Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

[ztevie]

Hi!
So I will get a new guitar soon. It's a Peavey Vandenberg Custom Quilt Top.
I will give the stock pups a chance, but I have yet to find a guitar where I've been satisfied with the stocks...
It has a mahogany body with a maple top. Neck is also mahogany with rosewood board. 24 frets, 24,75 scale. Neck through.
Sort of a shred superstrat mixed with Les Paul.

I play rock, metal and some shredding now and then. I want a clear, articulate tone, not muddy or too bass heavy. So i think i need to clear up the mahogany a bit.
I have a guitar with mahogany characteristics, in that one I have a Full Shred set which I'm very pleased with. It clears up the guitar's tone while keeping the heavy tone and have the right amount of growl.
But i don't want another guitar that's too similar, so i want pickups that does the full Shred job but slightly different.

Bridge HB: Tight palm muting, crunchy, decent mids...
Neck HB: Singing smooth sustainrich solo tone, clear with nice string separation. Warm tone on cleans.

Brand is not important, neither is passive/active...
Advice appreciated...

 

[Despair]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

A PATB-1b is a different twist on an articulate pickup with great string balance. Incredibly responsive to pick attack and guitar tone/volume control adjustments. PATB-1n would be a natural neck match. A bit hard to find samples of, aside from Rich Ward's use of it.

A TB-5 Custom is another good choice, but the timbre of it's growl is a bit different. If that's too bright with that guitar, an A8 magnet swap gets you the popular forum mod "Custom 8" -- very warm, tight but open pickup. There's lots of popular neck pickup matches. Screamin' Demon, Jazz, '59, Pearly Gates and APH-1/2 all work nicely opposite it, depending on the guitar and your needs. Some people even use bridge models for fatter neck tones. I'd probably look at the Demon, PGn or APH first. The Jazz is somewhat similar to the Full Shred in sparkle, but most prefer it for cleans rather than distortion.

If you want all out mayhem, you might consider the PATB-2 Parallel Axis Distortion. Huge output, yet articulate. Along with the Custom, it's one of the few ceramic pickups I don't find grating. Like an Invader that isn't dark or muddy on riffs, a beefier, less grating Distortion on thrash rhythm, and an angrier, fatter (but not harsher) JB on leads. Remarkably responsive for such a hot pickup.

For actives, Blackouts or EMG X series are probably the best options for a less sterile sound [compared to other actives], but I wouldn't look to actives first for an organic crunch.

Oh wait, does it take a full sized neck humbucker or single-sized pickup? If it's a single, I'd look at an STK-S6 Custom Stack Plus, for a hotter, warmer single that likes heavy distortion a bit better, but still has good cleans.

 

[ztevie]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

Thanks Despair!
No, its a full size bucker...
I've been looking at those patb's before. Might be an option.
I really don't need superhigh output, the important thing is that it has a certain amount of growl and not muddy. The Full Shred set in the other guitar is great for just that. I like mahogany in guitars for its sustain and smooth, singing character. I don't like some mahogany guitars tendency to mud/boom on lower strings. This is what I want to cure, while keeping the nice characteristics as mentioned above for solo work.
I like Paf Pro in the neck for solos, but it might be too bassy for mahogany?

 

[Despair]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

PATB-1n is a pretty good match for any Parallel Axis bridge pickup. Similar to a Full Shred neck according to some, great all-around neck pickup, good for distortion or cleans, leads or rhythms.

Or if you want something a bit hotter, the Screamin' Demon is a nice growly PAFish pickup, hot, thick and articulate without boom in the neck.

PAF Pro being an all screw pickup, I'd be surprised if it was inescapably too bassy in the neck. Might have to lower the pickup on the bass side, and raise the polepiece screws.

Full Shred and Screamin' Demon are Seymour Duncan's most direct competitors to the PAF Pro, though they go in slightly different directions, they still have the all screw thing going on.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

If it were mine I'd use the Alnico II Pro Slash in the neck for certain. It's all you're asking for IMO. For the same reason it opens up a stiffer, newer Les Paul it also sings in neck throughs, which can suffer from flat dynamics in the neck position.

In the bridge I'd consider the Custom 5 or Alternative 8.

PATB's are really wonderful for a guitar like that. If you're good with the look (I think it could look pretty cool in a Vandenberg) then look into those.

 

[AudioWonderland]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

Hi!
So I will get a new guitar soon. It's a Peavey Vandenberg Custom Quilt Top.
I will give the stock pups a chance, but I have yet to find a guitar where I've been satisfied with the stocks...
It has a mahogany body with a maple top. Neck is also mahogany with rosewood board. 24 frets, 24,75 scale. Neck through.
Sort of a shred superstrat mixed with Les Paul.

I play rock, metal and some shredding now and then. I want a clear, articulate tone, not muddy or too bass heavy. So i think i need to clear up the mahogany a bit.
I have a guitar with mahogany characteristics, in that one I have a Full Shred set which I'm very pleased with. It clears up the guitar's tone while keeping the heavy tone and have the right amount of growl.
But i don't want another guitar that's too similar, so i want pickups that does the full Shred job but slightly different.

Bridge HB: Tight palm muting, crunchy, decent mids...
Neck HB: Singing smooth sustainrich solo tone, clear with nice string separation. Warm tone on cleans.

Brand is not important, neither is passive/active...
Advice appreciated...

Don't assume that just because its mahogany it will have too much low end. Those Vandy's don't have anywhere near the mass of something like a Les Paul. I think it will be a lot better than you think

 

[mustaine-who?]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

Full Shred will do everything you're looking for in that guitar! I've run them in a 24.75" scale Charvel Model A which specs a lot like your Vandie Custom...and I consider that the benchmark for tone as I compare it to other guitars/PuPs. The shorter scale and mahogony really give the FS a full bottom and and musical mids...but still tight. The FS isn't that compressed...so the mids are nice and open. And the leads..screaming monster leads!!! The only other PuPs I'd consider for your guitar are the Crunch Lab and D-sonic.

My $.02

 

[AmirH]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

Hey -- my main guitar is built very similarly to yours except it has a longer scale-length. The FS neck is my absolute favorite pickup right now, and it will do what you're looking for -- incredibly articulate, but still has a rich vocal sound to it. The FS bridge might work for you because you have the gibby scale length, but it was too bright and crunchy for my guitar, and the fizz it produced made it really undesirable for palm mutes. But again, it might work for you because your guitar is probably darker than mine. So far, my favorite duncans for the heavy rhythm sounds in the bridge have been the custom and the alternative 8. I like that the alt8 is clear and articulate, yet still chunky and never shrill on the top end. But maybe the custom is a safer bet, since my guitar was kind of bright in the first place.

Cheers

 

[ztevie]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

If it were mine I'd use the Alnico II Pro Slash in the neck for certain. It's all you're asking for IMO. For the same reason it opens up a stiffer, newer Les Paul it also sings in neck throughs, which can suffer from flat dynamics in the neck position.

In the bridge I'd consider the Custom 5 or Alternative 8.

PATB's are really wonderful for a guitar like that. If you're good with the look (I think it could look pretty cool in a Vandenberg) then look into those.

I'll consider it... I like Slash's solo tone actually! I have no problem with PATB looks...

Don't assume that just because its mahogany it will have too much low end. Those Vandy's don't have anywhere near the mass of something like a Les Paul. I think it will be a lot better than you think

My other guitar and a all mahogany Schecter I had before are both strat-shaped, but I felt that both of them needed special pups to avoid too much low end. I don't know about the Vandy, I will see when it gets here.

Full Shred will do everything you're looking for in that guitar!

Hey -- my main guitar is built very similarly to yours except it has a longer scale-length. The FS neck is my absolute favorite pickup right now, and it will do what you're looking for -- incredibly articulate, but still has a rich vocal sound to it.

I know. But since I have the FS set in another guitar I'd like to try something else this time...


Thanks for all the input, really appreciate it! I have time to decide, feel free to suggest whatever comes to mind...

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Pickups a'la Full Shred in a mahogany axe.

I have a Full Shred in a Kramer NightSwan - mahogany body, maple neck, ebony board. and I have a original Parallel Axis in a Hamer Centaura - mahogany body, maple neck, rosewood board. both pickups work very well for me in these guitars.

with regard to the Full Shred... I also use the Full Shred neck position in most of the guitars I have with a full-size neck hum, and that works very well for me. the FS neck keeps it a lot tighter for me than putting a Jazz or a '59 in the neck.

other pickups I have in those mahogany bodies are JB (middle NightSwan) and Hot Rails (middle/neck Hamer). I like these configurations a lot for my rig.