SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

[Carpercen]

First of all, I have a Epiphne Prophecy Les Paul Custom Plus EX guitar, the one with active pickups but I want to change the pups to a more versatile sound..

What I'm looking for is a jazz/blues sound but I also play some rock and metal... and personaly, i like the souns of Opeth guitars, I read somewhere that they use Seymour Duncans Full Shreds but I'm not sure cause sometimes when they play clean their guitars sound very jazzy or smooth

I've tested SD pups once and it was the hot rodded set and I like it a lot, but don't know if they are going to sound good on my guitar...

So I've been thinking on those three:

SH-2 Jazz
SH-4 JB
SH-10 Full Shred

Now, the hot rodded set comes with Jazz for neck and JB for bridge, but I was wondering if a Jazz & Full Shred combo would work fine? and in which positions would you recommend them?

Or if you guys have any advice for the sound I'm looking for I'd like to hear it!

Thank you!

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

Jazz/Full Shred will do you no wrong. The JB is fatter and louder than the Full Shred if that's what you're going for. Pickups even smoother than the Jazz are the Pearly Gates neck, the Alnico 2 Pro and also the 59 if that is what you're looking for. Jazz does fine for Jazz though.

 

[Carpercen]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

Thank you Falloffthebonetone, but for example if I want to play from jazz/blues to rock/death metal, will they handle this?

 

[Gibson 1964]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

A classic tone for JB in Metal is Megadeth. That is what I think of when I think of that.

JB/Jazz is a classic combo that will do most anything.

I have not personally used the full shred, but it sounds great here too. IMO, any of your choices would be great.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

The Jazz and the Full shred are two of the brightest and best defined neck humbuckers in SD's lineup. Of the two I prefer the Full Shred neck because you have the two rows of hex heads and can fine tune their tone more than a Jazz. Another good choice for a neck pickup for a JB is the Dimarzio Air Norton.

 

[Carpercen]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

@Gibson 1964 thank you! the one time I tested them I really liked their sound actually... but since I'm buying them from internet I'm affraid to make the wrong choice haha
@idsnowdog so you would recommend Full Shred neck and Jazz on bridge? sounds interesting mmm you make my decision even harder hahahaha

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

The Full Shred can pull off every kind of metal I can think of, especially if you have the amp for it. I would choose it over the JB if you plan on tuning down low. The JB can handle heavy and old school death and thrash metal awesomely, and has a great split tone. Either pickup will work with you and both are incredibly versatile. The JB is hotter and thicker sounding while the Full Shred is more precise and tight.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

@Gibson 1964 thank you! the one time I tested them I really liked their sound actually... but since I'm buying them from internet I'm affraid to make the wrong choice haha
@idsnowdog so you would recommend Full Shred neck and Jazz on bridge? sounds interesting mmm you make my decision even harder hahahaha

Actually a JB bridge with a Full Shred neck. The Full Shred is also a good bridge pickup in darker sounding guitars and for low tunings.

Here's a clip of the Dimarzio Air Norton.

 

[Carpercen]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

@idsnowdog So no jazz for the combo? Can I still play with bluesy/jazzy tones without the pickup?

 

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

@idsnowdog So no jazz for the combo? Can I still play with bluesy/jazzy tones without the pickup?

You can easily cop Jazz tones with the Jazz neck, less so with the Full Shred neck so I wouldn't recommend it to you. However, many members on the forum agree that though the pickup is NAMED the Jazz, it is not Duncan's most ideal pickup for the genre style. It's a rather bright and clear sounding pickup while a lot of Jazz players on the forum tend to gravitate towards warmer neck pickups like the Alnico 2 pro I mentioned earlier. BUT you say you also want these pickups to be able to perform some metal as well as have Jazzy cleans, which is why I suggested the Jazz and even the 59 because those neck pickups complement pretty much ANY Duncan bridge pickup and can support a lot of gain without turning to mush while easily being able to cop jazz and blues tones, especially when you use the tone and volume controls to warm them up. With the bridge, you in my opinion cannot go wrong with either the JB or Full Shred, it just depends on what you want out of thebridge pickup: thickness and power with a vintage flavor (JB), or tightness and articulation with modern attack. Both are fairly bright higher output pickups thay will cover what you need in the metal department.

 

[Archer250]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

The Jazz is probably the most versatile humbucker. Smooth, round cleans? Roll back the tone knob and watch it happen. Glassy, bright tones? It does that by itself. Articulate shredding solos? Equal to the PAF Pro. Pinch harmonics? It can do that.

And it sounds best with a JB Bridge.

 

[elelpe]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

I'd say Full Shred bridge and '59 neck.

 

[Lux84]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

I don't like Jazz in the neck of my SG so much.. it's kinda trebley and thin sounding. i also dislike Distortion on the bridge of that guitar. it has to much mids for my taste. what i really like is Custom on the bridge, and Pearly Gates in the neck of my LP. i like that better for all the stuff i play. the styles i play includes thrash, groove, brutal metal and then some blues and hard rock. Pearly Gates on the neck of my LP is really fat, raw,vintage defined sounding pickups. splitted is also very good at some settings. Custom is better pup than distortion for me. Distortion too hot. i didn't try JB but i think i will give it a try in my SG to replace Distortion. also the Jazz i want to replace with some alnico 2 in the neck. Distortion too much mid spike for me.

 

[blueman335]

Re: SH-2 vs SH-4 vs SH-10 choosing pickups! (Help)

You can easily cop Jazz tones with the Jazz neck, less so with the Full Shred neck so I wouldn't recommend it to you. However, many members on the forum agree that though the pickup is NAMED the Jazz, it is not Duncan's most ideal pickup for the genre style. It's a rather bright and clear sounding pickup while a lot of Jazz players on the forum tend to gravitate towards warmer neck pickups like the Alnico 2 pro I mentioned earlier. BUT you say you also want these pickups to be able to perform some metal as well as have Jazzy cleans, which is why I suggested the Jazz and even the 59 because those neck pickups complement pretty much ANY Duncan bridge pickup and can support a lot of gain without turning to mush while easily being able to cop jazz and blues tones, especially when you use the tone and volume controls to warm them up. With the bridge, you in my opinion cannot go wrong with either the JB or Full Shred, it just depends on what you want out of thebridge pickup: thickness and power with a vintage flavor (JB), or tightness and articulation with modern attack. Both are fairly bright higher output pickups thay will cover what you need in the metal department.

I agree with everything above except the JB being a good blues/jazz PU. It's too hot and modern-sounding to me, I don't hear it as vintage at all. Not really a good fit for those genres.