pick up selection request........

[jonsgon]

I have a will adler rep. esp, which is a mahagony body with a maple neck and an ebony board and it has the stock jb pup. To me it just sounds "thin", it needs more lows and mids. I'm comparing it to my les paul classic with the stock 500t pup which sounds great in my opinion, and all my alder bodied guitars mostly have the duncan tb-14 which i also like, so my question is which pup would get me in the "sound ballpark" with this guitars wood combination?

thanks in advance....

jon

[DHardmanJr]

I also have experienced this "thin" sound on some mahagony guitars and the ebony fretboard doesn't help because it also brightens things up. You might want to try a SD Custom Custom ... they have a lot of lows and mids that can compensate for a guitar that is too bright.

I don't have any experience with the 500t, so I can't compare to that.

[Rich#6]

SD custom or a dimarzio super distortion or tone zone.

[Tim]

Duncan Custom 5 is worth a look.

[toejam]

Duncan Custom 5 is worth a look.

He's looking for more mids and lows. The C5 is a little mid-scooped, but it will probably work better in his guitar than the JB which is more high mids and treble. For DiMarzios, I'd go for a Tone Zone, Super 3 or Super Distortion. For Duncans, probably a Custom Custom.

[jonsgon]

thanks all for your responces, i have checked the charts on the duncan site and dimarzio as well but i have found that even looking at the numbers and hearing the tone samples they give you that it sometimes is different in your actual setting or rig.......

has anyone tried the rio grande pups? the bbq series to be exact.....

jon

[KBRR]

Yea try the custom custom

[Matt_B]

Tone Zone = Fat City. I've had a few Duncans in my Charvels (got them that way). One was a Duncan Distortion and the other was the Duncan Custom. I'm used to the Tone Zone (been using them since they first came out in '91) and both Duncans sound anemic to me. I've already replaced the Distortion with a Tone Zone and it sounds 1000 times better to me. The other Duncan will get replaced with a Tone Zone soon but that's a project guitar so other things have to be done first.

I had a Tone Zone in a Les Paul before and it was good but this time around I put a Norton in my LP. Close but a bit clearer and I still like it.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Try the Duncan Full Shred. More low mids and bass than the JB and still has clearity. It should great in alder. I have mine in my Basswood RG550. And its almost a bit too dark for it. But it sounds good so Im gonna leave it for now. Plus it looks right.
Gil

[toejam]

Try the Duncan Full Shred. More low mids and bass than the JB and still has clearity. It should great in alder. I have mine in my Basswood RG550. And its almost a bit too dark for it. But it sounds good so Im gonna leave it for now. Plus it looks right.
Gil

The Full Shred would have good clarity, but isn't it on the brighter side?

[Newc]

You're getting tons of brightness from the maple neck AND the ebony board, so you'll want to look at a Duncan Custom to add lows and mids to balance out those highs.

However, IMO the biggest advantage of having guitars of different woods is to enjoy the individual tones of each one, not to make them all sound similar.

[jonsgon]

Thanks all, and newc I don't want them all to sound the same but it seems even if the wood construction is the same and the pups are the same that I have two slightly different sounding guitars. I think unless the wood came from the same tree it will have slightly different tonal qualities depending on the tightness of the grain and such, so even though i may have the same pup in some of my geeters they still do not sounds quite the same, in the ballpark but not the same.....does anyone have any experience with the sh-15 alternative 8? that looks good as well as the custom..

jon

[JACKSONFREAK]

Joe. My Fullshred sounds warm and full with out being bitey. Or to many highs. And its in basswood with a maple/maple neck. So not necassarily to bright no. I've had the Fullshred in Alde and it sounded great. Again not to many highs. But enough clearity to cut through.
Gil

[jonsgon]

does anyone know the differences between DC resistance and resonant peak in regards to pups?

i thought the higher the dc # the louder the pup but i do not know what the resonant peak # is all about.....

jon

[themisfit138]

I would go with a Duncan Custom 8 or Alternative 8