750XL Pups

[dogueboy]

I am thinking of putting new pups in my 750XL. I am considering a Duncan Distortion in the bridge and a 59 in the neck. Another choice would be a EMG 81 in the bridge and a 85 in the neck. What are some other combinations that may work as well with the mahogany?

[FDesilets]

Dimarzio PAF Pro

[wanthairspray]

I know that there's been a few discussions of this before, because I had the same question once!

Various info:

Some dude used a jazz and full shred. Thought they were a bit too bright.

I myself put two Evos in mine. Sounded awful, really locked up tone, muffled and weird.

Right now I have a PAF Pro in the neck, and a Breed bridge in the bridge.

Breed sounds beyond good. PAF is a bit meh...again, slightly too bright, not enough mids for me. But that Breed is beautiful. Smooth snarl-y sound, and quite tight. A very poor indication, but you can hear how that sounds in my youtube page...or I can make a vid for you of it. Anyway, can't overstate how good the Breed is.

Another guy put a distrotion in the bridge, full shred in the neck and said it is now a tone machine.

I can't quite recall how the stock pickups sounded, but Itook em out, because I know I couldn't get a nice neck tone. But then again, Shawn Lane, king of the XLs had his completely stock and his tone soared, screamed, pleaded and ruled.

Another guy had two 89s in his and didn't dig it.

So, the distortion has been tried before and the guy liked it. A 59 might work, but would be a bit of a contrast with the bridge, I think? Lower output, but am guessing you'd get a nice punchy tone from the neck.

Good luck on your decisions, and BW, I hope your XL is actually mahogany, as some jcf members have found the solid coolours seem not to be...! If you have a burst of any kind, they are usually a-ok.

If not,, it might alter you pickup selection y'see.


Apologies if "this guy, a guy, that guy" are around here, I know I got some tips on past posts in this forum, + the seymour duncan forum.

[metalone]

I have a Seymour Duncan PA-TB2b Distortion Parallel Axis in my 550xl and I love it,

[organelle67]

Get the Duncan Distortion, you won't be sorry.

[toejam]

85 in the bridge and 81 or 60 in the neck.

[Sunbane]

The Duncan Distortion is tonally rather close to the stock bridge pup IMO (J80C), although with more output. Well, I think it has a little less midrange grit. So if you like the overall tone, but want more output, the DD the way to go.

I have a full shred neck in mine also, but I don't care for that pickup. It sounds decent enough for leads, but it is a bit dull on clean. If I was to get a new neck pickup today, I'd try a Duncan '59, or the neck version of the DD.

I've had my favourite EMG combo in mine also (85(b)/58(n)), but they went back out again quickly. Somehow they just didn't jive with the guitar at all - killed the mojo in it right away.

If I were you, I'd hang on to the stock pups, because they're awesome in the right guitar (I have the J80C in my Model 6).

[dg]

I agree with Sunbane that the Distortion is similar in overall tone to the J80C and has more output, but in my 750XL I also find that it has more clarity & definition, which surprised me a little. I also think it has more of a distinct cleaner tone when rolling off on the volume than the J80C did. Too me, it was a big overall improvement.

I paired mine with a Pearly Gates in the neck, which sounds great and blends nicely with the Distortion in the 2 & 4 (coil-split) positions. A '59 might also be a good choice if you want an LPish neck pickup sound.

As for EMGs, I agree with 'Bane again. These guitars have a great natural tone to them that I think comes out best with passive pickups. I'm not going to say that EMGs sound the same in every guitar, but I do think they have less nuance to them. It's all going to boil down to personal taste, as always.

[wanthairspray]

I've had my favourite EMG combo in mine also (85(b)/58(n)), but they went back out again quickly. Somehow they just didn't jive with the guitar at all - killed the mojo in it right away.

These guitars have a great natural tone to them that I think comes out best with passive pickups

Agree!

If I were you, I'd hang on to the stock pups, because they're awesome in the right guitar (I have the J80C in my Model 6).

I did that too, the J80 in the bridge. Screaming hot bridge pickup, really sizzles. I put a Dimarzio Super Distortion in there now.

[dogueboy]

Thanks for the information I will try the Duncan Distortion and the 59. We will see how that works out. I appreciate the information that will give me some alternative to select from if I do not like the sound. I will be keeping the factory pups you never now when you might like to just return the guitar back to its original state. I do like the sound of the J80C I just want something else time for a change.

[Rockinloud]

Very curious how those Duncans turn out. I was considering the same combination or possibly a Custom in the bridge. Mine has the EMG 81/85 set up. The EMGs in this guitar just sound too "lifeless" to me.

[1trussell]

I had 3 750xl's at one time. Other than the stock pickups, the combos I had in these guitars were as follows:

59/59
Distortion/Full Shred
Distortion/Distortion
Custom-Custom/APH-1
EMG 85/85

If I remember correctly, DonP has my 750xl with the double Distortion combo in it. It really is a tone machine. That pickup combo with that guitar will do most anything you want it to. Unless you want clean jazz, that combo with a 5 way will satisfy your every need. Just get used to tweaking the voume and tone.

The absolute best combo in this guitar was the double Duncan Distortion combo. I believe that with the right amp, that combination will get you where you need to be. The 59's were nice, and the Custom/Custom had a nice early VH tone to it. But, with that guitar, the double Distortions was where it was at.

[mustaine-who?]

2

2 SD Black-out neck models....

You won't be sorry...

[dogueboy]

I was also considering the Livewires the Dave Mustaine Sigs from SD. I have them in my VMNT1 and it is mahogany body and they sound sweet. But I like the idea of having something a little different in each guitar. I got lots of Ideas to work with here now.

[DonP]

I had 3 750xl's at one time. Other than the stock pickups, the combos I had in these guitars were as follows:

59/59
Distortion/Full Shred
Distortion/Distortion
Custom-Custom/APH-1
EMG 85/85

If I remember correctly, DonP has my 750xl with the double Distortion combo in it. It really is a tone machine. That pickup combo with that guitar will do most anything you want it to. Unless you want clean jazz, that combo with a 5 way will satisfy your every need. Just get used to tweaking the voume and tone.

The absolute best combo in this guitar was the double Duncan Distortion combo. I believe that with the right amp, that combination will get you where you need to be. The 59's were nice, and the Custom/Custom had a nice early VH tone to it. But, with that guitar, the double Distortions was where it was at.

+1 to what Travis said. I love this axe.

It has the Distortion Mayhem set with a Stew-Mac super 5 way switch, and a push/pull tone. I get:

Neck Hum
Neck Single
1 Neck coil + 1 Bridge coil humbucking. (pull tone to put out-of-phase).
Bridge Single
Bridge Hum

This is one axe that can really "do it all" stratty, tele, and pauly tones. Maybe not the best or 100% at any one particular tone, but good enough to keep me more than happy. I think in the middle switch position, it can even do jazzy (as best I know - I'm a metal head).