AkiraSpectrum
Well-Known Member
Duncan Pegasus/Sentient Pickup Review:
-Unlike a lot of people I was actually okay with the stock V7-V8 pickups that came in the Ibanez RGA121H CDO. I like how big and deep sounding they are, however, for downtuning they end up being too muddy for more clear-articulate playing. I don't have any Duncan pickups in any of my guitars so I wanted to plunge into a Duncan set after having replaced the EMG's in my LTD EC-1000 with Dimarzio Titans a few years back. I wanted something similar to the Titan set but a little more neutral sounding, more open/dynamic, with less bite. I found a really good youtube comparison video which compared Nazgul to Pegasus to Titan, and the video sold me on the Pegasus. It sounded similar to the Titan with the characteristics I was looking for (more open/dynamic, a little wider/bigger, less aggressive).
-Found a great deal on a used Sentient pickup ($60 +tax CDN - normally $140 new + tax) when I was visiting my family this summer in my hometown. To me, this was a sign that I needed to get this pickup swap on the road. Not to mention, it appeared the previous owner had cut the tabs on the pickup to fit it in a smaller tab cavity, thus saving me from having to worry about this! I ordered a Pegasus TB from a local retailer but had to wait about a month because the supplier didn't have any TB versions. Once I received the Pegasus TB I went to a local music store to get them professionally installed.
-The tech informed me that the Ibanez 5-way switches don't work with Duncan pickups, so if I used the 5-way positions 2 & 4 wouldn't work properly. He said that other 5-way super switches don't fit the cavity in the guitar so we had to use a 3-way switch. I was definitely looking for some split-coil tone options for the guitar but decided that with the lower-output nature of these pickups that the $50 charge for installing a push/pull tone pot might not be worth it. The tech recommended sticking with the 3-way and if I felt the need for the split tones to come back and install the push/pull afterward.
-I haven't spent much time doing cleans as of yet but it would appear that the split tones aren't overly necessary with the cleans I'm getting from the Sentient. I am curious about the split tones but it isn't something I feel the absolute need to have at this point. Maybe down the road i'll get a push/pull installed.
-I have only spent a few hours with the Pegasus/Sentient but I definitely am enjoying them so far. Unlike the V8 the Pegasus doesn't muddy single tones when playing chords. The v8 had some decent note clarity but the low end was so powerful that if you are playing with another instrument in a band situation (or playing along with an mp3 track) these notes definitely get lost; the Pegasus does not suffer from this issue. The Pegasus definitely delivers the open/dynamic character while having a good balance between tonal width and focus.
-In terms of both pickups, I was surprised at how low the output was. The Pegasus, especially, is noticeably less output than all of my other bridge pickups. I found that I had to up the gain a bit on all of my BIAS FX patches in order to get the attack and power that I wanted (e.g. moving from 1 o'clock on the gain to 2 o'clock). I haven't spent much time with the Sentient so I don't have much to say about it at this time.
-Question-
-This is my only guitar with direct-mount pickups and I am a little unsure as to adjust pickup height. I found that both pickups were sitting really low so I loosened the pickup screws and pulled up on each of the pickups bringing them closer to the strings. They still appear to be pretty secure at the moment so hopefully I am fine leaving them like this. If this is problematic, what does SS.org suggest I do to raise the pickups? Should I use the foam that I have in my pickup cases to place under the pickups to raise them?
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Ernie Ball 12-56 Strings Review:
-Currently, my Ibanez RGA121H (CDO) has been in C-Standard and Drop A# (Bb) for some time now, after being used mainly in B-standard and Drop A (with 13-59 D'addario strings) until I was able to grab a used PRS SE-7 for those tunings. I found the 13-59 strings I was using were too tight for C-Standard and Drop A# so I took to a tension calculator and found a set that was very very close to the tension I was looking for (12-56 EB's). The only issue was that the 24p string was the only outlier in the set. I decided to give the strings a shot and buy a 24w string because this matched the tension I was looking for.
-Really liking the set so far. It feels very well balanced from string to string and the feel of the strings is really nice (feels nicer to me than a lot of the D'addario strings I tend to use). I can't put my hand on the difference between the D'addario and Ernie Ball strings in terms of feel (likely due to the different winding on the wound strings), but all I can say is that the EB's feel a little more pleasant to the touch and seem less rough (more smooth).
-As I expected, the 24p felt out of place, the tension was just so much higher than the adjacent strings and it made transitions from string to string very awkward. Moreover, I feel like the tone really suffered as well (very dull sounding). I immediately through on the 24 w and all my problems were solved. The 24w worked much better with the rest of the set and I am absolutely sold on using this set (12-56 EB with a 24w) for this guitar in the future.
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Pics:
-Unlike a lot of people I was actually okay with the stock V7-V8 pickups that came in the Ibanez RGA121H CDO. I like how big and deep sounding they are, however, for downtuning they end up being too muddy for more clear-articulate playing. I don't have any Duncan pickups in any of my guitars so I wanted to plunge into a Duncan set after having replaced the EMG's in my LTD EC-1000 with Dimarzio Titans a few years back. I wanted something similar to the Titan set but a little more neutral sounding, more open/dynamic, with less bite. I found a really good youtube comparison video which compared Nazgul to Pegasus to Titan, and the video sold me on the Pegasus. It sounded similar to the Titan with the characteristics I was looking for (more open/dynamic, a little wider/bigger, less aggressive).
-Found a great deal on a used Sentient pickup ($60 +tax CDN - normally $140 new + tax) when I was visiting my family this summer in my hometown. To me, this was a sign that I needed to get this pickup swap on the road. Not to mention, it appeared the previous owner had cut the tabs on the pickup to fit it in a smaller tab cavity, thus saving me from having to worry about this! I ordered a Pegasus TB from a local retailer but had to wait about a month because the supplier didn't have any TB versions. Once I received the Pegasus TB I went to a local music store to get them professionally installed.
-The tech informed me that the Ibanez 5-way switches don't work with Duncan pickups, so if I used the 5-way positions 2 & 4 wouldn't work properly. He said that other 5-way super switches don't fit the cavity in the guitar so we had to use a 3-way switch. I was definitely looking for some split-coil tone options for the guitar but decided that with the lower-output nature of these pickups that the $50 charge for installing a push/pull tone pot might not be worth it. The tech recommended sticking with the 3-way and if I felt the need for the split tones to come back and install the push/pull afterward.
-I haven't spent much time doing cleans as of yet but it would appear that the split tones aren't overly necessary with the cleans I'm getting from the Sentient. I am curious about the split tones but it isn't something I feel the absolute need to have at this point. Maybe down the road i'll get a push/pull installed.
-I have only spent a few hours with the Pegasus/Sentient but I definitely am enjoying them so far. Unlike the V8 the Pegasus doesn't muddy single tones when playing chords. The v8 had some decent note clarity but the low end was so powerful that if you are playing with another instrument in a band situation (or playing along with an mp3 track) these notes definitely get lost; the Pegasus does not suffer from this issue. The Pegasus definitely delivers the open/dynamic character while having a good balance between tonal width and focus.
-In terms of both pickups, I was surprised at how low the output was. The Pegasus, especially, is noticeably less output than all of my other bridge pickups. I found that I had to up the gain a bit on all of my BIAS FX patches in order to get the attack and power that I wanted (e.g. moving from 1 o'clock on the gain to 2 o'clock). I haven't spent much time with the Sentient so I don't have much to say about it at this time.
-Question-
-This is my only guitar with direct-mount pickups and I am a little unsure as to adjust pickup height. I found that both pickups were sitting really low so I loosened the pickup screws and pulled up on each of the pickups bringing them closer to the strings. They still appear to be pretty secure at the moment so hopefully I am fine leaving them like this. If this is problematic, what does SS.org suggest I do to raise the pickups? Should I use the foam that I have in my pickup cases to place under the pickups to raise them?
--------------------------------------------------------
Ernie Ball 12-56 Strings Review:
-Currently, my Ibanez RGA121H (CDO) has been in C-Standard and Drop A# (Bb) for some time now, after being used mainly in B-standard and Drop A (with 13-59 D'addario strings) until I was able to grab a used PRS SE-7 for those tunings. I found the 13-59 strings I was using were too tight for C-Standard and Drop A# so I took to a tension calculator and found a set that was very very close to the tension I was looking for (12-56 EB's). The only issue was that the 24p string was the only outlier in the set. I decided to give the strings a shot and buy a 24w string because this matched the tension I was looking for.
-Really liking the set so far. It feels very well balanced from string to string and the feel of the strings is really nice (feels nicer to me than a lot of the D'addario strings I tend to use). I can't put my hand on the difference between the D'addario and Ernie Ball strings in terms of feel (likely due to the different winding on the wound strings), but all I can say is that the EB's feel a little more pleasant to the touch and seem less rough (more smooth).
-As I expected, the 24p felt out of place, the tension was just so much higher than the adjacent strings and it made transitions from string to string very awkward. Moreover, I feel like the tone really suffered as well (very dull sounding). I immediately through on the 24 w and all my problems were solved. The 24w worked much better with the rest of the set and I am absolutely sold on using this set (12-56 EB with a 24w) for this guitar in the future.
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Pics:
