Help with Ibanez S pickups

[Frankhenrylee]

Hello everyone!
I'm hoping you guys can give me a few suggestions on pickups for an Ibanez S. I have a Peavey Triple X amp and like to play metal, rock, and blues.
The current bridge pickup gets real muddy with high gain on the low strings and don't offer much harmonics on the high strings, but do have a good sound for lead. I'd like something very punchy and tight on the low end, but still retains a little smoothness of pick attack on the high end with good harmonics.
The neck pickup is also muddy. I like the sound of the Dimarzio Liquifire for this spot. Or any other pickups that might sound like their name suggests. Something with good gain, but smooth and able to clean up when I back the volume off.
I know listening to pickup demonstrations on YouTube videos is not the best, but I was listenining to Bareknuckle video and the Riff Raff had that nice punchy sound on the low end. I was surprised to read that it was a "vintage" sounding pickup. I thought it was a great metal sound. I also liked a Seymour Duncan Nazgul, but don't know if getting something specialized for metal will be very versatile.

Anyway, I know this is subjective, but just thought I'd reach out and see what folks on a pickup forum might suggest.

Thanks for the help!

 

[daenius]

Re: Help with Ibanez S pickups

You want the JB or the Custom family (besides the Custom Custom)! They have good clarity and harmonics, while giving you enough output for comfortable lead playing and for the genres you play.

If you want to get Dimarzio, definitely recommend the Evolution or Tone Zone.

 

[Frankhenrylee]

Re: Help with Ibanez S pickups

I'm not sure how this got double posted. If the moderator could help out with combining these that would be much appreciated!

 

[Frankhenrylee]

Re: Help with Ibanez S pickups

You want the JB or the Custom family (besides the Custom Custom)! They have good clarity and harmonics, while giving you enough output for comfortable lead playing and for the genres you play.

If you want to get Dimarzio, definitely recommend the Evolution or Tone Zone.

Thanks for the suggestions! In my double post, another suggested the 59, Hot Rod, and Mayhem set.

I figure most pickups are going to be an improvement. Just not sure with the S mahogany body being so much smaller than other guitars what will give it that punchy low end that's good for fast metal riffing. It may be that this guitar just doesn't really do that very well. I haven't tried it with a ton of different amps, but I haven't been able to get it to do it with any that I have tried. Leads me to believe it's the pickups or the guitar.

What's the opinion on high output vs mid output designs? What are the pros and cons?

 

[daenius]

Re: Help with Ibanez S pickups

Thanks for the suggestions! In my double post, another suggested the 59, Hot Rod, and Mayhem set.

I figure most pickups are going to be an improvement. Just not sure with the S mahogany body being so much smaller than other guitars what will give it that punchy low end that's good for fast metal riffing. It may be that this guitar just doesn't really do that very well. I haven't tried it with a ton of different amps, but I haven't been able to get it to do it with any that I have tried. Leads me to believe it's the pickups or the guitar.

What's the opinion on high output vs mid output designs? What are the pros and cons?

Punchy low end? Oh! You want the Distortion then! Which would be part of the Mayhem set! JB is part of the Hot Rod set, but JB doesn't have the same kind of deep punchy bass as the Distortion does.

Output level affects tone, responds to your playing, and how it pushes the amp! So that would depend on what kind of amp and genre of music you play.

I own both types so in a nutshell it goes something like this:

Medium output:
More "open sounding" due to lower windings of the pickups usually result in a less focused mid frequency response
More perceived "clarity" because again lower windings have a higher resonance peak, so you seem to hear more treble, and so you can get stuff like doing arpeggio with an open chord with distortion and you can hear each note: more note separation
Less compression because it's not pushing the front end of the amp as hard, this changes the pick attack and sustain. You'll find soloing high up on the neck to be more difficult with lower output pickups because of this, the notes seem to sustain less and decay faster, so which that's great for the percussive note clarity, you really gotta pick hard to have the notes stick around.
Less "full" sounding higher up on the neck with high strings. Less compression and mid range means high notes can sometimes sound a bit anemic.
Can sometimes be difficult to legato and tap with
Pinch harmonics won't sustain as long and won't squeal as hard
Easier to clean up. Roll down the volume and you can get a clean sound out of your amp without channel switching, because the pickup would not be sending enough signal energy to the preamp to overdrive the amp anymore.

High output:
Pushes your amp into overdrive very easily.
More immediate pick attacks and punchier sounding low end and mids due to the compression.
Longer sustain, especially for soloing up high on the neck.
Fuller, punchier, warmer sounding high notes
Easier tapping and legato
Full, fat, Zakk Wylde-sounding pinch harmonics
More difficult to get good note separation when playing arpeggios on open chords with distortion, but this actually depends on the pickup design, not all high outputs are like that.
Cleans up to a slightly crunchy clean when rolling down the volume.
Consistent, driving, punchy sounding palm mutes

For an Ibanez S series though, I would start with high output first. The S is a very, very thin guitar, combined with the rather bright sounding Ibanez Edge tremolo bridge, you're going to appreciate the added depth, warmth, and sustain that you get from a high output. This is particularly true for your genres of music.

 

[daenius]

Re: Help with Ibanez S pickups

I also want to add that the 59 bridge pickup is rather low output and isn't particularly known for having the tightest bass nor the punchiest low end. It's known for being a very clear and open sounding pickup with a bit of nice warmth to it. Works wonders in a Les Paul, but could end up being too bright in your S series. I'd say try something high output like the Distortion first, and then if you think that's too fat and overwhelming, look at something like the 59/Custom Hyrbid.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Help with Ibanez S pickups

My thought is the Jazz neck and the Custom 5 bridge. These would seem to address your problems.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Help with Ibanez S pickups

Which S model?

Careful you could end up getting a recommendation to swap in the exact same pickups already in there