Questions about Pickups.

[Josh]

Whats up? I just bought my first Jackson, a flametop WRMG Warrior that is pretty badass and plays better than any guitar i own. Anyways i bought two pickups before i bought the guitar to take out those stock EMG's and throw some pickups with some crushing power in.

I wanna put a Evolution in the neck and X2N in the bridge, i know they are both high output pickups...i'm wondering would this work?? Both are dimarzio's if no one knew, i won't play anything else but Jackson's and Dimarzio's.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

Those should actually work out pretty well. Just watch the gain on the evolution it may get a little muddy in the bottom end being in the neck.
Gil

[toejam]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

Originally posted by JACKSONFREAK:
Just watch the gain on the evolution it may get a little muddy in the bottom end being in the neck.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">They make a neck version besides a bridge version. [img]graemlins/poke.gif[/img] I assume he'd be using the neck version for that position. [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Josh]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

Yeah, its definitely going in the neck...i just don't the tone to be too muddy, i basically don't want to make a mistake putting those in. I bought those pickups off of my favorite guitarists tones, for example Chuck Schuldiner's crushing Rhythym tone i liked so i got the X2N since i like about everything Death has done. And i also bought the Evo, cause Steve Vai's lead tone is sweet at times, yet blistering and clean as hell.

[toejam]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

The X2N is an awesome pickup. I used one for years in my old Kramer. That guitar is now retired and the pickup is just sitting around, but eventually it will go back in another guitar. Earlier in the year I put it in my Charvel Model 5A, but I thought it was too bright in the poplar body, so I took it out. Also, it's the highest output pickup DiMarzio makes, and it blows away the EMG 81 which I'm a big fan of. I backed off the gain on my amp about three or four notches, and the gain structure still didn't change and get lower until I went below that!!

[RacerX]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

Warlord, are you using a Marshall VS100 head?

[Josh]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

Nah, right now i'm using a Marshall Jcm 2000, Dsl401 combo...it sounds ok, but with those EMG's the guitar has absolutely no balls as far as tone goes. I only play with tubes too, Valvestates make me [img]graemlins/puke.gif[/img] although the one chuck used was pretty good.

[deviltronix]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

What Emg's are you using?? I find it hard to beleive you find EMG 81's or 85's week. Maybe combined with your amp it is just not the right combo.

Anyway, try a Duncan Custom 5. I think alot of people will back me up as to what an amazing pickup this is. Gobs of Gain with Tone, but cleans up real nice. My favorite duncan as of late.

Rich

[Immortal]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

Of course they're weak. They're passive pickups and since they're too much compressed, you won't get out a tone like X2N, Evolution or active EMG's. I've tried all three pickups and all I can say, X2N is one of the best DiMarzio pickup for me, but I couldn't get crispy sound out of it. Evolution is good for leads and it's not very well suitable for palm muting with my gear. I've found a warm distortion that I wanted in 2x81 EMGs. It rocks the hell out of my TF300 and the muted tones are crispier and clearer than never before.

Also, I got almost everything out of HZ pickups with setting EQ settings and drive on my effect unit.

I assume that HZ could be used as active because there are some unused wires. Well I didn't pay much attention to it because I owned them for a months or two.

Good luck on your new pickups!

[Josh]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

Originally posted by Immortal:
Of course they're weak. They're passive pickups and since they're too much compressed, you won't get out a tone like X2N, Evolution or active EMG's. I've tried all three pickups and all I can say, X2N is one of the best DiMarzio pickup for me, but I couldn't get crispy sound out of it. Evolution is good for leads and it's not very well suitable for palm muting with my gear. I've found a warm distortion that I wanted in 2x81 EMGs. It rocks the hell out of my TF300 and the muted tones are crispier and clearer than never before.

Also, I got almost everything out of HZ pickups with setting EQ settings and drive on my effect unit.

I assume that HZ could be used as active because there are some unused wires. Well I didn't pay much attention to it because I owned them for a months or two.

Good luck on your new pickups!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmm, i'd like a crisp tone but i haven't tryed many emg's before and im sure they are good, its just im stuck with what i bought and i thought Vai's tone was pristine in my opinion, and I love Schuldiner's tone...it was badass and always crushing. thanks though, once the pickups are put in i'll see how it turns out.

[Josh]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

Originally posted by deviltronix:
What Emg's are you using?? I find it hard to beleive you find EMG 81's or 85's week. Maybe combined with your amp it is just not the right combo.

Anyway, try a Duncan Custom 5. I think alot of people will back me up as to what an amazing pickup this is. Gobs of Gain with Tone, but cleans up real nice. My favorite duncan as of late.

Rich

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nah, the Emg-Hz's that are stock in my warrior are weak, even with the afterburner on....it's a badass guitar, but dissapointing stock pickups....i'd go as far to say the stock pickups in my Peavey Ex-Series are more powerful than those emg's. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] And that guitar was most likely cheaper and was built cheaper.

[Immortal]

Re: Questions about Pickups.

WOD, I think you should be getting some Valvestate 80 by Marshall to get true Schuldiner sound. Anyway, you won't be disappointed with X2N nor with EMG 81.
For me, Chuck had always too much gain in his distortion but he handled that out very well on stage.

I was never into searching someone other's sound. I always did in the way to pull every good thing out of my rig and set the settings like I always liked. Well, I have tried to figure out Schuldiner's sound, but I really don't like any brights, so I have more explicit mids and basses, but not too much of both. I like that speaker-cutting bassy feeling when playing leads on bridge pickup. Schuldiner's solos hissed a bit so I never liked the sound of his leads. But when talking about his technique, that's another story.

Anyway, the sound of the guitar mainly depends on the way you play it. Good guitarist can make a cheapo Stratocaster replica cry, since some bad players play their expensive bought-by-my-rich-papa guitars and make them buzz, hiss and hum all around.
What I'm saying is that don't give up too soon on HZ pickups. Try searching for sound settings first. Don't spend extra money if you can have a perfect sound in your opinion with momentary gear.
I've found my HZ perfect for jazz things, but since I don't have any jazz band any more, I decided to sell them and find a nice suitable guitar and put jazz Duncans in it.