Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

[andro64]

Hi, guys
I spent almost year by slow building my gear. Now I have Ibanez RG570 from 2002 plugged to Jet City JCA50 head (it's chinese and 'official' copy of Soldano Hot Rod Plus (it even says "Design by Soldano" under jack input)) that is pre-overdrived by copy of TS808 (standard settings for helping high-gain sound, volume 10, gain 0 and tone 5-6).
Now I want to change my PUPs, stock V7/S1/V8 are good but I want something with several addictions.

First, the bridge pickup. For the whole time I just wanted to have Crunch Lab, due to John Petrucci. I'm playing sth I call "progressive thrash metal" (my inspirations are Megadeth, Dream Theater, Opeth, Metallica, Pink Floyd, etc.) so I want to have aggressive, beefy rhytm sound from pickup for playing thrashy or modern metal inspired riffs full of PM, staccatos and sinister chords. But also I want it for playing some lead stuff, inspired by Marty Friedman or Satriani or Petrucci. From what I've heard it seems CL don't have enough bass and don't like to get overdrived that much. I was thinking about DiMarzio Gravity Storm, because everyone is saying it's the best pickup out there, but I'm not sure if it would do thrash very well - I don't want to aim that much at hard rock or 80's shred style. And it's based on Alnico5 when most of aggressive pickups are built with ceramic magnets.
Then I thought about Dominion bridge, I'm not a fan of Lamb of God but everyone are saying so good about them again… But will it play some leads too?
I thought about BKP Nailbomb but it's just too much for me. So what you think, GS or Dominion, or maybe some Duncan?

Then the neck PUP. When the bridge one is supposed to focus on doing high-gain stuff I want neck to play mostly clean and… creamy? The thing about Jet City is that its first channel isn't clean but crunch. So it really likes to overdrive in Marshall style - with bridge PUP I can't play any clean sound, it's more like classic rock sound. So to play clean chords (you know, Welcome Home (Sanitarium) or beginning of On the Backs of Angels) I have to change for neck or even neck+middle combination. My neck is supposed to play clean (by rolling volume maybe) and to play nice leads over high-gain channel to…
I'm almost sure I want Liquifire but maybe You know better what should I take?
Thank you for responses, cheers :d

Edit: Or maybe Duncan Distortion in the bridge, how will it sound? And how it compares to Gravity Storm?

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

I'm going to give you another option to try first...

Swap the magnets between the V7 and V8.

The V7 uses a Ceramic magnet and the V8 uses an Alnico V (A5) magnet. Swapping the V7's Ceramic into the V8 and the V8's Alnico into the V7 will accomplish most of what you're looking to achieve without spending any money.

 

[LatsMcGee]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

if your RG Is basswood I would look at a Super 3 bridge, if it's mahogony by some chance I'd go with the Duncan Distortions...

 

[andro64]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

if your RG Is basswood I would look at a Super 3 bridge, if it's mahogony by some chance I'd go with the Duncan Distortions...

Yep, it's basswood.
Or what about Full Shred? Will it be good for leads and hi-gain, articulated riffs?

 

[Mad-Max]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Why not look into the Pegasus? It's perfect for Progressive Metal styles. Don't be fooled by all the guys who play down tunes stuff, it can handle Thrash perfectly, and the cleans are awesome.

Also, look into the Black Winter, super aggressive tone but not too over the top, and has a surprisingly superb clean tone as well.

 

[andro64]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Why not look into the Pegasus? It's perfect for Progressive Metal styles. Don't be fooled by all the guys who play down tunes stuff, it can handle Thrash perfectly, and the cleans are awesome.

Also, look into the Black Winter, super aggressive tone but not too over the top, and has a surprisingly superb clean tone as well.

Right, I thought about both of them. But I really can't find any 6-string Pegasus definition or price, everything is either "Pegasus now available" or descriptions of Nazgul and Sentient :c

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Takes 15 minutes to transplant magnets between the V7/V8...just sayin'

 

[andro64]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Takes 15 minutes to transplant magnets between the V7/V8...just sayin'

Ok, I'll try it but later because I changed the strings in my Floyd last week and I don't want to adjust it again :v

But as I am asking I want to know as much as possible about pickups. So I have two more questions:
- How does Black Winter neck/Sentient compare to DiMarzio style necks, like Liquifire. I really like smooth and liquid sound of LF or Air Norton so I'm curious about clean or smooth lead tones that Sentient may produce
- What's the difference between Black Winter and Pegasus - everyone says that Pegasus is built for prog metal, ok, I like it, but I'm afraid that everyone associate nowadays prog with djent. I want to have it death metal style (melodic death, prog death, something like that as thrash is connected with death), tight but with soul too

 

[dominus]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

if your RG Is basswood I would look at a Super 3 bridge, if it's mahogony by some chance I'd go with the Duncan Distortions...

I want to have it death metal style (melodic death, prog death, something like that as thrash is connected with death), tight but with soul too

Definitely check out the Super 3 then.

 

[andro64]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Definitely check out the Super 3 then.

But, again, how does it compare to other pickups I mentioned, especially Pegasus and Black Winter?

 

[bloughlin16]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

I would go for either the Pegasus or the Fastback Beard Comber. They both have great note separation and a really tight low end that's great for thrash.

 

[dominus]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

But, again, how does it compare to other pickups I mentioned, especially Pegasus and Black Winter?

I look at pickups for what they do, rather than how they compare to others. A pickup is for balancing the guitar, the choice of amp and speakers plays more of a part of getting the tone you want. Keith Merrow's Black Winter demo was played using a Ernie Ball which I think is basswood:




Bill Steer of Carcass played an RG with a Super 3 on Heartwork, so it will do melodic death metal. Back off the gain on the amp a little and you'll get your thrash tones.

 

[andro64]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Sad thing, I discovered that Super 3 is almost unfindable in Europe, the only shop that can provide it is in UK so I would have to pay almost BKP price to get it :/ And Pegasus will be in my country in short time so I'd probably go with it rather than Super 3, due to terrible price and availability situation

 

[vinta9e]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Have you ruled out the DP100 already?

 

[dominus]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Sad thing, I discovered that Super 3 is almost unfindable in Europe, the only shop that can provide it is in UK so I would have to pay almost BKP price to get it :/ And Pegasus will be in my country in short time so I'd probably go with it rather than Super 3, due to terrible price and availability situation

Look for used ones on eBay. Even after shipping from the USA it should be comparable to the price of a new one.

 

[andro64]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Ok, so summarizing, the Super 3/Liquifire (or Pegasus/Liquifire) combo will do the work in my basswood RG - bridge will be aggressive, tight enough to do rhythm and neck will be liquid enough to carry leads and do some clean stuff too. And I'll play Images and Words, Awake, Rust in Peace, Ride the Lightning and Change of Seasons and be proud of it
My final question is what single coil should I take to compliment this combo? It can be single coil, it can be hum canceller like DiMarzio S pickups - I use single in combination neck+middle for cleans or sometimes middle for some leads. I've never used bridge+middle because it just sucks the whole aggression from bridge PUP. I want it to do cleans/leads only or to make my guitar more versatile too.
I was thinking about Air Norton S or Chopper or maybe some of the Areas? What You guys think?

 

[elelpe]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Get PATB-2 bridge, PA Stack middle and PATB-1 neck and call it a day. Hopefull they're available in your country. I'm not familiar with those Petrucci's Dimarzios.

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

Personally, I use the P-Rails Hot (bridge) & P-Rails (neck) for thrash and love the combination. The P-Rails Hot in humbucker mode offers a tight, aggressive tone with clarity. Switch to P90 mode and it backs down the gain, but also adds a rude, classic feel. The Original P-Rails neck in humbucker mode offers a round, juicy, articulate tone. Switch to P90 mode and it cleans up extremely well with your guitar's volume knob. I don't use the singlecoil settings, but that's another flavor if you want that tone. To me, the humbucker mode is a little more modern sounding due to the unbalanced coils and A8 magnets while the P90 is more classic, gritty tone. I don't think most people think of these as metal humbuckers, but trust me, they do an amazing job at it.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/high-output/prails_hot/
http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/medium-output/prails_shpr1/

 

[andro64]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

... but has Super 3 got chord clarity? I've just realised that I didn't mention it - I need clarity to play some chords and to hear every single note from it, for Opeth's songs, for example. Everyone says "Super 3 is so powerful in playing power chords", but I don't need only powerful power chords but clear ringing distorted chords too.
And with Super 3 people on the forums tend to tell it's the best for scooped mids - but I really like to push some mids in my copy of Soldano Hot Rod, especially with TS808 in the front.
And what do You guys think about Steve's Special? Some tell it is horrible pickup, some tell it's nice for distortion because it's not too hot but powerful and with nice chord ringing… and Petrucci used it in his basswood Ibanez/first basswood Music Mans in his best days. I really like his Awake sound tho, but I have in mind that it was Dual Rectifier and my amp is mostly 80's hard rock/metal focused rather than dark and powerful 90s - that's why I didn't want to put Vai pickups in my guitar, I don't want to have 80s shredder guitar rig :d

 

[dominus]

Re: Pickups for progressive thrash - RG570

... but has Super 3 got chord clarity? I've just realised that I didn't mention it - I need clarity to play some chords and to hear every single note from it, for Opeth's songs, for example. Everyone says "Super 3 is so powerful in playing power chords", but I don't need only powerful power chords but clear ringing distorted chords too.
And with Super 3 people on the forums tend to tell it's the best for scooped mids - but I really like to push some mids in my copy of Soldano Hot Rod, especially with TS808 in the front.
And what do You guys think about Steve's Special? Some tell it is horrible pickup, some tell it's nice for distortion because it's not too hot but powerful and with nice chord ringing… and Petrucci used it in his basswood Ibanez/first basswood Music Mans in his best days. I really like his Awake sound tho, but I have in mind that it was Dual Rectifier and my amp is mostly 80's hard rock/metal focused rather than dark and powerful 90s - that's why I didn't want to put Vai pickups in my guitar, I don't want to have 80s shredder guitar rig :d

The Super 3 should have the clarity you're looking for. Steve's Special is fairly clear as well. Even if you don't want the sounds certain players get from "their" pickups it doesn't mean that you can't use them. The Evolution set is VERY tight and focused. It's similar to the Full Shred, which Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth uses. Even better - Phil Collen of Def Leppard and Bill Steer of Carcass used the Super 3. They don't sound ANYTHING alike.