Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

[neosadist]

I'm wondering what pickups to swap into this guitar, ESP LTD EC100QM, and was wanting some advice.
Materials: body is maple top with agathis (a mahogany-like cheaper wood), neck is maple i think, fretboard rosewood.
Type: dual humbucker, 3way, 2 volume, 2 tone.

I play church music, so I've been known to go anywhere from clean with chorus fingerpicking to metal zone drop-D from only bridge. I run my guitar into a Boss ME50 multieffects floor unit, and either into my fender twin reverb 1972 or into the church sound system, or into a random amp (as a monitor).

What I'm wanting is versatility above all, really. I've listend to all the sound clips, done tons of research, only to seem to come up without much. I keep thinking a SH2 and SH4 combo, since they claim to be versatile, but honestly I'm not sure. I was also thinking of going with an alnico ii pro dual arrangement, but i'm still not sure.

The only thing is that i'm stationed in Korea, so I can't really take advantage of the 21 day return policy due to how long it will take to get here, be sent back, and since I only have one electric guitar with me, that makes things more difficult.

Please give me some recommandations. If you're wondering, the ME50 is very versatile, and I can "add" presence or only highs to it, etc, I have a lot of options with it, and it's set up more with knobs than buttons, making things easier. I also can store presets, which is what I usually do in order to make quick switching easy. The majority of the models that I use is a clean chorus sound, a very heavy metal distort, and a bluesy distort. But once in a while I also go with a 60's surf sound (tremolo + compressor + hopefully a coil split later).

http://www.puresimplicity.net/~neosadist/music/guitars/esp.html
http://www.puresimplicity.net/~neosadist/music/guitars/me50.html

Robert

 

[gianniboy]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

wow....church music, hmmmm, i would go with a PAF type pickup, pearly gates or seth lovers combo, anybody agree?

 

[MikeS]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

I might shy away from a JB (SH-4) in this case, mainly because I’m not a fan of how it cleans up. I would stick to the lower output pickups. I have no personal experience with the APH-2, but from what I have heard, these are great pups that will do almost anything. An APH-2b with a 59n is a combo that I’ve heard good things about. The APH-2 set is another tried and true combo, the most famous player using them being Slash.

The Jazz (SH-2) is also a great neck pickup. However, the only Jazz combo I’m familiar with is the JB/Jazz. I wonder how well the Jazz mates up with an APH-2b or a 59b?

 

[neosadist]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

I might shy away from a JB (SH-4) in this case, mainly because I’m not a fan of how it cleans up. I would stick to the lower output pickups. I have no personal experience with the APH-2, but from what I have heard, these are great pups that will do almost anything. An APH-2b with a 59n is a combo that I’ve heard good things about. The APH-2 set is another tried and true combo, the most famous player using them being Slash.

The Jazz (SH-2) is also a great neck pickup. However, the only Jazz combo I’m familiar with is the JB/Jazz. I wonder how well the Jazz mates up with an APH-2b or a 59b?

Yeah, I'll probably go with the Pearly Gates. I liked the clean sounds of the Alnico II Pro but the distorted sound of the Pearly Gates. Clean, they're not that much a difference, so I'm thinking the extra output of the Pearly Gates will sound good through a richer chorus.

 

[neosadist]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

Thanks for the help, all. I emailed Seymour Duncan directly (i.e. someone on the support team) and they recommended the SH2/SH4 combo, so I bought it. I will report my findings and satisfaction on both my personal website and on this thread. But thanks for the help! :newbie:

 

[Kac]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

I think you will like that combo. I had the same guitar and put a JB in it, I was very happy.

Rock On ~ Kac

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

For versatility I would think the JB/Jazz combo would do just fine. Good choice Neo.

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

One thing, I noticed on the site detailing your Boss ME50 you said:

"and anyone who knows Metallica knows they run a Boss MT-2 normally (which seems to include some sort of compressor effect in it)"

I don't think I've ever known Metallica to use a Boss Metal Zone?? All their distortion comes from the amps they use... it's all tube as far as I know. Unless I'm misunderstanding something?

 

[neosadist]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

One thing, I noticed on the site detailing your Boss ME50 you said:

"and anyone who knows Metallica knows they run a Boss MT-2 normally (which seems to include some sort of compressor effect in it)"

I don't think I've ever known Metallica to use a Boss Metal Zone?? All their distortion comes from the amps they use... it's all tube as far as I know. Unless I'm misunderstanding something?

I got that off of a set of patches put out by a Boss ME50 user group, they called it "sounds of heros" or something. However, I don't see anyone's rig on the internet pointing to that piece of equipment, so I guess I posted in ignorance. I'll be sure to clean up my ME50 link. Thanks a ton! (Please feel free to critique my website any time)

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

I got that off of a set of patches put out by a Boss ME50 user group, they called it "sounds of heros" or something. However, I don't see anyone's rig on the internet pointing to that piece of equipment, so I guess I posted in ignorance. I'll be sure to clean up my ME50 link. Thanks a ton! (Please feel free to critique my website any time)

Oh, ok, if that patch or w/e was put up by a Boss group, then you know the claim that Metallica uses Metal Zone or something is just a way of saying that particular combination of settings can approximate a Metallica tone for you. Anyway, other than that, great website, very informative with plenty of clips!

 

[Limbsy]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

For what you said, i would go for either a JB, 59 combo(STILL VERSATILE, PAF TONES ROCK!) Jazz is nice too, i would prefer 59.

A Pearly gates combo would be nice too.

If a JB is too piercing, try a Custom 5 and a 59 or Jazz.

jus off the top of my head

 

[neosadist]

Re: Pickups for ESP LTD EC100QM

For what you said, i would go for either a JB, 59 combo(STILL VERSATILE, PAF TONES ROCK!) Jazz is nice too, i would prefer 59.

A Pearly gates combo would be nice too.

If a JB is too piercing, try a Custom 5 and a 59 or Jazz.

jus off the top of my head

Well I'm not sure what PAF tone is, never heard it as far as I know. I'm not wanting necessarily to sound like someone in the past / vintage, but more like contemporary stuff, for now, with versatility. It's along these lines: I play 75% of stuff using clean sounds of some kind, mainly chorus, sometimes a "60's surf rock sound". There's only one song I play where I even need a vintage sound, and for that I'd use effects. Granted, I respect the sound of those before us, like Les Paul, but the main sound I need is clean with versatility. A key example is the song by The News Boys "It Is You", where I go from the verses doing arpeggios through chorus, to 2nd and subsequent choruses of song using a very heavily distorted palm mute + effect power chord set. There's one song where I run heavy overdrive through bridge. There are a couple where I need a "solo/virtuoso" sound for solos, but few, and the rest (around 15%) are through blues driver. Another solo I perform is on "Famous One" where I run a wannabe-slash sliding major/minor-6ths sort of riff of overdrive with neck pickup. Another couple songs, "The Noise We Make", is drop-D/bridge/metal sound. As you can see, these songs stick out because they're the exception to the rule. A typical set of songs is around 7 songs, maybe 1 to 2 are needing something other than a chorus / arpeggio / fingerpick style. However, when our group participated at the Battle of the Bands here locally, I ran heavy overdrive and metal sounds from the stage on the beginning and ending songs. Sorry for the detail, but I don't know how to say this in a more concise way. I'll just try these and see how it goes. I have seen church musicians use stock guitars, few modifying them, and even fewer to none that I even know. We church musicians are few and far between, especially when it comes to electric guitar. The only other person I know of is my rhythm player out here! :dunno: