pickup for alder bodied guitar

[awjb68]

Hi,

I am looking to replace a pickup in my guitar and need some suggestions. Basically I want a bright articulate/percussive metal tone. I play a lot of muted 1/8th notes and triplets etc and want them to slice through the mix but still have enough energy in the chugg department too. The pickups I'm considering at the moment are the SD nazgul, black winter and the lace deathbucker.

I've come to the conclusion that everything depends on everything with guitar tone, so for the sake of full disclosure my rig is as follows...

Guitar:

Halo PT7 (rhoads shape)
scale: 27 inch
Body: alder
Neck: maple/bolt on
Fretpoard: ebony
Bridge: tune - o -matic
Bridge pickup: EMG 81-7

Amp:

Engl Invader 100 (I use Channel 3 for rhythm)

Cab:

Marshall 1960B 4 x 12 with celestion t75 and v30 in an X pattern.

Pedals:

Maxon OD808 and Boss NS-2

Currently I find the amp sounds a little too dark for my tastes and the emg seems to occupy a narrow tone space (to my ears atleast). This may be due to the cab but for now I'd like to experiment with pickups.

Cheers.

 

[JustinRhoads1980]

From what I have heard for an alder bodied guitar you have a few options.

Seymour Duncan Distortion Mayhem set.
-Has tight percussives sound
-Rhythym sounds like an angry rabid dog
-Increased Mid-range




Dimebucker Set:

I heard this is also a really good set

- Tight and percussive

-Scooped mids

-Boosted highs/lows

-Due to the boosted Highs and lows it has a different sounds compared to the DD. I would say though they are similar for that exception in the midrange (To my ears at least)




Here is a video of them being compared with other SD pickups




I would say they have pretty good cleans, def darker any have a tad bit of gain on em, but not to the point where it sounds like is overdriven on the clean channel


Another brand I would look into is Bare Knuckle Pickups.

For an alder body guitar I have heard that the Warpigs (Ceramic bridge would be more suited for your tastes) will thicken the sound and definitely has a tight and percussive sound.

https://www.bareknucklepickups.co.uk/pickup/humbucker/warpig#

If you are also not opposed to actives maybe as another option is the 81/60 set.

For dimarzio, I cannot comment as I have no experience or have invested time into their pickups.

Personally though I think If the two Seymours AND the Warpigs don't help then I think you might need a new amp....


Anyways that is all I can offer you, from my general knowledge. Hope this helps!

 

[JustinRhoads1980]

I FORGOT!!!!


Here is another great video demoing the Dimebucker set in a more practical manner IMO

 

[LeviathanKiller]

Can you post any examples of your playing or tone examples?

I have the Nazgul in my KM7-MKII (swamp ash body) and I feel that it is a very percussive and chuggy pickup with a good dash of snarl and grime. Swamp ash is supposed to be fairly close to alder from what I've read.

The Black Winter is less defined afaik but others with hands-on experience can confirm this for you.

I have an alder 25.5" guitar and I'm considering a DiMarazio Titan possibly. Maybe that would work? It's tight and percussive from what I've seen.

 

[JustinRhoads1980]

Can you post any examples of your playing or tone examples?

I have the Nazgul in my KM7-MKII (swamp ash body) and I feel that it is a very percussive and chuggy pickup with a good dash of snarl and grime. Swamp ash is supposed to be fairly close to alder from what I've read.

The Black Winter is less defined afaik but others with hands-on experience can confirm this for you.

I have an alder 25.5" guitar and I'm considering a DiMarazio Titan possibly. Maybe that would work? It's tight and percussive from what I've seen.

I have been looking at pickups for my 25.5", Maple Neck through, alder bodied, Jackson. That's a mouthful (That is what she said)

I am not feeling the JB/59' combo, any recommendations that you would have for me for metal? I want something with a bit more dirt, while retaining clarity and has a better palm mute than the JB. For the neck I would like something that has good cleans and a nice lead tone aswell. Bridge I would like a good Rhythym AND Lead tone.

I was thinking either the Duncan Distortion set or a BKP Ceramic Bridge Alnico V neck Warpig set.

Are those sets good or do you have something better? Thanks

 

[LeviathanKiller]

I have been looking at pickups for my 25.5", Maple Neck through, alder bodied, Jackson. That's a mouthful (That is what she said)

I am not feeling the JB/59' combo, any recommendations that you would have for me for metal? I want something with a bit more dirt, while retaining clarity and has a better palm mute than the JB. For the neck I would like something that has good cleans and a nice lead tone aswell. Bridge I would like a good Rhythym AND Lead tone.

I was thinking either the Duncan Distortion set or a BKP Ceramic Bridge Alnico V neck Warpig set.

Are those sets good or do you have something better? Thanks

To be honest, I'm in the same position right now looking for decent pickup sets for my 25.5", ebony neck-thru, alder-bodied Washburn.

Right now, my shortlist is the following:

• DiMarzio Imperium 7 set
• DiMarzio Titan set
• Guitarmory Foxbat (A5)

I don't know what I should go with yet and that pickup swap is a ways off but that's my $0.02.

 

[awjb68]

Thanks for the suggestions. There are a few more to consider now although i'm still inclined to lean toward the seymour duncans. Especially the nazgul - it seems quite agessive in the top end to my ears.

Regarding an example of my playing. I tried to post some links but can't due to new user restrictions. If you look for "maleficium" on facebook there's a live vid of a song called "profound abhorence" as well as a link to bandcamp with the same tune listed.

thanks again

 

[lewis]

run from the lace. The deathbucker is awful.

I would suggest bareknuckle blackhawks. They are apparently amazing in alder

 

[JustinRhoads1980]

run from the lace. The deathbucker is awful.

I would suggest bareknuckle blackhawks. They are apparently amazing in alder

What about warpigs? I heard they really make your sound thick when you compile a warpig ceramic bridge alnico neck and alder.

 

[lewis]

What about warpigs? I heard they really make your sound thick when you compile a warpig ceramic bridge alnico neck and alder.

Yeah depends on what sound you are after. If you want thick, balls etc then Cpig (ceramic war pig) would be great in Alder.

If you are like me and want a clear, aggressive, twangy pickup with excellent coil tap sounds, then still go Blackhawk.

 

[JustinRhoads1980]

Yeah depends on what sound you are after. If you want thick, balls etc then Cpig (ceramic war pig) would be great in Alder.

If you are like me and want a clear, aggressive, twangy pickup with excellent coil tap sounds, then still go Blackhawk.

Looks like the Warpigs are more suited for me. I don't care much for coil tapping and don't feel like rewiring my guitar for that. I just learned how to desolder and solder connections on my squier (Pretty much my guitar to fuck with since if it gets destroyed it doesn't matter much to me) and was impressed when I put it back together and tapped the pole pieces to see if it still worked and all was good.

 

[John]

C-pigs are a good choice in alder, though to my ears there's a fair amount of grind to them.

Here's a test clip using a C-pig:
https://soundcloud.com/johnucol/singlecut-mix-test

For what it's worth: BKP Holy-Divers are a versatile choice that can also work well in alder, IME.
I've also tried using a D-activator X (not the D-activator) and a Tone-Zone from Dimarzio that also work. It's a crap-load of output, though.

 

[Zoobiedood]

Nazgul/Sentient, if you don't intend to do any cleaner playing, otherwise, look at the Pegasus.

 

[Sollipsist]

I've got the Black Winters in a poplar body guitar and I'm really happy with them - but - they don't sound to me like what you're looking for. They've got amazing cleans, and with gain they have a sizzling high mid peak that sits great in the mix with a bass... but the note separation is a little fuzzy and they don't seem to push enough tight bass frequencies for heavy chugging.

I'm pretty much looking for what you're looking for - as a balance to what the Black Winters give me. I'm looking at Foxbats, Imperiums, and a couple of BKPs.

I had the Deathbuckers on my list at first but the more clips I heard and reviews I read, the less interested I was. The opposite happened with Fishman Modern pickups... I didn't want to like them at first, but they sound pretty great. They're a whole different beast from EMGs (which I also have and like a lot). Might be worth a look if you haven't checked them out already.

 

[awjb68]

Thanks for the replies.

Sollipsist - you are correct. I am only interested in a bridge pickup for rhythm tone. Not concerned about cleans at all. reagrding the deathbucker that's 2 negative opinions on this thread now - so I'll avoid it - thanks.

Zoobiedood - yes, i have decided to give the SD Nazgul a try. After watching numerous shootouts and comparisons (especially keith merrow and ola englund) it seems like the best one to take a chance with). Thanks.

if this fails I will give the titans or pegagus a go.

Now to install it...

Will be interesting to connect an earth wire to the bridge.

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Bright, articulate, percussive =dimarzio illuminator, dsonic, entwistle hdn, lundgren m6, black winters.

 

[LeviathanKiller]

Bright, articulate, percussive =dimarzio illuminator, dsonic, entwistle hdn, lundgren m6, black winters.

Entwistle HDN is only in a 6-string format AFAIK
That would also mean you're suggesting the Lundgren M7 instead

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Entwistle HDN is only in a 6-string format AFAIK
That would also mean you're suggesting the Lundgren M7 instead

Yup, my bad

 

[awjb68]

So I have got the pickup and will install it this weekend.

Just looking at what will be involved with the process and I noticed a problem...

The 4 mounting holes for the pickup ring are within the cavity of the guitar (in terms of size). I could work around the problem with longer self tapping screws. I estimate they would need around 2mmx30mm which seems like an unlikely size to try and track down.

Alternatively try to find a larger 7 string pickup ring that will allow me to screw into the body surface (as opposed to the base of the pickup cavity if I use the current one).

Any suggestions?