Need advice on changing pickups

Nagash

Nagash

New member
I'm back from a few months without posting here, but you haven't missed me I guess. Whatever, now I've got enough money to change my pickups so I thought I might as well do so right now.

For the record : the guitar is a ESP SV standard. Alder body, maple neck through body, ebony fingerboard, floyd rose bridge. It's equipped with dual EMG 81s at the moment.

One goal : Metal but a bit more versatile.

EDIT : I'm playing DOWNTUNED. Usually D to C#.

I want to change the EMGs for some passive Duncans, lemme describe how it goes :


The bridge pickup

I use it for what I'd call heavy riffing. I rarely use any chords in these riffs, rather just single note progressions that need to be precise and articulate. And for soloing of course !

I'd like a pickup that has more treble and slightly less mids and bass than the EMG 81.

From the website I found the Full Shred and the Dimebucker. Following its description (but it's just a description, right ?), the Full Shred seems to be the perfect match : plenty of treble, less mids and bass, articulate and not too screamy. The Dimebucker also seems to be a nice match but I fear it would shriek too much, I like to have some harmonics but not as crazy ones as Dime himself used to make them. I just know that he didn't use his own pickup, which is kind of ironical.

So for the bridge pickup, shall I just go for the Full Shred or should I reconsider the Dimebucker ?


I'm still messing with my amp settings to find what I want my neck pickup to sound like based on the 81, but since I just DON'T LIKE the sound of my neck 81, it might take some more time. I'll update this later with my neck pickup needs, I'd already appreciate it a lot if you helped me choose the right bridge pickup. Thanks !
 
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Re: Need advice on changing pickups

Are your EMGs on Quik Connect blocks? If so, it might be worth testing the new EMG-X range before abandoning active altogether.
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

I actually have no idea what quik connect blocks are... but anyway I would really like to go passive so I can just work without batteries. I know batteries aren't a big issue technically, I just don't want any.

I'll edit just to say, I won't change the pickups myself. If checking this quik connect thing needs to remove the pickups, I won't be able to do it... no skills !
 
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Re: Need advice on changing pickups

Yeah I know, sounds weird but that's it ! I usually add some treble on the amp and/or the distortion pedal when I'm playing, but that messes up my rhythm sound.
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

Seems to me as if you need a

TELECASTER
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

Would you smother me if I told you I actually like the Telecaster sound ?
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

mmm... so there's no way you would consider a treble booster nor an EQ pedal.

MAYBE Full Shred can pull it off with a 1meg volume and no tone pot can do it
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

Nagash said:
I'd like a pickup that has more treble and slightly less mids and bass than the EMG 81.
Click to expand...

Er, how about the pickup that you already have BUT with the bass end screwed down a little bit lower and, just maybe, the treble end adjusted upwards by a gnat's?

From EMG's own accessory range, there is the RPC Resonant Peak Shift tone control device. This one might actually answer the brief.
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

@Maynardo :Well I could do that but that doesn't get me rid of the batteries. I still think changing the pickups that give me a sound I don't like anymore is more cost-effective than changing my pots and buying some more pedals, going crazy on a whole bunch of setting to readjust a sound I don't like. I want a very simple setup cause I'm a lazy guy. Changing pickups doesn't add anything into my mix, a mix that I'm quite satisfied with.

Oh and, it's not necessary that it has "more treble than a 81", it just needs to be more focused on treble and less on the rest of the spectrum. Full Shred seemed to be the one.


@Funk : still doesn't get me rid of the batteries but it's simple, I'll check this one out.
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

I think JB as well is more focused on upper mids and treble with slightly more output than Fullshred. And may be Screamin Demon or Seymourizer (SH-6N) could also be the answer.

Pups with high resonant frequency also contribute to treble content/brightness.
 
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Re: Need advice on changing pickups

JB isn't my cup of tea. I already know what it sounds like and, even if it's one of the most loved pickups overall, I'm not into it that much. The Screamin Demon might have too low output. ???

And I've never heard about that Seymourizer. The Only SH-6N I know would be the Distortion. Did I miss something ?
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

The Sh-6N used to be its own pup called seymourizer, before it was paired up with distortion and labelled as a neck pup. 12.7k, 6.5K resonant peak, ceramic mags, should be plenty bright in the bridge.

As for output, one can always dial more gain and passives output are always going to be a lot lower than actives.
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

Yeah less output could be a very nice thing since my clean sound has a bit of drive to it. I already lowered my pickups a bit, and the sound went meh again.

Guess I'm just not an EMG guy.


But... so this Seymourizer/ Distortion neck pickup is in fact a neck pickup, right ? Shouldn't I go with the Distortion bridge instead then ???
 
Re: Need advice on changing pickups

It wasn't a neck pup before, it was just a pup in itself, like JB or Screamin Demon. The Seymourizer was overwound I believe to the current Distortion bridge model, while it took the neck spot.

But ultimately, you have to pick something as a reference point on what work on your guitar/rig. If you tried JB before, then you have an idea on Duncan pup eq, and go from there.

Of course, each pup react differently to certain type of woods. But generally, pups with high resonant peak frequency, like paf-types, screamin demon, seymourizer, etc have more treble than higher output distortion class pups.

*edit*
Additionally, many people are satisfied with screamin demon, seymourizer, distortion, full shred, custom, and even JB for metal, just depends what you like and what works on your guitar. I think they have plenty of treble content. But may be just about all the other pups are tighter than JB on low end department, but I find it fine for my needs. But may not work for down tune stuff.
 
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Re: Need advice on changing pickups

Well I know what the JB sounds like in a mahogany guitar, but not in an alder one. A friend of mine with whom I used to jam a lot has a ESP Horizon (mahogany w/flamed maple top) with the JB and it sounded "okayish" for metal... it's not what I want. Thing is, apart from my old LTD I only have 2 guitars, one with a single EMG 81 and the other one with dual 81s, and I'm getting sick and tired of that sound (plus the ****ing batteries). So I have no Duncans yet that could guide me...

In the end I think I'll just go "screw it" and put the Full Shred in there, see what comes out, and if I don't like it, I'll come back and troll around :D

Just kidding ! But it's my cash anyway so who cares ^^
 
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