Dean hardtail - pickup change

Eddie J.

Eddie J.

New member
After playing it for a few days, I think that my new dean HTselect needs better pickups.
I got an impression that this hardtail sounds very fat, creamy, and rich on bass side, but there is some mud allover, and even more important, i miss some density and power in sound while i`m playing it.
I play it through Laney TF300 120W combo, with bad monkey and sometime i plug it in toneport and try various stuff.

Neck: I find the neck pickup to be too bassy and hollow for anything but leads, where it delivers really great creamy lead sound. With tone pot rolled down, it`s viola experience. Down the neck it`s great, I just miss some more aggressive/articulate sound when playing low strings, it`s more weak, hollow and bassy there than i like.

Bridge: It`s a bit weak, and little more on the buzzy side. Somehow it doesn`t sound natural, too much electrical sounding. I would love more power, and over all denser sound.

So I thought about these:

Bridge: Custom / Distortion / X-500XL
Neck: Pearly gates / X500L / DD neck

What do you think?
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Re: Dean hardtail - pickup change

Switching pickups on my USA Hardtail was the best thing I ever did to it! It now has a Seth Lover in the neck, and an old DiMarzio PAF in the bridge. Both pickups are double creams.

Sprinter
 
Re: Dean hardtail - pickup change

It sounds like you want a natural sounding brighter neck pickup with a bit of an edge, versatile for both heavy and cleans. My suggestion is the pearly gates. As for the bridge I suggest something vintage output too since you don't want something buzzy, the lower output pickups sound more natural, probably a pearly gates, or maybe an A2PH if you want something smoother in the bridge.
 
Re: Dean hardtail - pickup change

ibanezrocks said:
It sounds like you want a natural sounding brighter neck pickup with a bit of an edge, versatile for both heavy and cleans.
Click to expand...
You got me. Thanks for suggestion.
But actually, I don`t want a smooth bridge. I prefer stronger bridge sounds, but nice tone is above all.

I could describe ideal bridge sound as "full, rich and tight, but not too stiff or dry". I thought that custom could fit in that, but i`m not sure. I never had ceramic pickup and i wonder how "wood transparent" are they?

I would love to hear from guys who actually swapped this pickups with something else, maybe somebody have specs of Dean HT import pickups?
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Re: Dean hardtail - pickup change

I have a custom in the bridge on mine, it added alot of balls to the sound. Great AC/DC on steroids tone through my Laney! Very tight pickup, i like it. I have an A2P in the neck. It is nice and smooth, very lush cleans, but maybe a bit too warm. Anyways best of luck! Switching to Duncans really made my Dean into a different beast. I highly recommend the switch!
 
Re: Dean hardtail - pickup change

Thanks Mr Wolf.

I asked a question on Dean site and here is what i got back (thumb up for quick response time):

"They are modeled loosely after Seymour Duncan jb(bridge/ 13-15k output)
And '59(neck/8-10k output)."

Mr Wolf, did your output/volume level increased when you dropped your custom in? (I really don`t hear this bridge pickup as hot as the JB output area. For me it sounds noticeably weaker.)
 
Re: Dean hardtail - pickup change

Mr. Wolf gave me some valuable info in his private messages.

I`m thinking about this two combos:

1.Custom / Pearly Gates

2.BL X500XL / BL X500R
 
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