Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

[MetalForBreakfast]

Hey all, this is my first post here, and I got a pickup question.

Before I ask it, I own a Jackson KE-2 with Duncan JB/Jazz combo, a Charvel Model A Plus (made in Japan, early 2000's I think) with two lil' screamin demons and a pearly gates. My amp is a JSX 2x12 combo, and I don't use many effects, just a delay pedal (although I really need a noise gate too).

Anyways, I'm trying to change out the pickups in my charvel guitar. It's a bolt on birdseye maple neck with an ebony fretboard. The body is mahogany, and the top is 1/8" maple quilt. The bridge is a crappy licensed jackson trem that I would like to drop in a vat of industrial acid.

Anyways, the pearly gates pickups in the bridge, although a nice pickup, doesn't really suit the stuff I like to play. I enjoy all kinds of metal, shred (although I can't shred worth crap), and lots of rock ranging from Andy Timmons to The Darkness or Airbourne, Van Halen, etc.

My problem is that the Pearly Gates just doesn't quite offer enough sustain or drive for my liking. I also find the bottom end to be too spongy, and I would love to get it a little more focused and gritty. I am considering the following pickups, but I'm still not too sure what I should go with.

1. The Alternative 8
2. Duncan Custom
3. Custom 5
4. JB

If I did go with the JB, I would probably take it out of the Jackson and replace that pickup with a Custom Custom (that guitar is fairly bright with the alder body, maple neck thru, and ebony board). However, I like that guitar as is, so I'm really looking more at the top three up there.


I'd also like to get rid of the mini demons and put a little 59 and a jb jr. in there somewhere, or maybe a hot rails. I would love to find the Dave Murray lead tone from the last couple of Maiden albums, and whatever neck pickup gets close to that would be a winner for me.


If any of you guys can help me make up my ****ed mind, I would very much appreciate it. Cheers.

 

[CTN]

Re: Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

LOL @ vat of industrial acid.

you could just get a new Gotoh floyd, it's a direct replacement for any OFR styled floyds, and is of much superior build quality than most licensed ones.

As for the PG replacement, I was thinking either Duncan Custom or Duncan Distortion. Both would sound fantastic with those woods. Custom 5 could also be a good choice, while not as aggressive under high gain as the others might be, it still does a good job, and cleans up reeeealllly nicely.

 

[MetalForBreakfast]

Re: Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

Yeah, I'm really leaning more towards the Duncan Custom. Most of what I've heard about the SH-6 has been negative, and my amp is already pretty high gain and prone to lots of buzzing and feedback, so I'm thinking the SH-6 would just be too much. Really though I'm itching to hear more about the Alternative 8, it sounds sick. So really, even through all that up there, it's more or less Duncan Custom vs. Alternative 8.

 

[cakire82]

Re: Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

Couple nice guitar you got there. I would also rate for Alternative 8 as it sounds heavier than the other 3 (based limited sound samples online)
Hot rails will be great choice for your middle and neck for the metal sound you are looking for.

 

[MetalForBreakfast]

Re: Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

Thanks all. Metal sounds are good, but not the be all end all, which is why I love the Jackson so much. I throw my amp on clean, go to the neck pickup, and it sounds beautiful. Throw it on the red channel and it does really fluid, smooth single note lines. Put it on the bridge pickups and it chugs better than "that guy" at a frat party. It does a LOT.

But yeah, JB jr in the neck? I had also considered cool rails, but I'm not sure how those would respond, I feel like they'd not have enough drive to them.

 

[Oceano]

Re: Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

I find that the Custom is extremely versatile and does the "chug" thing really well. It doesn't totally act like a super hot ceramic pickup which is nice. The cleans aren't absolutely terrible (nothing to write home about either), but who uses bridge pickups for clean anyways

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

Check the spring block of the trem - if it says Takeuchi, that's nearly as good as a Schaller, which is as good as an OFR. Takeuchi trems are often referred to as the "Schaller of Japan" i.e. - it's pretty much one of the best Japan-made trems you can find.

Not sure if those Models came with those or not. They were slammed pretty hard when they were introduced (i.e. "that's not a Charvel, a Charvel has a Strathead and 22 frets and blah blah blah" - pretty much the same Puritanical Moron crap you get with all brands, but I digress).


On the other hand, if the trem is stamped "Made In Germany", it's a Schaller, and is by no means "crap".

 

[MetalForBreakfast]

Re: Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

Well it's a low profile Jackson JT-580 trem, my real gripe with it is that no matter how much I mess with the spring tension the whole bridge move around if I bend a string. I'm going to eventually get a tremol-no for that though. On my jackson, the floyd rose might as well be a hardtail bridge if I'm not using the bar, and that's how I like it. I'm not crazy about whammy bar antics. I've also gotten used to the regular floyd, and palm muting feels really weird to me with the 580.

 

[MetalForBreakfast]

Re: Another different new member, also in need of p/u help!

sorry to bump, but I'm still wondering what single coils I should go with for the neck and middle pickups. I would love something that gets close to Dave Murray's lead tone from the last three maiden albums, and I know he uses hot rails. My only concern is that those would be so hot I would loose a lot of the good jangly cleans from my neck pickup. I'm also thinking about cool rails, but wonder how those would do with distortion.


Beyond that, DiMarzio rail pickups? I'm a big Andy Timmons fan so I've looked into the cruiser, but just like the cool rails I wonder if I'll be able to get a really good, smooth, fluid lead tone from it. Maybe a chopper for slightly increased output?

I love the tone I get out of my SH-2 in my jackson, but that guitar is a lot brighter than the guitar I'm looking to replace the pickups in. Is there a good rail pickup out there that'll get me closer to the SH-2 territory in a mahogany bodied guitar?