ishoulddie
New member
Hi there! I've been lurking here for a while, and have made a couple of minor posts. But now I'm ready to get into what I came here for in the first place: I need a pickup!
I bought myself a new B.C. Rich NJ Classic Mockingbird a few months ago, and am looking into getting a new bridge pickup for it. It's a maple neck-through guitar with nato (pseudo-mahogany) body wings, an ebony fretboard, 25.5" scale, and a tune-o-matic bridge. Also, it's the natural finish version, so it doesn't have the maple top like the other NJ Classics do. It's definitely a fairly dark guitar. The stock pickups are the dreaded (heh) BDSM humbuckers. The guitar is tuned to drop-C, with .010-.056 strings. I play through a Mesa Dual Rectifier with JJ E34Ls and a Carvin 4x12 cabinet.
As far as musical style, I play in a grindcore band (think Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Pig Destroyer, Nasum, Assück, etc.), but with a lot of more traditional hardcore and thrash/death metal influences. No leads/solos, just straight grind riffs with some weird noisy parts mixed in. Lots of pinch harmonics, and some dissonant chords at times. Granted, that's not ALL I play, but that's what this guitar is mainly being used for right now. All that being said, I don't go for the modern scooped-mids death metal tone. More like a thicker, grindier "Reign in Blood"-era Slayer sound.
The BDSM pickups are just not doing it for me. They're just way too dark and muddy sounding. The mids seem almost non-existent, and the highs aren't really there either. Heck, even the low end isn't very well defined. And harmonics don't come through very well. Before I got the Mockingbird, i was playing an SG with an Iommi humbucker in the bridge. The Iommi has a TON of mids, a bit more than I would want for this guitar, but it was very clear. The one nice thing about the BDSMs is the output. They're pretty loud. But basically, I need more CUT and clarity, with good harmonics. But, at the same time, have a really crunchy, aggressive sound. And it has to be able to handle being tuned down.
So far, my top two contenders seem to be the DiMarzio MegaDrive and the Duncan Distortion. Although I've also considered the DiMarzio Super Distortion (or maybe Super 2?) and X2N, the Bill Lawrence L-500XL, and the Duncan Custom. The Invader, although an obvious choice for this kind of music, seems like it'd be WAY too muddy and dark for a guitar that's already pretty dark. And I'm NOT interested in EMGs, as I'm generally not into the way they sound, and don't want to have to deal with batteries.
Also, one last consideration: The stock pickups are double creams, and I'm really digging the way they look on this guitar. So I'd really prefer to stick with brands that I can get in double cream. As silly as that sounds, since I know it pretty much limits me to DiMarzio, Bill Lawrence, or a custom-ordered Duncan (with a cover, of course, heh heh).
Anyways, I guess I'm just looking for some advice from you folks with more experience with pickups than me. I've read a lot, and feel like I have a grasp as far a understanding the differences between a lot of these pickups, but don't have much real-world experience. The previously-mentioned Iommi is the only aftermarket pickup I have a whole lot of experience with, although i've played an EMG-equipped guitar a few times as well. I don't know much about soldering, and will be taking the guitar to a tech, so I'd like to try and get as close to the best option that I can find as possible. Sorry for the overly long post, but, I figured I'd try and be as detailed as possible, to give you guys as much to work with as I can. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
I bought myself a new B.C. Rich NJ Classic Mockingbird a few months ago, and am looking into getting a new bridge pickup for it. It's a maple neck-through guitar with nato (pseudo-mahogany) body wings, an ebony fretboard, 25.5" scale, and a tune-o-matic bridge. Also, it's the natural finish version, so it doesn't have the maple top like the other NJ Classics do. It's definitely a fairly dark guitar. The stock pickups are the dreaded (heh) BDSM humbuckers. The guitar is tuned to drop-C, with .010-.056 strings. I play through a Mesa Dual Rectifier with JJ E34Ls and a Carvin 4x12 cabinet.
As far as musical style, I play in a grindcore band (think Napalm Death, Terrorizer, Pig Destroyer, Nasum, Assück, etc.), but with a lot of more traditional hardcore and thrash/death metal influences. No leads/solos, just straight grind riffs with some weird noisy parts mixed in. Lots of pinch harmonics, and some dissonant chords at times. Granted, that's not ALL I play, but that's what this guitar is mainly being used for right now. All that being said, I don't go for the modern scooped-mids death metal tone. More like a thicker, grindier "Reign in Blood"-era Slayer sound.
The BDSM pickups are just not doing it for me. They're just way too dark and muddy sounding. The mids seem almost non-existent, and the highs aren't really there either. Heck, even the low end isn't very well defined. And harmonics don't come through very well. Before I got the Mockingbird, i was playing an SG with an Iommi humbucker in the bridge. The Iommi has a TON of mids, a bit more than I would want for this guitar, but it was very clear. The one nice thing about the BDSMs is the output. They're pretty loud. But basically, I need more CUT and clarity, with good harmonics. But, at the same time, have a really crunchy, aggressive sound. And it has to be able to handle being tuned down.
So far, my top two contenders seem to be the DiMarzio MegaDrive and the Duncan Distortion. Although I've also considered the DiMarzio Super Distortion (or maybe Super 2?) and X2N, the Bill Lawrence L-500XL, and the Duncan Custom. The Invader, although an obvious choice for this kind of music, seems like it'd be WAY too muddy and dark for a guitar that's already pretty dark. And I'm NOT interested in EMGs, as I'm generally not into the way they sound, and don't want to have to deal with batteries.
Also, one last consideration: The stock pickups are double creams, and I'm really digging the way they look on this guitar. So I'd really prefer to stick with brands that I can get in double cream. As silly as that sounds, since I know it pretty much limits me to DiMarzio, Bill Lawrence, or a custom-ordered Duncan (with a cover, of course, heh heh).
Anyways, I guess I'm just looking for some advice from you folks with more experience with pickups than me. I've read a lot, and feel like I have a grasp as far a understanding the differences between a lot of these pickups, but don't have much real-world experience. The previously-mentioned Iommi is the only aftermarket pickup I have a whole lot of experience with, although i've played an EMG-equipped guitar a few times as well. I don't know much about soldering, and will be taking the guitar to a tech, so I'd like to try and get as close to the best option that I can find as possible. Sorry for the overly long post, but, I figured I'd try and be as detailed as possible, to give you guys as much to work with as I can. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
r the Evo 2
