which pickups to choose...

hey fellas
im planning to change my neck and bridge stock pups...please suggest which combinations will be best....i play all kinds of rock from the 70s and 80s era.....pink floyd, megadeth,glam metal etc...im looking for good cleans plus a punchy distorted sound...thanx.....

 

my friend plays a lot of stuff like pink floyd, he upgraded to sd ssl-3 pickup on mim strat....dunno about humbuckers

 

Get a Seymour Duncan '59 for the neck, and a SH4 JB for the bridge.

 

for pink floyd, you'd be best going with active single coils, like the ESP SA. this won't do you much good for metal though.

if you're doing the 59/JB combo make sure you get coil splitting so you can get single coil sounds. i think the 59/JB is a pretty good combo cause you can cover a lot of areas with it, they're fairly versatile humbuckers.

the bigger question is what amp you're planning to play...

 

For metal you can look upto Bill Lawrence XL500... Cheap and good..Dimebag used them before switching to SD SH13.
If you want a versatile combo then look out for wat bcrich said...
The livewires i have in my VMNT are matched with SH-4 JB and SH-2n Jazz Model (neck) respectively in resonant frequency. Very versatile i must say.

 

How about EMG 81/89?
I have used 81/85.. Pretty awesome for metal, without unwanted noise..
The 89 is exactly like 85 but switchable to single coil mode and then it supposedly sounds like the SA..

 

i have an H-S-H guitar....yup i was inclined towards the SD 59 and Jb combo....and was wondering whether i can put a dimarzio DP116 single coil in between for the cleans....is it ok to mix pups from different manufacturers?.....i do have a coil split....and im using a fender mustang 1 at present.....

 

If you have a GRG170DX or the GRG270DX then please do not upgrade it...

 

i have a cort X6.....is there a problem in upgrading low end guitars.....?

 

There shouldn't be a "problem" upgrading low end guitars as such but if you don't like the feel/tonality/sustain etc of your guitar, changing the guitar is a little more effective than changing the pickups. You can't really expect the natural heavy low end and sustain of a mahagony Les Paul from an alder Strat after a pickup change.

 

There's no problem but i think its not worth it... I donno how good is X6 though... I'm just giving an opinion... i can be wrong !

 

Buy THIS this guitar instead and sell off ur X6

 

I like the EMG 81/60 combo, good for metal and heavy stuff. But I think the thread starter is looking for good cleans and punchy distortion so I think the SD 59/JB would be good for him. The Cort X6 is a good guitar, but has a Cort FR bridge which gives a decent tuning stability and it has stock coil splitting for single coil cleans, so this purchase would be good for him.

 

actually what im planning is to build up my guitar bit by bit....hence the pups change.....maybe an original floyd rose afterwards(bajaao has one in gold...looks ostentatious)..the guitar is having a basswood body...i read that it comes somewhere in between mohogany and alder tonewise...what about mixing pups from different manufactuers...?

 

No harm, really. Just make sure the resistances of the Pickups are same otherwise you'll end up having a crap tone when both the bridge and neck Humbuckers are selected at one time.

 

hey bcrich...have you put an original FR or is it the one that came with the guitar....?

 

Pickups

Go for Seymour Duncan, they give nice, clean and punchy tones ... They won't be too expensive also, u might get them fr 3 or 4k depending on the style and shape you prefer

 

It's the stock FR only. But I'm planning to change it to an original FR. I'm going to put EMG 81/60 combo, so it'll become a Metal Machine.

 

I would advice against using active pups in a basswood body. Sounds very hollow. From experience.

+1 to duncan 59 & jb or you could consider a duncan jazz & jb

 

Ya, I researched a little more a couple of days back on the active p'ups and it's compatibility, so it's a no-go.

Has anybody have had any experience with the Invader pickups?