Pickups for bright guitars

[gregory]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

The 85 is active?

Yes.

I have that and an 81 which sounds awesome for metal with my Mark IV, but doesn't have anywhere near as much pull as the 85, for whatever reason. The 85 would be a much better fit than the 81 for your guitar: warm and chunky.

...not that I'm saying you should go with the 85.

 

[gregory]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

I think the same about Wampler when he does favorable reviews on competitors products. Shows class to me.

^ this.

I've heard Dave say good things about DiMarzios as well, specifically about the DP205 and indirectly about the HS series.

Options are good. I'm most familiar with the Duncan catalog (and recommended them *FIRST* in this discussion), DiMarzio catalog second. I prefer medium output pickups which DiMarzio has over Duncan in spades. There are other holes in the Duncan catalog which DiMarzio fills.

When it comes to lower/vintage output, in my book, Duncan has it over DiMarzio. My favorite stock pickup: TB-12 Screamin' Demon. My go to stock neck pickup with that is the SH-10N Full Shred. My second favorite stock pickup is the Pegasus. I own far more Duncans than I do DiMarzios. I almost exclusively use Duncan coils to make my hybrids.

...and I don't go around making recommendations in areas that aren't my forte with pickups I've never tried; or dismiss pickups I've never tried simply because I don't like the brand for reasons X, Y or Z; TYVM.

Now if Duncan would release new models that aren't over-priced that I could get excited about then I'd be on the front line championing them. But they haven't for some time now. FWIW, I'm not impressed by DiMarzio's never-ending line of JP and SV iterations which are also becoming over-priced, either.

 

[Ayrton]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Pasadena +. Thanks for responding Ayrton. Think Bostons tone, really has tons of upper mids? Sounds great for leads, but chords with gain become a cloudy mess

PAFs with a MXR 6-band EQ

Seths, '59s, Antiquities...

 

[blueman335]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Another option might be to go to 250k pots if the volume and tone pots in your Schecter are 500k.

Cheaper than new pickups and might be just the ticket.

Thanks, beat me to it. I thought I'd never live to see the day Lew recommends a couple 250K's for a humbucker.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

The Rio Grande BBQ set is pretty warm & full (you'd never know they had A5's in them).

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Thanks. My bridge sits pretty low, so I lowered the Pup down to where its almost flush with the trim ring. Then I had to bringer back up just a hair. Still on the bright side, but at least its somewhat acceptable to me. Thanks for all the help .

 

[BleedingFingertips]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Something from the parallel axis series? PA Distortion smoothed the highs in my case, although I wasn't looking for that.

 

[gregory]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Parallel Axis Distortion is one badass pickup if you want some heat.

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Does it matter if they are trem spaced? This guitar sounds like a soprano, its killing me!! Invader??

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Thanks. I dont mind upper energy, as long as there is some balance. Sounds so THIN, no bass at all. Hope the entire guitar isnt a dog, I really like the neck

 

[blueman335]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Thanks. My bridge sits pretty low, so I lowered the Pup down to where its almost flush with the trim ring. Then I had to bringer back up just a hair. Still on the bright side, but at least its somewhat acceptable to me. Thanks for all the help .

A 470K resistor between the outer lugs makes a 500K pot sound like a 250K. Cheap, quick way to warm a PU.

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Thanks. To me, the guitar isnt just bright, it lacks any bass if that makes sense? When I play My alt8, I FEEL that sucker kick, this thing there is just nothing there at all?

 

[BleedingFingertips]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Does it matter if they are trem spaced? This guitar sounds like a soprano, its killing me!! Invader??

To be honest, I've never owned a hard-tailed guitar with the "normal" string spacing. All my hard tails measure 51 mm string-to-string over the bridge humbucker. But even if you have 48 mm (or how much is "normal"?) Parallel Axis plus Invader or Dimebucker have a wider magnetic field that works regardless of your guitar's spacing.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Thanks. To me, the guitar isnt just bright, it lacks any bass if that makes sense? When I play My alt8, I FEEL that sucker kick, this thing there is just nothing there at all?

This almost makes me wonder if there's a hardware problem with the guitar, like maybe changing bridge, nut and tuners might do more to solve the problem first.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

I built a guitar that sounded too thin to me. A Super 3 certainly beefed it up, but it took away so much treble that the guitar sounded somehow boring to me. I tried 5 or 6 pickups, including a Tone Zone (which was pretty darn good) and was considering the Parallel Axis Distortion but ended up with a Bill & Becky L500XL. More kick than the vintage JBJ I started with, but still clear and not dull like the Super 3.
Kind of wish I had tried the PA though...

 

[Phantasmagoria]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Sure it's not wired out of phase? I'd check the wiring or the pup itself (dead coil or something). I've got ebony fretboards on a couple of guitars, one that's maple with SS frets as well & it's still pretty balanced tone wise..

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

You might also consider The Breed. Not lacking in highs but it has huge low end, good fix for a thin sounding guitar. Nice lead voice with juicy mids, and even with the extra lows it stays pretty tight under gain. I put one in a wimpy bolt-on and it fattened her right up.

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Gonna go Breed or AT 1 Thanks all!!

 

[Ben1962]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

You know, I been gettin these Epiphones, gutting em and putting maybe $350 into em, and they frickin smoke this guitar. I guess we all strike out sometimes. This one was like $770 . My best 2 Epis make this guitar sound like a frickin toy. Hell, make that all 4 of em. Live and learn. I been gettin Epis for like $350. Double that in parts, been gettin some seriously nice guitars for less than I paid for this one. Well , all I can do is RIDE ON!! Ride On......

 

[JOLLY]

Re: Pickups for bright guitars

Maybe I'm a total tard, but I've never quite understood why people always recommend bright pickups for bright guitars. I see where the JB and Cusstom Custom has been tossed about. To me, if I had I bright guitar, I would throw something a little darker in said guitar.....you know, something somewhat scooped like a C5. However, I have always agreed with something like changing the pot value to 250K over 500K because to me that makes perfect sense.