narad
Progressive metal and politics
So I've had this WR-1 with an 81/85 set. Despite this being classic metal tone, I've never really been super happy with the tone in the room. Double tracked, sure. Single tracked, thin..trebly..and not a great feel to them.
I decided to keep with EMGs because of the connectors, but to be honest I was really impressed with the clips of the RetroActives, both the 55s and 77s. Seems like no one actually bought these pickups?? It's been a while and there's hardly any discussion of them.
Anyway, they've been a huge improvement. The neck clean has gone from a like 2/10 to a 9/10. It's very musical, very passive sounding. I can't put the quality into words, but as I'm chording and passing through the treble strings, the B and E just sound perfect. A little bit of shimmer, but not particularly bright. With distortion, they don't seem so good for lead tones. Still an improvement, but no liquifire.
On the bridge/distortion, exactly what I wanted. A great sort of megadethy sound. I have the HetSet in another guitar which replaced like a 85/60 or something. The HetSet was a huge improvement by making things fuller sounding, each note got a ton of heft to it, and a slightly "round" sound to it. I don't know what that is in terms of EQ/response. The 77s are an improvement on the complete opposite end. They retain the "crispy" nature of the 81s in the midrange, while still thickening things up a bit and giving the low end a very passive feel and bounce.
So I would describe the HetSets as a great pickup, but not necessarily true to the 81/85 sound. The 77s are much more a spiritual successor, a brash pickup with a fuller sound. Sorry I don't have any mics here but I do have a camera:
I decided to keep with EMGs because of the connectors, but to be honest I was really impressed with the clips of the RetroActives, both the 55s and 77s. Seems like no one actually bought these pickups?? It's been a while and there's hardly any discussion of them.
Anyway, they've been a huge improvement. The neck clean has gone from a like 2/10 to a 9/10. It's very musical, very passive sounding. I can't put the quality into words, but as I'm chording and passing through the treble strings, the B and E just sound perfect. A little bit of shimmer, but not particularly bright. With distortion, they don't seem so good for lead tones. Still an improvement, but no liquifire.
On the bridge/distortion, exactly what I wanted. A great sort of megadethy sound. I have the HetSet in another guitar which replaced like a 85/60 or something. The HetSet was a huge improvement by making things fuller sounding, each note got a ton of heft to it, and a slightly "round" sound to it. I don't know what that is in terms of EQ/response. The 77s are an improvement on the complete opposite end. They retain the "crispy" nature of the 81s in the midrange, while still thickening things up a bit and giving the low end a very passive feel and bounce.
So I would describe the HetSets as a great pickup, but not necessarily true to the 81/85 sound. The 77s are much more a spiritual successor, a brash pickup with a fuller sound. Sorry I don't have any mics here but I do have a camera:
