Metal pickups

[Cynical]

Re: Metal pickups

You want to add that bass later in the signal generally (EDIT: this is assuming that tightness is a goal. For early '90s kinds of downtuned death metal, where you need it to be a bit looser to get the right feel, none of this applies). Instead of going with a more bassy pickup, you'll be better off either turning down attack on that PD or turning bass up on your amp. The reason more bass can make your tone loose has nothing to do with the amount of bass frequencies on their own (bass amps produce more low frequencies than a guitar amp ever will and stay tighter in general...), but rather how bass interacts with your various gain stages. If you add the bass after a majority of your gain stages, you'll stay tighter than if you added a similar-sounding amount of bass before them.

 

[dxlxntxxlxr]

Re: Metal pickups

If you thought the D-Activator had no balls in the low end, avoid the Ragnarok bridge or the Nazgul.

I mostly play six strings in B standard tuning. Pegasus works great down in that tuning.

Another option that's been discontinued but you can find used on EBay or Reverb on the cheap is an old Carvin M22SD. Loads of beef, high output, good clarity.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1i4tLeMc3cw2GAXOnXcZWoUGOL1AGHv15 -- here's some comparisons a friend and I did through my Twin Jet with his Ibanez loaded with a Pegasus in the bridge and my Kiesel with an M22SD in the bridge. Sorry for some of the awful playing (his Ibby fell out of tune right after I started on the "channel 2" track and I didn't feel like restarting the recording; also, I was having a hard time finding the bridge for palm mutes since I'd never played that guitar before and it was sitting a bit weirdly on me), but it should at least get you a tonal idea. Full signal chain was guitar -> Ibanez TS9 -> Bogner Twin Jet -> Bogner Uberkab -> SM57, direct mic'd, at edge of dustcap.

The nazgul has a ridiculously huge low end idk what ur talking about. and the ragnarok isnt the same level of thinness as the dactivator

 

[6stringerguy]

Metal pickups

Yeah I initially used a bass at 5 on my amp with a tight pickup and subtle bit of TS9 but it may it lifeless and thin while dialling a lot of bass on the amp and using a very tight signal going in seems to give it a little more focus in the low mids and general punch, if I was playing in Drop C all the time I’d dial the bright down to 40% but at the moment I alternate between having it between 50-70% and tweaking the treble on my amp accordingly.
At the moment I’m also really enjoying the
Precision running at
Volume: Max
Attack: Max
Bright: 50%
Drive: Min
When the Engl in 20 watt mode is running somewhat in the region of
Gain:6
Bass:7
Mids:8
Treble:7
Presence:8
Channel Volume:2
Master volume:5
Edit:tweaked the attack back slightly to 5 out of 6

 

[EDX]

Re: Metal pickups

since you mentioned feared you might as well get a set of seymour duncan solar pickups, or a distortion mayhem set (which is what i think ola based them off)

anyway, for the whole death and thrash thing you don't want to sound like the guy next door, and what a lot of guys from those genres have done (ola englund inlcuded) is start trying to nail a tone you love to hell and once there tweak it to make it yours, that last part is what i'm currently trying to do with the dimebucker and the stupid amount of drive pedals i have.

btw, thrash metal and death metal is the territory where a tube screamer set as a boost into a marshall or peavey can be rather determiental if you can't stand out in the crowd of ts boosted marshalls and peaveys, also using a distortion pedal with some gain onto an already driven amp is totally good

 

[dxlxntxxlxr]

Re: Metal pickups

Distortion set isnt great in terms of clarity, plus theyre crazy high output. Solar is based off a custom 5/59 set which is insanely scooped

 

[6stringerguy]

Re: Metal pickups

I’ll make clear of some pickups that I dislike, the d-activators are a little weak in my opinion, tweaking the pole piece height remedied that though, still a little weird in my opinion,just doesn’t have enough punch.
On the other side of the spectrum the invaders are a flubby mess in anything below drop D in my experience, d-activators sound a hell of a lot better in D than E for example.
Alpha/Omega and the modern BareKnuckle tone are my main favourites at the moment

 

[Van Noord]

Re: Metal pickups

I wouldn't say the Dactivator is necessarily weak in the low-end, it just isn't overly thick or boomy like other modern high output bridge pickups can be. Its a clear, cutting, hot bridge pick up modeled after the 81, not a fat sounding sledgehammer type pickup.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Metal pickups

D-Activators aren't weak, but they are unforgiving of slop.

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[6stringerguy]

Re: Metal pickups

D-Activators aren't weak, but they are unforgiving of slop.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

I feel that they’re great for things like thrash, but not much else in my opinion, love the neck pickup though.
I’m not going to claim I’m a fantastic player, i am rather sloppy.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Metal pickups

If your chops are perfect, the D-Activator is great for technical stuff. I actually don't consider it great for thrash, it's too tight. I think that it as a huge low end, but not much low mids.

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[Van Noord]

Re: Metal pickups

I feel that they’re great for things like thrash, but not much else in my opinion, love the neck pickup though.
I’m not going to claim I’m a fantastic player, i am rather sloppy.

They excell at downtuned modern metal too. Lots of players like the 7string versions too because they handle the added low-end from the beefy strings and low tuning with ease. Lots of clarity, sharp attack, even leveled midrange and fast tracking.
But I agree that they can sound and perform unfavorably in standard or half step down tunings. But it does shine once you tune lower to a whole step down, 1 & 1/2 steps down or use a 7 string.

 

[6stringerguy]

Re: Metal pickups

They excell at downtuned modern metal too. Lots of players like the 7string versions too because they handle the added low-end from the beefy strings and low tuning with ease. Lots of clarity, sharp attack, even leveled midrange and fast tracking.
But I agree that they can sound and perform unfavorably in standard or half step down tunings. But it does shine once you tune lower to a whole step down, 1 & 1/2 steps down or use a 7 string.

If you say it’s good for the low tunings I may replace with a X2N and use it for the Drop B guitar.

 

[EDX]

Re: Metal pickups

also you could go with something unorthodox like a pearly gates or whole lotta set and just crank some extra boost, i'm a defender of high output pickups but those 2 sets are really some of the very few low output vintage toned pickups that sound brutal for metal