Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

J

JesusCrisp

New member
Hello everyone,


Recently got myself a MIK Tokai LP used and really love that guitar.
The only thing I'd like to change is the pickups. They are certainly not bad, but kind of lacking for my taste in some areas.

What I'd like is a bridge pickup that gives me a bit of a faster and tighter attack, more punch and good string seperation.
Playing mostly high gain, tuned to D Standard/Drop C, lots of palm muting and power chords, droning open strings during riffs, complex and dissonant chords with notes ringing throughout.
Does not need to be stupidly high output, got that covered with the amps.
For the neck I would like something that keeps the slightly percussive quality the current pickup currently has, but a bit more articulate, tighter and more mid-forward.

My other guitars have EMG 81/60 (LTD FX) and Dimarzio AT-1/Fast Track 2 (Fender HSS Strat) and while I like either of those combinations, I want something different for the LP.


Thought about the Duncan Custom for the bridge, had one in my HSS Strat previously but thought it was a bit too 'clunky' for the lack of a better word. Maybe just not the best possible fit for a Strat though.
Was also thinking about an EMG 57/66 set as I really like the feel and response of the 81/60 set, but want something with a more "classic" tone and more clarity.
Also considering Lace pickups (Finger Burners, Divinators), as I recently discovered Mastodon who are major Lace users and their music and tone is very much in line with what I'm playing and looking for.

Any idea what could fit my needs?


Thanks in advance for any good input!
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Not all that familiar with Lace’s conventional offerings, but I can say you might consider the Alumitone Deathbuckers.

As far as Duncan, what you describe sounds very Custom/Jazz or possibly Distortion/Jazz.
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Cool description of your music !

For the bridge you may be happy with a SH-6 duncan distortion.
Not that versatile but excellent for what you described.

And the Super Distortion was a good advice.

(I'd like to try a 80s Japanese Tokai "Love Rocks")
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

As far as Custom/Jazz, that was what I'm thinking. Kind of intrigued by the 59/Custom hybrid, how does that compare to the Custom?
Don't know about Distortions or Black Winters, wouldn't they be "too heavy/harsh" (especially Black Winters)?
Currently have an old Ibanez Roadstar with a Super Distortion in it that I forgot to mention.
Feels very balanced to me in that guitar but I suspect it may be too bass-heavy and dark in the LP.


Francois said:
Cool description of your music !

For the bridge you may be happy with a SH-6 duncan distortion.
Not that versatile but excellent for what you described.

And the Super Distortion was a good advice.

(I'd like to try a 80s Japanese Tokai "Love Rocks")
Click to expand...

Tried to describe what I want the PU to be good at without saying "kind of like Mastodon but different".

Mine is only a Korean Tokai, stayed away from LP style guitars previously for some reason, but really liked the feel and look (black LP Custom with gold hardware) of it!
May try to find a Japanese one once I have some bigger amount of spare money left.
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

The Super D is a great fit in a LP. It’s not dark at all. In fact it’s a very mid focused pickup with slightly rolled off highs to my ears.
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Gtrjunior said:
The Super D is a great fit in a LP. It’s not dark at all. In fact it’s a very mid focused pickup with slightly rolled off highs to my ears.
Click to expand...

Well, since I plan on selling my Roadstar anyway, putting back its stock bridge PU, I could just try out the SD in the LP anyway I guess.
You think it does what I'm asking for?
 
Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

I think at the very least it’s worth a try, especially since it won’t cost you anything but time to install it.
I can’t speak to the Mastadon type tone but I’m pretty sure it will get you very close.
What amp are you using? Did you post that already?
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

At the moment I'm playing through a Marshall JVM at rehearsals and a Yamaha THR10X at home. Both do the sounds I need pretty well. I know the THR is only a digital practice amp but the differences between my guitars, especially in terms of playing response and articulation come trough noticably enough. Even more so with the JVM.
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

My thoughts were a Black Winter (for percussion but with mids) in the neck, and a Custom in the bridge: 'fast attack' and 'punch' is what it does.
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Mincer said:
My thoughts were a Black Winter (for percussion but with mids) in the neck, and a Custom in the bridge: 'fast attack' and 'punch' is what it does.
Click to expand...

This is the first thing I thought of too. The Jazz would be good in the neck for a bit more Classic vibe. I haven't played the BW neck yet, but the description and what everyone here has said makes it seem like all the good qualities of the Jazz plus maybe a bit more mids and even better clarity under gain.
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

JesusCrisp said:
Currently have an old Ibanez Roadstar with a Super Distortion in it that I forgot to mention.
Feels very balanced to me in that guitar but I suspect it may be too bass-heavy and dark in the LP.




Tried to describe what I want the PU to be good at without saying "kind of like Mastodon but different".

Mine is only a Korean Tokai, stayed away from LP style guitars previously for some reason, but really liked the feel and look (black LP Custom with gold hardware) of it!
May try to find a Japanese one once I have some bigger amount of spare money left.
Click to expand...

DMZ has several "super-family" pups with radically different EQing

Beware that neck pups in many seymour "sets" may be quite close to what you already have in the neck IF yours came with PAFlikes. If you want a change, you may have to pick bridge and neck separately
 
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Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Your description sounded like it was lifted right off the Duncan site for the Pegasus. It's Duncan's prog metal pickup. String to string and note separation in complex chord voicings. Not super hot, great versatile pickup IMHO
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Ben1962 said:
Your description sounded like it was lifted right off the Duncan site for the Pegasus. It's Duncan's prog metal pickup. String to string and note separation in complex chord voicings. Not super hot, great versatile pickup IMHO
Click to expand...

That looks interesting indeed!
Did not even know it existed, at least it wasn't around I was in the market for pickups the last time around.
But yeah, the description pretty fits pretty much perfectly, thank you!
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

If you are thinking of Mastodon's sound you may try the Lace Sensor Dissonant Aggressor (sorry i was going to type Dissident Aggressor !) made to the specs of their guitarist I think.
The output is 17,... (a bit more than the the SH-6 which is 16,..).

(I have no experience with such pick up but I love their "Gold" single coil and HB.)

Maybe the SH-10 Full Shred also can be good for you (?) but I did not tried it yet in a guitar like yours.

And so what the name of your band ?
 
Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

I just listened to a couple of Mastadon tracks.
To me, that’s a fairly straightforward Marshall-ish tone. It’s not a mid scooped sound. There’s plenty of mids happening there.
Clearly they are tuned pretty low, I’m not sure what they tuned to but that’s where the heaviness is coming from.
JMO, but I don’t think you’re looking for a “metal” pickup for that tone.
I’m going to stand by my original recommendation of putting your Super D in there and see what you think.
Worst case scenario is that you don’t like it. No big deal...you already own it so you’re not spending any money to give it a shot.
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Pegasus - Sentient

Alternative 8 - Full Shred
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

Alright, little update!


Finally got around changing pickups, the Dimarzio Super Distortion is now in the Tokai LP.


First impressions:

  • Playing on the bridge pickup now definitely feels more "direct", not saggy as it did with the stock PU. Low end feels tighter, but still fat and organic.
  • Attack in general is a bit sharper and the top-end seems clearer, but never shrill. Definitely brighter than I expected though, which is a plus since I thought it would be too warm.
  • Does not get muddy at high gain settings in D-Standard/Drop C like the stock PU tended to do. Chords still have a nice clarity to them and harmonics are pretty crazy (in a good way).
  • Does not sound as compressed as the EMG 81 in the LTD despite the output (which feels pretty hot)?
  • Leads playing sounds more in-your-face but with a nice vocal quality that I know from the AT-1 in my HSS Strat.
  • Definitely more aggressive/less smooth sounding than the AT-1 with quite a different midrange, but it's also two completely different guitars.
  • Overall just straight up ballsy tone! Quite a bit of roughness and attitude for sure and I love it. Thanks very much for the advice!


Only thing I dislike right now is the pickup spacing. Apparently the guitar has wider spacing on the bridge pickup and now the SD is a tad too small with the polepieces not aligning to the strings.
Did not notice any volume issues resulting from this but its still bugging me. If I continue liking the SD, I may get another with correct spacing, maybe gold-covered or a zebra, whatever.

May wait a little with the neck PU, but what would fit in combination with the SD? At the moment the stock PU it is pretty dark and flabby compared to the SD.
 
Re: Pickups for Tokai LP - more punch, tightness

JesusCrisp said:
Apparently the guitar has wider spacing on the bridge pickup and now the SD is a tad too small with the polepieces not aligning to the strings.

May wait a little with the neck PU, but what would fit in combination with the SD? At the moment the stock PU it is pretty dark and flabby compared to the SD.
Click to expand...

The string spacing is really not a problem if the E strings are not too far outside the polepieces. Only in this case the sound could suffer. I'd want to pair the SD with another SD or a Paf pro or Air Norton.
If you want a more classic sound a dimarzio DP103 (not 36th anniversary)
 
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