Pickups

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Member Since: Oct 18, 2004

Im looking to put new pickups in my sg standard and i dont know what to go with. I play in an alternative/metal band, that also plays some classic stuff so i need a pickup witha large range of tones, but i want the distortion to be awesome. Can anyone tell me what they'd recommend?

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Prince CZAR-ming
Member
Since: Apr 08, 2004

Nov 16, 2004 11:51 am

I beleive Zakk Wylde uses an EMG 81 and 84, probably wouldn't be a bad place to start.

Member
Since: Nov 20, 2004

Nov 20, 2004 09:14 am

One of my favorite subjects - I have been playing for 16 years and have used a lot of pickups/guitars/amps. As you read reviews on pickups, note this - there are several things in this sound chain, I'll list the most important: 1 your playing, 2 your guitar, 3 your amp, 4 everyones' ears. Guitar, pickup, and combinations should be reviews together vs. individually. Anyways, you should mention your amp it may help alot. I'll base this off of something like a JCM800, pretty standard rock/metal sounding amp.
EMG 81 in the bridge is a great choice for metal and still gets a clean sound for an active pickup.
Passives are a little more expressive, some great ones are as follows:
Seymour Duncan JB - very good upper mid attack, clear transient lows - needs a hot amp
Dimarzio Tone Zone - beautiful full range sounding pickup with an mid boost, great for leads and rythym, and is very dynamic - typical hi gain works well and rolls back nice for a more classic sound
Both Seymour and Dimarzio make Distortion pickups that are hot and great sounding (Duncan Distortion and Dimarzio Super Distortion)
Seymour makes the worlds scariest active called the Heavy Metal Live Wire (18 volts - two 9 volt batteries) it does not get a clean sound and has a mid boost similar to the Tone Zone, but it is shred and metal heaven for low gain amps.
If you have a hi gain amp (Triple XXX, Dual Recto, Uberschall, etc. or solid state hi gain)passives may sound better and be more flexible
Medium/low gain amps (classic Marshalls, some Fenders, some Crates, etc) would benefit from active and EMGs would be a great choice. 81 for the bridge and an 89R with coil tap for neck gets great strat sounds. If you are adventerous and want over the top with a meduim/low gain amp - the Live Wire will pummel, but it wouldn't ever get a clean sound (it over-drives while on the stand not plugged in - I swear)




Dork
Member
Since: Jul 25, 2004

Nov 22, 2004 01:31 am

Hey Ashes,
I used to work for Seymour Duncan and am very familiar with your question. Granted I am biased though. The JB pickup is one of the best all around pickups you can buy. However, I suspect that the Full Shred pickup might be the right one for you. It will give you great thick crunchy clean tones as well *** a full fat but articulate distorted tone.

You should check out thier website and look for the tone chart. It's pretty accurate.
good luck.

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