Pickup suggestions for my Jackson...

[decadence5423]

I've had a Kevin Bond sig for years now. It's mahogany with an ebony fretboard. The previous owner had replaced the pickup with an EMG 81 and it seems to make it very muddy sounding and my highs are kind of lost. It's kind of 'blah' sounding. It's not that I don't like the 81, as I really enjoy it in my DK1 and in my Japanese Jackson as well (which has a maple veneer and bolt on maple neck), it just doesn't seem to work for me in this guitar. I'm thinking of going with a good passive but I'm not really sure what to go with. I'm currently thinking of a Seymour Duncan SH-5 or SH-6. The sound clips on Seymour Duncan lead me to believe the SH-6 will make my highs cut through much better. My only guitar right now with passives has a Dimebucker (SH-13), which I quite like, but I'm not sure it's right for this guitar. I've owned a DK2 in the past which had a JB, which sounded great, but again not sure if it's right for this guitar. I haven't looked at other brands, like DiMarzio because I am not at all familiar with them.

Looks like I just wrote an essay...

[Iivari]

Sh-6 would be perfect. Seems like a realy nice combo to me. You should avoid sh-4 in this guitar, just my 2 cents.

[Electric]

+1 for the SD Distortion.

[Nightbat]

The previous owner had replaced the pickup with an EMG 81 and it seems to make it very muddy sounding and my highs are kind of lost. It's kind of 'blah' sounding.

...not something I normally expect from an EMG 81, sure it's wired right/right pots/fresh battery?

[decadence5423]

I swapped the battery out last month when I bought a giant pack of 9 volts. I haven't looked at the wiring too carefully, but I would hope it was done right. It's a single pickup with a single volume knob!

[jdr94]

Well if you like actives but the duncan tone maybe grab them mustaine livewires. Ive read alot of good things about em like theyre about 80% the power of the original livewires but 150% more tone. Never tried em personally though.

Edit- or maybe try 18v with the emg?

[Richard W]

Duncan distortion for passive
EMG ALX or Dave Livewires for active

[tomanyjacksons]

Suhr D Aldric

[toejam]

I swapped the battery out last month when I bought a giant pack of 9 volts. I haven't looked at the wiring too carefully, but I would hope it was done right. It's a single pickup with a single volume knob!

Was there a stereo jack put in when the EMG was also put in? There should be, but you never know.

And if there is a stereo jack, make sure your cable is pushed in the jack all the way, as those jacks can be a little tight and will take more than one click to go all the way in. I had that muddy/muffled problem on the first guitar I got with EMGs... and it was the guitar cable not being pushed in all the way.

[decadence5423]

I took the jack out, it's a stereo and the input seems to go in correctly. The electronics look good. I guess it could be I just don't like the tone of the guitar anymore, but I'm hoping a pickup change will help. I guess worst case scenario is if I still hate it with whatever pickup I choose, I have a new pickup for a new guitar that I will have to get

[S1I2F3]

As far as Dimarzio's go, the Evolution is suuuper hot, might bring out some of the qualities you are looking for. That pickup was designed for a basswood body, which has somewhat similar tonal characteristics to mahogany.

[jacksonkellyfreak]

+1 on the evo. i was just about to suggest that. try the dp215 evo2. plus you can get it in any color you like. i have a set in an all mahogany ibanez s470 and its a very nice sounding combo. much better than the dp155s it had in it.

[decadence5423]

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks! The Evolution seems like a great pickup, and the fact that they come in green I think would be really cool. Based on the videos I could I find of the pickups I went with the Distortion. It looks like it's going to come in on Saturday but I'm out for the weekend, so I might be soldering this in on Sunday night. I'm sure its going to be a massive difference but I'm going to try to record some stupid little things to compare the before and after so I can have a real comparison.

[Nightbat]

Don't forget to swap the pots

[decadence5423]

Don't forget to swap the pots

Yeah, that would suck

I've got a couple extra 500k pots so I'm good! I'm also assuming I can use the stereo jack as a mono and ignore the extra ring connection. I guess I'll find out soon!