the Katanas have an input to the power section, so if you get one of those and later get a preamp, you can use the Katana as the power amp Andrew cabinet.

[Mincer]

Hey also!?? What do you guys think of white pickups in the Jackson? I think it might look cool but I'm not sure. I was also thinking about the zebra look but I'm not sure. I dont exactly like the black and cream look. I wish it was just black and white and no I dont want to afford custom made even tho I wish I could because I would do some sort of red and black deal. What do you guys think?


This post was made for conversation and learning for my next coming purchases.

I like black pickups in that Jackson, or more specifically, I think Parallel Axis pickups would look great...and probably sound great, too.

[alex1fly]

You need to invest in a better amp now, not later.

You'll get far more bang for your buck by upgrading your amp than from changing pickups.

You can get a brand new Boss Katana 100 for about the price you're looking to spend on pickups. The change from that LT25 will blow your mind!

Yeah +1.

[Zombie 13X33]

Faith enough. Good point about the amp

[Zombie 13X33]

The lt 25 is like almost good enough but but has alot left to desire. Was looking at the katana 50. Singke 12? Is that any good?

[Hsb]

The katana 50 watt is a great amp, esp for the $$. For what you woud pay for a cpl pickups and installation, you can have a great versatile amp. Thinking about adding one to go along with my Marshall Jubilee

[gsammo79]

The katana 50 is used by an acquaintance of mine who is a badass country player. It shocked me when I realized how well it works in his sets. Very lightweight and very solid

[Zombie 13X33]

I may get the katana 100w amp someday but I think for now I'm gonna continue to learn how to tweak the amp I got. Like I said it not horrible but it's just hard to get alot of crunch. I'm getting better at the settings tho. I really think it's me who just needs to get better at the settings. That and some higher output humbuckers in the bridges and stop buy ebay or Amazon knock offs. The one duncan I have now is the best and it works decent with the amp. Maybe even a boss distortion pedal. It's like 50 or 60 bucks but I just like 5o work on my guitars. Also thinking about getting a 4th guitar. Really like the Jackson kelly in Ferrari red. So sick looking. I really just like to have the ability to have multiple guitars and mod them all in different or similar ways. I have a cheap strat that is all evayband Amazon parts and it really not that bad but a duncan bridge may happen someday. Thanks for all the input from everyone.