PUs for an OLP Project

[liquidtension]

I've been looking at an OLP Petrucci for a little while now, and the common complaint seems to be the pickups. So, I thought this would be a good excuse to get pickups gear toward a particular sound that I have in my ear.

Here's what I'm looking for:
Bridge - A transparent growl that sounds like a beefy chainsaw (in a musical way) that you can not only hear but feel. I don't want something that is super scooped, but something that has some real meat in the mid-lows. But I don't want something that is compressed either. Recommendations?

Neck - Smooth, even, fat sustain, but with body. Probably a little more compressed than the bridge, but not so much that it lacks expressiveness.

In both pickups I want to avoid the the stereotyped shredder tone that is super-compressed and seems to lack anything unique to it. The tone I've really been digging lately is Guthrie Govan's, both his neck and bridge tone. There are some clips at http://www.tonemerchants.com/Guthrie_Govan_NAMM_2005_Clips.htm and
http://www.tonemerchants.com/Guthrie_Govan_Clips.htm

I really like the meat to his tone. I guess the easy solution would be to buy the Suhr models that are in his Suhr Standard, but it's hard to justify spending $240 on pickups for a $350 guitar. So, recommend away.

 

[B Bent]

Re: PUs for an OLP Project

Someone help this dude out!!!

 

[modophoto]

Re: PUs for an OLP Project

I've been looking at an OLP Petrucci for a little while now, and the common complaint seems to be the pickups. So, I thought this would be a good excuse to get pickups gear toward a particular sound that I have in my ear.

Here's what I'm looking for:
Bridge - A transparent growl that sounds like a beefy chainsaw (in a musical way) that you can not only hear but feel. I don't want something that is super scooped, but something that has some real meat in the mid-lows. But I don't want something that is compressed either. Recommendations?

Neck - Smooth, even, fat sustain, but with body. Probably a little more compressed than the bridge, but not so much that it lacks expressiveness.

In both pickups I want to avoid the the stereotyped shredder tone that is super-compressed and seems to lack anything unique to it. The tone I've really been digging lately is Guthrie Govan's, both his neck and bridge tone. There are some clips at http://www.tonemerchants.com/Guthrie_Govan_NAMM_2005_Clips.htm and
http://www.tonemerchants.com/Guthrie_Govan_Clips.htm

I really like the meat to his tone. I guess the easy solution would be to buy the Suhr models that are in his Suhr Standard, but it's hard to justify spending $240 on pickups for a $350 guitar. So, recommend away.

if i were you i would go with THE classic setup. distortion in the bridge, jazz in the neck. to me, the closest thing to a musical chainsaw was randy rhoads's playing:smokin:. his tone is all his own. sounds to me like thats the sort of tone you're looking for.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: PUs for an OLP Project

Well, Randy had a funky nasty tone that was indeed all his, but he can have it!

The Distortion is pretty scooped to me and I have a feeling he doesn't want a ceramic pickup. The Custom is a great pickup with lots of growl but it is ceramic (even though it doesn't really sound like it!). I am gonna say you should play several Duncan Buckers and see what you like then don't like then go from there...

 

[Corbic]

Re: PUs for an OLP Project

Smooth and fat in the neck sounds like an Alnico II Pro neck.

 

[Peterku]

Re: PUs for an OLP Project

I recommend you a Bare Knuckle 'Nailbomb' set! It matches your description perfectly!

 

[liquidtension]

Re: PUs for an OLP Project

That's interesting that you mention the custom. I was listening to a clip of that the other day and really liked it. I would prefer an Alnico, but I have to admit, that's not because of a side-by-side pickup test, but because the pickups in Govan's Suhr have them. I should probably forget all about that and just use my ears.

I liked the Alnico II Pro as well. At first I thought the clip sounded just a tad harsh, but I think it was a combo of the SD clips and the speaker system I was listening through. Compared to other PUs, I really liked it.

Is it taboo to use bridge and neck pickups with two different magnets?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: PUs for an OLP Project

Mix and match magnets all you want!

The Custom is a great pickup and the alnico verisions (Custom 5 and Custom Custom) are great as well but have very scewed tonal properties compared to the Custom. To my ears he Custom 5 is a bit scooped but still a great pickup while the Custom Custom is very heavy in the mids.

Once you try a few Duncan buckers and get a starting point we can for sure get started trying to set up the OLP with a killer set of pickups.