Pickup swap help...

[BodomChild]

Hi, first of all, let me say I'm new here and I just got myself a Kevin Bond Rhoads last week . It's an amazing guitar and I'm still impressed everytime I see it. But I think the pickup could use an upgrade because I find it very noisy on higher gain settings and "teh scooped mids" sound doesn't sound...whole enought, like it's missing something.
Anyway, I was looking into EMGs, mainly the 81 and 85. Also the Seymour Duncan Livewire Metal caught my interrest.
So, could anyone give me a few ideas on what to get. I play a lot of (as you could have guessed) Children of Bodom, Arch Enemy, As I Lay Dying, Killswitch Engage, Megadeth, Metallica, Trivium...etc.
I'm willing to sacrifice some brightness to get a dark sound, but that still has good leads. Btw, my guitar has a mahogany body.
Thanks in advance

[Nazgul]

Welcome!

If you want EMGs, then get the EMG85 (I have it and it works well for COB stuff). For the passives, I dunno really..Seymour&Duncan JB is a good all-around metal pickup. Maybe look for the old Jacksons pickups too...J90c is known for a lot of gain (I have one, but I don't have the guitar to put it in, it will go in my next guitar for sure). I'm sure others will have good advices too.

[BodomChild]

^What guitar do you have your 85 in? Do you have some clips, I found the EMG clips to be pretty worthless.

[Nazgul]

Jackson RX10D. Sorry, I don't have any clips.

[guitarsjb]

Welcome aboard!!
I like the DiMarzio X2N. I have one in my RX10D and RR3.

[Nazgul]

OK, I found two clips on my PC . Here's the link:

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=EFADD89B77ACA191

They are in .rar file, so you need a WinRar or prog similar to it to unpack it. One is a short clip from COB's In the Shadows (recorded with some cheap mic) and the other is some power chords or something (recorded directly from amp to pc using the line in).

Since we don't have school tomorrow I might go and make some more clips for you if you want. But I won't be able to use that mic because my friend wanted to lengthen the cable and fucked it up by soldering and I don't have a solder gun to fix it up.

[SGplayer]

If you want Grind, cut in Highs, lots of Bass, try the Dimarzio Super 3, Super Distortion w/cut in highs & tons of Bass. Also I have the Line 6 Uber Metal
w/noise gate & three metal modes mid scoop, this pedal will also get you there.

http://www.dimarzio.com/

http://www.line6.com/media/tonecore/video/UBER%20METAL.mov

[BodomChild]

Thanks Nazgul for the clips and everyone else who posted suggestions.
I already have a Super 3 in my JS30D and X2N is basicly the same as the pickup already in my guitar.
The only thing I'm skeptical about is the fact that the clips you made (Nazgul) is that your guitar is alder, which is a brighter sounding wood. I imagine the 85 is perfect for that because you will get nice highs anyway because of the nature of the wood. So I'm thinking of getting the 81 because the mahogany will smoothen up the highs and add bass, thus making it sound like an 85 in alder (which was pretty good)
I guess I've made up my mind then, the only thing I'm left wondering about is how good the Seymour Duncan Livewires are?

[Nazgul]

^ EMGs have reputation of sounding the same in all guitars. I don't know whether that's true or not. I'll try to record some more clips tomorrow!

[andyeclipse]

I have a JB in my explorer and love it....

[toejam]

^ EMGs have reputation of sounding the same in all guitars. I don't know whether that's true or not.

No, it's not true. And the 85 rules in the bridge position!