7 string pickup suggestion revisited

[siggy14]

OK so i did a search and read all the old threads, but nothing seemed up to date. So here we go again, I just got a Ibanez RG7620 and the last time i owned one i remembered how much i didnt care for the bridge pickup. With that being said, I want something tight that cuts but thick sounding. Has anyone tried the new dimarzio X2N-7?

[siggy14]

I guess i should have said, what are good suggestions besides EMG's, i am not routing this guitar at all?

OK so i did a search and read all the old threads, but nothing seemed up to date. So here we go again, I just got a Ibanez RG7620 and the last time i owned one i remembered how much i didnt care for the bridge pickup. With that being said, I want something tight that cuts but thick sounding. Has anyone tried the new dimarzio X2N-7?

[piranhaguy2002a]

Have you thought about a Seymour Duncan Distortion 7? Before they were production models, I had a custom Screamin' Demon made for my DR7T that was pretty kick ass.

[toejam]

I had a Duncan Custom in my 7-string Schecter 007 Elite. It was very cool! I just sold the guitar, though, as I wasn't playing the 7-string any more as much as my 6.

[siggy14]

I know what you mean, For awhile all i played was 7 strings, then i grew tired of it and sold them all. But I will give you insight to why i purchased another and why it has meaning to me and I will probaly keep this one. This is long, so you might want to get some popcorn.

My story goes, by the early 90's i had gotten out of metal because i gave up drugs and saw life was not all sex drugs and rock & Roll and I was in a very unhappy place. Not to mention there were just to many copy cat bands or bands that had no right to be on the radio.

There is a core of bands that i love from that era that i can always listen too, these were bands that i purchased there CD's and loved every song on it. Then there were bands I would like one of there songs and the rest of the CD just sucked, these were usually the copy cat bands that really didnt have much talent.

I instantly fell In love with Grunge when it first came out, i was feeling the way there were, it was new, it had a completly different sound then what i was listening to in the past. But then it started to get old fast, like with 80's metal there were certain groups i loved and could listen to all the time, but then like with any other popular music it got old fast with all the copy cat groups.

So in the mid 90's i got really burned out and there was no music inspiring me, I was no longer in bands and i was still sobering up my life. I knew i really couldnt be around the music scene much, i would goto a few concerts here or there, but until i got the drugs completly out of my system i just needed to stay away.

This is my what i call my girl era, where i listened to mostly girl fronted bands, like L7, Babes in toyland, Hole, Artificial Joy Club, Pantara, OK Phil is not a girl, but he is a little bitch, so close enough LOL.


By January of 1996 I had gottem my first computer and just fell in love with the whole meeting people in far away land on AOHell. Guitar took back seat for the next two years, I would pick it up here or there but usualy months apart, I was just burned out with nothing inspiring me to want to play anymore. My new love and interest was learning everything I could about the computer, and I really mean it when i say first computer, like i had never touched one before, so it was a whole new world to me.

After learning as much as i could on my own i knew i had to goto school to learn more. In 1998 I went to a Tech school for communications with some computer training, back in 1998 there wernt to many dedicated computer schools.

Between going there full time, and working three jobs i never once picked up the guitar from Sept of 1998 till I graduated in May 1999.

Come June of 1999 i got my job here in DC, was making good money and all of a sudden i really got into nu metal. In the previous years i had seen Limp and Korn playing little crappy venues before they made it big, it really didnt hit me back then because i wasnt in the right frame of mind.

As many of you know I will be one of the first to stand up for nu-metal, I loved the wall of sound, I loved the rap vocals, they actually rapped about things I could relate to! It was new, it was heavy sounding and it wasnt grunge or pop!

You guys can bitch about nu-metal all you want, but if it wasnt for nu-metal, well then alot of metal bands you see these days you probaly wouldnt be seeing. Nu-metal bought metal back into the eyes and ears of people, it gave metal a new breath of air!

It was what made ozzfest big, in a way nu metal not only saved metal, but it saved ozzy, in my personal opinion without nu metal i do not think ozzfest would have ever took off like it did.

So, anyway back to the point, back in June of 1999 i purchased a brand new RG7620VK (vampire Kiss Color), the guitar was beautiful, played great, however in a real tube amp the pickups just werent cutting it for me, and back then i refused to use a booster pedel. Sometime in the next year or two i purchased the AX 7 string, loved the pickup, hated the thick ass neck.

Then around 2001 I met this girl, fell head over heals for her, I had never loved someone as much as i loved her, everything was just so right, well except her parents hated me (slight age difference).

To make things short we broke up and I was very heart broken, actualy probaly the darkest time of my life. So this is when I got into EMO and Screamo, it was nice to find people that related to how bad I was feeling!

After getting into EMO i got into gibson, it was after all the guitar to have, but of course I just fell in love with there sound, I sold my 7620VK to guitar center for $400 without the case (paid $900 in 1999 with case-Ouch) My 7620 guitar was still mint (not for long after sitting on there wall) when i sold it to Guitar center. And last year i sold the AX to some gay guitarist in the band division because i just never played it.

Anyway, now in 2006 i am not really heart broken anymore, listen to EMO but not all, some screamo and some metal, actualy my music taste right now is so off the wall and varied that it is kind of sick. But basicaly if it sounds good, i listen to it.

After playing Noodles (the gay ass guitarist for division) KXK it bought back memories of the 7620VK, The KXK also had the super thin wizard neck like my Old RG7620. So this makes me want another RG Series 7 String, I start looking around on Ebay and it seems seven strings are becoming popular again. The 7620's are going between $400 and $600 depending on condition and color. The VK's and the pewter ones seem to be in more demand right now, there is a VK that is NOS and it is up to $510 already.

So I am thinking, well I would love to have a 7620 again, it has the best Trem and great neck and I can always replace the pickups, but I am not going to pay over $400, i dont care if it is beat up, i am gonna use it for playing. So anyway, now it seems I remember seeing another sitting on guitar centers wall about two months ago, it to was a VK and i just looked at it quickly but didnt think nothing of it, heck i did not even know if it was a 7620.

So i call my dude at guitar center and ask him about it, and he is like yeah it is stll up there and in great shape, only two small nicks, one on each horn. He tells me the sticker is $469 but he can give it to me for $350. So I run up there, inspect it and sure enough in great shape, just needs some cleaning, buy it and out the door for $370 with no case. This is fine with me because I still have the case from my original one. So in the long run I made $30 dollars back on my original for having Guitar center hold it for a few years LOL.

This is the same exact year and color i had, it was like finding a long lost buddy. So anyway, I was working a 16 hour day yesterday, so i rush back to work, tune it up, plug into my little digitech Genisis 1 and start jamming, damn did it play great.

When i got home last night at 12:30AM i knew i had to get back up at 7AM for work so i put it back in the UV1000 case that i had from my last 7620 and smiled and went to bed.

I cant wait till i get off work today at 4PM to go home and plug it into my dual and my uber, hopefully i will love it better the second time around, if not new pickups she gets.

Anyway, nu-metal and 7 strings got me back into guitar, if it wasnt for those two i might not be playing anymore! So that is why the RG7620 has a special place in my heart.

I had a Duncan Custom in my 7-string Schecter 007 Elite. It was very cool! I just sold the guitar, though, as I wasn't playing the 7-string any more as much as my 6.

[siggy14]

OK to give you guys a little clue, I always found the Blaze Pickups in the 7620's a little muddy on the b string. I love a guitar that cuts, but also sounds warm. In my six string Mahogany bodies i love the 500T, Cuts great and not to much.

In my alder bodies i love the X2N, like they say this pickup is just hot as hell and really lets the tone of the wood come through. In a mahogany body i did not really like the X2N, it seems to have no bite but alot of power.

So I am thinking, Basswoods tone is between Mahogany and Alder with some good midrange, I am wondering what the X2N will sound like in it. I just might have to play around with different pickups, at least Dimarzio has that 30 day exchange, well i believe they still have that. If they do and I dont like the X2N for 7 string then i can always try the tone zone for 7.

[toejam]

Cool story. My first 7-string a few years ago was also an RG7620 in VK. It was cool, but then I got out of my 7-string phase after a bit and traded it. Then about a year and a half ago I was missing the 7, so I got the Schecter, liked it a lot, then I just wouldn't play it all that often, so I recently sold it. I'll probably get another eventually, maybe a Carvin.

[siggy14]

I kinda feel nothing wrong with owning one. I probaly wont play it all that much, but nice to have it just sitting back there if i do want to play it. 6 Strings will always be my main guitar just because of the style of music i play. But you can also do some wicked things with 7 strings, and you do not even need distortion, wasnt the 7 string originally for Jazz or blues or something? I like playing clean with that 7 string, gives you some nice self made bass LOL

Cool story. My first 7-string a few years ago was also an RG7620 in VK. It was cool, but then I got out of my 7-string phase after a bit and traded it. Then about a year and a half ago I was missing the 7, so I got the Schecter, liked it a lot, then I just wouldn't play it all that often, so I recently sold it. I'll probably get another eventually, maybe a Carvin.

[siggy14]

You know the funny thing, back in 1999 when i was guitar shopping i was going back and forth between the schecter and the RG7620. I loved the pickups in the schecter better, however that wizard neck on the ibanez is what sold me. The price difference was 300 dollars cheaper for the schecter, i forgot which model it was back then, but it was a high end for them.

Cool story. My first 7-string a few years ago was also an RG7620 in VK. It was cool, but then I got out of my 7-string phase after a bit and traded it. Then about a year and a half ago I was missing the 7, so I got the Schecter, liked it a lot, then I just wouldn't play it all that often, so I recently sold it. I'll probably get another eventually, maybe a Carvin.

[toejam]

I kinda feel nothing wrong with owning one. I probaly wont play it all that much, but nice to have it just sitting back there if i do want to play it. 6 Strings will always be my main guitar just because of the style of music i play. But you can also do some wicked things with 7 strings, and you do not even need distortion, wasnt the 7 string originally for Jazz or blues or something? I like playing clean with that 7 string, gives you some nice self made bass LOL

Yeah, Jazz players used them a long time ago. Some people even used a high A instead of a low B.
I thought the Ibanez was pretty nice, but I actually do prefer thicker necks (even though my hands are on the smaller side. I did enjoy the Schecter a little more because it had a thicker neck, and the Duncan Designed pups were pretty decent sounding; though, they were lacking a little gain and that's why I changed to the Duncan Custom. The DiMarzio Blaze was the only production single coil I could find at the time, and I didn't want to spend more ordering a custom shop from either DiMarzio or Duncan. I actually didn't mind the DiMarzios in the RG7620 all that much (they were actually the "New 7s" and not the Blaze models in those guitars like a lot of people think), but something about the tone of that guitar wasn't all that... maybe the basswood body.
If/when I decide to go for a Carvin, it'll be either the DC727 H/H model or maybe the DC747 H/S/H model.

[siggy14]

I just got finished jamming, and lets just say the pickup sounds alot better then i remembered and with a boost it improved them that much more.

As to basswood body, it gets such a bad rap, the biggest problem with it besides being soft, is it is a little mid rangy, easy to take care of that by adjusting the middle knob. Of course in a band situation it cuts through nicley, playing alone sounds to mid rangy.

yeah i thought i heard that about jazz, and that is how Via got the ideal etc... Wes from limp use to play 7's, and he would use a high A or just mimic the High E string. That is why he eventualy went back to 6's, he said he never used the 7's the way they should be.

Yeah, Jazz players used them a long time ago. Some people even used a high A instead of a low B.
I thought the Ibanez was pretty nice, but I actually do prefer thicker necks (even though my hands are on the smaller side. I did enjoy the Schecter a little more because it had a thicker neck, and the Duncan Designed pups were pretty decent sounding; though, they were lacking a little gain and that's why I changed to the Duncan Custom. The DiMarzio Blaze was the only production single coil I could find at the time, and I didn't want to spend more ordering a custom shop from either DiMarzio or Duncan. I actually didn't mind the DiMarzios in the RG7620 all that much (they were actually the "New 7s" and not the Blaze models in those guitars like a lot of people think), but something about the tone of that guitar wasn't all that... maybe the basswood body.
If/when I decide to go for a Carvin, it'll be either the DC727 H/H model or maybe the DC747 H/S/H model.

[Chad]

Wes from limp use to play 7's, and he would use a high A or just mimic the High E string. That is why he eventualy went back to 6's, he said he never used the 7's the way they should be.

Hate to admit that I know this (lol), but he (at least in the early days) tuned to C# tuning and used the 7th string as an additional high string, but he just tuned it to exactly match the the 6th string. i.e. two high strings tuned exactly the same (C#).

I have an RG7621 and have wanted to replace the bridge pickup as well.

[siggy14]

Yup, that ws the tunning i was talking about, nothing wrong with admitting it, wes is a killer guitarist, some of the shit he comes up with is just out there, but in a good way. If you heard his solo stuff you would also be more impressed.

In concert is always had one 7 string because one of the songs he needed it, but other then that he went back to six's for everything else.

Hate to admit that I know this (lol), but he (at least in the early days) tuned to C# tuning and used the 7th string as an additional high string, but he just tuned it to exactly match the the 6th string. i.e. two high strings tuned exactly the same (C#).

I have an RG7621 and have wanted to replace the bridge pickup as well.

[Drake S.]

I have Blaze customs in my 7 string they're alot better than the original Blaze pick ups that came out or were stock in some of the Ibanez 7 strings. Besides these I have used the EMG 707 81 , & the original 707's

[kmanick]

I've got the EMG 707's in my Hellraiser 7 (which I freaking love )
but the ESP M-207 that I previously had (which has a Basswood body)
had a Duncan JB in it and it sounded really good. I'm pretty sure that you can get just about any of the Duncans in a 7 version. A Custom 5 in a Basswood body would probably sound great.
I use my Hellraiser for just about everything now I love the extended range and being able to do 3 octave arppeggios without having to move
up and down the neck