Recommend me some pick-ups!

[Nik]

Alright, so I've decided to order an RG1527 via Eric. Anyway, I've read loads of review on that guitar and they all list the guitar's stock pick-ups as crap, so I'm gonna have Eric put in some new ones. Anyway's, what kind of Dimarzio 7s would you recommend?

I play progressive metal/shred so I want some seriously high-output (so I don't have to crank up the gain for tapped solos), rich-tone pups. For the neck pick-up, I was thinking Evo, seeing as how Vai uses them and they sound great. I want something really great for leads in the neck. Do you think the Evolution is a good choice?

For the bridge, I want something that can handle sick solos like Stream of Counscousness, etc., but churn out uber-distroted grooves at awesome quality. I'd like for these to really chug out pinch-harmonics and stuff like that properly. Evos sound good (listening to Building the Church riffage) although is there anything better?

Thanks for your help. I'm really hoping to make this a serious tone-machine

 

[giannifive]

The Evos Vai uses in his 6 strings are different from Evo7s. I think I speak for many of us here when I say you should get an Air Norton 7 in the neck and a Blaze Custom in the bridge. Check out the pickup review thread on this site for more info.

 

[Nik]

The Evos Vai uses in his 6 strings are different from Evo7s. I think I speak for many of us here when I say you should get an Air Norton 7 in the neck and a Blaze Custom in the bridge. Check out the pickup review thread on this site for more info.

Doesn't the UV777 have Evo 7s?

I'll check it out, thanks.

 

[giannifive]

Doesn't the UV777 have Evo 7s?

I'll check it out, thanks.

Nope, those are plain-old Blazes.

 

[Drew]

Nope, Blaze's. The Evo7 is a great bridge pickup, and has loads of harmonics - it might work for you. For the neck, the Air Norton really is awfully tough to top.

If you like Vai's PAW-era neck pickup tone, a Blaze neck might work too - the "For the Love of God" tone is a great example of what it sounds like, even (to an extent, anyway ) through my mesa nomad.

By the way, we've got a great pickup review thread that could probably answer a lot of your questions...

-D

 

[Nik]

The only thing is that the reviewers in that thread have their own style and look for different things, and I don't know which one would be best suited to my needs. I don't know squat about pick-ups, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be looking for.

I'm assuming that if I want to do a lot of legato/tapping sort of stuff, as well as cranked out distortin stuff (Like DT's Train of thought), so I'm assuming I need a high-output pick-up, right? From what I read, the air norton sounds best for this and solos. Would you agree? Also, I want it to sound good clean, does it?

And the Blazes sound best for riffage.

 

[Leon]

I think I speak for many of us here when I say you should get an Air Norton 7 in the neck and a Blaze Custom in the bridge.

 

[Nik]

K Air Norton and Blaze, thanks!

Lemme just make sure this is what I want:

The Air Norton has a rich tone to it and is perfect for leads. It is high-output and can provide crazy lago and tapping and can sound similar to Vai and Petrucci in terms of tone. It also sounds good clean.

Am I right?

And the Blaze just kicks when it comes to crazy riffage and pinch harmonics?

 

[shoemaker27]

Air Norton on the neck and Blaze Custom on the bridge, I have those pickups and the sound is amazing, remember to choose blaze custom instead of blaze.

C'ya

 

[Nik]

I've pretty much decided for sure on a Blaze custom in the bridge... Looking at Dimarzio's site, it has an output of 410. What does this mean?

Also, the Air Norton has only 260. Shouldn't I be looking for a humbucker with more output if I want to do crazy legato/prog metal?

 

[The Dark Wolf]

I've pretty much decided for sure on a Blaze custom in the bridge... Looking at Dimarzio's site, it has an output of 410. What does this mean?

Also, the Air Norton has only 260. Shouldn't I be looking for a humbucker with more output if I want to do crazy legato/prog metal?

Not necessarily. A pickup in the neck position will always sound LOUDER than the same pickup in the bridge, due to the fact that the string moves a LOT more over the neck area than near the bridge. They make bridge pickups louder (like that 410 you posted) to compensate.

260mV is plenty loud for the neck. It will sound just about as loud to the user (you) as a 400-something mV bridge pickup.

The number 410, BTW, is how many millivolts the pickup produces. A pickup is essentially like a small generator (the same things that make electricity). If you take a magnetic rod or bar, wrap wire around it to make a coil, and then pass a magnetic material over it (like steel strings), that will produce an electrical current. That number 410 is how much current the Blaze Custom produces when a string passes over it. That's not nearly enough to be heard by itself, plugged right into a speaker. It needs amplified (hence, why we play through guitar amplifiers) to be audible. But more voltage will mean a louder pickup, with more perceived gain.

 

[Digital Black]

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2630
{2. Try and use the pickup guide when shopping for pickup choices. It makes no sence to have 15 threads about " what pickups should I get for my 7620 ? ".}


If more people would update the guide....

there have been more threads like this than posts in the guide. Shame on you all.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

I've never even looked at that guide

 

[Leon]

there have been more threads like this than posts in the guide. Shame on you all.

often times the newer members don't know about it, or those newer still to guitars in general are looking for more personalized feedback. if it helps them more for me to repeat myself 30 times than for them to read that thread, then i'm happy to do it. but, i'm sure i'll reach a point where i'll just link to that review thread myself

 

[Naren]

Nope, those are plain-old Blazes.

Actually, I was playing a Universe today at Ochanomizu's Shimokura (kinda like Ishibashi) and it said on the thing that it uses DiMarzio Blaze II's.

 

[The Dark Wolf]

Actually, I was playing a Universe today at Ochanomizu's Shimokura (kinda like Ishibashi) and it said on the thing that it uses DiMarzio Blaze II's.

Same difference. There is a whole MESS of controversy about these Blaze/Blaze II/New 7 etc. pickups. But the Universe uses good ol' Blaze pickups... they just call' em Blaze II for that model (for whatever reason).

 

[Drew]

Alternately, it may use Blaze II's and Dimarzio calls them Blazes. No one's quite sure, lol

 

[Nik]

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/showthread.php?t=2630
{2. Try and use the pickup guide when shopping for pickup choices. It makes no sence to have 15 threads about " what pickups should I get for my 7620 ? ".}


If more people would update the guide....

there have been more threads like this than posts in the guide. Shame on you all.

Forgive me if I come off as rude, but what's the point of having a "Pick-up and electronics" forum if you're going to restrict all pick-up discussion to one thread?

In any case, thanks for all your replies, but what I was hoping to achieve is learn a bit more about what I should look for. So let me rephrase my question: I want to play Train of Thought style prog-metal. My favourite guitarists with the best tones are Petrucci and Vai. I do mainly solos and lead work, though lots of riffage too. I want to do tapped/legato solos without having to crank up the gain. Keeping those things in mind, what should I look for in a pick-up? High output? Hot pick-ups? Or does it really not matter?

 

[Drew]

I think our colelctive point was you;d have narrowed your query down a bit had syou started there - for instance, you'd have known the Evo7 was a bridge, and not a neck pickup.

It's a useful resource if people use it, and can help you ask more directed questions on the site.

-D

 

[Digital Black]

Forgive me if I come off as rude, but what's the point of having a "Pick-up and electronics" forum if you're going to restrict all pick-up discussion to one thread?

In any case, thanks for all your replies, but what I was hoping to achieve is learn a bit more about what I should look for. So let me rephrase my question: I want to play Train of Thought style prog-metal. My favourite guitarists with the best tones are Petrucci and Vai. I do mainly solos and lead work, though lots of riffage too. I want to do tapped/legato solos without having to crank up the gain. Keeping those things in mind, what should I look for in a pick-up? High output? Hot pick-ups? Or does it really not matter?

Becasue I think it's a waste to 25 threads all asking the same thing- espicially since we are limited to a very small selection of 7 guitar and pickups.