Considering switching out two factory pickups in an Ibanez RG series

[egill.ian1]

Hi folks, this might be a bit of a long one, so TLDR is that I'm looking for a couple of humbucker style pickups (a trembucker for the bridge, I think) to provide me with a fair bit of versatility in tone. Currently considering a P-Rails pickup for the neck and a Custom Sh-5 for the bridge, but open to suggestions.

I'm very much a gear noob, even though I've been playing for a while, so please bear with me. I've got an Ibanez RGA72TQM https://ibanez.fandom.com/wiki/RGA72TQM and I want to fit it with pickups that will give me the ability to dial in diverse tones. I mostly play blues, punk, stoner rock, surf rock, alternative rock and the like, some metal, so I'd need something that can give decent clean tones and everything down to a bit of a chug. I'm not much of a shredder, so not much need for high gain pickups to play like Stevie Ray, Petrucci or those well known virtuosos. Examples of bands whose tones I'd like to be able to emulate: Queens of the Stone Age, Black Keys, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Jack White, maybe System of a Down, All Them Witches.

I know it's a bit of a tall order and that I might be better off getting more than one guitar to achieve this, but I move around a fair bit and want to try to stick to one guitar for now. Some details on the guitar: Body is mahogany with quilted maple top, Floyd Rose style tremolo (Edge 3), trembucker style pickup at bridge, currently uses active pickups and thus has routing for a battery. Not sure what other details you'd need to make a recommendation, but please let me know if there is anything

 

[Mincer]

Welcome to the forum!
I think what you are asking is possible, but maybe not in the way you think. The key to having a guitar that can do a ton of stuff is to have pickups that aren't too hot, so if you need that power and compression, you accomplish that with your pedals and amp. A lower output pickup is generally more versatile than a higher output one. Certainly P-Rails is versatile, and it comes alive if you can add Triple Shot rings. The Custom is better with distorted sounds due to the output. A more versatile pickup (with the same EQ) might be the 59/Custom Hybrid, which uses 1 coil from the Custom and one from the 59.

 

[egill.ian1]

Thanks for the speedy reply and the welcome! Oh yeah, the 59 Hybrid is a good shout. Sounds like it has that nice warmth to it without drowning out individual notes. If I needed the Hybrid to give me a bit more of a punch at times, would the best thing be to scoop the mids and up the gain? Or maybe coil split to use the Custom coil and compress?

 

[Synapsys]

In line with Mincer's suggestion, I also suggest a four conductor 59 set, so you can get series / parallel / split tones to match the styles you're playing.

 

[Mincer]

Thanks for the speedy reply and the welcome! Oh yeah, the 59 Hybrid is a good shout. Sounds like it has that nice warmth to it without drowning out individual notes. If I needed the Hybrid to give me a bit more of a punch at times, would the best thing be to scoop the mids and up the gain? Or maybe coil split to use the Custom coil and compress?

I think a good drive pedal with a mid control would do it, without affecting the clean sound of the guitar. Even a good 2 channel amp with individual EQ for each channel would work, too. Splitting to the Custom coil would be great for cleaner spanky sounds, though, and that is a big bonus of the Hybrid.

 

[egill.ian1]

Perfect, thank y'all for the input and taking the time, really appreciate it