Need help choosing a pickup!

Sodom616

Sodom616

New member
I currently have duncan designed hb-102b (jb) on my Shecter c-1 standard that comes with a flamed maple top,mahogany body,maple neck,and rosewood fingerboard. The tone im getting now is pretty dark and it just doesn't sound thick enough. I play anywhere from saxon to deicide to marduk so i want something that could do any types of metal (except metalcore) but leaning towards the extreme genres. I have a 70-80$ budget , and i was thinking of putting a duncan distortion in my bridge coz max from sepultura uses it and it sounds awsome or a dimarzio x2n, but i heard bad things about it on a mahogany body. Oh....and i want more of a compressed sound but i don't want actives, so any help will be appreciated!
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Welcome to the forum.

If you are happy with the output level of the DD HB102b but want more "rip", I suggest the DD HB-103b - based on the Duncan Distortion.
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Umm.... actually i think i want to get the USA made duncans, because i heard bad things about the duncan designed hb103b. When i compared my guitar to my ibanez with powersound pickups it sounds abit brighter and has tighter lows and sounded like it had alot of treble which i like, is that because it has ceramic magnets? or is it just the basswood body( it sounds thin compared to mahogany)
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Sodom616 said:
I play anywhere from saxon to deicide to marduk so i want something that could do any types of metal (except metalcore)
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So you want a pickup that can play black metal and death metal, but not metalcore! Because they're the enemy!! Lol, I believe that is a physical impossibility! Also, you don't always need a uber gain monster pickup to play metal, unless maybe if your amp doesn't have enough gain.
From your description and for mahogany body I would suggest either a Dimebucker(searing treb, scooped mids) or the Distortion if you like some mids in your tone.
I have a feeling as you grow as a guitarist you're going to want a Custom, Screamin' Demon, or even a(gasp) dual 59' set!
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Sodom616 said:
Umm.... actually i think i want to get the USA made duncans, because i heard bad things about the duncan designed hb103b. When i compared my guitar to my ibanez with powersound pickups it sounds abit brighter and has tighter lows and sounded like it had alot of treble which i like, is that because it has ceramic magnets? or is it just the basswood body( it sounds thin compared to mahogany)
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You can make that HB103B sound a lot better taking out that ceramic magnet and replace it with an Alnico 8 magnet instead. A Metal player's dream.

HTH,
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

If you want to experiment with magnet swapping, can just try A8 in your HB-102B.

It wont be brighter than the stock model, it'll have a lot deeper and punchier bass, more mids, more compressed & higher output. If that's too dark, you could try a ceramic magnet in it, and that'd be pretty close to the Distortion (which has a thicker ceramic magnet, so is higher output and harder attack than a standard ceramic).

If you really want thicker, check out the PATB-2 Parallel Axis Distortion. Higher output, more compressed take on the standard Distortion with more growl, a bit smoother presence but similar high end. All out metal monster, absolutely blazes.
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

I have nearly the same guitar, Duncan Distortion and Custom are both winners. What Lt Kojak says is true, though, if you want to step it up to master class go with an A8 magnet. The custom 8 in my schecter is the only pickup that I would recommend for absolutely every style and every guitar...except for metal core! Those bastards! j/k
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Lol!, thx for your help every1, but i have no idea how to swap magnets or where to find them. So, i mostly likely gonna end up with the distortion, since my guitar sounds very scooped for some reason.
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Weird, i came across a black metal picture with the guitarist using a gibson les paul with stock pickups lol, i had always thought they all used emg's
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Addiction-FX on ebay is a forum favorite for magnets & replacement polepiece screws.

It's also well worth snagging 0.5" hex head screws (standard screws are 0.75" fillisters), they are great for tweaking bass/bite on pickups. One of my favorite tricks is swapping out just the 3 screws under the wound strings, so you get tighter response/more bite on them, without affecting treble string tone. One of the easiest pickup mods. Handy for bringing blatty/farty neck pickups under control.
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Sodom616 said:
Weird, i came across a black metal picture with the guitarist using a gibson les paul with stock pickups lol, i had always thought they all used emg's
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There's plenty of exceptions. I've heard the Distortion, Invader, Full Shred, JB, Custom and '59 all used for those sorts of tones. [With high to extreme gain amps,] pickup choice has more of an impact on feel for the guitarist (except in cases where they are fighting a difficult amp/guitar combo, like a [dark or] muddy guitar into a loose amp/speaker combination, in which case controlling bass is crucial for tightening things up).
 
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Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

The Distortion is a good choice, but you say you want a thicker, more compressed tone? Get a PATB-2...yeah, that will make you happy.
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

For $80 you can buy two used (American-made) Seymour Duncans. I get most of my PU's used.
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Sodom616 said:
Weird, i came across a black metal picture with the guitarist using a gibson les paul with stock pickups lol, i had always thought they all used emg's
Click to expand...

Black metal player's often just use whatever cheap piece of crap they have at the time. Darkthrone didn't go on a major tone hunt testing various pickups and whatnot.
For what you want the Distortion or Invader would be good choices.
 
Re: Need help choosing a pickup!

Varg said:
Black metal player's often just use whatever cheap piece of crap they have at the time. Darkthrone didn't go on a major tone hunt testing various pickups and whatnot.
For what you want the Distortion or Invader would be good choices.
Click to expand...

That's a relief.......btw, nice logo Bathory rules! but im into tsjuder/marduk the most
 
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