Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

O

Orange

New member
Hi everyone,
my father recently reminded me of the LT EX100 i forgot at his place about 10 years ago. It's a fairly good guitar, has agatis body which is kind of like mahogany but less bright, darker. So the bridge pickup needs to avoid mudiness and add clarity.

The guitar will be dedicated to play heavy metal in Eb or drop C#
Need clarity, definition, but most of all and a good roaring growl for power chords and bone crushing riffs, but the more versatility the better.
(Think pantera, dream theater, symphony X, etc...)

The guitar has EMG pickups but i'm not a big fan the 81 is thin and shrill i am thinking of switching to passives. THeDave Mustaine Livewire souds pretty good in the comparison shootout though. Problem is they all sound great so i really need feedback which brings me here.


In the video, i noticed the Alternative 8 sounded awesome.
I am also interested in the Lace Deathbucker.

Waiting for your feedback, what do you use, what does it give you ?
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

I've heard agathis berated to no end, but apparently, they use it to build yacht hulls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathis

Can't be too bad. Dunno about the tone-factor, but if there's an 85 in the neck, you might try that in the bridge. Should be darker than the 81 at least.

For punchy passives, especially if it's Floyded (or can otherwise take a trem-spaced pickup), look into the PATB-1 or PATB-2.

If you find them a bit bright, you can use a 250K volume pot instead of a 500K to shave the top just a bit.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

Try a SH-14 Custom 5 but, swap the magnet for an AlNiCo 9 - thence a Custom 9. A9 gives more 'chainsaw grind' which would help metal players.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

DrNewcenstein said:
I've heard agathis berated to no end, but apparently, they use it to build yacht hulls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathis

Can't be too bad. Dunno about the tone-factor, but if there's an 85 in the neck, you might try that in the bridge. Should be darker than the 81 at least.
.
Click to expand...

Well maybe i SHOULD stick with actives then....
They tend to sound the same in anything i heard.
 
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Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

DrNewcenstein said:
I've heard agathis berated to no end, but apparently, they use it to build yacht hulls.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agathis

Can't be too bad. Dunno about the tone-factor, but if there's an 85 in the neck, you might try that in the bridge. Should be darker than the 81 at least.

For punchy passives, especially if it's Floyded (or can otherwise take a trem-spaced pickup), look into the PATB-1 or PATB-2.

If you find them a bit bright, you can use a 250K volume pot instead of a 500K to shave the top just a bit.
Click to expand...

I agree with trying out the PATB-2 Distortion. Very good and underrated pickup.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

I'll also add that the Duncan Distortion is really good for half step down. I have one sitting in a guitar tuned to drop C# and it kills.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

I keep hearing good things about the parallell axis.

But this guitar is a fixed bridge gibson type, do they come in trem space only ?

DeathMetalRob said:
Probably a plan.

What's your budget..?
Click to expand...

About $90/ pickup max.

Can i just put a Dave Mustaine livewire instead of the 81 with the EMG quick connect cable ?
 
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Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

Orange said:
I keep hearing good things about the parallell axis.

But this guitar is a fixed bridge gibson type, do they come in trem space only ?



About $90/ pickup max.

Can i just put a Dave Mustaine livewire instead of the 81 with the EMG quick connect cable ?
Click to expand...

Yeah, they're Trembuckers and don't come in regular spacing. However, I've never had a problem with F spaced pups in regular spaced guitars and vice versa. It's more of an aesthetic thing to me.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

Ptolemaeus said:
Yeah, they're Trembuckers and don't come in regular spacing. However, I've never had a problem with F spaced pups in regular spaced guitars and vice versa. It's more of an aesthetic thing to me.
Click to expand...

Just make sure that your pickup cavity is wide enough for a trembucker, because they are wider than standard humbuckers.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

toneseeker74 said:
Just make sure that your pickup cavity is wide enough for a trembucker, because they are wider than standard humbuckers.
Click to expand...

In this case i'd rather try the PATB in my ESP and find a pickup with regular spacing for this one. I keep hearing about these.

Sometimes i wish i had more guitars just to get to play more pickups.

Nobody likes the alternative 8 ?
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

Orange said:
Can i just put a Dave Mustaine livewire instead of the 81 with the EMG quick connect cable ?
Click to expand...
I don't think you can, no. I think the DMLW don't have the quick connect like the blackouts and they use 100K pots rather than the usual 25K for EMG's too.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

If you're looking to stay with actives, try the Blackouts. If you wanna go passive then I don't think you can do much better than the distortion.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

I had a Distortion set in an agathis bodied Ibby RG-120. They sounded fantastic in that guitar.
 
Re: Pickup for Heavy Metal in agathis body

If the 81 is thin and shrill the guitar may not be as dark as you think it is. I do second the suggestion that if you've got an 81-85 set just swap them and be done. The 85 is a *great* bridge pickup, and the 81 in the neck is good for overcoming muddiness in that position.
 
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