Hard fast pickup guidelines?

Shadow1psc

Shadow1psc

New member
So I've watched the Keith Marrow comparison video for SD Metal pickups. As described in his video, a baritone guitar is a pretty big exception when following normal pickup selecting guidelines, but I'm wondering;

Are there such guidelines? For instance, when watching the video in question, three pickups absolutely stood out to me as winners, for a sound that I personally would like. They were the Alternate 8, the Dimebucker, and the Fire Blackouts. Far and away, I could be doing something completely different with the clips rotating in the background, and I'd know instantly when one of those three came up.

They obviously share some sort of characteristic I imagine? If I like the way they sound in that setup, I don't have anything that comes close to replicating that environment, but is there a guideline where if I said I like the way those three pickups sound, and I want to get something similar out of a modern high gain amp with a very light and thin swamp ash ESP Horizon, is it easy enough for someone experienced here, or at the SD shop to tell me "Well, you should use X pickup in that scale/wood/body type"?

I'm really wanting to upgrade the stock pickups literally of five different guitars, but I'd like to narrow my options with as little mucking around with swaps as possible. It's not that I don't love to tinker, I really do, but I work 12 hour days and just don't have the time is the problem.
 
Re: Hard fast pickup guidelines?

Honestly, the all three of those pickups are EXTREMELY different. The Alternative 8 kinda feels like a pickup that lets the amp do all the work in the gain department if you know what I mean. From what I've heard the Dimebucker is almost polar opposite of that.
 
Re: Hard fast pickup guidelines?

That was my initial reaction. In that particular video though (Maybe I'd need to hear them side by side), they're the only ones that pique my interest, but they all sounded like a tone I would love (maybe not exactly the same), but I guess the best way to put it is that they sound more focused than every other option. I'm not good with tone descriptors, but I think what I'm hearing is maybe a more scooped sound? The same amp and EQ settings were used in the same guitar for each pickup, probably even to the same heights.

Here's the video for reference -
(www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryzie8mham8)
 
Re: Hard fast pickup guidelines?

Yeah but I think this is the rig which makes everything sound mostly the same and only the most extreme pickups can cut through.

Not that there is anything wrong with overkill pickups through such a rig, can sound great.
 
Re: Hard fast pickup guidelines?

Maybe that's the ticket too, but in that kinda rig with that kind of song/mix, that's what I would look for first, the Dimebucker in particular seems to cut through the clearest to my ears, if that makes sense?
 
Re: Hard fast pickup guidelines?

^^ That's really what the Dime was designed to do. To cut.

The Fire set are active so they too are going to have a certain clarity about them. I thought the Alt 8 was awesome when it was first released, but the more experience I have with it, the more I notice what is lacking from it. Mainly mids. There isn't a lot of cut or definition. Great for chording and tight rhythm, but falls on its face for leads.
 
Re: Hard fast pickup guidelines?

pinto79 said:
^^ That's really what the Dime was designed to do. To cut.

The Fire set are active so they too are going to have a certain clarity about them. I thought the Alt 8 was awesome when it was first released, but the more experience I have with it, the more I notice what is lacking from it. Mainly mids. There isn't a lot of cut or definition. Great for chording and tight rhythm, but falls on its face for leads.
Click to expand...

So I figure my rough assessment of the Alternate 8 being a scooped thrash-metal type sound is accurate enough. I've been the kind of player that always likes a tight rhythm in my humbucker, and is going to kick it over to the neck for solos. For instance, the Dimarzio Liquifire is in my RG470 and it's sitting at just about the perfect balance for me, and I do love the crunchlab for that guitar and in progressive applications, but for a balls-to-the-wall chunk, I'm thinking one of those 3 sets, and I wish I could try them all in my ESP because it's a fairly unique guitar compared to the rest of mine, and I could imagine will have an impact on the tone.
 
Re: Hard fast pickup guidelines?

Down tuning + thicker gauge strings. Pickups with cut/definition/clarity like the three you mentioned (and also Full Shred) get the benefit of this approach while other pickups might get muddy/mushy. Just my 2 cents.
 
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