What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

[idsnowdog]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

What do you mean by transparent? I mean, I don't want it sounding sterile or clinical, just not muddy. Also, what do the various letters after "L-500" mean? There seems to be the L-500XL, the L-500RB, the L-500LC, the L-500XLB. Which is the one I should be looking for? I feel dumb.

They do seem fairly affordable, though, so that's good.

Transparent means you definitely hear the guitars natural tone and they don't color or alter the tone much.

 

[Sartori]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

Wow, this is an oldie, lol. I sold that guitar a while back and got the BC Rich Bich doubleneck. In THAT guitar, I put the Dimarzio EJ in the neck and the A2P in the bridge and they sound great together. The A2P sounds great imo with distortion in the twelve and clean it's da bomb, lol. Hey Sartori, you may want to try using the E and A strings without the octaves, effectively making your guitar a 10 string. BC Rich says they do that because the octaves on those two strings freak out the amp when used with distortion and cause massive overtones? Anyway, the 10 string is pretty popular with guys who use overdrive and distortion.

Ah, well, you see, the E and A string are what I want the octaves on the most because of the rich sound. That's what I never liked about the 10 string. What is the A2P?

Transparent means you definitely hear the guitars natural tone and they don't color or alter the tone much.

Hearing the guitar's natural tone isn't especially important, I just want to avoid too much mud and noise when using lots of overdrive, cause I like using big chords.

So, I'm considering a Lawrence L-500 for the bridge pickup and a Dimarzio EJ for the neck.

 

[Sartori]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

Bump.

Does that sound like a good combo?

 

[tone4days]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

i wonder if anyone just tried lowering the pickup or turning the volume knob down before going to a whole different set of pickups .. i like the free solutions best, especially when someone says price is an issue

 

[Sartori]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

Well, the pickups in there are pretty much crap anyway.

 

[bagouser]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

I use a Jazz Bridge and a PG neck on my 12.
If I could go back, I might use a Jazz neck or AP2 neck, but I keep the PG tapped, so it's not too hot.....
I use them together and the tone is sweet, jangly, and full ranged.....

 

[Sartori]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

Well, the bridge pickup is mainly going to be used with really high amounts of overdrive. Probably only the neck pickup will be played clean most of the time.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

i wonder if anyone just tried lowering the pickup or turning the volume knob down before going to a whole different set of pickups .. i like the free solutions best, especially when someone says price is an issue

Yes I did, but the stock pickups on the Jay Turser I had were too muddy and dull, and the Rockfields in the BC Rich I now have are great pickups, but even with the volume lowered they overdrive, and for all those stupid switches and buttons on that guitar, none do anything for the twelve string, if you can believe that. They're all for the six except for the standard volume, tone, pickup selector.

Well, the bridge pickup is mainly going to be used with really high amounts of overdrive. Probably only the neck pickup will be played clean most of the time.

Overdrive or distortion? If it's overdrive, and you like a nice warm sound with a bit of a spongy bottom, the A2P is an excellent choice imo. In my BC Rich, the EJ neck is a very full sounding clean pickup, and even with the heaviest distortion, it is defined. The A2P just rocks in the twelve bridge. I hate to reference Slash, but he has a very grindy tone, and that's what I get with the A2P bridge. I love that pickup. I haven't really used it with too heavy a distortion, but when I've messed with it, it still sounded great.

 

[Sartori]

Re: What would some good pickups be for an electric twelve string?

What is an A2P?

Also, I'm not talking about blues type overdrive. This guitar is going to be used for playing metal. I need a bridge pickup that's not going to sound muddy with pretty high levels of distortion. It doesn't matter how it sounds clean, as the bridge pickup will seldom, if ever, be used clean. The reverse with the neck pickup; it's intended for a nice shimmery clean sound, and will likely never be used with overdrive/distortion.