Metal pickup for hss strat

[wavez1392]

I don't have the cash for a new 6 string guitar at the moment so I was planning on changing the bridge humbucker. Want the pickup to have a lot of bit and bright tone for riffs because thats pretty much all its going to be used for. I know I sound kinda crazy trying to make a strat a metal guitar, but the thing plays really well since I continual get professional set ups on all my guitars. Any ideas?

BTW they need to be passives!

 

[shogunate]

Bite and bright humbuckers for metal leaves a lot of options open. Seymour duncan JB, Dimarzio Evolution, EMG 81, Bare Knuckle Painkiller are all typically described as bright and bitey, but with some differences in character and price.

What amp are you running into, what bands/artists are you shooting for a sound similar to, what's your budget like?

 

[yellowv]

Yep that is totally crazy trying to play metal with a Strat........... Good thing nobody told Adrian Smith and Dave Murray that.

What type of metal do you want to play with it?

 

[rockerjeff]

Another option for active humbuckers are from Halo. They're currently being used by Arcanium's guitarist on the Bullet for my Valentine tour.

Other popular bridge humbuckers for metal are Seymour Duncan Blackouts, Seymour Duncan Invader, and DiMarzio DP160 Norton.

 

[onefingersweep]

What type of metal, if it's oldschool you should go for the Superdistortion!

But if it's more modern and if you tune down and stuff I think, Painkiller, Evolution or EMG 81 if you want active is a better choice.

 

[HeavyMetal4Ever]

Also check out the Dimarzio X2n, D-Activator and Crunchlab. All good for tight high gain tones.

Rock on!

 

[Xiphos68]

Evolution, Dirty - Finger (hard to control the gain in my opinion still love it), Super Distortion, Evolution 2 would probably be awesome.

Also, I would say a Seymour Duncan SH - 6 pickup. If you were trying to sound like this.

 

[PlagueX1]

Also check out the Dimarzio X2n, D-Activator and Crunchlab. All good for tight high gain tones.

Rock on!

I agree with the Crunchlab. That's an amazing pickup, lots of bite to it also.

 

[Necky379]

invaders are hard to beat in strats imo. ive got one in mine and it's perfect for it. i wouldn't call it bright though, it's very balanced with plenty of power to play anything. on low gain settings you can get a nice crunch tone and it does modern metal with ease with higher gain.

 

[wavez1392]

Bite and bright humbuckers for metal leaves a lot of options open. Seymour duncan JB, Dimarzio Evolution, EMG 81, Bare Knuckle Painkiller are all typically described as bright and bitey, but with some differences in character and price.

What amp are you running into, what bands/artists are you shooting for a sound similar to, what's your budget like?

I have a mesa rectoverb, which I use a Keeley compressor and a Ibanez tubescreamer in front of the amp.I play/listen to modern metal like winds of plague, veil of maya,boo, all shall perish and bulb/periphery. Would like my setup to have that kind of modern metal tone with a lot of bite. Now doing some more research it doesn't need to be bright, but it needs to have a super tight sound.

 

[wavez1392]

Budget wise i'm not looking to spend bareknuckle prices. Anything less or around 100 for the bridge pickup works for me.

 

[wavez1392]

Was looking at the sh-6, but I heard there cleans are pretty muddy. Is this true? Would like to be able to play occasional clean parts in the bridge. Although, i'm willing to sacrifice having crisp cleans for killer djenty toned riffs.

 

[Xiphos68]

Was looking at the sh-6, but I heard there cleans are pretty muddy. Is this true? Would like to be able to play occasional clean parts in the bridge. Although, i'm willing to sacrifice having crisp cleans for killer djenty toned riffs.

Would say this is muddy? I'm not sure if he used those pickups or not on this album. But he says all his guitars have them and he mainly used his own as far as I know.

 

[wavez1392]

sounds awesome in those videos. Pretty crisp tone.

 

[Xiphos68]

sounds awesome in those videos. Pretty crisp tone.

Glad you like it.

 

[drgordonfreeman]

I actually just did this to my American Standard HSS. I put a DiMarzio D-Activator X in the bridge, and two Seymour Duncan Hot Rails in the middle and neck pickup positions.

It rocks. I mean, it sounds really, really good.

If you decide to go that route and you need any help wiring it, then please let me know. I also have a thread on here about it, with some great contributions and help from Dirtdog and GuitarWiz2K.