Looking For A "Growly" Sounding Pickup

[FloatTheGoat]

Hey all,

I very much enjoy those hi-gain "modern" rhythm tones (I know the term is extremely vague, think stereotypical rock to metal tones through a dual rec), and one of the pickups I've thought work well for that have been PRS's HFS bridge pickups.

The considerably lower output seem to give it more bite and "growl" for me which I really love when playing chunky, down tuned rhythm sections, but the pickup also has excellent cleans, which I guess is expected from PRS. This is all just preference of course.

Anyway, I've been looking at a similar sounding pickup for my 7, (HFS only comes as 6 string), does anyone know of any pickups with similar characteristics? They don't have to clean up that well but what I'm really looking for is that midrange "growl".

From what I can tell I think the Dimarzio D Sonic 7 might be an option. I've heard it is very "grindy" and "in your face" but there's not a lot about it on the net though so if anyone has any experience with these as well any info would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Joel

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Actually, the HFS is what comes standard in the SE Custom 24/7 (in the "treble" position -- I.E. bridge, I presume), you can probably find them used on Reverb and whatnot. Heck, I may have one to sell, soon.

(The bass position is the "vintage bass" pickup.)

 

[Blytheryn]

Get some SD Black Winters! Plenty of grind there, and they clean up amazingly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZSTrs6H3VU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpLpuO-q-To

 

[bnzboy]

Duncan Omega!

 

[protest]

Maybe Duncan Custom?

 

[asher]

Duncan Custom, Lundgren M7, probably most varieties of EMG.

I did like the D-Sonic I had in my old 7421, too.

 

[KailM]

I have not tried the 7-string D Sonic, but I owned a 6-string version for quite a while. Here's what I can tell you about it:

It's a VERY tight pickup. But the great thing about it is that it doesn't achieve this by cutting all the lows. It sounds very thick and chunky without being boomy. I think it emphasizes the lower-mids/high bass so that it can get away with sounding big, yet tight in response. I loved playing technical death metal style riffs with this pickup; I always had the guitar in D Standard/Drop C.

As for "grindyness" -- I wouldn't say that it had an abundance of that. But my definition of "grindy" might be different than yours. When I hear that description, I think of more emphasis in the upper mids; in the 2 kHz region. That's not really what the D-Sonic was about, to my ears. So in a nutshell, it's an excellent pickup, but maybe not what you're after.

I would think SD Black Winters might be closer to what you're describing. Again, I've only tried the 6-string version. In my LTD Explorer, the BWs sound very "grindy" and aggressive, yet still have plenty of semi-tight lows and smooth highs. They, like the D Sonic are great for tech-death riffing, but have a slightly less modern/more old-school aggression to them -- which is perfect for me since I tend to like mid-90s/early 2000s black metal tones the best.

 

[Blytheryn]

+1 to what KailM said!

 

[TommyG]

Check out the Bare Knuckle Blackdog.

 

[TRENCHLORD]

This thread makes me wonder why there isn't a Bear Muzzle Grizzly model .