My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

[Nay Gray]

Hey all you Seymour Duncan forum dwellers, I have a question that I would really appreciate a little help with. I am on the verge of switching out my oem, "Duncan Designed" pick ups for the real deal and I was hoping some of you might be able to point me in the right direction.

My guitar is a Hamer archtop made in Korea, with an all mahogany body and neck and a maple top. Pretty much like a nicer Epiphone LP copy. I am running that through a Peavey 6505 mostly.

I am writing material for a progressive metal band and I need that brutal metal tone but I absolutely can not afford to sacrifice my clean tone! So here is my problem... which pickups to use so that I can cover metal riffs and leads and have crystal clear fingerpicked clean sections as well.

My first impression is that an SH-10 in the bridge and a SH-2 neck model would do the trick but I'm sure someone around here has some more experience. Thanks in advance.

 

[Diocletian]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

Well, first off, I'm not at all sure your Hamer import is a "nicer Epiphone LP", it wouldn't be nicer in any way than my Epi Black Beauty, but never mind that! :lol:

I'd suggest, since you want metal, get a Duncan Distortion for the bridge, and a Jazz for the neck. The clean tones from the neck or neck/middle will do you, especially if you add a coil split to the two pups which I'd recommend, and the bridge Distortion will do brutal metal all day.
If you want something cheaper for the bridge, look at the Bill Lawrence USA 500XL. It's awesome for metal.

 

[chill]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

Do you know which Duncan Designed HB's are in there now? Is it the JB/59n set?

Are you fingerpicking with the bridge or the neck pickup? If it's the bridge, you may want to look at the Custom series because of their mid dip, and the Full Shred is part of that series. Take the output down a notch and you're looking at the Screamin' Demon or the 59. More output with more mids and less bass, the JB or Distortion, though they do not do the greatest cleans IMO.

Neck pickup, Jazz is a good pick for clean tones, and I've heard the Full Shred neck is similar. Demon in the neck also might work for you, as it's a big bright PAF sound, though you may need to roll off the volume to keep the cleans crystal.

 

[Nay Gray]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

Do you know which Duncan Designed HB's are in there now? Is it the JB/59n set?

Are you fingerpicking with the bridge or the neck pickup?

I'm not sure which pickups are in there, but the cleans I get right now are pretty nice. When I put it through the 6505 gain channel with a tubescreamer up front it totally lacks definition though, which is why I would like to upgrade to a hotter bridge pickup with better response. Right now I do the fingerpicking with both pickups selected because it gives me a nice clean but warm tone, which I can tweak to sound almost like an acoustic.

And about the Hamer vs. Epiphone, I meant it's pretty much the same thing as the LP copies they make with the flamed maple tops in various colors. The Black Beauty is definetly a nice guitar. I just wish I had the Gibson version though!

Thanks for the replies!

 

[chill]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

When I put it through the 6505 gain channel with a tubescreamer up front it totally lacks definition though, which is why I would like to upgrade to a hotter bridge pickup with better response.

-if it's the JB copy in there, it will be fairly compressed and have a trimmed up low end. Add that to a tubescreamer which will trim more low end and compress it more, and you may be headed for undefined mush. Or you may be slamming the front end of the pedal enough that it won't hold together. As a general rule, I've found pickups, pedals, and amps to be quite finicky.

-potential solution 1: find a pedal which can take your pickup's input, or mod yours for your pickup, e.g. increasing the input resistance to cut the level into the overdrive circuit;
-potential solution 2: a less compressed and/or lower output pickup. The Bill Lawrence which Diocletian mentioned would be a good pick (I can vouch for the Bill and Becky pup as being high output and non compressed, haven't tried the other one), as would lower output Duncans, or most Gibson pickups, although you will probably get some "rattle" with the gibbo's;
-potential solution 3: ditch the pedal and find a pickup and amp combo which works for you.

FWIW, I have an alder body, alder neck MIK Hamer Standard which had the Duncan Designed JB/59n set in it, and replaced them with a DD bridge and Demon in the neck. No pedals for overdrive, running into either a JCM800 style modded master volume 50W head, or the overdrive channel of a Mesa DC5 head. I also don't do much with clean sounds, mostly just use the neck pup turned down or both pups in parallel, and do not use the clean channel on the Mesa...who needs clean anyway? :lol:

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

A 6505 with a pedal in fron t of it should have plenty of gain. Assuming that's the case, I'd recommend something clean to keep your definition and not sacrifice your cleans. Personally, I found the Screamin Demon in the bridge and the APH in the neck to be a very nice combo in my Hamer. It could cover pretty much anything I wanted.

 

[oilpit]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

Well, first off, I'm not at all sure your Hamer import is a "nicer Epiphone LP", it wouldn't be nicer in any way than my Epi Black Beautyl.

Hamer>Epiphone

 

[xxxplorer]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

I would recomend either a Bill Lawrence L500XL (bill and Becky), or a duncan 59... the 59 really kicks but through a 6505, just roll the bass down a tad and bump the mids a little and it is super chunky and brutal.

The L500XL is just a high output but clean and open pickup... kinda like an EMG 81 with more personality I think...

I did not like the Distortion, JB, C 5(stay away!) or most gibson buckers... 500T is the exception... kinda like a grainier L500XL.

 

[mudpuppy]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

I use the SH2n/SH12b in my Epi LP. I think you would be very pleased with the Jazz neck. For what you want, I think that the Demon might be a little tame for your tastes. You probably want something a little hotter for the bridge. If you go with the Jazz neck, I highly recommend being able to split that pup to the slug coil. I'm using triple shots, but a push-pull would do the job equally well. You might want to check your string spacing before you decide on regular or trembucker spacing on the bridge pup.

 

[Mark Le Comte]

Re: My first time switching out from stock... help me find the right combo

I am running my Hamer archtop with a tapped H sized p90 (vintage vibe HS90) in the neck and a dimarzio A2VHPAF in the bridge with good results. Fair to say that I am not using this guitar for the same music as you though. The guitar is naturally quite bright.

In the duncan line, would lean towards a 59 neck and either a distorion or custom bridge.