help choosing a passive pickup for metal

tongpo2000

New member
I'm having a really hard time choosing a passive pickup for my guitar.
I don't want to deal with active pickups and i keep hearing that the passive emg hz pups suck. So I was leaning torwards the JB, but after reading through these forums i think the DD may be better for me.

I only want a pickup for the bridge of my guitar. It's a jackson kelly tuned to open D. DGCFAD It's going to be used to play children of bodom, arch enemy, type music. Thrash/border line death metal. I'm playing through a 5150 head and cab. I need a decent tone for solos and riffing.

Some people say the JBs can do this type of metal and some say they're more
hard rock.

Can someone give me some advice based on my info here. I'm driving myself crazy reading all these threads with mixed opinions.

thanks
 
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Re: help choosing a passive pickup for metal

OK, i have DD set in my schecter and it pwns all passives for metal. Metal is all i play so yea, it will be great for ya. The DD has more bass then the JB, and jacksons are fairly light guitars, so it should sound awesome. I most people that i have read reviews from on the DD put it in their Jackson or Ibanez, and those are both fairly light guitars compared to my schecter (which is heavy as hell) and they all loved it. Alexi from CoB uses EMG Hz and the DD sounds better then that i think, and i am pretty sure its hotter. Either way, I highly suggest the DD over the JB, but thats just me. BTW your amp rules, and the DD will go perfect with it. Look up some other distortion threads. Have Fun!
 
Re: help choosing a passive pickup for metal

Well, sorry to use this topic for my question, but doesn't the JB have enough bass in a mahogany body?
 
Re: help choosing a passive pickup for metal

Tell Dave Mustaine the JB isn't for metal. I think the fact that he uses it and has a very distinct and nice tone is enough testimony on that.
 
Re: help choosing a passive pickup for metal

you are right ErikH, and people say Judas Priest used the JB on "Painkiller", and that's pretty metal together with Megadeth.
 
Re: help choosing a passive pickup for metal

I think they did. Judas Priest = Metal Gods !!!
 
Re: help choosing a passive pickup for metal

I think you'd be best off with the custom, if you have a decent guitar. At the end of the day, any pickup can do metal, with a decent enough amp. With the custom, you cover all your bases, and you can get a lot more tone. Back in the 80s, they used PAF type pickups for a lot of metal, not super powered distortion pickups. Just my two cents.
 
Re: help choosing a passive pickup for metal

I'm guessing the Kelly is the KE-3, which would make it an alder with maple bolton. It'll be fairly bright with a JB. I'd suggest a Custom. It'll have an insanely tight low end, great highs, perfect mids, and it'll sound great for Bodom and Arch Enemy. With a 5150, you don't need a high output pickup, so the Custom is perfect.
 
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