Pickups for Predator

[Spivonious]

Hello all. It's been a great while since I've posted on here (since I got the Predator a while back).

I love this guitar and get compliments everywhere I take it. The action is so low it's amazing it doesn't buzz. Anyway, to the point of the thread:

The stock Jackson bridge hum is just too hot for me. Not only is it impossible to get a clean tone from it, it also is at least 5x louder than the neck pickup (which, btw, is very quiet). I do like the "in-your-face" tone it gives though: lots of mids and treble.

So I've been looking for replacement pickups. I prefer a passive hum to an active one but aside from that have really no preferences for brand/model. I listened to some clips on Seymour Duncan's site and I like the sound of the JB, but I'm worried it might be a little too weak for my style (prog metal/thrash/etc).

So for those Predator/3DR owners out there, what have you tried and what do you like? What best compliments the natural sound of the guitar?

[dg]

My first thought while reading your post was whether or not you have tried changing your height adjustments. The stock pickups should balance much better than that. The J90C is a pretty hot pickup, not known for having a very good clean tone, but it can do OK if you back off a little on the volume. The Duncans I'd recommend for prog metal/thrash are the Custom (TB-5) or the Distortion (TB-6), but these are comparable to the J90C in output, which brings us back to the issue of balancing them w/ the neck pickup. Sometimes on older guitars, I've had to add a new piece of foam rubber (I use weather stripping tape, adhesive on one side) under the singles to get them to sit up better.

[Rich#6]

Just an FYI Dave Mustaine used that pickup for years (JB) in the bridge. I think you may what to checkout to see if its your amp that can't produce a clean sound. My clean channel volume is the gain knob, so the louder I go the more distortion I'll get. The Mark Morton signature guitar has SD 59's which are low output, so you don't have to have high out pickups to play thrash. Let your amp do the work. I agree with dg though and checkout the neck pickup first.

[Spivonious]

Thanks for the replies. It's definitely not the amp, as I've tried it with many (Vox AD50VT, Pod 2.0, Single Rec, Dual Cal). At this point I think the JB will be the one for me.

Does the spacing make that much of a difference (humbucker vs "trembucker")? The TBs seem to go for much more on eBay than the SHs.

Also, how hard is it to install a pickup? The wiring obviously isn't that difficult, but if I put in the JB and want to go back to the J90C, does that mean a waste of a set of strings?

I will try the height adjustments too. The single coil is already almost touching the strings, but I could lower the hum.

[dg]

I'm personally not a fan of the JB in a bolt-on guitar & much prefer the Custom to the JB in almost anything. I think they can sound pretty good in Mahogany set-necks or in some neckthroughs, but bolt-ons usually tend to have a brighter tone & can sound shrill with a JB. Just my opinion, and I haven't heard one in basswood, so ymmv. Go by what sounds best to your ears. As for whether you need to remove the strings, not necessarily. Sometimes I just unlock the nut, loosen the strings, carefully pop the springs out of the trem & set it aside. I'd put a TB in it. On eBay, this guy is great to deal with, he's in PA, and if you don't see it listed he'll get it for you:

http://stores.ebay.com/banjomikez_Seymour-Duncan-Humbuckers_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ5QQftidZ2QQtZkm

[Rich#6]

With the floyd you should get the Trembucker spaced. you may not loose any signal with the standard spaced pickup but it does looked stupid with the poles not lining up. Last time I changed bridge pickups I just gave the trem a good eddie dive and swapped them out. The guitar actually stayed in tune too.

[Spivonious]

I got the JB (TB-4) installed last night. Wow what a difference frmo the Jackson J95 that was in there. Gone are the mids mids mids and impossible clean tone. Here are the pristine clarity and clearly defined highs and lows and mids. I love it. I'll post before and after clips if someone can host the files for me (or point me somewhere where there's free audio hosting).

[dg]

Glad it worked out! You can upload files to Yousendit for free. It's set up for you to email the file's link to someone, but you can just post the link in a thread for people to click on. Here:

http://www.yousendit.com