Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

[Diego]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

Excluding a JB? A Distortion then.

It will be slightly different from the JB and will nail most of those tones.

 

[weepingminotaur]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

For neck cleans that are still not too low output, Sentient is excellent. Good for solos, too.


Black Winter gets a lot of props for versatility for the ceramic neck pickup out of the set, supposed to have surprisingly good cleans for a ceramic pickup.

I have a Sentient and BW set in other guitars, and I absolutely love them. But being the silly person I am, I don't want to play with the same pickup(s) in another guitar, so they're out right now.

Some people like a Screamin' Demon in the neck position, too. Darker growl, but still plenty of sparkle and not excessive bass.

Will definitely think about that, thank you.

You could even try an SH-16 '59/Custom in the neck. Especially fun if you do a Free-Way or PRS/Music Man style switch which gives you both outer coils and both inner coils as options. P-Rails neck has similar crazy options, but you'd probably want to default to parallel instead of series for humbucking mode, as it's loud and fat in series (being a P-90 coil and a Hot Rail coil, though with A5 magnets by default).

Yeah, I have a feeling that the guitar I wind up putting these pickups in won't have these sorts of tonal options, which is OK, because it will be a guitar with a very specific focus.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

Dimarzio super distortion, Classic metal tone pickup will nail all of those effortlessly.

Though i will be honest your success will depend more on your amp. With a good modern amp I can nail all those tones with pretty much any humbucker.

If it was me I would choose the pickup depending on the rest of my set up. And invader can be super cool but in a mid heavy guitar can become flubby and congested. Likewise something like a 59 could do it but might be bright and piercing if your amp set up also is.

Tailor your pickup choice to the rest of the rig.

 

[weepingminotaur]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

Yeah, it's not like I think any pickup or pickup set is going to trump amp or guitar. I just want to get a read on what folks think about pickups for this particular purpose, all other things being equal.

 

[Despair]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

Gear does matter, a lot of key elements to thrash are the amp, speaker, boost and a parametric or graphic EQ in the loop (preferably switchable to not mess with lead tones, as that rhythm notch tends to lead to meh single note tones). Don't have to use the EQ for the mid cut, either. Another big trick for getting tight rhythm sounds is to cut bass by using a tube screamer or other boost with a bit of a bass cut, treble booster (Judas Priest), or EQ, then bring the bass back up after the preamp, so you have big, but not loose & distorted low end.

But if your pickup isn't feeding the amp the frequencies you want to distort, that's tough (and usually noisy) to get back. Midscooped pickups can be far worse (broader cut to mids) than outboard EQ (though rarely as bad as an amp with the mids on zero...)

But there are elements of attack and feel that pickups influence heavily. Sure, boosts can often get you more than close enough, and that's how it was done on a lot of classics. But then, there's all the stuff that was recorded with a hot pickup into that boost and hot amp...

 

[Francois]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

I think a SH-6 Duncan Distortion can work here.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

Perfect application for a Demon in the neck. For a little more versatility along with the ability to do what you describe, I'd put a Custom SH (or TB) -5 in the bridge.

 

[Ascension]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

Alt 8/ Sentient a modern JB/Jazz hot rodded set on a big dose of steroids! Meaner tighter and more aggressive over all but still can be sweet and articulate. Very modern sounding and very versatile. The Alt is explosive harmonically and has a killer solo voice but is also tight and articulate at gain and cleans up well with a volume roll off. The Sentient is big smooth and rich sounding clean, sings and is very defined clear and articulate at high gain for solos and tight on rhythms. Both split very well on their own in particular the Sentient and together spit in particular really work well. Am running his set up in my Koa Carvin DC 127 an it KILLS!!

 

[Francois]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

Gear does matter, a lot of key elements to thrash are the amp, speaker, boost and a parametric or graphic EQ in the loop (preferably switchable to not mess with lead tones, as that rhythm notch tends to lead to meh single note tones). Don't have to use the EQ for the mid cut, either. Another big trick for getting tight rhythm sounds is to cut bass by using a tube screamer or other boost with a bit of a bass cut, treble booster (Judas Priest), or EQ, then bring the bass back up after the preamp, so you have big, but not loose & distorted low end.

But if your pickup isn't feeding the amp the frequencies you want to distort, that's tough (and usually noisy) to get back. Midscooped pickups can be far worse (broader cut to mids) than outboard EQ (though rarely as bad as an amp with the mids on zero...)

But there are elements of attack and feel that pickups influence heavily. Sure, boosts can often get you more than close enough, and that's how it was done on a lot of classics. But then, there's all the stuff that was recorded with a hot pickup into that boost and hot amp...

Waoouh ! That's genius : An EQ box before the valves and another one in the loop !!!

Thank you

 

[Iron1]

Re: Best pickups for thrash/classic metal excluding JB

Dimarzio super distortion, Classic metal tone pickup will nail all of those effortlessly.

I'd second this and the Duncan Distortion.