Help with making an informed decision on the right bridge pickup

[Sentinel_o/]

Hi everyone,
I'm a long time forum stalker but just now i decided to make an account and post.I want to upgrade my bridge pickup at first and later when my budget allows it the neck, but there are so many to choose from and i need some help.
I've got an Ibanez RGA42FM that plays great, but tone wise leaves a lot to be desired.
It has a meranti body so not a lot of info on this to help.
The best i can describe it, is that it sounds balanced but dull without good note separation.Power chords sound maybe a bit harsh and lead playing higher up the neck sounds maybe too thin.I tried as much as i could to EQ the sound but after a point i think its pointless.Could be way tighter too as playing chuggy stuff sounds a bit muddy but mostly harsh.Its next to impossible for me to balance the two.
I'm currently and for the near future playing it through a boss katana 50 at bedroom levels.I play mostly metal with the occasional bluesy lead.From classic stuff like Judas priest to thrash like Kreator;trying to shred too lately.
I watched a lot of video comparisons and read a lot of stuff here as well and i think i mostly liked the black winter but I'm afraid its going to sound too thin higher up the strings.I liked the sh-6 but i think the mids are a bit oversaturated if i'm putting it correctly.I also liked the dominions.I think what i need is better note separation,tighter bass and avoid shrilling.
I would appreciate it if you could help me make a good decision.Thanks in advance.

 

[Baelzebeard]

Black Winters won't get shrill too much from my experience, but they can get muddy.

Unfortunately definition and shrill walk a fine line.

I would recommend Dimarzio Titans. I have a set in an RGA, and they are great. Just bright enough to maintain clarity, but enough low end to give body and power.

 

[Sentinel_o/]

It's a fine line indeed.You summed up pretty nice what I want. I'll give thema listen again.Thanks for your input.

 

[Stiman]

I have an RGA42HP and I put a DiMarzio Evolution and I think it sounds killer. Huge upgrade from the Fusion Edge pickup that was in there originally. Would highly recommend.

 

[Sentinel_o/]

At this point, I think that everything will be quite an upgrade over the stock quantums.Is it good at handling fast rhythm playing?Thinking of thrash metal.

 

[Stiman]

I’d say the Evo is good for thrash too, but there might be better options for that specifically.

 

[Sentinel_o/]

I don't need it to be the best thrash pickup.I just need it to do it pretty well if that makes sense.I think the evolution could be great for lead playing but not so much for chugging fast riffs.I've been wrong before though,as I can only speculate.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

honestly any of the aforementioned pickups will do thrash no problem ime.

Black winter works well for that stuff but it's not anywhere near as tight as the other options ime. It's a bit murkier on the low end if you plan on playing lower tunings, but if you stay above b standard it shouldn't be a problem unless your setup is super dark sounding.

Evo will also do thrash ime, but it's very mid spikey and can be kind of bright on the high end in the wrong setup.

Dominion is super tight on the low end but is pretty warm on the high end, so it's not a good choice unless your setup is relatively bright.

Titans are very tight and are quite similar to the dominion, but much drier feeling.


here's some off the cuff black winter riffage in d standard (thrash 1 is no boost and thrash 2 is with boost):

 

[Sentinel_o/]

Actually, I really like the titans the more I listen to them. I somewhat like the dryness but sometimes I hear a fuzz / twang effect that sounds weird. Like you can hear in this video unless it's the way he pinches and holds the pick.The D activator has similar specs to the titan but i need to find more info i think. Love your YouTube channel btw, it has so much info.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Actually, I really like the titans the more I listen to them. I somewhat like the dryness but sometimes I hear a fuzz / twang effect that sounds weird. Like you can hear in this video unless it's the way he pinches and holds the pick.The D activator has similar specs to the titan but i need to find more info i think. Love your YouTube channel btw, it has so much info.

I love D Activators. They're great for thrash, classic 80s metal, shred, power, melodeath etc.

 

[Sentinel_o/]

They sound a bit thin mostly when playing clean but with distortion it's harder to notice.I'd love to give them a shot but I may go with black winter.Dimarzio availability isn't great ATM,I'd have to wait maybe a month or two to get them and black winter are available now.So I'm leaning towards the Seymour Duncans side.Im only worried they may be too trebly.

 

[Hoss632]

I have a Katana 100 2x12 and was playing at bedroom levels with an emg 81/85 set and it sounded fairly solid. The black winter atm is probably my favorite sounding passive pick up based on all the demos. It's got a nice fat sound, and still good in anything B standard/drop B on up. And they have surprisingly good clean tones as well. The Titan's aren't bad, for me they tend to sound a bit then in higher tunings, but in that Drop C#-Drop A range they are pretty killer.

 

[Lemonbaby]

The issue with these threads is, everyone names his favourite pickups and you'll end up with a list of all models of all manufacturers.

Mine are: Seymour Distortion, Pegasus & Black Winter, BKP Aftermath, DiMarzio Titan & Transition.

 

[Sentinel_o/]

True.I was mostly hoping for someone that has experience with meranti and jatoba but I appreciate everyone's answer and experiences with pickups.My personal experience is pretty limited.

 

[Stiman]

True.I was mostly hoping for someone that has experience with meranti and jatoba but I appreciate everyone's answer and experiences with pickups.My personal experience is pretty limited.

My RGA42HP has those woods. In case you didn’t know. I suggested the Evo in an earlier response in this thread.

 

[RevDrucifer]

I don't need it to be the best thrash pickup.I just need it to do it pretty well if that makes sense.I think the evolution could be great for lead playing but not so much for chugging fast riffs.I've been wrong before though,as I can only speculate.

Evolution’s are really great for lead playing, but I‘m not a fan of them for anything else. I’ve had them in my JEM for 25 years and I’m getting ready to yank them out. Way too much in the mid-range. I hate how they sound with clean tones unless you roll the volume down and use the 2/4 positions (which is in conjunction with a single coil).

YMMV, but the midrange and output of those pickups are just not for me. The output is pretty high as well and gets into that territory where I’m hitting the front end of an amp harder than I want to, it’s just not worth the hassle of keeping my volume knob at 7-8 all the time to make up for it.

 

[Stiman]

@RevDrucifer I looked through the DiMarzio website after reading your comment to see the output and EQ of all the pickups I either have or who's artists I like, and it seems like all of them are in the 400+ range with a good amount of mid-range. So I'm curious what pickups you would suggest.

 

[torchlord]

Hi everyone,
I'm a long time forum stalker but just now i decided to make an account and post.I want to upgrade my bridge pickup at first and later when my budget allows it the neck, but there are so many to choose from and i need some help.
I've got an Ibanez RGA42FM that plays great, but tone wise leaves a lot to be desired.
It has a meranti body so not a lot of info on this to help.
The best i can describe it, is that it sounds balanced but dull without good note separation.Power chords sound maybe a bit harsh and lead playing higher up the neck sounds maybe too thin.I tried as much as i could to EQ the sound but after a point i think its pointless.Could be way tighter too as playing chuggy stuff sounds a bit muddy but mostly harsh.Its next to impossible for me to balance the two.
I'm currently and for the near future playing it through a boss katana 50 at bedroom levels.I play mostly metal with the occasional bluesy lead.From classic stuff like Judas priest to thrash like Kreator;trying to shred too lately.
I watched a lot of video comparisons and read a lot of stuff here as well and i think i mostly liked the black winter but I'm afraid its going to sound too thin higher up the strings.I liked the sh-6 but i think the mids are a bit oversaturated if i'm putting it correctly.I also liked the dominions.I think what i need is better note separation,tighter bass and avoid shrilling.
I would appreciate it if you could help me make a good decision.Thanks in advance.

My suggestion is to watch Mike Stamper's videos he has 560 some pickup comparison videos and he doesn't talk wasting your time with that shit.

 

[DECEMBER]

Seymour Duncan Pegasus is my favorite bridge pickup. Balanced. More low end than bridge pickups usually have. Not thin, quacky or nasally like a lot of bridge pickups are. Bright but not harsh.
I have a Katana 50, too. Get in Tone Studio and use the parametric EQ. The amp has excessive lows and low-mids. I cut the bass on the amp down to about 20 and cut it another -6dB in the parametric EQ. Then a big cut at 250Hz with Q 4 or 8 to get rid of that muddy, boxy sound. And a cut at 2.5kHz with Q 16 to get rid of the high frequency fizz in distortion.

 

[SubsonicDoom99]

So unfortunately I don't have the experience with the RGA42FM, can't comment on compatability with that particular guitar and woods but I have an older RG that I installed the Pegasus/Sentient set into and I'm using it currently for playing a mix of classic rock/hard rock stuff as well as some classic metal (Priest, Maiden, Loudness, etc.) and some thrashier stuff (Kreator, Death Angel, etc.) So far this set works really well, in this guitar I found that it naturally didn't really need to much of a mids-forward push from the pickups so the Pegasus worked out nicely. Very well balanced but not bland, enough output without being overly so. However a buddy I jam with occasionally has one of the newer RGAs and he wound up putting in a set of the Black Winter pickups, and from what I've heard from it, it sounds excellent. He said that the Quantum pickups that were in there were fine but just felt a bit dull and a little harsh when soloing, and the Black Winters provide a bolder more clear tone, which to my ears sounds pretty accurate when I listen to him playing it. I've used Black Winter pickups in a few guitars before and I usually love them, though I have mostly been using them for lower-tuning stuff in longer scale guitars. I've not found them to be too thin or brittle/weak when playing higher up, quite the contrary really. But I will say that with regards to picups like the Black Winter or Evolutions, setting the pickup height to the right level to suit your needs is definitely key. Pickup height can be important for any pickup really but in my experience especially those pickups that are higher output with the big midrange hump really depend on setting it just right. I definitely prefer the Black Winter over something like the Evolution for playing both rhythm as well as leads, I think the BW is the more versatile of the two.