Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

[rustinpeace91]

I have an Ash Body Ibanez RG471. It's a blast to play and is a great road guitar. However it just doesn't sound very good, despite having a very metal aesthetic and feel, the tone is very bright and ice-picky. Before I go ahead and just buy a new guitar I want to at least try swapping out the pickups on it to get rid of that twangy sound for something much darker. I was thinking of putting a JB in the bridge which is pretty standard, but I've watched some demonstrations of the SH-11 custom and am more impressed by what I see, particulary this video .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uX-zUhr0GI

However the one thing i've Never seen anyone in any of these videos do is palm mute. My band goes into full thrash territory and I want to be sure that I won't be buying pickups that are extremely muddy when palm muting. Does anyone have any experience with SH-11s? Can they do thrash stuff?

 

[Steve R.]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

Between the two, I would go with the Custom Custom. Putting a JB into an inherently bright guitar when you want to warm it up would be a step in the wrong direction, IMHO.

 

[UnWind]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

Yeah, I agree putting a JB is only going to make it brighter. I feel like you may want to look into a Dimarzio Tone Zone or the Duncan Invader.

I can personally say from experience that the Tone Zone helped tame an extremely bright Schecter I had. I tried many pickups in it before I finally settled on the Tone Zone, it sounds great and splits well too!

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

cc

 

[chadd]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

A 250k pot may help tame the brightness as well.

 

[Heaven&Hell]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

Dimarzio super distortion or tone zone


Metal for life!!

 

[elelpe]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

I feel like you may want to look into a Dimarzio Tone Zone or the Duncan Invader.

+1

Sounds like job for Invader or Tone Zone.

 

[Gibson 1964]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

A JB has a lot of high mids, while it might not do the trick exactly, it might not come off icepicky either as it seems to me as ash comes off more spiky in a range the JB does round off. Assuming it has stock pickups it could be the case that the guitar has a good amount of treble, and almost no bass or mids and that a bump in those ranges would de-icepick it.

However, I would throw in the mix the Alt-8. That or a custom and a few magnets, so you can try an a8/a5/a2/ceramic/a9 or whatever(I would venture a guess that a2, and a8 might be the best matches). Another pickup that comes to mind is the PATB-2 distortion. It is somewhat smooth, defined harmonics and screams metal without being harsh.

If you wanted to go crazy, a slug would do the job nicely too.

 

[rustinpeace91]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

Yeah, I agree putting a JB is only going to make it brighter. I feel like you may want to look into a Dimarzio Tone Zone or the Duncan Invader.

I can personally say from experience that the Tone Zone helped tame an extremely bright Schecter I had. I tried many pickups in it before I finally settled on the Tone Zone, it sounds great and splits well too!

someone made a demo of the tone zone with the exact guitar I have (well mine doesn't have the trem system on it, but almost)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNpUhryMeNg

It actually seems to add more brightness and twang to it, so I think I'll pass on that one

One option that I'm considering right now though is the Dimarzio Titan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2KCFBKlho4

I really like the way it sounds in every demo i've watched, but I play in standard so I don't know how well it would translate

 

[elelpe]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

Bright ash mates well with Invader. It adds edginess to dark Invader.

 

[rustinpeace91]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

I went with the SH-11. I'm pretty happy with it. It gets that Thomas Gabriel Fisher sound almost instantly and the twang is gone. my only issue is that the palm mutes are a bit muddy. That said I haven't actually tried it out on my backstair HT60 yet, I'm sure if I do some EQing, high volume mid gain knob turning and maybe an over drive pedal I'll be able to get the sound I want. Honestly though I think a lot of that comes from the fact that it's a cheaper guitar with a bolt on neck. When it comes time to record hopefully I'll have enough money for something with a neck through construction (or set) with either mahogany or alder (looking at an ESP Eclipse, Jackson Soloist or an ESP Horizon, something high quality with lots of sustain and a fast neck) In the meantime, as someone who has the philosophy that a distorted guitar should sound like a barking pitbull, i'm glad my Ibanez is more "me" than it was before.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Looking to darken the sound of an ash body RG: SH-4 (JB) or SH-11?

Try replacing the fillister screws with hex heads. That will tighten up the bass a bit.