Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Nagisa

Nagisa

New member
Thanks for your help a few weeks ago regarding the distortion bridge; it's exactly what I wanted.

But now my PGn is struggling to keep up. Actually, I've always liked its cleans and crunch but could never get the lead sound I wanted. I'm now looking for something that is present and powerful without being sterile. The PG sounds fine for GnR stuff but to my ears not for heavy shred. There are so many good neck solos, but if I could choose one, Paul Gilbert's Technical Difficulties solo would be one tone I have in my head. I have an ibanez with a neck evolution which is closer to what I want than the pg is, but it is pretty one-dimensional tonewise.

I saw he may have had either a dimarzio super distortion or paf pro at the time. Of course I could go that direction, but I would like to match my Distortion.

I'm wary of the sh-6n as it may not offer enough in the way of softer solo tones or occasional cleans. Actually I'm a bit wary of going ceramic, but could be convinced otherwise. As mentioned above, the evolution is not lively or organic enough.

Until now I have been heavily considering:
Full shred
Black winter
Jazz or 59 (but maybe still not enough "oomph" there)
Paf pro

Open to suggestions. I have a kemper and run 5150, mesa and marshall profiles mainly in high gain.
I still would like to be able to roll back the neck for the occasional classic rock or clean song. I have a strat so cleans aren't so important, but that classic LP Marshall crunch from time to time is important for me to retain.

Thanks!
 
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Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Paul had SuperxDs in both neck & bridge, both wired in parallel mode.

The 59n has oomph, a lot of it & much more than the Jazz but I have not tried a sh6 so I dont know how they would contrast. The Paf Pro gets good reviews, there is the Paf Joe too which is a slight variation of it that Satriani was using for long. The Illuminator is also getting good rep.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Full shred would be the best choice from Duncan. It is much rounder than the Distortion. I don't like the Jazz for shred at all. From Dimarzio, you have the Super 2, the PAF Joe, PAF Pro, and Liquifire. the humbucker from hell would be underpowered. Paul Gilbert uses the Air Classics and the PAF Masters, but I think those neck versions are too underpowered for the Distortion Bridge as well.

I was not too clear on what guitar this would be going in.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

I think you are looking for the Full Shred, too. If articulation is your thing, and you don't like the buttery G n R thing, it would be between the Full Shred, or even the Jazz.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Mr. B said:
Full shred would be the best choice from Duncan. It is much rounder than the Distortion. I don't like the Jazz for shred at all. From Dimarzio, you have the Super 2, the PAF Joe, PAF Pro, and Liquifire. the humbucker from hell would be underpowered. Paul Gilbert uses the Air Classics and the PAF Masters, but I think those neck versions are too underpowered for the Distortion Bridge as well.

I was not too clear on what guitar this would be going in.
Click to expand...

Thanks for replying. This is for my LP studio, 500k pots. You mentioned a lot of Dimarzio pickups - do you think their offerings would be better than the full shred? If so, which would you lean toward given what I mentioned? Thanks!

Edit: Mincer-thanks for the input on the FS.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Jazz is simply not a good pickup for shred.

Humbucker From Hell
Gravity Storm
PAF Pro
LiquiFire

Seeing it used to describe contradictory things, have no idea what "round" tone means. Same goes with "open".

Not so sure Paul Gilbert used Super-Ds on Technical Difficulties.

He did TZ/HFH for quite a long time.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Steve Morse Neck pickup is another. It's a different beast when it comes to pick attack, but man can it push notes clearly and cleanly at break-neck speed with a lot of gain.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Thanks- looks like a lot of full shred, liquifire and paf pro recs. Hard to determine what would be numero uno
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

I would not gloss-over the Gravity Storm.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

I can't argue with Full Shred. I think it's the Duncan you want. Perhaps a Black Winter - but that's basically a Distortion Neck. I was thinking Jazz - but I'm not a shred guy, or a big Jazz user. A 59 does work with a Distortion though...

If it Paul Gilbert tone yo dig, DiMarzio is where that will happen.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

I have a Full Shred. Great pickup for mid and high-gain rhythm and lead. Great match with a Screamin' Demon, but will be underpowered against an SH-6.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

ooh - demon....
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

I had not thought of the Demon as a neck pickup, or the Distortion Neck (Why didn't that one occur to me?). I do tend to like Dimarzios better for shred. I haven't tried the Gravity Storms, but would like to.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Thanks guys - so maybe Dimarzio then? Is gravity storm able to still do classic rock well? What about gs vs paf pro or liquifire?
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

Gravity Storm has more of a single coil-ish sound, but still full.
PAF Pro is fat, full and clear.
LiquiFire is also fat and clear, but a bit tighter and smoother/darker but still very articulate.

...then there are the models upon which these were refinements or models that are subsequent off-shoots with further tweaks/refinements.

http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/humbuckers/medium-power?view=list

IMNSHO there is nothing in the Seymour Duncan line of pickups that hold a candle to these for shred.

You'll have to provide some examples/clips of what you consider classic rock neck tone.
 
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Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

SH-6n. There is a reason that it comes in a set paired with the SH-6.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

https://youtu.be/n_1vJ4zJY7k

This guy is playing more bluesy stuff with the GS which satisfies my requirement for it to do softer stuff too. I tried to think of what I meant by classic rock neck solos but honestly I think it's more overdriven blues where I'd use it for softer stuff. Since I have a strat (with the injector paul gilbert set) I'm pretty well covered on soft stuff anyways - but I guess I wanted to keep my LP versatile enough to not be a "metal only" guitar. It can be an "overdrive/distortion only" guitar though.

I think there's some disagreement in this thread over going Dimarzio or duncan, at least now with the suggestions for the distortion neck. It's my image that the distortion neck would be a bit much for say Satriani's stuff - is that true? If so, I'll lean toward Dimarzio.
 
Re: Shredable neck pup for LP to match Distortion b. - with some versatility

So I called up Dimarzio and they recommended the paf pro or super 2. He said the super 2 had much more output and would be good for solos. The paf pro would clean up better.

Looks like lots of recs for the paf pro. Wouldn't the super 2 be similar to the distortion neck?

Any other thoughts?
 
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