New pickup advice

[Doadman]

The guitar is a Jackson SL3 Soloist going through a Marshall JVM 410 and Marshall 1960A 4X12. I play in a Rock covers band so I need some versatility but generally I like to use quite a bit of distortion. At the moment it has a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and Hotrails in the neck and middle positions. These pickups are good but they’re not as good as I’d like. My last guitar used Bareknuckle pickups and they were far superior. There is still a possibility I may return to Bareknuckle for the bridge humbucker but sadly they don’t do hum-cancelling single coil sized pickups and I’m really not a fan of 60-cycle hum.

Bridge humbucker
I use this pickup most of the time for both rhythm and lead. It will be used with quite a bit of distortion on songs ranging from Free to Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden. In each case I use more distortion than on the original songs. I like the sound to be highly articulate as I can’t abide muddiness at all in my tone. The distortions should be smooth and have a rich and organic tone. This isn’t easy as a highly articulated sound is often quite sterile (I hate active EMG pickups for that reason) while a richer and more organic tone suggests something more vintage and that often doesn’t have the balls I’m looking for. If it helps, I used to own a Bareknuckle ‘Cold Sweat’ in the bridge and if I went with Bareknuckle again it would probably either be that or the ‘Miracle Man’. Other than that, the only quality pickup I've ever owned is a DiMarzio Super Distortion in a Fender Stratocaster. It was very good but it was a number of years ago and obviously wasn’t a thru-neck. Something else may suit me better now, I don’t know.

Neck single coil size
As I don’t like having 60 cycle hum I imagine this will need to be a single coil sized humbucker. I use this pickup for some rhythm when I need a cleaner, more ‘acoustic’ type sound, such as when we play Steve Harley’s ‘Make Me Smile’ but it’s main function will be for lead playing. Once again, I don’t want mush. Lots of neck pickups sound great on the really high notes but as soon as I move to strings 4, 5 and 6 they start to go more mushy. The Seymour Duncan Hotrails do this, which is why I want to change them. It needs to be articulate across all strings and give a searing lead tone that is warm and creamy. Ironic as it may seem, seeing as he uses Seymour Duncan Hotrails, think of the lead playing of Dave Murray in Iron Maiden. That’s what I’m after.

Middle single coil size
I’m less fussy on this one as it’s never used by itself. I only use this pickup to give a slightly different feel to either the neck or bridge pickups. It’s either taking the edge off the bridge pickup a little or giving a touch more bite to the neck. As with the other pickups, it should not give out any mush.

Any suggestions gratefully received

[Chief_CrazyTalk]

Interesting question. I was thinking about pickups, output, pedals and such recently and wondered what difference different pickups make when used with pedals and amp gain. I have a JB in my guitar and I'm happy with it, but can't help but wonder if it could be improved. It sounds like you want clarity and definition...good stuff.

Maybe it was the guitar, or the way it was set up, but the last combo I used for years (basswood body and ceramic distortion) was very articulate for leads but compared to the current guitar, alder and JB, muddy. I'm liking the ba;lance I have now. I hear all strings, full chords.

I've heard good things about BKP. The only one that would entice me is their VHII. As far as the neck and middle...I thought I might get passable strat tones with the neck pickup. I guess I do, but I'll have to get a strat for that. I detest the middle pickup, it's a DK2. No start tones using the two "singles", and it's always in the way.

[P I K A]

I just posted a little comparison of pups in the non jackson charvel section if you wanted to look.

[Grim]

The best bridge BKP, by far, if you want a brighter tone, is the Painkiller.If you want less output, a Cold Sweat will certainly do, but I'd go with the Holy Diver.

[straycat]

I would suggest checking out rsguitarworks.net their pot upgrade kits make most any pick up sound much more articulate.Very high quality pots and audio caps.
I use the kits in all my builds and in most of my guitars.
Check out who uses their kits that should tell you something.

[Fender]

I think you just described the Super Distortion as your number one choice. It is a pickup that delivers exactly what you describe. Not as high and clear as an Evo, not as thick and bottom heavy as a tone zone and not as weak as a paf pro. It has a rich tone and has some solid rhythm tones, but has some searing leads that are clear and razor sharp.

[Doadman]

Thanks for all of that. Don't get me wrong, I recognise that the JB and Hotrails are good pickups, I just don't think they're as good as I can get. Since I started this thread I've been trying to do a lot of research to narrow down the choices so here's my thinking so far.

Bridge
Over at the Bareknuckle forum the support for neck-thru Maple Jacksons is overwhelmingly behind the Miracle Man pickup so if I do use a Bareknuckle it will probably be that. It's a bit harder to think of an alternative bridge pup as I love Bareknuckles so much but I do keep coming back to the Super Distortion. This is partly because I've heard the Evo can be a bit sterile and partly because I'm used to using ceramics, which puts me off the Tone Zone. I've also had a Super Distortion before so it's something of a known quantity and I am a big fan of Adrian Smith as a guitarist and he's sworn by Super Distortions for years.

Neck
This would be so much easier if BKP did something for me and I am tempted to go with Trilogy Suites but hum-cancelling seems such a logical choice instead. When I look at the DiMarzio website the one that always seems to stand out is the Air Norton S. It has a solid reputation and sounds like it will do the sort of thing I want. The fact that I am also a fan of John Petrucci helps. Other DiMarzio options I've been looking at are the HS-4, BC-1 and Heavy Blues. Thinking of Adrian Smith, the other option I've been toying with is Fender pickups. I understand he uses Hot Samarium Cobalt Noiseless but looking at Fender pickups online I'm unclear exactly which option he uses. They seem to do a 'Hot Noiseless' and a 'Samarium Cobalt Noiseless' but I don't see a 'Hot Samarium Cobalt Noiseless' listed anywhere! I don't suppose anyone knows? The Strat I had with a Super Distortion in the bridge was a Ritchie Sambora model and that used Fender pickups in the neck and middle positions very effectively indeed, though I can't recall which models they were.

Middle
As the Air Norton S has a distinctly humbucker-like feel to it, I thought that perhaps the middle pickup should have a more traditionally Strat-like feel to it. The one I'm leaning to most at the moment is the Heavy Blues but loads more seem to be capable of putting me in the ballpark, like the Chopper, Virtual Solo and Area 58, 61 or 67. As with the neck pickup, Fender Noiseless are also possible.

I think I'm making progress in choosing pickups but any more advice, opinions or suggestions would be very gratefully received.

[Grim]

Thanks for all of that. Don't get me wrong, I recognise that the JB and Hotrails are good pickups, I just don't think they're as good as I can get. Since I started this thread I've been trying to do a lot of research to narrow down the choices so here's my thinking so far.

Bridge
Over at the Bareknuckle forum the support for neck-thru Maple Jacksons is overwhelmingly behind the Miracle Man pickup so if I do use a Bareknuckle it will probably be that. It's a bit harder to think of an alternative bridge pup as I love Bareknuckles so much but I do keep coming back to the Super Distortion. This is partly because I've heard the Evo can be a bit sterile and partly because I'm used to using ceramics, which puts me off the Tone Zone. I've also had a Super Distortion before so it's something of a known quantity and I am a big fan of Adrian Smith as a guitarist and he's sworn by Super Distortions for years.

Neck
This would be so much easier if BKP did something for me and I am tempted to go with Trilogy Suites but hum-cancelling seems such a logical choice instead. When I look at the DiMarzio website the one that always seems to stand out is the Air Norton S. It has a solid reputation and sounds like it will do the sort of thing I want. The fact that I am also a fan of John Petrucci helps. Other DiMarzio options I've been looking at are the HS-4, BC-1 and Heavy Blues. Thinking of Adrian Smith, the other option I've been toying with is Fender pickups. I understand he uses Hot Samarium Cobalt Noiseless but looking at Fender pickups online I'm unclear exactly which option he uses. They seem to do a 'Hot Noiseless' and a 'Samarium Cobalt Noiseless' but I don't see a 'Hot Samarium Cobalt Noiseless' listed anywhere! I don't suppose anyone knows? The Strat I had with a Super Distortion in the bridge was a Ritchie Sambora model and that used Fender pickups in the neck and middle positions very effectively indeed, though I can't recall which models they were.

Middle
As the Air Norton S has a distinctly humbucker-like feel to it, I thought that perhaps the middle pickup should have a more traditionally Strat-like feel to it. The one I'm leaning to most at the moment is the Heavy Blues but loads more seem to be capable of putting me in the ballpark, like the Chopper, Virtual Solo and Area 58, 61 or 67. As with the neck pickup, Fender Noiseless are also possible.

I think I'm making progress in choosing pickups but any more advice, opinions or suggestions would be very gratefully received.

I have two neck-through maple Jacksons...

The Painkiller is a fucking awesome bridge pickup. So is the Holy Diver... The Holy Diver is the closest to a Super Distortion I find.

and the Trilogy Suites are apparently great, but I only have experience with the Irish Tours. They are fucking unbelievable too.

[MartinBarre]

I have an SL3, but I think the JB bridge and Hot Rails neck are perfect in that guitar. I wouldn't change them, ever.

For the middle I'd suggest a Duncan Vintage Rails. I tried a Cool Rails in the middle but it wasn't that much different from the Hot Rails. I currently have an old Jackson single coil in the middle as, like you, I don't use the middle much but I do like the notch position tones and a true single coil is much better for that.

[Doadman]

I have two neck-through maple Jacksons...

The Painkiller is a fucking awesome bridge pickup. So is the Holy Diver... The Holy Diver is the closest to a Super Distortion I find.

and the Trilogy Suites are apparently great, but I only have experience with the Irish Tours. They are fucking unbelievable too.

LOL, I can't really argue with that!

I just don't think either Seymour Duncan or DiMarzio are going to cut it compared to the quality of Bareknuckle so at the moment I'm down to two choices:

1) Email Tim at Bareknuckle and take whatever bridge pup he thinks is best and put two Trilogy Suites with it and just live with the 60 cycle hum as a trade off against the awesome tone of Bareknuckle.

2) I've emailed Tom Anderson as his pickups are apparently superb as well and he also does hum-cancelling single coil sized pups. The main drawback with Tom Anderson is how difficult it is to get his pups here in the UK.

[The Rossness]

Bridge- SD TB-11 Custom Custom

Neck- DiMarzio Chopper

Middle- Leave it stock.

[Grim]

Bridge- SD TB-11 Custom Custom

Neck- DiMarzio Chopper

Middle- Leave it stock.

The Custom Custom will not get him that bright tone he is looking for.

[The Rossness]

The Custom Custom will not get him that bright tone he is looking for.

How bout a DiMarzio Steve's Special or a XL-500 if he wants a bright tone.

[Doadman]

I think I've been spoiled by Bareknuckle pickups. For those of you who have never tried them, they really are incredible. I emailed Tim at Bareknuckle to ask if he had any plans to introduce hum-cancelling single coil sized pups but apparently not. It seems it's all down to the quality of tone and he simply doesn't believe that they work very well. In his opinion they don't give a very good humbucker tone but once they're hum-cancelling, they no longer give a good single coil tone either. Perhaps my real problem with the Hotrails is that they're suffering from exactly that. Afterall, the Bareknuckle 'Cold Sweat' neck humbucker pickup I had was awesome and in a previous guitar I had true Fender single coils in the neck and middle mated to a Super Distortion and they were fantastic too. Tim is a guy I trust absolutely and I can see the logic in what he's saying. It's also backed up by my own experience. The Hotrails are the only hum-cancelling single coils I've ever tried and they're just not as good as either the true humbucker or single coils I've had before. As everyone keeps telling me that a Hotrails is a very good example of what it is, I can only conclude that for me it simply has to be either a proper humbucker or proper single coil. On balance I think I'll just live with the 60 cycle hum and go with Bareknuckle by getting a Miracle Man for the bridge and Trilogy Suites for the neck and middle.

[Grim]

I think I've been spoiled by Bareknuckle pickups. For those of you who have never tried them, they really are incredible. I emailed Tim at Bareknuckle to ask if he had any plans to introduce hum-cancelling single coil sized pups but apparently not. It seems it's all down to the quality of tone and he simply doesn't believe that they work very well. In his opinion they don't give a very good humbucker tone but once they're hum-cancelling, they no longer give a good single coil tone either. Perhaps my real problem with the Hotrails is that they're suffering from exactly that. Afterall, the Bareknuckle 'Cold Sweat' neck humbucker pickup I had was awesome and in a previous guitar I had true Fender single coils in the neck and middle mated to a Super Distortion and they were fantastic too. Tim is a guy I trust absolutely and I can see the logic in what he's saying. It's also backed up by my own experience. The Hotrails are the only hum-cancelling single coils I've ever tried and they're just not as good as either the true humbucker or single coils I've had before. As everyone keeps telling me that a Hotrails is a very good example of what it is, I can only conclude that for me it simply has to be either a proper humbucker or proper single coil. On balance I think I'll just live with the 60 cycle hum and go with Bareknuckle by getting a Miracle Man for the bridge and Trilogy Suites for the neck and middle.

I would still advise against the Miracle Man if you like a Super Distortion, but it's up to you.

Tell me how the Trilogy Suites go!