Pickup recommendations

[edsped]

If you put the bar side towards the neck, it'll sound darker and bassier. He does this on his 7 strings. But put it towards the bridge like he does on his 6 string guitars and it'll have more mids and a much punchier tone.

Other way around, actually. He puts the bar towards the bridge on his 7s to keep the low B tight.

 

[Dead Undead]

Other way around, actually. He puts the bar towards the bridge on his 7s to keep the low B tight.

Really now?
huh... guess I was wrong.
Either way, it's still a good pickup.

 

[Kamikaze7]

I just ordered the petrucci set yesterday. I've never heard them in person, but all his work sounds great and ide say its safe to say petrucci knows more about tone than most people, so its gotta be a safe bet

I was gonna list them. And they have awesome amps. EMG's don't sound that good through a VOX. They do have great tone, I won't argue with that. But personally, I've never gotten a tone I like from active pickups. If I had to choose between EMG's or Blackouts though I'd pick Blackouts any day.
Well, it's all opinion. I fap DiMarzio day and night, so most of my recommendations will be biased, but for good reason. There's a reason all the A-Listers use them.

As for the comments of the EMG's not sounding good thru a Vox, absolutely correct. Then again, only certain guitars will sound good thru most of those amps... I am and have been an EMG fan for years, but I will, have and always favor DiMarzio for passives any day. so to Dead Undead's recommendation on the TZ & AN set - +1, a very good set and very versatile indeed. I myself have upgraded to the D-Activators and love them just as much as the EMG's for a passive. But then again what your playing thru amp, cab and effects wise will also make a difference in the tone your looking to get. Guys like Petrucci have been running thru Mesa gear that has probabaly been mod'ed to get him a better tone. Not saying it has for a fact, but most of these guys have thier rigs mod'ed to sound better than stock. while guys like us have to start smaller with pickups and everything else to get that tone - gotta start somewhere, right???

You're just reminding me that I need to save up for a new amp.

OP:
You should look into used pickups. Most of the time all you have to do is make the leads longer, and any competent luthier can do that easily.

Ah yes, maybe once I'm done getting my guitars the way I want them I can save up and get a new amp one of these days... Thanks for reminding me also!!! And you can make the leads longer yourself if your good with a soldering iron and have heat shrink tubing. It's been done. And most people that put in pickups themselves know better than to cut the wire all the way down to where they're connecting it, just for that reason of incase they find something new and wind up taking those out and selling them. So most of the time you can find used pickups with plenty of lead on them. However, you don't get a warranty on used pickups like you will new. And especially for DiMarzio, you can send the pickups you bought back if you don't like them and try a new set for 5 years from the date of purchase. Not that it'll take you 5 years to find a set that works for you, but still...

 

[Ricky Roro]

What do you think of a Crunch Lab/Tone Zone combo? Both sound pretty nice, and I'm thinking that together you might get a fuller low end with mellow, but still pronounced highs.

 

[Ironbird666]

Are you talking Crunch lab in the bridge, Tonezone in the neck? I have a Tonezone in the neck position of one of my guitars (X2N in the bridge) and it's a really cool sounding neck pickup, and I think it might pair very well with the Crunch Lab to be honest. Keep in mind, the Tonezone is a "tweaker" pickup so if you do decide to get one spend a lot of time tweaking pickup height AND adjust the height of the poles. The sound is warm and huge with a nice high end sizzle and great harmonics, the cleans aren't bad either but I'm not overly found of neck pickup cleans. Hope that helped.

 

[Dead Undead]

What do you think of a Crunch Lab/Tone Zone combo? Both sound pretty nice, and I'm thinking that together you might get a fuller low end with mellow, but still pronounced highs.

This wouldn't be the best idea in my opinion. See, the output of those two aren't matched well for bridge/neck, so it might sound kinda off output wise. If you do that, you might have to adjust the volume whenever you switch between pickups. Remember you want a well rounded and balanced tone. The Air Norton is plenty warm and dark for the neck, with a fair amount of output for a medium power pickup. It'll probably get you better cleans than a Tone Zone for a neck pickup.

 

[Ricky Roro]

Thanks for the input. I like the sound of the Crunch Lab, but I'm trying to find other pickups that would match it well. I think the Air Norton and the LiquiFire sound a little too mid-heavy. Is there something that has more lows and highs, but still be a good counterpart for the Crunch Lab?

 

[Dead Undead]

Thanks for the input. I like the sound of the Crunch Lab, but I'm trying to find other pickups that would match it well. I think the Air Norton and the LiquiFire sound a little too mid-heavy. Is there something that has more lows and highs, but still be a good counterpart for the Crunch Lab?

What's your guitar made of?

 

[Ricky Roro]

To be honest, I'm still saving up money for a new guitar

But the one I'm looking into is a baritone with a mahogany body, maple neck, and ebony fretboard. Let me guess, those are all the wrong materials for the sound I'm looking for?

Yeah, I really need to do some more research on this stuff...

 

[Dead Undead]

To be honest, I'm still saving up money for a new guitar

But the one I'm looking into is a baritone with a mahogany body, maple neck, and ebony fretboard. Let me guess, those are all the wrong materials for the sound I'm looking for?

Yeah, I really need to do some more research on this stuff...

I don't like mahogany personally. It sounds too dark, almost to the point of muddy. You won't get any brightness out of it.
Alder, swamp ash, maple, walnut. That's the kind of thing I would recommend. They're actually louder than mahogany.
Swamp ash is my favorite so far. It's slightly brighter than alder, but still very balanced. It's also very light but hard and durable. It has a nice grain too.
Maple/ebony neck is one of my favorite combinations of neck woods. Great sustain, plenty of brightness, very smooth and easy to play on.
I'm not sure what to use in mahogany since i'm not used to using mahogany guitars, but you can't go wrong with a Super Distortion or Steve's Special in the bridge. Maybe a Bluesbucker in the neck?

 

[Ricky Roro]

I should really go play these for myself before I make any decisions to begin with. Are there any guitars that come stock with the first two sets?

 

[Dead Undead]

I should really go play these for myself before I make any decisions to begin with. Are there any guitars that come stock with the first two sets?

not that I know of, but there are some other similar setups.
Charvel So-Cal - Tone Zone/Evolution
Paradise Guitars USA Jason Becker Signature - Tone Zone/HS-2 (Single coil)/PAF Pro
Music Man John Petrucci signature model - Crunch Lab/Liquifire

 

[SW Davion]

Sold on the EMG 707's in neck and bridge positions in a Basswood body. Punishing lows and sweet cleans

 

[Ricky Roro]

I did some looking around at other pickups (from other companies too).

I like the sound of this one (neck), but reviews on musiciansfriend say it isn't any good clean. But if it actually sounds like the demo does, then I like it.
http://files.seymourduncan.com/audio/support/humbucker/Track41.mp3

I can't find a bridge one to match it yet... The seymour duncan ones don't sound very deep on the lows, and Dimarzios aren't bad but all of them seem to have a sort of accent, if you know what I mean. I have also looked into EMGs, but I can't really find any sound samples for them.

My apologies if I am frustrating you. Hopefully I'm not being too bothersome for you guys.

 

[Dead Undead]

I did some looking around at other pickups (from other companies too).

I like the sound of this one (neck), but reviews on musiciansfriend say it isn't any good clean. But if it actually sounds like the demo does, then I like it.
http://files.seymourduncan.com/audio/support/humbucker/Track41.mp3

I can't find a bridge one to match it yet... The seymour duncan ones don't sound very deep on the lows, and Dimarzios aren't bad but all of them seem to have a sort of accent, if you know what I mean. I have also looked into EMGs, but I can't really find any sound samples for them.

My apologies if I am frustrating you. Hopefully I'm not being too bothersome for you guys.

Like an open wah tone? DiMarzios are known for that, and that's what most people like about them.
And the Invaders get a lot of flak, but are actually awesome pickups. They just sound kinda sterile to me.
If you get invaders, get an SH-8 bridge and neck - they come in both options so it makes them a calibrated set.

And you're not frustrating us, man, we're glad to help.
I'm still surprised they haven't kicked ME off yet.

 

[Ricky Roro]

That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. I really like their warmth, and they could probably be EQ'd to sound even better. Now I just need to save up some money...

By the way, the guitar I'm looking at is the PRS Mike Mushok. It looks nice and is a baritone (so it can handle low tunings and heavy strings) but the sound isn't quite what I want it to be. That's why I am looking into pickups to put in it.

 

[Dead Undead]

That actually doesn't sound like a bad idea. I really like their warmth, and they could probably be EQ'd to sound even better. Now I just need to save up some money...

By the way, the guitar I'm looking at is the PRS Mike Mushok. It looks nice and is a baritone (so it can handle low tunings and heavy strings) but the sound isn't quite what I want it to be. That's why I am looking into pickups to put in it.

Seriously? I've never had a gripe about PRS Stock pickups. love the tone. But hey, if it's not your thing, that's cool. PRS is a fine guitar.

The Invaders are really hot pickups, high output. you won't get very good cleans from them if you're not using an all tube amp.

Oh, and if you know what sound you're looking for, you can go to DiMarzio's site and use the pickup finder thing in the bottom right.

 

[Ricky Roro]

Again, I'll need to play it through first before I decide if I'm gonna replace the pickups (and with what). They may end up being just fine. In fact, that'd be ideal. There was another topic from a long time ago where someone wanted to replace stock pickups on a MM, too.

 

[Dead Undead]

Again, I'll need to play it through first before I decide if I'm gonna replace the pickups (and with what). They may end up being just fine. In fact, that'd be ideal. There was another topic from a long time ago where someone wanted to replace stock pickups on a MM, too.

You'll probably be just fine with the stock pickups, then just shape the tone using pedals and your amp. PRS pickups are actually the best sounding stock pickups form any company I've tried.