Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

S

Sir Wizington

New member
Hello, im currently trying to decide which pickups to upgrade 1, my current guitar and 2, the guitar im going to buy soon.

My current guitar is a '98 Japanese Jackson KE3 that i believe comes with a SD JB TB4 bridge pickup
The guitar i'm going to buy soon is a Jackson X series Kelly which comes with the Jackson stock pickups which have no information about them

Yes I like Jackson Kellys :)

The reason i want to upgrade is to try to get closer to the tone I have in mind, but more on that later and as a way of getting into being able to do more serious work on my instruments, rather than just string changes and cleaning.

The tone I am trying to achieve is that awesome late 80s early 90s metal lead tone, some examples would be:
1. The lead tone from rust in peace: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KrNnH5beLc
2. The Cacophony / Dragons Kiss tone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5q4FWFKJzA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gyyz1zAWYT8

These have got to be be favorite tones. They all seem to have massive amounts of mids and presence and some nice harmonic qualities that accentuate vibrato nicely.

Im using a Marshall DSL100 head and a TC electronics Hall Of fame as my nice amp and a Line6 spider 4 as my practice amp.

So, to the point, what pickups would best suit my needs as described above. Im currently looking at Seymore Duncan SH4 JB and SH6B. Are there any others that would also do the job nicely? Oh and NOO active pickups :)
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

Marty was using JB's at the time as was Dave during RIP.

I'm guessing Marty was on the same pickups during Cacophony, although I have no way of determining that for sure.
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

From Seymour Duncan, the JB and the Perpetual Burn (i own this) are suitable. Since you already have a JB, how close do you think it is to the tone you want?

Otherwise, in my view the best option would be a Carvin M22SD pickup in the bridge (I also own this and it's closer to the Becker sound and more versatile too). Both Jason Becker and Marty Friedman used these stock on their Carvin guitars for Cacophony.

For the neck, it depends on whether you want a thick sound (get a '59B or Sentient) or a more cutting sound (Screamin Demon or Full Shred)

Or just get a Dimebag set - it could do all those with the right amp settings.
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

The stock JB tb4 in my KE3 is pretty much there in terms of tone but it slightly lacks the super thick, mid rich aspect. Its 90% there but just lacking that bit extra that would make it sound like the above mentioned tones.

A friend at work has some of the Becker signature ones, they look good, the 12k resistance seemed a bit low to me but if they sound good it doesn't matter, right?
I rarely use the neck pickup, only for clean into section type things the stock SD whatever seems good enough to me so i don't really need to change it but i still might.
I have looked at the dime pickups and they look like strong contenders.

There is always the custom shop. Just tell them what you want and they make it, for a reasonable price too :)
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

It's funny - Various Internet sources suggest that Marty was playing the JB on Rust in Peace, but in listening to his isolated RIP tracks (good lord almighty), I'd actually suggest the SH-6B Distortion. I hear this gnarly screaming quality that I don't usually associate with JBs.

That said, I would say that 60% (if not more) of a player's tone is in the hands. Marty has sounded pretty much the same whether he's playing JBs or EMGs.

Marty aside, if one wants something like the JB but thicker (which baffles me slightly, as the JB is pretty thick-sounding and mids-heavy), the Perpetual Burn comes to mind. It is lower output than the JB, but because its EQ is more balanced than the JB, it *potentially* could yield thicker tones.

Re: above recommendation of Sentient - that is a pickup designed for the neck position, probably not suited for OP's purpose.

"Super thick" + "mid rich" = the Invader, but I don't think that's what OP seeks here. The Invader is not known for the articulation needed to do Marty Friedman stuff.

Black Winter might be the ticket. Dimebucker or Nazgul might also be worth a try also.
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

My first thought was the JB or Perpetual Burn. Those old Marty albums had really bright tone to my ears...the Full Shred could do it, too. I hear way more treble in the Cacophony stuff.
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

stick with the JB.

tweak your amp (and any effects) and work on your technique until you get there.
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

stratguy23 said:
"Super thick" + "mid rich" = the Invader, but I don't think that's what OP seeks here. The Invader is not known for the articulation needed to do Marty Friedman stuff.
Click to expand...

Say what you will about Avenged Sevenfold as a whole, but Synyster Gates is an incredible lead player and has a very articulate sound, his use of the Invader probably contributing to that as well.
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

You have the JB, which is exactly what Marty Friedman used for years. All of Rust in Peace was recorded with the JB! In fact, BOTH Mustaine AND Friedman were using the JB in that album. Dave Mustaine even went as far as going out of his way to make sure Marty had a JB in the guitar he was recording with.

While pickups make a differene to tone, don't forget the amp and amp settings will make a MUCH larger impact on the tone! You say the JB is pretty much there but it just lacks a bit of thick mid punch. You should be able to achieve that by messing with your amp settings. Saves you a ot of trouble and money too.

If your amp inherently doesn't quite provide enough mids, you can also look into a nice Tube Screamer.

What amp do you have?
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

I use a line6 spider4 as my practice amp and a Marshall DSL100 as my nice amp, I have also just bought a buyers T5 infinium as a small tube practise amp.
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

Sir Wizington said:
I use a line6 spider4 as my practice amp and a Marshall DSL100 as my nice amp, I have also just bought a buyers T5 infinium as a small tube practise amp.
Click to expand...

You should definitely be able to achieve what you're looking for by tweaking your amp's knobs. One useful trick is set everything to 12 o clock, then try sweeping the knobs as you play a few notes to really see how the tone changes with the small fine adjustments you're making to each knob. Note that you'd have to go back and keep doing this iteratively to get the sound you want: you're done sweeping through the bass knob, then you sweep the mid knob, and then you sweep the treble, and chances are because those 2 knobs changed, you once again go back to the bass knob and start sweeping that to find the sweet spot. Do the same for pretty much all the knobs like gain, presence, and the 3 EQ knobs. It's a great way to really get to know your amp and how it reacts to your guitar and your playing.

Another thing to try is the pickup height! Too much output and upper end? Lower it a bit. Too hollow and empty sounding with loose base? Raise it a little.

With the JB and your amps you're pretty much covered for the Marty Friedman sounds. Marty isn't a gear/tone guy at all, he'll use whatever he has available that sounds good to him at the time. The guy once said he can't even tell the difference between steel and nickel strings, so go figure. All of his tone is in his playing. Most players of that caliber always make micro adjustments to their playing techniques to get the sound the want as well: angle the pick a bit differently, hit the strings with different strengths, and change the position where you pick (closer to neck or bridge).

If none of those tricks work, then yeah maybe you should look into different pickups. But I'd say it's rather unlikely that you'd need to get pickups given that your rig is very similar to what Marty had back in the day.

Don't forget that the final guitar tone you hear on a record is not just pickups + amp: you've got the whole signal chain like mic, mic placement, effects and EQ added at mixing, stereo panning at mixing, and then finally the mastering of the record. Trying to get your sound in your bedroom to sound exactly like the record is futile, in fact, none of the original players can replicate that sound even in their studios. Best you can do is try to get the sound coming out of the amp that was probably in the room at the time of the recording.
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

It is hard to go wrong with a JB when seeking the Marty Friedman sound. I recently snagged a Jackson Stars Soloist (ash body, maple neck-through) and I loaded it with a DiMarzio Super 3 and have good results. I put this guitar in Eb so that I can play some Megadeth tunes from Youthanasia and Countdown to Extinction (some of my favorite Megadeth albums). I am surprised at how much I like the Super 3/PAF Pro for these albums. I think you should at least take a look at that.

I think your KE3 is an alder body, whereas the X series lineup uses basswood. Different enough woods, that you might not like the JB as much as in your KE3. I am not familiar enough with basswood and its properties, but I am pretty sure that it will be warmer sounding than your alder body Kelly. I would recommend an SH-6, but it might have too much grind in the upper mids/highs for the sounds you are looking for.

Cole
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

A JB with more mids, perhaps the antiquity JB or a new one with a rough cast magnet. Aren't the stock mags polished?
 
Re: Choosing which pickups to upgrade to

UOA5 JB

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
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