SD Sentient/Pegasus/Nazgul set vs Fishman Fluence modern 7 set? vs DiMarzio Titans

[dfm86]

So I'm currently working on modding my first 7 string, it's a Jackson JS22-7 gloss black, basswood body. I'm having a hard time deciding which pickups would be better suited for the guitar. I'm looking for versatility, chord definition on high gain, easy harmonics, tight low end. Watching a lot of videos and hearing some sound clips, I pretty much decided between these 3 choices

1)SD Sentient/Pegasus or Nazgul Set
2) Fishman Fluence Modern 7
3) Dimarzio Titans

Which one would you suggest for what I'm looking? Just looking for opinions.

Don't have enough money right now for BKP or something like Lundgrens but you're more than welcome to suggest any of those or others.

P.S.

I usually down tune to drop G# but sometimes I just play standard.

 

[saminator]

I can only speak for the Titans, but I can tell that they meet every criteria you mentioned. I have them in a basswood seven string, tuned to drop G#, and they're perfect. I highly recommend them.

 

[dfm86]

thanks for the input man, I will look deeper into those Titans. Just two questions, 1) would you recommend buying the full set or going with a different neck pickup (Iluminator or Liquifire perhaps). 2) My guitar comes with two active mount stock Jackson pickups, is there any need for me to route or will the Titans fit properly? Here's a pic of the guitar:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=51433&d=1469921834

 

[Metropolis]

thanks for the input man, I will look deeper into those Titans. Just two questions, 1) would you recommend buying the full set or going with a different neck pickup (Iluminator or Liquifire perhaps). 2) My guitar comes with two active mount stock Jackson pickups, is there any need for me to route or will the Titans fit properly? Here's a pic of the guitar:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=51433&d=1469921834

Probably no routing required, but standard passive mount pickups will leave ugly gaps to sides of the pickups. Seymour Duncan has active mount cover option in some of their 7-string pickups, so I would look at them.

 

[Progbusters]

Titans are chord definition on high gain, Harmonics, and tight. Versatile, maybe not. They do the prog and djent thing that's about it. maybe jazz.

 

[USMarine75]

I've extensively played all three and I went with the Fluence. The SD are absolute garbage IMO and are not versatile.

I liked the Titans okay, in the JBM100 and a Kiesel that I had for awhile. They sounded like Illuminators but with a fuller midrange. I'd have to A/B Illuminators and Titans in a similar guitar to see which I prefer. I prefer the Illuminator neck and the Titan bridge. FWIW I have an Illuminator (N) and Aftermath (B) setup in my Kiesel 7 and it sounds awesome.

But hands down the winner of those three would be Fluence IMO. You can select from two voicings (vintage or modern) and also split. I A/B'd for hours and I prefered these slightly over BKP Juggernauts, because they were fuller sounding and way more versatile. I still have Juggies in one of my Mayones and I don't think it's worth it financially to swap between those two (yet), but it was definitely worth it for me to go from SD to Fluence. (I've always been a Dimarzio guy, so for me to hype anything else is rare lol)

 

[Korneo]

Same for me. I have both the SD and the Fishman and go for the Fishman all the way. The SD are pure garbage (except if you like some low output pickup for djenty stick)

 

[jc986]

I haven't played the Titans but I have a guitar with the Fluence Modern 7 set and a guitar with the Sentient/Nazgul set. I love both sets, and I do NOT play djent and don't care for the typical djent tone. I find the Nazgul/Sentient set to be plenty versatile, and I feel they do clean and lower gain stuff better than the Fluence Moderns. It's not by a long shot, but I just really prefer the tone and feel of a passive pickup for cleans and low to mid gain tones.

The Fluences do a good job of approximating the tone/feel of a passive pickup in vintage mode, but they don't get there 100%. The modern mode is where I spend the majority of my time with these pickups and it kills any other active pickup in that department as far as clarity and overall tone IMO.

 

[Noisy Humbucker]

I'm pretty much all in with Fluence (four out of six guitars anyway). That's after trying the Duncans and not the DiMarzio Titans but Ionizer and Illuminators (like the Ionizers quite a bit, the Illuminators not so much).

I've tried each of the full size/humbucker Fluence sets and love both the Modern and Classic, but the Carpenter and Townsend sets were just too focused in the direction of the artist for my taste. I find the Classic and Modern sets to be versatile and very musical (as in not spiked one trick ponies).