Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

S

Shooweri

New member
Hi guys! I need you help to decide to which neck pickup I should get for my Ibby PGM. I've tried couple neck humbuckers on this guitar from Duncan products. 59 had nice and warm bass but sounded bland, had no midrange and had pronounced highend that was too icepicky. Jazz was similar to 59 but even worse since it was brighter in general. P-Rails was kinda nice with warm bass and pleasant midrange but had too bright treble frequencies. Full Shred was nice and fluid under high gain but didn't have the warmth I'm after. Alnico 2 Pro, which is currently installed, has bit too much midrange and isn't warm enough; it has similarities to a strat neck pickup and has a bit less output that I like. I've tried all pickups rotated 180 degrees with no luck and swapped all sorts of magnets in them.

I need a pickup which has 4-conductor cable since I run my humbuckers into 5-way super switch to autosplit them when combined with middle single (SSL-1). I've Alnico 4 Perpetual Burn in bridge position that I love. Guitar has 250k volume pot for reduced highend and no tone pot. The amp I'm using is Atomic Amplifire (Friedman HBE sim) which I use to record in my home studio.

With this guitar I play mostly with distortion and use volume pot and pickup selections to get clean sound. I play everything from classic rock to metal with occasional blues/funk flavours. Oh yeah, I also like to shred on this guitar... A lot!

Guitar's specs are Basswood body, maple neck with maple fretboard, 24 frets, fixed bridge.

I'm looking for a neck humbucker that has warmth of 59 with bit more mids and softer high end frequencies. The pickups I'm interested in are Whole Lotta Humbucker, Benedetto A6 and Alnico 2 Pro Slash (if I can get one with 4-conductor wire). Which one I should get?

Thanks for your help!

PGMsmall.jpg
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

Whole Lotta Neck would be your best bet with a Perpetual Burn Bridge. I wouldn't run it with a 250k pot though. It might do OK with a 300k pot if it actually reads near 300.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

I have Duncans in my Gibson and PRS guitars, but I never found combos I like in my Basswood Ibanez RG's. If I were actually trying to put together somehting for that guitar that does what you are asking, I would go for: Dimarzio Air Zone Bridge (or Tone Zone), Area 61 middle (or VV 54 Pro), Paf Pro neck (or Paf Joe).
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

Darker....hmmm.... ibz/usa dimarzios were pretty dark iirc

I didn't much like them, but maybe whoever spec'd then for the RGs shared your concerns
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

Thanks for your replies dudes!

This guitar had DiMarzios stock when I got it (Tone Zone/Jem Single/Paf Pro) and I've tried quite many of them in neck slot (Humbucker From Hell, Paf Joe, Air Norton, Liquifire). Honestly, I've realized that DiMarzios have more modern base tone to them which I don't like. I much prefer Duncans since they have more 'vintagey' EQ profile. So, that's the reason I'm asking for Duncan recommendation. I've played Duncan pickups a lot more and I think that my ear has gotten used to their sound.

I'm looking for pickups in used market as well and I will check those Ibz/Usas if can find them cheap from Finland.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

I will point out that if you are running all those humbuckers with 250k pots, you have never actually heard what those humbuckers are supposed to sound like. My guess is that a 250k volume pot would turn the WHL neck or the A2 Pro into mud-bombs.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

I agree that what might hurt this search is the volume pot value. Have a 500k pot handy, just to test it for a few weeks. I think the Slash pickup is probably closer to what you want, but I would think it would be dark with a 250k pot.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

The guitar had 500k volume pot earlier and it was just too bright with every pickup I tried. It sounds far more balanced with 250k and I actually prefer Perpetual Burn and SSL-1 with this value. A2P in the neck sounds too bright even with lower value pot and it doesn't have enough warmth to its tone.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

What string guage and brand are you using? How far do you keep the pickups from the strings? What settings do you keep your amp at? Do you use any pedals?

Something is amiss here. Even in a 24 fretter I've never heard of an A2P being too bright.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

I suggest to put the old PAF PRO in the bridge if you still have it. It will be a bit brighter. If you adjust your rig, it will mean the Duncan A2P in the neck will probably work closer to how you want. Use 500k Volume and 500k Tone.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

I use D'Addario XL 10-46 set tuned to E standard. Pickup height is about 4mm from the bass side when fretting 24th, all of them are set to same. I've adjusted pickup and polepiece heights a lot to get best tone out of the pickups. I use Tubescreamer into Friedman HBE amp with 2x12" Bogner cab with Greenbacks in my Atomic Amplifire amp modeller. EQ is set to noon and I use bit of reverb.

With my other humbucker guitar (Ibanez RGD2127FX Baritone 7-string) sound has more body and low midrange growl, while PGM is much brighter in general. Using 250k pot in PGM brought it closer to RGD soundwise. I don't want to adjust settings when switching guitars.

I'm gonna order WLH this week as I found one for a good price. If it doesn't work, I'm gonna install a cover to it to tame the highend just a bit more.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

Hi all,

I thought I give you an update on the neck pickup search. I received my Whole Lotta Humbucker this week and spent some time playing and getting to know it's sound. I wired it to 250k pot with treble bleed circuit and auto split with super 5-way.

I really like this pickup! It feels very good to play and has more output compared to 59/A2P. Tonally it sounds balanced with this guitar and works well with Perpetual Burn/SSL-1 combo. To me, it's sort of cross between 59 and A2P, with bass response of 59 and middle/treble of A2P. I need to spend more time with it but I really, really like it. Playing with distortion it has fluid and refined sound. With clean it's deep and rich with just right amount of percussiveness.
 
Re: Neck pickup help for Ibanez PGM301

I know it wasn't one on your list, but i would consider the DiMarzio Liquifire. (a John Petrucci neck pickup.) It is warm and has a somewhat piano-like attack/response. Works great with cleans and dirt. I've used it in Basswood before and loved it.

Personally, I've found DiMarzios just seem to sound better in Ibanezes than SDs...just a personal thing.

EDIT: Glad you got a pickup that works! Enjoy!
 
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