Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

[BlueSkiesAndPaign]

The Guitar: Carvin, bright sounding. H-H. 25 inch scale. 24 frets. Fixed bridge. Standard tuning.

Current pups: Perpetual Burn and Sentient. Problems: Perpetual Burn is too nasal and thin sounding, even though it's more compressed and higher output than the Sentient. The Perpetual Burn doesn't split well either, and the cleans are pretty meh. The two pups don't match well tonally, i have to keep adjusting my amp settings when going from bridge to neck pups - unusable live. The Sentient sounds "bigger" even when set lower, and lacks high-end sparkle.

The Rig(s): Orange Micro Dark, Hotone Heart Attack, Blackstar ID Core, Line 6 Hd500

Things to keep in mind/For What Music/what i need:

- I have other guitars fitted with lower output pups, so this guitar serves as my metal/lead/shred machine.

- Both the pickups need to be excellent for nuanced lead playing at various gain levels, dynamic, detailed, responsive to pick attack - i like a treble spike when a note is picked hard. Both need to be bluesy sounding (the Perpetual Burn wasn't, the Sentient is). Clearly ultra-high output won't do - not a fan. I don't like neck pickups sounding too thick under high gain either.

- Lead guitarists/tones i admire: Jason Becker (PB album), Shawn Lane (Powers of Ten album), Greg Howe (Extraction album). I often have to go from clean to bluesy to screaming melodic shred in the span of a single song. No country, no jazz. Rhythm-wise, the bridge should cover classic/progressive/hard rock and be tight enough for metal parts - not super heavy. Always in standard tuning.

- I like playing clean parts on the bridge pickup as much as the neck - chords as well as solos. I'm keen on the coil splits providing good variety.

- My guitar has an active treble boost/cut knob - would be great to find pickups that can make the most of it. I'm also open to replacing just the bridge pickup, and for suggestions from other brand lineups (nothing as expensive as BKP though, please!)

Thanks,

Saib

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Full Shred bridge...done

 

[BlueSkiesAndPaign]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Full Shred bridge...done

Won't be too trebly?

 

[leevc5]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

CUSTOM P90 SP90-3B & N or if your daring B & B.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Is that a neck-thru Carvin DC200 or 400? They tend to be way too bright (I know). I have to adjust my amp for more bass/less treble for the Carvins. While overly bright, they also have tremendous clarity, and I can pull the bass shift knob (designed to thicken single coil tones) on the Mesa MkIII for a very nice creamy tone. The Distortion or PATB Distortion can add some beef for the bridge, and the '59 for the neck if you go the Duncan route. Better yet would be the Dimarzio Evo2 (b) and Air Norton or Liquifire , since Dimarzios tend to have more mids, which the DC guitars need badly...

 

[BlueSkiesAndPaign]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Is that a neck-thru Carvin DC200 or 400? They tend to be way too bright (I know). I have to adjust my amp for more bass/less treble for the Carvins. While overly bright, they also have tremendous clarity, and I can pull the bass shift knob (designed to thicken single coil tones) on the Mesa MkIII for a very nice creamy tone. The Distortion or PATB Distortion can add some beef for the bridge, and the '59 for the neck if you go the Duncan route. Better yet would be the Dimarzio Evo2 (b) and Air Norton or Liquifire , since Dimarzios tend to have more mids, which the DC guitars need badly...

Yeah, it's a DC200. I hadn't liked the original c22 pickups. What do you think of the Carvin m22SD pickup?

 

[Cdwillis]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

JB/Jazz with 250k pots?

 

[Raoul Duke]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

I second the JB. Personally I'd go with the 59 in the neck. This was my favorite set in two different super strats, an ESP M-II with a floyd and an LTD MH 250 fixed bridge.

 

[BlueSkiesAndPaign]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

I second the JB. Personally I'd go with the 59 in the neck. This was my favorite set in two different super strats, an ESP M-II with a floyd and an LTD MH 250 fixed bridge.

The 59 is on the thicker side, and i find it a bit boomy on the wound strings when playing open chords.

 

[BlueSkiesAndPaign]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

JB/Jazz with 250k pots?

The Carvin comes with an active module. Can't change pots.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Won't be too trebly?

To be honest, the Full Shred does have some of that characteristic Duncan brightness, but I wouldn't say it is very "thin" sounding. Obviously, a LOT depends on your specific guitar, but the FS certainly covers a lot of what you are looking for. If I were you, I wouldn't rule it out just yet.

Others options from Duncan:

If you can get over the appearance, you might really like the original Parallel Axis pickup, the PATB-1. It's somewhat JB-esque in feel and output, but it has a more balanced midrange profile, a slightly fuller top end and a tighter bottom than the JB. It's a great medium-hot pickup that was designed specifically to add body to thinner sounding guitars. Of course, the look isn't for everyone, but it really is a great pickup and highly versatile.

If you can afford it, the custom shop Holdsworth "Metal Fatigue" is an absolutely killer pickup that also does just about everything you are looking for. It takes the classic JB formula, boosts the mids, thickens the top end and softens the treble sting by using dual rows of fillister screw pole pieces instead of the traditional screw/slug arrangement. Super-versatile. It's my personal go-to for a "higher output" pickup in guitars that suffer from a brittle top end response naturally.

Beyond that, I'd suggest looking into one of the medium-hot A2 winds that are known to hold up well under gain. Examples here include the Pearly Gates bridge and the custom shop '78. Another that might surprise you is the EVH Frankenstein model. The Frankenstein is actually made by Seymour Duncan for EVH. It has a great balance of brightness/thickness with a snappy top end and a cool hard rock attitude.

On that note, you should also take a look at the Custom Custom. I'm not a huge fan of the Custom Custom myself (I like a little more output and bite than the Custom Custom offers on its own), but it *might* actually work very well with your treble boost circuit Furthermore, it's a standard production model, so you should be able to find one easily and more reasonably priced than some of the others mentioned here.

The last affordable option is to go DiMarzio. I hate to recommend a non-Duncan product, but some of DiMarzio's pickups are really good at thickening up the top end of a naturally thin sounding guitar:

AT-1
Breed
Norton
Air Zone
Evo 2

 

[IMENATOR]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Won't be too trebly?

Tone knob?

 

[Juanhanglo]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

I can vouch for the full shred set. They are not super bright as the eq spec would have you believe. I find them pretty even from mid mids to highs. Dropping the tone knob a bit takes the edge off without becoming muddy.

I also like the air norton/air zone set. Both split well. There are plenty of YouTube video to check out.

Also, why not ask over at the carvin/Kiesel forum? They are sure to have a few guys that have the same issue.

 

[BRHGM]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Jason used a JB in the bridge. The Perpetual Burn was developed many years later after his illness sidelined him. Checkout the documentary on Jason Becker.

 

[Cdwillis]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

The Carvin comes with an active module. Can't change pots.

You want to keep the active module?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Hmm, I'd go the other way and say maybe a 59/Custom Hybrid in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. It certainly won't be bright sounding (as most of the shreddy pickups will be) and the Hybrid splits really well, too.

 

[BlueSkiesAndPaign]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

You want to keep the active module?

The module is PCB'd to the piezo controls. I'd like to retain the piezo and the boost/cut.

 

[BlueSkiesAndPaign]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Hmm, I'd go the other way and say maybe a 59/Custom Hybrid in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. It certainly won't be bright sounding (as most of the shreddy pickups will be) and the Hybrid splits really well, too.

I found the Sentient a bit too boomy on the fat strings during clean parts, i'm guessing the 59 will have the same problem. I have a '59/Custom Hybrid in another guitar and it lacks the tightness in the shred department. Splits great though. I may swap it onto this guitar if i can't decide a suitable replacement.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Yeah, the 59/Custom has a pretty big bottom end.

I'm guessing the OP probably doesn't need a whole lot of added body down low, just some added tightness and a little more girth in the upper register. Am I right, OP?

I have a guitar that is very much that way and it took a lot of trial and error to find pickups that checked all the boxes.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Re: Suggest pickups for my H-H Superstrat (Versatile, lead guitar)

Yeah, it's a DC200. I hadn't liked the original c22 pickups. What do you think of the Carvin m22SD pickup?

That's actually one of the better Carvin pickups, especially for thrashy rhythm, although the C22B has a fuller tone and is plenty aggressive. The problem is that their pickups tends to be very bright and also shy on bass, which is a BIG problem for neck pickups. They seem obsessed with clarity and high end cut. Honestly, Dimarzio makes my favorite neck pickups, namely the Air Norton and Blaze Neck (original Universe 7-string), and honorable mention for the PAF Pro.

Also, if you choose to use the active circuit, spend a fair amount of time tweaking it. I feel sure you'll not need much more than 1/2 of the active treble boost and a little more than that of the active bass. I always turn it off for cleans, but it can be nice for hot distorted leads and certain kinds of rhythm tones.