pedalinbob
New member
Yup, another "which pickup for me" thread.
I have been lurking for quite some time, and have searched and read a great deal of info. I am impressed with the quiality of this forum--you folks seem very cool.
I apologize in advance for a long first post.
Anyway, I am a casual player, not gigging any more. I play at home for fun, usually through a J-Station, or into a modded Peavey Classic 30. I also have a little Marshall MG 15 DFX. Not great gear, but it works ok. I want a nicer tube amp, but family comes first--always.
My style is 80's and 90's rock: Dokken, VH, Yngwie, Ratt, etc. I don't play any of the super-heavy new detuned stuff. My playing is fairly fast and articulate, so I despise mushy tone. However, I also dislike a highly compressed tone. I like a vintage-y tone, with a touch of modern.
I have a Malmsteen strat with the stock HS-3's. Great guitar. I will change nothing on it, except the strings.
My "beater guitar" is a basswood Ibanez RG470 which was a gift from my brother-in-law. I use this guitar to test new pickups, and can change them in under 30 minutes once the iron is hot.
I love to test pickups because they give so much bang-for-the-buck, tone wise.
I have tried:
Stock PUPs: inarticulate and harsh.
EMG 81b/85n: very articulate and clear, but pretty compressed. They sounded "pre-sweetened", like each note was the same as far as inflection. They seemed sterile, and difficult to nuance. I also tried the 85 in the bridge: better, more open...but still not to my taste.
Dimarzio Tonezone: Fat. Way too fat, and inarticulate for my needs. Fast bass lines (like Deja-Vu by Yngwie) blurred together. Perhaps I should have played around with the EQ more.
Dimarzio PAF-Pro: Pretty nice. Still have it in the neck, sometimes in the bridge. Articulate, not very powerful. A bit mushy on low-end. Nice open and very pretty tone. One of my favorites. It encourages me to really dig in and be expressive.
Dimarzio Fred: Much like the PAF-Pro, but a bit more complex. Sounded kinda hi-fi, and very modern. Too modern for my taste, yet still very nice. Traded it for an Evolution 2.
Dimarzio Evolution: Similar to the EMG 81, a bit sterile. Pretty compressed, a real screamer. A pretty nice pickup, but it does seem to lack character, and has that dreaded upper-mid spike that I couldn't seem to EQ out. Funny that this bothers me, because I tend to like a lot of presence.
Dimarzio Evolution 2: A much warmer version of the original Evolution, but it still has a similar EQ. I still use it, and it is a very nice pickup, really. More musical and a bit less compressed than the original, but it still seems at times to be more powerful and more "modern" than I like.
I have determined that I generally do not like high-output pickups, preferring low to medium output. I am not fearful of mids, and hate a loose or boomy low-end, equally hating overly-compressed tone.
So...the question is: Which Duncan is recommended for the bridge (I mostly use the bridge)?
I have been considering the 59 (I believe there are 2 versions), the Screamin' Demon, A Custom and the JB.
I did try a JB (in a Schecter) at Guitar center through a Mesa, and did not like it. The low end seemed terribly un-defined. I admit that I didnt get to tweak the EQ/pup height, string guage, etc, etc.
A cheapie Squire strat sounded better to my ears. Odd, huh?
Thoughts from the Duncan pickup gurus?
Bob
I have been lurking for quite some time, and have searched and read a great deal of info. I am impressed with the quiality of this forum--you folks seem very cool.
I apologize in advance for a long first post.
Anyway, I am a casual player, not gigging any more. I play at home for fun, usually through a J-Station, or into a modded Peavey Classic 30. I also have a little Marshall MG 15 DFX. Not great gear, but it works ok. I want a nicer tube amp, but family comes first--always.
My style is 80's and 90's rock: Dokken, VH, Yngwie, Ratt, etc. I don't play any of the super-heavy new detuned stuff. My playing is fairly fast and articulate, so I despise mushy tone. However, I also dislike a highly compressed tone. I like a vintage-y tone, with a touch of modern.
I have a Malmsteen strat with the stock HS-3's. Great guitar. I will change nothing on it, except the strings.
My "beater guitar" is a basswood Ibanez RG470 which was a gift from my brother-in-law. I use this guitar to test new pickups, and can change them in under 30 minutes once the iron is hot.
I love to test pickups because they give so much bang-for-the-buck, tone wise.
I have tried:
Stock PUPs: inarticulate and harsh.
EMG 81b/85n: very articulate and clear, but pretty compressed. They sounded "pre-sweetened", like each note was the same as far as inflection. They seemed sterile, and difficult to nuance. I also tried the 85 in the bridge: better, more open...but still not to my taste.
Dimarzio Tonezone: Fat. Way too fat, and inarticulate for my needs. Fast bass lines (like Deja-Vu by Yngwie) blurred together. Perhaps I should have played around with the EQ more.
Dimarzio PAF-Pro: Pretty nice. Still have it in the neck, sometimes in the bridge. Articulate, not very powerful. A bit mushy on low-end. Nice open and very pretty tone. One of my favorites. It encourages me to really dig in and be expressive.
Dimarzio Fred: Much like the PAF-Pro, but a bit more complex. Sounded kinda hi-fi, and very modern. Too modern for my taste, yet still very nice. Traded it for an Evolution 2.
Dimarzio Evolution: Similar to the EMG 81, a bit sterile. Pretty compressed, a real screamer. A pretty nice pickup, but it does seem to lack character, and has that dreaded upper-mid spike that I couldn't seem to EQ out. Funny that this bothers me, because I tend to like a lot of presence.
Dimarzio Evolution 2: A much warmer version of the original Evolution, but it still has a similar EQ. I still use it, and it is a very nice pickup, really. More musical and a bit less compressed than the original, but it still seems at times to be more powerful and more "modern" than I like.
I have determined that I generally do not like high-output pickups, preferring low to medium output. I am not fearful of mids, and hate a loose or boomy low-end, equally hating overly-compressed tone.
So...the question is: Which Duncan is recommended for the bridge (I mostly use the bridge)?
I have been considering the 59 (I believe there are 2 versions), the Screamin' Demon, A Custom and the JB.
I did try a JB (in a Schecter) at Guitar center through a Mesa, and did not like it. The low end seemed terribly un-defined. I admit that I didnt get to tweak the EQ/pup height, string guage, etc, etc.
A cheapie Squire strat sounded better to my ears. Odd, huh?
Thoughts from the Duncan pickup gurus?
Bob
