Tips for Duncans in an old Ibanez RG

robo said:
I've sort of ruled out Black Winter without even trying...I just thought (guessing) that Black Winter was the pickup for that Norwegian lofi black metal howl.
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The BW set is a tweaked Distortion set...it does everything the Distortion set can do and adds an extra dose of clarity. Don't be fooled by the name. It's a tight, punchy, very balanced sounding pickup set that does rock and metal wonderfully and sounds killer clean, as well.
 
Despair said:
Why not Black Winter? It's supposed to be cleaner/more flexible than the Distortion set, though in same ballpark.

Pegasus hadn't occurred to me, I haven't loved it in some of the brighter guitars I've heard it in. But in an RG with possibly tubby basswood (unless it's just the pickups being murky that is the problem), that could be an excellent choice. Though a lot less metal-focused than a bunch of the other options already discussed.
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I like the BW. It has more mids than the Distortion, so I don't know how well it would work with that particular guitar.
 
robo said:
Yeah, from my metal days in the past I played a Ibanez with an original V2 pickup (their take on a DiMarzio Super Distortion) straight into a Marshall Valvestate 8100. Sometimes with a SD-1 in front of it. I know exactly what you're talking about. I love how it chugged, but the lead sound was suffering – too sharp and unmelodic with bad string separation.
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I'm using a Maxon OD9 Analogman modded, sounds fantastic to my ears. And the pickups height is set to 3-3.5mm on the bass and around 2.5-2.8mm on the treble side, the screws pretty much flush with the coil surface. It appears setting them lower helps with note definition under gain.
Nevertheless, the BW set sounds very tempting, maybe one day... At the moment I'm getting everything I need from the several JBs and Customs I have in the bridge position.
 
Masta' C said:
The BW set is a tweaked Distortion set...it does everything the Distortion set can do and adds an extra dose of clarity. Don't be fooled by the name. It's a tight, punchy, very balanced sounding pickup set that does rock and metal wonderfully and sounds killer clean, as well.
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Huh! I got it all wrong then. I need to check them out a bit more. Thank you!
 
My favorite Seymour Duncan pickup for playing Death riffs was the Dimebucker. Had a great time with that back in the day. But it kinda sucks for anything else. IMO what you want is the Distortion. It'll do death and singing leads but it can also dial down a bit.

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I bet you can't go wrong with any of the options offered as long as you spend some good time with whatever you install! Have an open mind, spend quality time getting to know the pickups (several weeks at least in my opinion), try different heights, mess around with your signal chain. Don't be afraid to try things you normally never would with your pedals, gain knob, EQ, pickup heights (for example, don't just put the new pickups in where the old ones were... try them super low! Try them really close to the strings!). The pickups will have sweet spots and it's up to you to find them with your gear and your ears.

Full Shred is another great all-around pickup. Tight and articulate. You can get warmth or bite easily with your EQ and guitar volume/tone. A Full Shred set would fit your bill as well.
 
Black Winter is my primary recommendation, but I've always thought the Full Shred was pretty amazing in this demo with an old RG:

 
The problem with the X2N is that it never backs down. Sounds great, but the BW set is SO much more versatile!
 
Masta' C said:
The problem with the X2N is that it never backs down. Sounds great, but the BW set is SO much more versatile!
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I guess that I don't see that as a problem. At least when paired with the D-Activator N. It backs down just fine while maintaining clarity. And then it can roll up and make the neck slot sound a lot like the typical bridge. Then, depending on your wiring, you can blend it with the X2N in the bridge to shift a few gears up all the way to pure X2N.

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It just never seems to mush out, no matter how much gain it sees.
And you know how I like gain.

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robo said:
Huh! I got it all wrong then. I need to check them out a bit more. Thank you!
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Hey Robo, I've played an RG Ibanez with the Black Winter pickups and I got great results from it.
I know it's marketed towards a black metal kind of thing, which it obviously can do, but I predominantly use them in the context
of stuff like BoltThrower, Death, Asphyx, etc. But we also have some clean parts in our songs so I need pickups that'll work well in
that context as well. Chords ring out clear without being twangy or piercing, plenty of thickness without being mushy when I've got distortion on.
My tunings vary between drop-D and low A#, so I needed something that would sound clear yet heavy and the BW's work very well for that.
I'm a fan of boosted mids anyhow, I realize that isn't right for everyone especially depending on how you EQ your amp and everything.
Anyhow, I've used just about every different configuration over the last several years and my "go-to" for Death Metal is definitely the Black Winters.
Just my two cents on that, I'll be very curious to hear what you go with and how it works out!
 
Hey guys! Thanks for all the great advice. I ended up with a Pegasus pickup. I really like it. Nails the lead and still chugs with attitude.
 
Cool. I went with the Mayhem set in my basswood Charvel Model 3A. Works great.

I have a PAF Pro, Virtual middle , Super Distortion bridge in an RG550 in black that sounds great too.
 
PATB-1 set. You can thank me later.
 

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robo said:
Hey guys! Thanks for all the great advice. I ended up with a Pegasus pickup. I really like it. Nails the lead and still chugs with attitude.
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Yeah, the Pegasus is one hell of a pickup, and as a bonus, it does a lot of other cool things than just metal. Happy this works for you!
 
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