replacing ibanez pickups

[cheese0tron]

replacing my pickups on my ibanez rg550
what pickups should i replace it with?

[Hellbat]

Name some of the sounds/tone you hope to achieve and people will be able to provide you better informed opinions. What works for Norwiegan death metal isn't necessarily the best pickup for blues or country.

Duncan custom gets a high rating from me for a good all around pickup for all styles and sounds. It's slightly thin/hot for cleans but not unusable.

[cheese0tron]

yea that would have been more helpful sorry
what pickups do paul gilbert use?

[lhrocker]

Humbucker from Hell and PAF Pro

[Hellbat]

Paul gilbert is a DiMarzio endorsee and his sig models use PAF Pro's, Air classics and I believe at some point Tone Zones and Air Nortons.

I have a tone-zone in my RR1 and I like it.

[BenoA]

Dimarzio ToneZone (bridge) and Evo (neck) in my RG350M. Really love that combo.

I dig the stock PUs in both of my RG550, so haven't changed them yet in those guitars.

[Hellbat]

I think in the higher end Ibanez series they use pickups that are essentially Dimarzio designs, but made by/for Ibanez.

[markD]

all of my 540, 550, 560, 570 ibanez guitars have/had di'marzio pickups. to my ears, ibanez and di'marzio are just made for each other. i have always preferred putting a PAF Pro in the bridge, often paired with another PAF Pro or a Humbucker from Hell. i tried AIR pickups - norton, zone - didn't care for them.

the PAF Pro is the original "shred" pickup and gets the job done nicely if you want that "authentic" 80's ibanez sound. it was steve vai's choice in the early JEMs....that says a lot to me. it was also designed to cut through processing and retain clarity. it is not very high output comared to a lot of what is on the market today, but for me clarity and note definition has always been important, so it still remains high on my list.

[Hellbat]

Love the PAF pro in the neck of my RR1. I tend to dig the medium-hot pickups more than the full on output kings.

[Shawn Lutz]

my fav DiMarzio p/u is the Super Distortion, paired with a PAF in the neck it's a nice combo.

[cheese0tron]

i was actually thinking of invaders or the tone zone or paf pro idk which

[Grandturk]

Word! Like wuts? wrong wit d pups in their now?! ?

[cheese0tron]

Word! Like wuts? wrong wit d pups in their now?! ?

wtf?

[markD]

hahahaha....

i would skip the invaders. to me, they are lifeless. i found the tone zone to have to much in the midrange - which sucks for me because i use a lot of mids on my amp. it may work for you. go to di'marzio's website and look at their tone sample page. it will help, a lot.

[cheese0tron]

again idk what im talking about but i switch the pick ups alot to the last one (sorry for my stupidness)