RG8 Pickup choice

[Not The Same as Yours]

Hi

I am almost getting an Ibby RG8, and the big question rely on pickup choice. Lace's Alumitones X-Bar and DeathBar or DiMarzio's DA/Ionizers?

I am looking for versatility, good clean/dirty/colored sounds.

Comparing these pickups "side by side" I find that DiMarzio's (or similar pickups) have an array of sound possibilities/wirings way bigger. Lace's allow only 2 possibilities per pickup, against 5 (if I am not mistaken) on DiMarzio's:
- Lace: full or split modes
- DiMarzio: serial/single/parallel (on phase), serial out of phase and parallel out of phase.


Mixing two pickups, the math goes way farther:
- Lace: Bridge, Bridge+Neck Serial, Bridge+Neck parallel, Neck. Mixing this with the previous I can get 12 different sounds with a 4 way blade switch and two mini switches
- DiMarzio: Bridge, Bridge+Neck Serial, Bridge+Neck with one of them out of phase, Bridge+Neck parallel, Bridge+Neck with one out of phase, Neck. Mixing these with the individual pickup wirings and I get a huge plethora of sounds.

I have an Ibby RG7421 modded so I can explore lots of different combinations (some are redundant) and I came across one that I find quite interesting: Neck in serial wiring + (parallel mix) bridge split and out of phase with the neck pickup. This combo has a strange wavy growling sound in clean, and a nice straight focused punch when overdriven. It's almost like adding mids to the Neck Pickup. At the moment I am using D-Activators 7 Bridge and Neck.

Obviously I will not be able to get this crazy with Lace's humbuckers, however, they are kind of sexy and appealing.

So the big question is, considering your expertise, what do you suggest? Are Lace's Alumitones that full sounding that they will transcend all this crazy wiring needs or I should go direct to DiMarzio's?

Thanks for any enlightenment on this subject.

 

[lefty robb]

But how many times are you really going to use that 2 way out of phase coiled tapped split etc etc..option? Or are you just going to select the bridge and chug?

 

[Not The Same as Yours]

But how many times are you really going to use that 2 way out of phase coiled tapped split etc etc..option? Or are you just going to select the bridge and chug?

This is a discovering process. I like the chug, but it is not my main goal on this or any other guitar. So, I am experimenting sounds on some tunes and suddenly some thing happens, I get inspired on these out of the box options and I start to rethink the whole tune. And sometimes, when I get stuck with a tune, going nowhere with a riff, the changing on pickup sound simply refreshes everything and the riff gets a face lift.

For example, I have a strange odd metered riff for years that I cannot evolve and recently, just by getting that combo I started to add new stuff to the riff... and it just rocks.

I am also interested in getting 8 Ghost saddles for acoustic sounds and blend them with pickup sounds, so, as you see, I will navigate through all possible options.

Using different pickup sounds allows me (and who else uses these options) to get new effects on riffing arguments and textures.

 

[lefty robb]

This is a discovering process. I like the chug, but it is not my main goal on this or any other guitar. So, I am experimenting sounds on some tunes and suddenly some thing happens, I get inspired on these out of the box options and I start to rethink the whole tune. And sometimes, when I get stuck with a tune, going nowhere with a riff, the changing on pickup sound simply refreshes everything and the riff gets a face lift.

For example, I have a strange odd metered riff for years that I cannot evolve and recently, just by getting that combo I started to add new stuff to the riff... and it just rocks.

I am also interested in getting 8 Ghost saddles for acoustic sounds and blend them with pickup sounds, so, as you see, I will navigate through all possible options.

Using different pickup sounds allows me (and who else uses these options) to get new effects on riffing arguments and textures.

Well then, you answered your own question

 

[yellow]

the best pickups in the world are about to hit the market man, the metalworks series: EMG 81-8/85-8. Get those, unless you don't want actives, but from what your saying, if you want the ultimate in 8 string pickups for high gain, clarity, and METAL, EMG is #1.

(and I urge you to pay no attention to any of the trolling flame anti-emg clowns that say otherwise cuz youll find a lot of them on this site)

 

[vick1000]

My personal recommendation, Lace Deathbar 4.0 bridge, 250K pots, .022uf tone cap. I don't use the neck position.