Changing pickups; recommendations?

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    • July 23, 2008 at 7:21 pm
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    Lewiji
    Member

    Hey guys,

    I have an Ibanez S-470 as my main axe, and while I love it to bits lately I’ve noticed the output and tone really isn’t what I want, as the stock pickups suck.

    Having never shopped for pickups before, I’ve not idea what to look for. And the local shops are rubbish, 3 out of the 4 don’t even sell pickups, and the 4th, when I asked, couldn’t really help me out with them.

    My main influence is Opeth, so I play a lot of heavy riffs combined with clean fingerpicked stuff. The S-470 has a H-S-H setup and I’ll be replacing all 3.

    So what I’d like really is a set of passive pickups that meet these requirements:

    Bridge: High output, pushed in the mids and low end as I play in D tuning (or DADFAD occasionally) and I’m not keen on trebly tones.

    Middle: Clean and crisp, but loud. I want as little overdrive as possible with this, won’t be using it for anything other than cleans, and I don’t use the “half and half” settings between my pickups.

    Neck: Warm, not too crunchy, but not dull. My friend has an Air Norton in his neck I believe, and that sounds awesome to me, so that’s probably set.

    Any help is much appreciated!

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    • July 23, 2008 at 8:05 pm
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    tjchep
    Member

    How about this.

    Bridge – Dimarzio breed or tonezone.

    Middle – Dimarzio Fast track 1

    Neck – Dimarzio Air norton

    • July 24, 2008 at 12:32 am
    Mike Edwin
    Mike Edwin
    Member

    I’m sorry I cant give you any good recommendations for pickups.

    I’ll tell you why though.

    Too often in my experience, guys I have met would always be talking about modding guitars with this bridge that amp or those pickup’s to create better tone. Now I’m not arguing that certain equipment can assist in giving your guitar a more interesting sound. In a lot of cases though, people seem to trade technology for technique.

    What I mean by that is. Once they get a sparkly new guitar, and it sounds killer through the new mesa boogie amp. They clearly don’t pay as much attention to their technique, and seem to count on the knobs and buttons for disguising flaws in their playing.

    I’m not saying this is you, or anyone here. I guess this is just a warning. It’s easy to get caught up in technology and forget about the essentials of your technique (which you should be mastering first)

    Once you get to the point where you truly ( in your own mind ) feel you simply cannot proceed without some more professional equipment. Only then should you go out and spend that money on upgrades.

    The other advantage to taking your time with this purchase is that the longer you wait and define your needs. The better your chances of knowing exactly what the right pickup/amp/guitar/pedals will work for you.

    Enough lecturing ;p

    If you have to travel across the city or what ever, to find a specialist music store with lots of pickups. Its in your best interests to make a day of it. Go and speak to guitar technician’s at reputable stores and ask if you can try out several guitars with different pickups. Just as you would if you were buying a new car. Test drive as many as you can before forking out what is sometimes a large amount of cash.

    Good luck.
    Mike.

    PS. http://www.harmony-central.com/ is a great place to get reviews on equipment. If your still unsure on what you need.

    • July 24, 2008 at 6:51 pm
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    Lewiji
    Member

    Cheers Mike, I appreciate your meaning, but I don’t feel like I’m not progressing purely because of my gear, it’s just that I’ve started recording and my pickups are just far too dull for the sound I want!

    Thanks tjchep, I’ll look into those!

    • July 27, 2008 at 3:28 am
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    RobertM20
    Member

    How about this…

    Neck: Dimarzio PAF Pro

    Middle: Dimarzio HS-3

    Bridge: Dimarzio D-Sonic (Pole position towards the neck)

    The D-Sonic would work well for what you want, especially with the pole piece towards the neck. It’s more bassy that way and will have a big thick punch to your rhythm tone. I have it in my JP and it sounds awesome. Also, another one you might want to look into is the Steve Special. I had that in my old Ibanez 1550 and it was great sounding, especially with the Air Norton I had in the neck.

    The PAF Pro is what I would call a “jack-of-all-trades” pickup as it functions well in either neck or bridge position, but I think it might have too many mids for what you are looking for as far as putting it in the bridge position goes.

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