Help with pickups.

[FatFish]

I need some advice about the pickups i should chose,
But first, i don't even know if its worth the money of putting new pickups in my guitar, its a Ibanez GSA60, indeed not the greatest guitar(understatement).
Its just a beginer guitar and i don't know if putting 300 dollars worth of pickups in there is going to be worth it.
So if someone could enlighten me a bit i would apreciate it.

Though if it would be worth it, witch pickups should i chose?
I'm playing through a Marshall JCM2000 TSL602 and mostley play metal.
It's a SSH configuration so not the greatest set up for metal.
I was thinking about a JB in the bridge and some Hot Rails in the neck, don't know what to put in the middle, maybe another Hot Rails?

But i really don't know that much about pickups anyway, i dont even know if its possible

It doesn't have to be duncan pickups, dimarzio's are ok to if someone would advise those.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Help with pickups.

Welcome to the forum!

I'd only replace the pickups if you love the guitar but don't like the pickups in it now.

One of my favorite Strats is my MIJ Squire! I paid $180 for it and then put Duncan SSL-1's in it. It plays beautifully and has a great resonant tone.

So you need to decide if you have a jewel in the rough or not.

If you do, then the JB would be a great start and probably make a huge improvement over whatever you have in there now.

For metal, I'm thinking you'd want some hot single coils or mini-humbuckers in a Strat size. Maybe something like the Little 59's or JB Jrs?

 

[tone4days]

Re: Help with pickups.

welcome

lew's advice about the guitar is spot on .. if you really like it how it feels and sounds, upgrade to enhance the tone ...

you say that you play heavy metal ... and that is a good start to letting us know how to help you .. but it is only a start ... if you can tell us what you do not like about your current pickups, we can recommend how to move you in the direction you want to go .. also, let us know what kind of tone you are looking for in each pickup position ... a last resort might be to tell us which famous guys / bands tone you are aiming for ... and do you play mostly rhythm or also lead / solos?

all that said, an S-S-H guitar can be killer for metal ... and a JB is a good start ...
a couple of hot rails would go very well with it ...

cheers
t4d

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Help with pickups.

I agree with Lew on this one.

If you want to figure out if you want to keep it or not, I would recommend you have it set up properly with your favorite brand of strings and play it unplugged.

If it resonates well, sounds good unplugged, feels good in your hands and has no dead spots on the neck or bad frets, you have a keeper.

A JB in the bridge would be good for what you want, along with a pair of Lil 59's. Another option would be a Custom in the bridge, a Cool Rails in the neck, and either a Cool Rails in the mid, or for a more traditional strat sound in the notch positions, a Vintage Rail.

Also, keep in mind that Ibanez does not usually use the best pots and switches on that series of guitars. I would plan on isntalling a pair CTS 500k pots and a quality switch. :burnout:

 

[Kommerzbassist]

Re: Help with pickups.

Welcome to the forum!
One of my favorite Strats is my MIJ Squire! I paid $180 for it and then put Duncan SSL-1's in it. It plays beautifully and has a great resonant tone.

Hehe me too... those squiers often have better sounding body or whatever than Fenders imo... I've got a really good Squier Strat

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Help with pickups.

The other guys are right, if you like the looks, feel and playability of the guitar than it will do no harm to upgrade it. I'd go with a set of lil 59s for the neck and middle if you wanted small buckers. If you want stratty sound but no hum go with the classic or hot stacks. If not; a Custom or Hot set, for more plucky tone and versatility I'd go with the APS1 or APS2 so.

We can help you more if you'll tell us what kinds of tones you want from your pups.

Luke

 

[FatFish]

Re: Help with pickups.

Thx for the reply's guys, i apreciate it.

I really do like my guitar it plays great unplugged, and i'm going to buy another guitar someday en then i wanted to juice my GSA60 up a bit so i could use it as a secondary unit.
So if i have the money now why not invest some in there while i can.
My main worry was that the hardware in the cheap guitar wasn't gonna do justice to the pickups, but if i change the tone pot and switch i should have half a decent guitar then?

And about the sound, wel...
I'm a rythm guitar player, although i solo too, my sound is more based around playing riffs then having a nice singing solo voice.
I also like the 80's distortion sound better then the rectified tight sound most metal/rock has now, thats why i bought a Marshall, it has that nice saggy tone.
And what i don't like about the pickups now is that, the guitar is either verry high on the treble or verry muffled.
And if i could name someone who's tone i really like its Mike Chlasciak(metal mike)'s tone on the Halford - Insurrection(live) album.
And i know he uses JB's too.

Thanks for the help, for now i think i should go for the JB in the bridge and the 2 little 59's in the neck and middle.

Thanks for the help, further advice is apreciated, nice forum, friendley community.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Help with pickups.

sounds like a plan ! ...

let us know how you make out

oh, and you probably want to swap out all the pots, the switch, the capacitor, and maybe even the output jack too

good luck
t4d

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Help with pickups.

Fatfish,

Your last post REALLY helped us out in diagnosing your pup problem.

First of all I'd recommend replacing the pots, and caps. The switch is not near as big of a deal. I'd go with 500ks if I was going with hot singles or single sized buckers. If your guitar sounds too trebley and muffled at the same time my guess is that the pots are part of the problem. Buckers can sound muffled with 250k pots, and low output singles too bright with 500ks. For the cap job I'd replace the stock cap with an orange drop .022uF cap.

Pups, like stated earlier you have A LOT of options. The JB is a good choice for a h/s/s setup b/c it does well with 250k pots, that's what Seymour designed it with.

If you are having overwhelming treble problems I'd go with the Custom Custom in the bridge. This will give you more mids due to the A2 magnet. It won't be as hot as the JB or Dist. If you want to go with singles in the N/M I'd go APS.

Luke

 

[FatFish]

Re: Help with pickups.

So i should get the 250K pot? or the 500K pot? if i would take the JB/59/59 configuration.

Then i would need:
2 CTS 250K/500K pots
1 New input jack(any suggestions?)
1 Orange drop .022uF cap
1 5 Way switch(any suggestions?)

If i'm gonna do this i'm gonna do this right and get the best electronics out there, so what would you recommend for the input jack and 5 way switch?

 

[skyydogg01]

Re: Help with pickups.

you have 500k pots in there now. but upgrading to cts's will help a bunch. you won't have to change the jack, and the switch should be ok unless you are having very loud clicks between pickups. As far as pickups, the JB will sound great in that guitar, coupled with the marshall, you should be able to coax some deftones out of that setup. as far as the singles, i'd suggest a hotrail in the neck and a coolrail in the middle. you will have one versatile setup that'll get you from nice clean to kick your ass dirty.

I have the GRX40 (same guitar with a thicker body and a pickguard) and i got several great comments about my tone. one guy even said i had "incredible tone."

I'd also point out that you will need the trem spaced version of the JB (the TB-4) as opposed to the regular spaced (SH-4).

 

[FatFish]

Re: Help with pickups.

Well if i'm going to fix up the guitar i might as wel replace the jack and switch with some higher end gear.
And about the JB, what exactley is the difference between the TB-4 and the SH-4?
Just the dimensions or more?

Now i'm stuck chosing between the JB/59/59 or JB/CoolRails/HotRails
If anyone thinks a certain combination is better, tell me, cause i'm not gonna be able to pick otherwise.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: Help with pickups.

Switchcraft for the jacks and switch if you are going all out. Another small thing to consider is good hook up wire. I used Vintage style hookup wire on my strat and the fact that I could push it close to solder joints made for neater looking work. But any good quality wire will work.

JacksonMIA has a cool rails n and hot rails in the middle, it sounds pretty good. If you go with that set up you can toy with which goes where until you get a tone you like. The pups are both very bassy too. If you want a more even sound though go with the lil59 set.

Luke