Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

[GAWA]

My guitar is a 70's Strat and I am wanting to replace the pickups to get more of an Iron Maiden sound. I've read lots of different arrangements for the pickups Iron Maiden use, mostly involving Hot Rails and JB Jrs. Could someone tell me what the correct arrangement is? My guitar has 3 pickup slots and I'm wanting to know what pickups should be in each slot.

Thanks for any help.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

im pretty sure dave murray uses 3 hot rails. there was a thread abou this a while ago. if u do a search u should find it, but it was quitae awhile. like months i think.

 

[GAWA]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

OK thanks, but just looking at the Seymour Duncan site, it appears Dave Murray uses hot rails in the neck and bridge only, so should I just get them and leave the original pickup in the middle slot?

I'll search for that other thread now.

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

you're probably ok just leaving the middle slot as it is.... I doubt that Dave or Adrian used the middle pickup.

 

[Leveller]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

And besides, having the same pup in the neck and middle seems like kind of a waste, but since you'll be using mostly neck and bridge I guess you could leave the middle one out to save money. The bridge is up to you I guess, anyone would work

 

[GAWA]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

Yeah I would be very rarely using the middle pickup, so I think I'll just go with hot rails in the bridge and neck.

Thanks a lot for all your help

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

I would recommend going with hot rails in the middle too. The bridge/middle combo is how Dave gets his clean tone these days (and it's a good one, too). The neck position he uses for solos (sometimes the neck/middle position) and the bridge position for rhythm. To tell you the truth, the best Dave Murray pickup combo would be (bridge-middle-neck) Super Distortion, Hot Rails (a bridge one), Hot Rails (a neck one). If you put a PAF pro in the bridge and a hot rails neck in the middle, you could get Adrian's modern tone too.

 

[colz10]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

They use hot rails for their newer stuff. i saw it in an interview of adrian smith where he says that murray and he use them. i'm sure gers uses them too. For the older tone from "iron maiden", "killers", and "number of the beast" -- their best albums and their best tones, IMO-- they used PAF'S.

 

[colz10]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

welcome to the forum, by the way

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

They use hot rails for their newer stuff. i saw it in an interview of adrian smith where he says that murray and he use them. i'm sure gers uses them too. For the older tone from "iron maiden", "killers", and "number of the beast" -- their best albums and their best tones, IMO-- they used PAF'S.

H has a PAF pro in the bridge and stock single coils in the other positions. Jan uses a strat with 3 way switching (bridge, bridge/neck, neck) with JB Jrs in both positions (sometimes in all three with 5 way switching). Dave uses strats with hot rails in all three.

 

[colz10]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

H has a PAF pro in the bridge and stock single coils in the other positions. Jan uses a strat with 3 way switching (bridge, bridge/neck, neck) with JB Jrs in both positions (sometimes in all three with 5 way switching). Dave uses strats with hot rails in all three.

thanx for clearing that up. i wasnt' really sure. But i have a question: if you listen to the albums, their tone seems to chaange from "number of the beast" to "piece of mind". does anyone know why? i think that's when dave switched to hot rails, but i'm not sure...

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

Murray uses either 3 x Hot Rails, or 1 x JB Jr in the Bridge, and 2 x Hot Rails ...

I took these pics myself last year ...

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

thanx for clearing that up. i wasnt' really sure. But i have a question: if you listen to the albums, their tone seems to chaange from "number of the beast" to "piece of mind". does anyone know why? i think that's when dave switched to hot rails, but i'm not sure...

Hot rails weren't invented yet, if I'm not mistaken. They stopped using their Ibanez roadstars as often. The main reason for the lower-end/grittier sound is that Adrian switched from Les Paul deluxes and Ibanez Roadstars to Gibson SGs. Dave was playing his black strat with 2 super distortions for that whole album. Dave switched to hot rails in the late 90's.

 

[colz10]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

Murray uses either 3 x Hot Rails, or 1 x JB Jr in the Bridge, and 2 x Hot Rails ...

I took these pics myself last year ...

YOU WENT TO ONE OF THEIR SHOWS :32:
Damn, i was gonna go see them in Ozzfest but they're not playing down here.

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

YOU WENT TO ONE OF THEIR SHOWS :32:
Damn, i was gonna go see them in Ozzfest but they're not playing down here.

Hehe ... I saw Maiden 6 times in 04.

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

YOU WENT TO ONE OF THEIR SHOWS :32:
Damn, i was gonna go see them in Ozzfest but they're not playing down here.

Ozzfest is going to be amazing, only stuff from Iron Maiden-Piece of Mind..... ahhhh. I am travelling up to Washington just to see them.

 

[colz10]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

Hehe ... I saw Maiden 6 times in 04.

i worship you man :saeek:
i'm such a big fan of maiden but i'm afraid i'll never get to see them

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

i worship you man :saeek:
i'm such a big fan of maiden but i'm afraid i'll never get to see them

Not to worry. They'll probably come to Miami on their "still rockin' in wheelchairs" tour in 2030.

 

[colz10]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

Not to worry. They'll probably come to Miami on their "still rockin' in wheelchairs" tour in 2030.

LOL :laugh2:
WAIT. that's bad for me :yell:

 

[colz10]

Re: Best pick-up arrangement for playing Iron Maiden?

they'll never come down here cuz it's filled with rappers and whatever. That's why i wanna move out for college. Hopefully out of state. Maybe i'll catch one of their shows later on. I've managed to make some maiden fans though. i had like a group of twelve that would've gone to the show