What are your go to high output pickups??

[ecsong187]

Well these Duncans were installed by the previous owner. I too was surprised to find out it had a TB-4. Yep strings line up perfectly over the pole pieces.

[warlok]

Should be a Tonepros T3BT which is 2.047 spacing. I think that's not F-spacing..

[ecsong187]

Here is a photo of the guitar.
-Edwin

[Axewielder]

Should be a Tonepros T3BT which is 2.047 spacing. I think that's not F-spacing..

That's like halfway between! (2.0" vs 2.1")

[N1CK]

bump

So, would you all answer the same regardless of the wood used for the guitar?

I recently picked up a mahogany USA SLS with '59/Jazz pickup combo. As I play mostly heavy music, I was thinking of swapping the pickups for a JB/59 or Distortion/??? in the neck. Not sure to what degree the mahogany comes into play in the tame sounds I'm getting as-is.

My old Soloist is adler and what I recall as J90/somethingorother.

What do you think?

(amp is a Mark IV with no preamp, overdrive, etc.)

edit: whats the hot go-to Dimarzio comparable pickups these days??

[ecsong187]

For Dimarzios I like the Dominion pickups.

[Metal Spawn]

I'm a big fan of the Duncan Parallel Axis (original) and the DiMarzio Tone Zone.

[lepard]

Seymour Duncan Parallel Axis Distortion(make sure you get the Distortion model). I generally hate SD pickups but that one pickup is amazing. It's like a better DiMarzio Super Distortion that doesn't feedback as much. That's saying a lot from me because I absolutely hate SD JB's and Invaders.

L500-XL, either Bill and Becky OR Bill Lawrence USA. I had fallen for the "Bill and Becky pickup is better" for years talk and always bragged about the L500 in my old Charvel Pre-Pro Star thinking it was a Bill and Becky pickup. I dug into it a few days ago after owning that guitar for 15 years and found out it was a Bill Lawrence USA.............. oops.

DiMarzio Super Distortion, yeah it's the old standard. Great pickup, well balanced, watch out for the feedback though.

EMG 81/85, Really good pickups but they are a little "sterile" sounding.

[xenophobe]

bump

So, would you all answer the same regardless of the wood used for the guitar?

I recently picked up a mahogany USA SLS with '59/Jazz pickup combo. As I play mostly heavy music, I was thinking of swapping the pickups for a JB/59 or Distortion/??? in the neck. Not sure to what degree the mahogany comes into play in the tame sounds I'm getting as-is.

My old Soloist is adler and what I recall as J90/somethingorother.

What do you think?

(amp is a Mark IV with no preamp, overdrive, etc.)

edit: whats the hot go-to Dimarzio comparable pickups these days??

I think the JB and 59 both suck for heavy music.

I still prefer the older pickups... like the EMG 85 and the Super Distortion. The Super Distortion is really good for lower tunings as well. The JB just plain sounds sloppy with lower tunings, IMO.

[toejam]

or possibly some other Duncan pickups like the Nazgul.

I've got the Nazgul in my Carvin DC800. It sounds great, well balanced, tight. I assume it sounds the same in 7- and 6-string versions. It is high output, but it's really not as high output as Duncan's literature makes it seem.

As far as EMGs, the 85 in the bridge works well with an 81 or 60 in the neck.

[toejam]

I think the JB and 59 both suck for heavy music.

I think the '59 is really good for heavy music, in both the neck and bridge, better than the overrated JB. The JB is loose in the bass and just flubby. The better version of the JB is actually the Dave Mustaine Live Wires... tighter bass and slightly more gain.

[xenophobe]

I think the '59 is really good for heavy music, in both the neck and bridge, better than the overrated JB. The JB is loose in the bass and just flubby. The better version of the JB is actually the Dave Mustaine Live Wires... tighter bass and slightly more gain.

Fair enough. I don't mind the 59, I just don't think the output is anywhere near where I would want to plug direct and expect any sort of metal tone.

[toejam]

It's more of a PAF tone, but it does metal fairly well into a pretty high gain amp.

[Kpshredder98]

Help needed....!!! I have a JS32 dinky with a basswood body and standard Jackson pups. I was thinking of gettin dimarzio d activator or SD invader..!!

So the thing is, which one should I go for...??
I mostly play metal core, death metal...(all the high gain stuff )
But I like to play clean also.

D activator
Bass:6.5
Mids:6
Treble:6

Sd invader
Bass:7
Mids:8
Treble:3 or 4
Plz help me..!!

[Snoogans]

I don't know anything about the D Activator, but I've never managed to get a good sound out of Invaders. They've always sounded muddy as hell to me, and I imagine they'd suck royally at cleans!