Gibson SG standard pickups question...

[OjoRojo]

Just stumbled onto this site and have read through a few posts. A lot of good information and knowledgable people. Ok... On with the question...

I am looking to replace the stock pickups in my Gibson SG standard. I am looking for a metal/punk style pickup(s) with a tight low-end (palm muting and such) and a singing lead tone. Tone influences would include Metallica, Slayer, Cradle of Filth, Bad Religion, Pennywise, to name a few.

Any help on this topic would be appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

Well at least Metallica and Slayer use EMGs, 81s and 85s.
DiMarzio D Activators might be good active-pup -replicas.

Super Distortion could also be excellent choice.
Super 3 if you used more scooped sounds.

Dave Mustaine uses JB, you might give that a try, but it has a high mids -spike, so i'd bet it would sound like Icepick City in SG's bridge.
Custom could be quite good, and Dimebucker (though it lacks some midrange)

 

[BG00]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

Welcome to the forum

To me it sounds like a screamin demon, fullshred(b) or custom 5 would suit your needs well. All 3 pickups have very tight bass response and really rip on the leads. The demon has a very tight bass that is still percussive and present while the full shred's bass can tend to get lost a little. However the full shred will give you a great lead tone.

For the neck position I would go with a Jazz, fullshred or alnico II pro.

 

[FuseG4]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

I'm pretty into punk but not metal as much. The tones can get pretty similar but metal is higher gain and maybe more clarity is needed.

I use my Duncan Custom Custom for Bad Religion a lot. For early stuff like Suffer and No Control I just roll back my tone a bit and use a medium to medium high amount of gain. I use the middle position (A Dimarzio Air Classic neck) with the neck volume rolled back to get a lil more lows into my sound for stuff like Anesthesia.

Under high gain in the middle position you can get good tones like Process of Belief and Empire stuff, that modern very buzzsaw-ish tone. great for riffs like Kyoto Now! and Let Them Eat War

I use the air classic to get that low end clarity and tubular warmth and the custom custom for the gain and serious cut. It's a sweet combo.

On a side note, listening to BR is what got me into playing the guitar, so it's easy for me to use their music as examples of the tones I can get.

So i have to recommend putting one of the custom series in with a PAF style. If you get the gain out of your amp, you can get really articulate. palm mutes dont mush together and solos sound three dimensional.

 

[Dirtyking]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

I have 2 SG's which are mid heavy guitars. I suggest a pup with balanced highs and lows with a little scooped mids. The Custom, Custom 5, Demon and '59 will get you there for the bridge. PG or '59 for the neck. My personal favorite set is the PG/Custom combo. I can get a real cool Stoner/Doom tone with these pups. I can play anything from Zeppelin and Sabbath to Prong and Slayer with this combo.

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

I have an old SG-bodied LP, with PAFs. Something PAF-ish will sound good in it, but I'd love to try something like a Distortion, Invader, Tone Zone, Super 3, or the like. I have a feeling a super hot pickup would totally smoke in it.

 

[OjoRojo]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

This is all very helpful. What are these new Blackout pickups? Would those be good for a metal sound?

Dirtyking: what kind of amp are you running with the PG/custom combo?

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

The only set I've tried in a guitar (agathis, not really mahogany) was the Hot Rodded combo. If this is your first set, my opinion is that this is the best one to start with if you want versatility and a good split sound. I sold this guitar (sadly) and now I have a Showmaster with the '59/PG+ combo.

Beyond this, I'd go with a PAF-ish combo if not the Hot Rodded combo. This would be a '59 / Custom set, in my opinion. Both the JB and Custom do metal very well.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

I'd run a custom in the bridge and a distortion neck model in the neck.

 

[fullfistrock21]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

try replacing the pots and capacitors first....then see if you like it. 500k cts pots and different caps can make a bigger difference than you think....gibson stock pickups usually sound better this way anyways it might make you want to keep your pickups and itll save you money too. if you do decide to replace the pickups too youll have better stuff in your guitar already....win win situation

 

[Dirtyking]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

Dirtyking: what kind of amp are you running with the PG/custom combo?

A few actually. A Mesa Recto half stack(my bands gear), an old tube Randall half stack(my favorite) and an old JCM 800 1x12 combo.

And right now I have a '59 neck paired with the custom bridge. A very stoney setup.

 

[OjoRojo]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

Well it sounds like the '59n/Custom for me. Thank you everyone for your help. It will probably be a month or 2 until I get them and when I do I will post the results.

:beerchug:

 

[ChickenFingers]

Re: Gibson SG standard pickups question...

try replacing the pots and capacitors first....then see if you like it. 500k cts pots and different caps can make a bigger difference than you think....gibson stock pickups usually sound better this way anyways it might make you want to keep your pickups and itll save you money too. if you do decide to replace the pickups too youll have better stuff in your guitar already....win win situation

Are the stock Sg pots, 250k's? I just bought a SG G400.