Thought this would be an interesting topic, What Pickups Do you You In Your Guitar(s)?

I think nearly every guitarist is looking for the perfect tone, and we all know the pickups can make a world of difference to your sound, but which brand and pickup is your favourite?

Most of my guitars use Dimarzio, i have a Fred, and Paf Pro in my Av-1 Custom, i've found them to be a great, extremely flexable set of pickups, can see why Satch used them for so long, and more recently i've been testing my prototype Humbucker, which some of you may remember me posting about.
I've used quite a few of Dimarzios range of PUs, but never tested any Seymour Duncans as of yet, and only limited playing on any EMG's.
As far as the Fred and Paf Pro go, i can strongly recommend them to anyone who likes clarity to there sound, but abit of punch too :)

What do you use?

Stock Tokai "PAF" type in my Love Rock. Not very high output, but nice, creamy fat tone ... plenty of depth.

But I just swapped out the INF1 and INF2 humbuckers in my Ibanez S470 for Mighty Mite Motherbuckers (21.6Kohm bridge & 17Kohm neck, compared to the original's 16Kohm bridge & 11kohm neck).

Replaced the single IBZ pickup (12Kohm) in my vintage white Ibanez Roadstar, also with a Motherbucker as above.

The Motherbuckers have an amazingly hot, but still detailed sound and they have a great bite to them when tapped to single coils. Only trouble is, I'm fighting to reduce the input gain at my wireless transmitter to stop them overloading the receiver end!

I may have to replace them again, with slightly cooler output ones before too long, but WOW, what output!

Look cool too, as both all-blacks and zebras ... and only £15 each ($30).

Lol well ive used some good pups and some real shite ones aswell , tried Samik , Dimarzio , Fender , Ibanez pups , can safely say Samik are a pile of shite with about as much tone in there pups as two planks of wood :lol:
Fender ive only used squire pups , Ibanez only the infinity pups , the Ibanez infinitys are pretty good for stock pups :)
Dimarzio ive tried , Fred, Paf Pro, Evo , Evo2 , YJM, HS-3 , from what ive used from them they are all decent pups .
More recently ive used my own self built pups , which range from Single coils to Stacked humbuckers , im actually building my own set of Stacked Hum Cancels over the next few days which are gonna be my main pups for my custom built guitar , which im gonna call "Phantom MkI (bridge) Phantom MkII (neck) :D
Strange im still not settled with my tones from which i get from my Ibanez tho , atm it has a Fred and Paf Pro in it but i like my pups being very balanced, crisp and versatile , so i might change them as yet and either build my own humbuckers for it or try a diffrent set of pups (i have something in mind lol ) .:woot:
I think sometimes it is a endless quest at times but i dunno i find personally as time goes by your musical tastes expand and what you use as your tone atm isn't necessarily the kind of tone you might want down the line , for instance i used to love having my tones with lots of middle to them but these days i don't , i like a balance and i think thats a ever changing situation when dealing with tones :)

I am starting to fall for the Gibson Burst Bucker pro's i have in my 2007 Les Paul standard.At first i didn't like them at all but now i am amazed at the different tones i can get out of them.And that tone is easily recognizable as the same tone Jimmy Page got out of his Les paul in the early 70's tuff to adjust to at first but then they grow on you with their midrange and cranking cutting tone.....love e'm and add a slim line 60's style neck profile and you have the ultimate secret weapon.

park

I use the stock pickups that came with the 77 Les Paul Standard. I love those pickups. I am not sure if that are real PAF's but they clean up well and are not overly agressive. The other guitar is a 77 Ibanez Artist...also stock...I think they call them the Super 70's "Flying Fingers" and they do sound nice. I have experimented with different pickups for that guitar, but all in all, those Gibson pickups are my favorites.

stock evos in my 555..great pups, SD59 in the bridge of the rg270 and lace golds in my MIM strat.

podxt can mud or colour tones easy though :(

regards,
jim.

semore duncan screamon demon.(i know its spelled wrong) is what i have in my jackson juitars for playing live. love them. my les paul has a dimarzio super distortion and a paf. much better than the stock pickups for me anyways.

Stock pickups in the Wolfgang, and the Kramer 1984 reissue has the following:

84T (Custom-Made to original specifications by Gibson USA)
Wire Gauge: 44 AWB
Turns: 6800
Magnet: Alnico-V
Resistance @ DC = 16.34Kohms
Resonant Freq. = 5.2Kohms
Inductance @ 1KHz = 8.3H
Mounted directly to body

Looking for the Gibson tone I had an Epiphone Les Paul Special. Pickups were very weak and kind of like a 35% Gibson sound. It went.

Furthering my search, I also had an Epiphone Zakk Wylde bullseye with EMG HZs (passive). I didn't like them because whatever tone I got out of them was zillion times better using the Kramer and Wolfgang. I didn't want to pay for the actives, so that went. in hindsight, probably a silly decision as the neck was great and it played lovely. I guess I should have been patient and waited as I'd have been able to afford now.

But I went out on a whim and stupidly bought a Les Paul proper that I couldn't really afford. Gibson sound straight away out of it, strangely enough. Then the feckin' boiler broke and I had to sell it to fund the replacement boiler and pipes, etc. Lesson to be learnt there, only buy what you can afford...

I also had an Ibanez RG470 with stock pickups (think they were INS ?). They were nice and powerful, but that has gone too as an ex-gf bought it and I couldn't play it as it reminded me too much of her. One of wahwah's students is now benefitting from that guitar. One of the best Ibanez's I have ever played.

But more than happy with the Wolf and Kramer. Both give great clean and dirty sounds through the Pod XT. But alas sound a zillion times better when wahwah plays them !!!

:maddance:

Interestingly, when i was searching for the specs for my Kramer 1984 reissue I found that there were none to be found at musicyo as the guitar has been discontinued.

Whilst this most probably means that EVH is bringing out his own version sometime in the future, I wonder whether this means the value of mine has gone up now ?

:dunno:

However, it's no longer a stock 1984 reissue, as it has a certain custom paint job...

:notme:

Very interesting to hear whay you're all using, and a wide variety too :) , i always find myself using Dimarzio, i'm probably going to try a D-Sonic when i buy a new guitar (im looking at 7-Stringers), that probably won't be for a while, but im looking forward to finding out what it sounds like, compaired to the stocks and all the other PUs i've tried.

What should i put in my Strat ??

The pick ups are very weak and are noisy as hell now ???

What should i put in my Strat ??

The pick ups are very weak and are noisy as hell now ???

It's the nature of single coils...I found that if I wear a tin foil hat, it helps to lower the noise and increase output...:tard:

Nah...just playing with you mate...I could have said worse..:)
I have seen some nice Alnico II strat Pickups from Seymore Duncan. The first link will not be noiseless, but add vintage character....the second link will kill noise, but change your tone..Check these out:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/stratocaster/vintage/alnico_ii_pro_s/

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/stratocaster/cutting-edge/little_59_for_s/

And I have been intrigued with these (will cut noise and add output, but you loose vintage character imo):
http://www.zzounds.com/item--FEN0992150000

Also check out Dimarzio mate, they do alot of Hum-Cancelling strat pickups, not all of them will sound vintage strat, but i think some get pretty close.
Other options include pickups like the Gold Lace Sensors, these are also noiseless, but boast true single coil sound (for a price).

Well, in my Ibanez SA I still have the stock pickups. It has two Dimarzio/IBZ single coils in the neck/middle and a Dimarzio/IBZ TrueDuo humbucker in the bridge, underneath the back coil of the humbucker is another single coil pickup and you switch between the bridge humbucker and the single coil underneath using the push/pull coil tap on the volume pot. I really like these pickups and don't see the need to swap them, they are medium/low output but since getting a clean booster pedal between my guitar and my amp modeler, I've been even happier with my tone. I emailed Dimarzio support to see if they could give me an insight on how these compared to the rest of their pickup range and got a reply back from Steve Blutcher (head tech dude!) who said that my bridge pickup is basically a PAF Pro and the three singles are similar in voicing to the Blue Velvet Vintage Single coils so thought that was interesting.

I've also had Seymour Duncan Jazz (Neck) and JB (Bridge) which were ok, but did'nt float my boat much. Also had EMG60's in neck and bridge on another Ibanez SA which sounded awesome and pretty versatile for active pups, but sold the guitar in the end.

I'd have to say Dimarzio's are my fav, but I'd like to try Lollar Pickups and Suhr pickups, maybe one day soon I'll swap out my Dimarzio/IBZ's just to try something different.

Great thread, this could be a sticky for all things pickup related.

Well, in my Ibanez SA I still have the stock pickups. It has two Dimarzio/IBZ single coils in the neck/middle and a Dimarzio/IBZ TrueDuo humbucker in the bridge, underneath the back coil of the humbucker is another single coil pickup and you switch between the bridge humbucker and the single coil underneath using the push/pull coil tap on the volume pot. I really like these pickups and don't see the need to swap them, they are medium/low output but since getting a clean booster pedal between my guitar and my amp modeler, I've been even happier with my tone. I emailed Dimarzio support to see if they could give me an insight on how these compared to the rest of their pickup range and got a reply back from Steve Blutcher (head tech dude!) who said that my bridge pickup is basically a PAF Pro and the three singles are similar in voicing to the Blue Velvet Vintage Single coils so thought that was interesting.

I've also had Seymour Duncan Jazz (Neck) and JB (Bridge) which were ok, but did'nt float my boat much. Also had EMG60's in neck and bridge on another Ibanez SA which sounded awesome and pretty versatile for active pups, but sold the guitar in the end.

I'd have to say Dimarzio's are my fav, but I'd like to try Lollar Pickups and Suhr pickups, maybe one day soon I'll swap out my Dimarzio/IBZ's just to try something different.

Great thread, this could be a sticky for all things pickup related.

Great idea mate, i'll see what i can do about that :thumb:

Very interesting info on your stock Dimarzio/IBZ, i love the Paf Pros to bits, i've always used it in the neck position, but the Fred is supposed to be very similar in sound, and i use that in the bridge.
I think the Fred/Paf Pros just have such a balanced sound, you can drive them hard and get Vai's sound, or keep tight for Petrucci, and i've even used them on clean stuff too like the Eagles, they are just perfect in my mind for so many things :)
To hear thats basically what the Dimarzio/IBZ practically are, to me it sounds like the ideal PU to have as stocks, and it also mirrors feedback i've heard on the AH1-7 and AH2-7 pickups that are fitted to the Ibanez S730:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/ibanez_s7320bk.htm

Which is almost certainly going to be my next guitar.

Also judging from the tones you get out of your guitar, they easily sound as good as the Pafs, i think Ibanez have made a great step in using those PUs :)

I had a double blade in the bridge position of my strat,just a cheapy but high output,about 16 ohms I think,but it didn,t sound like a trad strat,So I got a fender lace gold from e-bay for about $30 and it sounds great!Good tradition strat spank without the hum,Think I'll swap out the rest later.Got burstbucker pros in the gibson,which I wasn't that impressed with until I changed my amp to valve,now I love them.Great gibson tone!Got some Tonerider pafs in the kyper, they are excellent and dirt cheap!!:)

Just got the stock one's in the Epi, will follow this thread tho for ideas for when (if) I ever get to upgrade them.....

Great idea mate, i'll see what i can do about that :thumb:

Very interesting info on your stock Dimarzio/IBZ, i love the Paf Pros to bits, i've always used it in the neck position, but the Fred is supposed to be very similar in sound, and i use that in the bridge.
I think the Fred/Paf Pros just have such a balanced sound, you can drive them hard and get Vai's sound, or keep tight for Petrucci, and i've even used them on clean stuff too like the Eagles, they are just perfect in my mind for so many things :)
To hear thats basically what the Dimarzio/IBZ practically are, to me it sounds like the ideal PU to have as stocks, and it also mirrors feedback i've heard on the AH1-7 and AH2-7 pickups that are fitted to the Ibanez S730:

http://www.thomann.de/gb/ibanez_s7320bk.htm

Which is almost certainly going to be my next guitar.

Also judging from the tones you get out of your guitar, they easily sound as good as the Pafs, i think Ibanez have made a great step in using those PUs :)

Jam, the PAF Pro's are I think one of the most versatile in the Dimarzio range, they make a great neck or bridge pickup and as you say can be used for many styles, I'm a big fan of single coils so the HSS is my ideal config, but I do need to kick in that clean boost for neck pickup soloing, just gives me the same tone but more of it. Must admit been tempted to go for an Evo2 in the bridge like Mart and a air norton S in the neck for a bit more kick, but the clean boost really gives the output of my pups a jolt in power but still retaining the tone and dynamics so definately recommend a clean boost pedal in front of an amp or modeler if you feel you don't have enough sustain etc, my booster goes from 0 to +20db which is more than enough for me.
WOW, a 7 string S series, now I'd love to hear you in action with at, the lower strings will sound like thunder from above LOL, look forward to hearing that mate! and looks the business too, the S & JS series are the most comfortable axes I have ever played. would love to get a JS1600 fixed bridge model but I doub that will happen what with a new Baby in November LOL.

Jam, the PAF Pro's are I think one of the most versatile in the Dimarzio range, they make a great neck or bridge pickup and as you say can be used for many styles, I'm a big fan of single coils so the HSS is my ideal config, but I do need to kick in that clean boost for neck pickup soloing, just gives me the same tone but more of it. Must admit been tempted to go for an Evo2 in the bridge like Mart and a air norton S in the neck for a bit more kick, but the clean boost really gives the output of my pups a jolt in power but still retaining the tone and dynamics so definately recommend a clean boost pedal in front of an amp or modeler if you feel you don't have enough sustain etc, my booster goes from 0 to +20db which is more than enough for me.
WOW, a 7 string S series, now I'd love to hear you in action with at, the lower strings will sound like thunder from above LOL, look forward to hearing that mate! and looks the business too, the S & JS series are the most comfortable axes I have ever played. would love to get a JS1600 fixed bridge model but I doub that will happen what with a new Baby in November LOL.

Well the Evo (1 & 2) are great PU's with a nice output and harmonics, but compaired to the Fred, they lack clarity on the thicker strings i find, playing the rhythm to tracks like "Curve" or "Damage Control" just sound so sweet on the Fred, and the lead too (although my playing on the lead may lack alittle finess :lol: ).

Ever since you mentioned the Clean Boosts a while back i've been thinking about one, definately sounds very useful, its just wheather it would work infront of the X3L, the Whammy & the 535Q Wah work great infront, but i've not even tested my DS-1 or CS-3 infront yet, so i'm not sure how it would take to it, but there is always the Loop function too though, i'll do some testing i think, see how well they work, might give me an idea if it would like a Booster.

Yeah, i've been thinking about the S-7 for a while now, and i have quite a few plans for it too lol, but i'll wait til the time comes before i start dreaming about that stage :) , will definately be interesting though i think, and the S & the JS's seem to be shaped very similar, very slim and comfortable.

Hope everything is well with the family and the new addition thats on the way too mate, november will soon be here, bet you can't wait :)

HHMMM.. what pickups..hhmmm.

Well, the Yamaha RGX stock pickups weren't all that great, back in the early 90's (my 1st RGX) had it's stockers replaced with a SD Hotrail in the bridge and an EMG Select in the middle, those p'ups sounded good together.

My Carvin DC125 had the stock M22T and AP11 pulled out and I replaced them with an EMG 89 and a SA.

The newer RGX had the Yamaha pickups all pulled out and is rewired with Carvin AP11's, they sound great in this guitar.

The SC90S had a C22N and a C22T in it, I liked the neck pickup (the N) but the bridge one wasn't my cup of tea so I swapped them both with the S22B and S22N.

The Bolt kit had 3 of the Carvin twinblade humbuckers, they sounded decent at the time but now I've bought a new pickguard in a HSH setup and placed a C22B / AP11 / H22N (coil tapping setup for the neck coil) and I love it!!! I think this will be my "go to" configuration from now on.

What really disappoined me was the sound from the EMG 89, it didn't sound much better than the M22T that I replaced.

The AP11's and H22N were my best surprise. :naughty:

Ages ago I had a Series 10 (anyone remember them?) that I put a SD Superdistortion in.. that doubled the guitars value and MADE IT SCREAM!!

I had a Squier for a while, in my opinion all of the pickups were shite!



long story short (finally) I recommend the C22B, H22N, AP11, SD hotrail and SD Super distortion of all the pick ups I've tried.

Di Marzio for the main part. The Steve Morse are..er Steve Morse designed aledgedly and Edwards on the MM's are Di Marzio but I think they are Seymour Duncan with Ed on the Wolfgangs.

Also got a SD Hotrails on my strat but the pickup I would heartily recommend is the SD Jeff Beck...amazing tone out of that thing. I had it on a Epi and it really changed the sound.

Just got my Barenuckle mule pickups and put them in my Les paul...verdict...not good!:( :dammit:

They are too muddy especially on the rythyem pickup.The bridge is ok but nothing better than and a little worse than any Seymore Duncan humbucker, and at $300:omg: for thecalibrated set it was a expensive experiment to learn.:duh:

Oh well i smell:fart: an ebay listing comming soon to a PC near you

Just got my Barenuckle mule pickups and put them in my Les paul...verdict...not good!:( :dammit:

They are too muddy especially on the rythyem pickup.The bridge is ok but nothing better than and a little worse than any Seymore Duncan humbucker, and at $300:omg: for thecalibrated set it was a expensive experiment to learn.:duh:

Oh well i smell:fart: an ebay listing comming soon to a PC near you

That sucks mate, especially for the price, i'm still really searching for my pefect pickup arrangement, atm the Dimarzio Fred & Paf Pro have been my favs, aside from the one i built, but when something costs $300, you really expect something special, i bet you're gutted.

The next PU's i might try will be the Petrucci D-Sonic (bridge) and possibily the Air Norton (neck), thats if i don't go mad and just buy a JP7 which has the D-Sonic and a custom wound on the neck, atm i'm seriously considering that :eek:

http://images.miretail.com/products/optionRegular/Fender/394157_Xjpg.jpg

I use Evolutions on my Jackson Dinky and recently purchase a D-sonic and an Air Norton for my Epiphone. I still haven't installed them though :(

What should i put in my Strat ??

The pick ups are very weak and are noisy as hell now ???

Check into "Torres" hand wounds.

Still a true single coil, so there's still a bit of noise, but DAMN they sound good.

Haven't heard anything comparable as of yet for a true single coil.
Some extra shielding, and you'll be ROCKIN'.

Here's a little clip from a home made guitar. Not a kit either.

It's a little sloppy, but it was a one take wank.

Pickup preference is personal and different from player to player, some people like super distortions, I think they sound like bees with colds. I'm sure many wouldn't like what I use either. If you live by a big music store that lets you buy pups and return them if you don't like them, that's the way to go. I tried 7 on my Les Paul bridge pup before I found something I liked.

The Torres pups Tang mentioned are the only pups I've bought without an option to return them or having had listened to beforehand.

http://images.miretail.com/products/optionRegular/Fender/394157_Xjpg.jpg


These Hot noiseless pup's Danny posted are the same ones i use as well, these are excellent articulate pup's.The Vintage Noisless in this series are really good too they come with 1 500K vol and 2 1 Meg pots for tone and a 225Cap and really give bell like tone without noise for the early Fender Strat sounds.Cant say enough about them.....they are the best singles i have tried in three of my Strats.

Park

There is definately alot to be lost and found in your pickup choice, you can see by the sheer amount of different pickups everyone is using here and by the great sounds you all get, that there is alot of options available.
I always find myself coming back to Dimarzios, i know alot of folks who swear they all sound dead and lifeless lol, but i really love some of the sounds there medium and low output pickups have, so thats why i always come back to them :)

There is definately alot to be lost and found in your pickup choice, you can see by the sheer amount of different pickups everyone is using here and by the great sounds you all get, that there is alot of options available.
I always find myself coming back to Dimarzios, i know alot of folks who swear they all sound dead and lifeless lol, but i really love some of the sounds there medium and low output pickups have, so thats why i always come back to them :)

Which Dimarzio's would you suggest Avalon?.Is there a standard type of Humbucker that is used in production guitars like Les Pauls or Strats.I have seen Dimarzios in stock Fender Strats before...i think it was a rail style and was in the Hot Rod series of Strat.

Park

Which Dimarzio's would you suggest Avalon?.Is there a standard type of Humbucker that is used in production guitars like Les Pauls or Strats.I have seen Dimarzios in stock Fender Strats before...i think it was a rail style and was in the Hot Rod series of Strat.

Park

Well i've never been a big user of Les Pauls, i know Kenny uses a Super Distortion and Paf in his, and gets a wonderful tone, so they might be a good place to start.
I use the Dimarzio Fred (Bridge) and Paf Pro (Neck), first of all in my Av-1, and currently Mart has them in his Ibanez on loan, and even though some might concider them purely for Joe Satriani's sound (its the configuration he has on his JS guitars), its by no means that cut and dry.
They are very balanced pickups, which can be used from clean playing all the way to metal, great clarity all over the neck, even on drop tunings which i love messing about with, so i think you could do alot worse then this arrangement, but it depends alot on what you want to do, and if maintaining that perfect Les Paul sound is what you're after.
If you check their website:
http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/
The Medium Output pickups would be my first recommendation, Vintage after them, depending what you're after, there is loads of info, sound samples for most pickups, who uses them (which can give you a better idea of the sounds available from that PU), and once you have a rough idea of what PU's take your fancy, take a look here:
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Guitar+Pickup
There are reviews from real ppl using pretty much every PU out there almost, obviously not all the reviews are that accurate, but mostly if you read a few pages, there will be a general opinion of the PU which is far more accurate then one by itself, so it can be a handy place to look up quite a few things (not just pickups).
Hope this helps mate :thumb:

Anyone ever try a sustainer pickup?

I have been eying these kits from fernandes.

http://www.fernandesguitars.com/susproducts.html

Anyone ever try a sustainer pickup?

I have been eying these kits from fernandes.

http://www.fernandesguitars.com/susproducts.html

Kenny (Eamon7) uses a Fernandes mate, and it sounds fantastic everytime i've heard it in action, he's definately the person to ask about it though :)
I did build a sustainer for my old Marathon guitar to test, and that worked pretty well, i've used it on a few covers in the past to good effect, it was just getting it to work well with thinner strings that was the problem :bigcry: , but its still fitted to that guitar and works nicely on the 11-52 gauge strings, so i know they can be very good, and the Fernandes is even better by the sounds of things :)

I've been checking out the Jackson PC-1, which has a sustainer, but I don't have the dough right now to pay for it.

But it sparked my interest, so I thought I'd look for alternatives.

Axslinger, Jackson do a cheaper model with a Sustainiac pickup on. I think it's a DK2S. I had one for only a week and on the first night recorded this with it. It's more of a demo for the pickup rather than a full blown written song. I plugged it in and got this straight away. Only problem was I couldn't get away with the neck so it was sold. The sustainiac was pretty amazing though...it will sustain even when the guitar is not plugged in which is pretty spooky if you leave it on and put it away. Anyway, here's the little track I did and I reckon it could have been a valuable asset if I could have gotten away with the neck. :thumb:

Well i've never been a big user of Les Pauls, i know Kenny uses a Super Distortion and Paf in his, and gets a wonderful tone, so they might be a good place to start.
I use the Dimarzio Fred (Bridge) and Paf Pro (Neck), first of all in my Av-1, and currently Mart has them in his Ibanez on loan, and even though some might concider them purely for Joe Satriani's sound (its the configuration he has on his JS guitars), its by no means that cut and dry.
They are very balanced pickups, which can be used from clean playing all the way to metal, great clarity all over the neck, even on drop tunings which i love messing about with, so i think you could do alot worse then this arrangement, but it depends alot on what you want to do, and if maintaining that perfect Les Paul sound is what you're after.
If you check their website:
http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/
The Medium Output pickups would be my first recommendation, Vintage after them, depending what you're after, there is loads of info, sound samples for most pickups, who uses them (which can give you a better idea of the sounds available from that PU), and once you have a rough idea of what PU's take your fancy, take a look here:
http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Electric+Guitar+Pickup
There are reviews from real ppl using pretty much every PU out there almost, obviously not all the reviews are that accurate, but mostly if you read a few pages, there will be a general opinion of the PU which is far more accurate then one by itself, so it can be a handy place to look up quite a few things (not just pickups).
Hope this helps mate :thumb:


Thanks A Ton Avalon:thumb:

That helps me greatly.I have been wrestling with pick up choices as of late and after the Bare Nuckle disapointment i was gun shy about hype surrounding botique pup's.I really like the Seymore Duncan line of pup's but wanted to know about Dimarzio so your suggetions about starting with a mid power Paf is a good one, that is the ohm level that seems to be the most versitile for clean to heavy style of playing.The only thing these guys need are better names for their brands....who names a pick up FRED? oh well if it works what the hell:)

Also thanks for the Fernandez and jackson pup suggestions too Axslinger:rock:

Parker

I'm now the proud owner of a set of John Suhr pickups. I've been thinking about replacing my set of stock Dimarzio/IBZ pickups in my guitar for a while and trying to think what I could get. I'm a big fan of John Suhr stuff and checked out their pickups and heard a lot of great clips and comments. I spoke to their techies with what I had in mind to buy and they confirmed that my model selection was a good choice for my axe. So now I've just bought today a couple of Fletcher-Landau Classic Single Coil pickups for the neck and middle which have a bit more output than normal vintage single coils and a high output DSH+ bridge pup in Zebra (always like Zebra pups) so my axe should not only sound better but it should also look pretty cool too.
Can't wait to get them installed and play my guitar.

I'm now the proud owner of a set of John Suhr pickups. I've been thinking about replacing my set of stock Dimarzio/IBZ pickups in my guitar for a while and trying to think what I could get. I'm a big fan of John Suhr stuff and checked out their pickups and heard a lot of great clips and comments. I spoke to their techies with what I had in mind to buy and they confirmed that my model selection was a good choice for my axe. So now I've just bought today a couple of Fletcher-Landau Classic Single Coil pickups for the neck and middle which have a bit more output than normal vintage single coils and a high output DSH+ bridge pup in Zebra (always like Zebra pups) so my axe should not only sound better but it should also look pretty cool too.
Can't wait to get them installed and play my guitar.

Thats a very interesting choice of PU's mate, i can't say i'm that familiar with John Suhr range, so it will be very interesting to hear them in action, and not something i'd think many folks will be using or maybe even consider, so definately look forward to hearing them, and congrats on the purchase :thumb:

Thats a very interesting choice of PU's mate, i can't say i'm that familiar with John Suhr range, so it will be very interesting to hear them in action, and not something i'd think many folks will be using or maybe even consider, so definately look forward to hearing them, and congrats on the purchase :thumb:


Hey Jam,I love Suhr guitars and they have a fairly large range of pickups to choose from and all handmade as well. I'm a big fan of Guthrie Govan, Doug Aldrich, Reb Beach & Scott Henderson to name a few of my fav suhr players, so that's what fuelled the decision to get Suhr pickups in my axe, I really love my Ibanez and wanted to make it a bit more special as its going to be my only axe (The Hamer has already bitten the dust LOL). At the moment I have to use my clean boost to get any sort of useful sustain from the humbucker and have to put the boost to 3 quarters full for the neck picked just to get it to saturate, I think I'll still have to use the boost for the neck pup still but not the bridge humbucker and I should get a more defined tone with a bit more presence on the lower strings too (with a bit of patch tweaking as well). Hopefully in a week or so I'll be up an running, will be nice to have something dfferent from the normal Dimarzio, Duncan stuff I've played thru. Needless to say, the Dimarzio/IBZ set will be going on Ebay. :)

Hey Jam,I love Suhr guitars and they have a fairly large range of pickups to choose from and all handmade as well. I'm a big fan of Guthrie Govan, Doug Aldrich, Reb Beach & Scott Henderson to name a few of my fav suhr players, so that's what fuelled the decision to get Suhr pickups in my axe, I really love my Ibanez and wanted to make it a bit more special as its going to be my only axe (The Hamer has already bitten the dust LOL). At the moment I have to use my clean boost to get any sort of useful sustain from the humbucker and have to put the boost to 3 quarters full for the neck picked just to get it to saturate, I think I'll still have to use the boost for the neck pup still but not the bridge humbucker and I should get a more defined tone with a bit more presence on the lower strings too (with a bit of patch tweaking as well). Hopefully in a week or so I'll be up an running, will be nice to have something dfferent from the normal Dimarzio, Duncan stuff I've played thru. Needless to say, the Dimarzio/IBZ set will be going on Ebay. :)

Tone hunting is a long process isn't it lol, i really wish i could get away with a booster on the X3L at times, but it doesn't like many things at all infront of it (as you know from your tests), i built a lovely little booster for just that purpose and no joy with the X3L, but on the bright size, i'm going to use a slightly modified circuit to add a piezo pickup to my Av-1, similar to Mr Petrucci's MMs have, but thats another story lol.

I'm in the boat atm, where i'm liking my bridge tones, but the neck tones are off, and i'm still searching for something i really like up there, and looking at an Air Norton maybe to solve that, but i'll definately be checking out the Suhr range now too, looks very interesting indeed, and at the very least, i like to be in the know :lol:
Hope they sound exactly like you want them too mate, getting that balance on the guitar is i think everyones aim, for me its getting those singing notes up high, and getting that lovely tight clarity on the thick strings, sounds like you're after a similar thing too :)
Really looking forward to hearing the new PUs in action :rock:

That's exactly what I'm looking for Jam, Not really looking for a massive tonal transformation and I think my tone will still sound like me cause I'm still using the GNX (which I still like alot too), just want to get the balance right and I think the Suhr's will give me a bit more range to play, better lows and highs, at the mo, the midrange is great and the highs scream but the lows still don't have that sparkle so with the new pups and a bit of patch tweaking hopefully I'll arrive at the place I want to be with my tone LOL. I'm beginning to sound like that bloke on Greg Howe's Sound Proof album, that guy just winds me up! LOL.

Anyway, The air norton is a great neck pickup mate. I had one in my Parker Fly Classic (when I owned that a while ago), very clear, very balanced and very warm sounding so think that will go well with the Paf Pro or Fred (not sure which is in your Bridge now!). Its never ending is'nt it Bro...! :)

So your Suhr pups are single coils Justin? i will definetly look forward to hearing them in action on something :headbang:
I must admit tone wise im like both Jamie and yourself where i ideally want balance , i really don't like muddy bass strings but i don't like piercing highs either , atm im trying to get like a John Petrucci tone which to my ears sounds a very tight and balanced tone :devilchil:
Was testing out the Fred pup for it but its not got the tightness on the bass , so atm im testing out my own self built humbucker , gotta admit its the closest ive got to that kind of sound but ive still got some other options to test out aswell lol :bigcry:
I think the biggest prob is that you spend alot of time searching for that perfect tone but i don't think we realise while searching for that tone our actual styles, tastes change agood bit along the way , as i used to love Satriani's marshall tone but although i still like it i find myself going for a tighter sound these days , lol its really odd as we will probably find in another few years that our tones have changed once more as we grow musically :)

Hey Mart, Yep, I have two Suhr FL single coils for the neck and middle, there are two flavours of the FL, classic and Standard, standard being a bit hotter but I went for the classics cause you can always add a clean gain boost if required, but the bridge suhr pup is a DSH+ which used to be Suhr's highest output pup until the Aldrich pup was introduced and its very articulate and clean sounding, as well as being warm. So far, the best tonal balance I have had was when I had EMG's in an Ibanez SA. Right across all the strings, there was just no muddiness, but they were not very warm sounding.

I think for that Petrucci tone, (Apart from a Mesa amp) a good high output pup in the bridge helps. Maybe get yourself a Dimarzio D-Sonic or D-Activator to try. That's what I nearly went for, was going to get two Fast Track 1's and a D-Sonic but thought I'd go for something completely different with the Suhr's. I'm sure we'll get there with our tone quest mate :)

Hey Mart, Yep, I have two Suhr FL single coils for the neck and middle, there are two flavours of the FL, classic and Standard, standard being a bit hotter but I went for the classics cause you can always add a clean gain boost if required, but the bridge suhr pup is a DSH+ which used to be Suhr's highest output pup until the Aldrich pup was introduced and its very articulate and clean sounding, as well as being warm. So far, the best tonal balance I have had was when I had EMG's in an Ibanez SA. Right across all the strings, there was just no muddiness, but they were not very warm sounding.

I think for that Petrucci tone, (Apart from a Mesa amp) a good high output pup in the bridge helps. Maybe get yourself a Dimarzio D-Sonic or D-Activator to try. That's what I nearly went for, was going to get two Fast Track 1's and a D-Sonic but thought I'd go for something completely different with the Suhr's. I'm sure we'll get there with our tone quest mate :)


Good idea stepping out from the norm Justin , i think sometimes it can pay of using something diffrent aswell , ive only used Dimarzio's up until recently but like yourself i can see diffrent options there to , lol pity theres not a system where you can use whatever pups you wish before you buy , sadly its trial and error isn't it :bigcry:
Well the Suhr's sound very interesting mate , i will listen with even more interest on your future covers , its always useful having some info on diffrent pups :D
Lol well would be nice to have the JP sound , the Mesa amps on me G9 are excellent (obviously no subsitute for the real thing , but decent) , eventually i will tackle a JP or a Dream Theater track , so would be cool just to get closer to his tone , ideally tho i would like a sound for my own style which has similar balance and that tightness of JP's tone , as you say mate we will get there no doubt and i will keep the D-Sonic/Activator in mind :)

Hey Mart, Yep, I have two Suhr FL single coils for the neck and middle, there are two flavours of the FL, classic and Standard, standard being a bit hotter but I went for the classics cause you can always add a clean gain boost if required, but the bridge suhr pup is a DSH+ which used to be Suhr's highest output pup until the Aldrich pup was introduced and its very articulate and clean sounding, as well as being warm. So far, the best tonal balance I have had was when I had EMG's in an Ibanez SA. Right across all the strings, there was just no muddiness, but they were not very warm sounding.

I think for that Petrucci tone, (Apart from a Mesa amp) a good high output pup in the bridge helps. Maybe get yourself a Dimarzio D-Sonic or D-Activator to try. That's what I nearly went for, was going to get two Fast Track 1's and a D-Sonic but thought I'd go for something completely different with the Suhr's. I'm sure we'll get there with our tone quest mate :)

Its funny the D-Sonic creeps up into the conversation, i'm thinking about that and the Air Norton, in the same config JP uses them, because i'm planning almost ahead to when i have that Ibanez S5000 series, i've made my mind up on that now, although its gonna be awhile til i get it (other prioritys atm lol), but JP's arrangement seems very flexable in tone, and has a nice bit of punch to it aswell, so i've pretty much decided to go that route, its just wheather i give them a test out on the Av-1 in the meantime lol.

But my final aim will be Av-1 with the Fred & Paf Pro (Bridge & Neck), then the Ibanez S with D-Sonic & Air Norton, and i'll probably peizo them both up too for some extra options :)
Sounds like a plan doesn't it :lol:

Sounds like a bloody good plan Jam. I envy you being able to do your own guitar work mate and adding piezo option to your own axes, now that is impressive. The good thing about the D-Sonic and Air Norton is that they tap really well, I've heard a few clips where they are tapped and its very single coil like, which is great for the clean stuff. I think those two will pair up pretty well. One guy who uses the D-Sonic also is Marco Sfogli, I love his tone and playing and he has the D-Sonic in all his guitars. Very petrucci like, check him out:

YouTube - Marco Sfogli - Andromeda

I should have my pups tomorrow, and my guitar tech is ready and waiting to put in my new suhr's. I'm also going back to having 9-46 strings again. 10's on the high strings are shredding my fingers at the mo (sign of old age probably! LOL) should be a little easier on the digits.

Sounds like a bloody good plan Jam. I envy you being able to do your own guitar work mate and adding piezo option to your own axes, now that is impressive. The good thing about the D-Sonic and Air Norton is that they tap really well, I've heard a few clips where they are tapped and its very single coil like, which is great for the clean stuff. I think those two will pair up pretty well. One guy who uses the D-Sonic also is Marco Sfogli, I love his tone and playing and he has the D-Sonic in all his guitars. Very petrucci like, check him out:

YouTube - Marco Sfogli - Andromeda (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqOomFjGfGg)

I should have my pups tomorrow, and my guitar tech is ready and waiting to put in my new suhr's. I'm also going back to having 9-46 strings again. 10's on the high strings are shredding my fingers at the mo (sign of old age probably! LOL) should be a little easier on the digits.

Just watched that vid, sounds absolutely brilliant, and he looks to have the Mesa style rig in the background, sounding awesome as always :)
That kinda tone is really appealing to me these days, Morse has a similar setup too, although different in some respects, it still has that 'velvet hammer' sound lol, very focused and tight, i've always loved that in his tone, and listening to JP more recently, its twice as many reasons to get it now :lol:

I gotta say though, i'm really looking forward to hearing your new PUs in action, you have a brilliant tone and style of play which i gotta say i always enjoy (having heard a sneak peek of this months Jam, you've got that touch on there too :yourock: ), so i think it will be great to hear your style on a PU which is probably going to sound and feel quite different to the Dimarzio's i'd imagine for sure :)

On the modding side, i've always been a fiddler (i.e. a cheap skate :lol: ), and i was looking at the peizo saddles you can get for guitars, then decided to see about making my own peizo kit, and it turned out very nicely, i had it on test taped to my Av-1 with Duct tape :lmao: , and it sounded as good as an acoustic peizo imo, so i've just got to re-design the board abit smaller, then fit up it up, but on the Av-1, the biggest problem is finding somewhere to have the battery, the control cavity is like a fender, no access with the strings on, so thats not good for replacing them, but it might just force me to buy enegizers for now :lol:

A friend of mine that has recently turned into a guitar collector let me play a Washburn Eagle that was set up with a Dimebucker in the bridge and a Jeff Beck at the neck. I love the Beck, hated the Dime. At this point I'd prefer the Beck to the Carvin H22N, then again, it might have just been the guitar, it was incredible!!

Just watched that vid, sounds absolutely brilliant, and he looks to have the Mesa style rig in the background, sounding awesome as always :)
That kinda tone is really appealing to me these days, Morse has a similar setup too, although different in some respects, it still has that 'velvet hammer' sound lol, very focused and tight, i've always loved that in his tone, and listening to JP more recently, its twice as many reasons to get it now :lol:

I gotta say though, i'm really looking forward to hearing your new PUs in action, you have a brilliant tone and style of play which i gotta say i always enjoy (having heard a sneak peek of this months Jam, you've got that touch on there too :yourock: ), so i think it will be great to hear your style on a PU which is probably going to sound and feel quite different to the Dimarzio's i'd imagine for sure :)

On the modding side, i've always been a fiddler (i.e. a cheap skate :lol: ), and i was looking at the peizo saddles you can get for guitars, then decided to see about making my own peizo kit, and it turned out very nicely, i had it on test taped to my Av-1 with Duct tape :lmao: , and it sounded as good as an acoustic peizo imo, so i've just got to re-design the board abit smaller, then fit up it up, but on the Av-1, the biggest problem is finding somewhere to have the battery, the control cavity is like a fender, no access with the strings on, so thats not good for replacing them, but it might just force me to buy enegizers for now :lol:

Yeah, Marco Sfogli is certainly kitted out, he's got the Mesa Lonestar amp (which is one fine amp) He's a great player. Thanks for the comments Bro, well I'm just as intrigued to hear what they will sound like and how my playing will sound with them, I''m also getting this MFX Supermodels CD which is an amp model pack for my Digitech GNX with loads of new amp models and presets that are supposed to sound way better than its factory sounds so can't wait to get that as well.

Well, I reckon if you can make your own piezo electronics, pickups and building your own guitars, there is a business there screaming to be started up. I know that's what I would do if I had your skills Jam. Once you get that Piezo going, get some clips done as I'd love to hear it in action.
As for the Jam, look forward to hearing that one posted, sounded kick ass by everyone. :)

Yeah, Marco Sfogli is certainly kitted out, he's got the Mesa Lonestar amp (which is one fine amp) He's a great player. Thanks for the comments Bro, well I'm just as intrigued to hear what they will sound like and how my playing will sound with them, I''m also getting this MFX Supermodels CD which is an amp model pack for my Digitech GNX with loads of new amp models and presets that are supposed to sound way better than its factory sounds so can't wait to get that as well.

Well, I reckon if you can make your own piezo electronics, pickups and building your own guitars, there is a business there screaming to be started up. I know that's what I would do if I had your skills Jam. Once you get that Piezo going, get some clips done as I'd love to hear it in action.
As for the Jam, look forward to hearing that one posted, sounded kick ass by everyone. :)

I'm just wondering how to wire the peizo in atm, my options are, stereo jack with eletric on one channel, peizo on the other (and a manual on/off switch for the circuit) or add a second jack socket for the peizo which will switch the power on when its pluged in, either way will require a slight mod, and i might even make a hole in the back for the battery clip, the Av-1 is due for some moddifications anyhow (think i mentioned those awhile back), so i might sort it all out in the next few weeks.

As for doing it as a business, its crossed my mind, i'm just not sure i'd have the patience for it all really, but its definately something i'll be keeping in mind :)

Hopefully in the next day or two, your new PUs will be installed and ready for action, i bet you can't wait to get trying them out, or the new Amp pack too, it all sounds excellent :rock:

I think a 2nd socket for the piezo (like the Ernie Balls with Piezo) would be very cool. That'll be one versatile axe mate.

I've always wanted to setup a business with guitars. Say like finding a good Korean guitar maker and buying a bulk load of axe's and then getting them setup and customised to how people want them.

Got my new pups today so taking my axe to be upgraded with them tomorrow, so however long it takes my man to do it (hopefully a day or two) then will have to see how they perform and stuff.

I'm just wondering how to wire the peizo in atm, my options are, stereo jack with eletric on one channel, peizo on the other (and a manual on/off switch for the circuit) or add a second jack socket for the peizo which will switch the power on when its pluged in, either way will require a slight mod, and i might even make a hole in the back for the battery clip, the Av-1 is due for some moddifications anyhow (think i mentioned those awhile back), so i might sort it all out in the next few weeks.

As for doing it as a business, its crossed my mind, i'm just not sure i'd have the patience for it all really, but its definately something i'll be keeping in mind :)

Hopefully in the next day or two, your new PUs will be installed and ready for action, i bet you can't wait to get trying them out, or the new Amp pack too, it all sounds excellent :rock:

Another option would be to have the peizo and regular pickups go to a blend pot so that you can access one or the other or both at once... or anywhere in between. I'm thinking that the tonal range would be enormous.

I think a 2nd socket for the piezo (like the Ernie Balls with Piezo) would be very cool. That'll be one versatile axe mate.

I've always wanted to setup a business with guitars. Say like finding a good Korean guitar maker and buying a bulk load of axe's and then getting them setup and customised to how people want them.

Got my new pups today so taking my axe to be upgraded with them tomorrow, so however long it takes my man to do it (hopefully a day or two) then will have to see how they perform and stuff.

Yeah its definately a good way, then i'd not need a power switch, or to make/use stereo cables either, so it would probably be the smart way :)

I do keep thinking about doing something music related, especially with electronic mods, pickups etc, in some ways building them is fun, but in other ways, alot of hard work lol, but its definately something i might think on.

Great news about your pickups arriving, hopefully your tech will be very fast in installing them, i bet you can't wait to get testing :banana: , i'm looking forward to hearing them lol, so i bet you are :)

Another option would be to have the peizo and regular pickups go to a blend pot so that you can access one or the other or both at once... or anywhere in between. I'm thinking that the tonal range would be enormous.

Thats a good idea mate, i was thinking about adding a second pot for the piezo, but that would be a great way to work them, and save some space too :thumb:

I'm glad you like the idea, I can't claim to be fully responsible.. I got the idea here: Carvin AE185 (http://www.carvinguitars.com/manuals/AE185_Fishman.pdf).

Hey check out the new Seymore Duncan P Rails.They have both single coil operation and P90 in one humbucking pickup.....switchable.Really cool.

here is the link.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/progressive/prails_shpr1/

Parker

Majority of my guitars have Dimarzio pickups.
Custom Axis pickups designed for Ernie Ball.
My LP has Seymour Duncan JB.
My Sub1 has stock Ernie Ball humbucker and a Steve Morse Dimarzio DP205 in the neck.

Majority of my guitars have Dimarzio pickups.
Custom Axis pickups designed for Ernie Ball.
My LP has Seymour Duncan JB.
My Sub1 has stock Ernie Ball humbucker and a Steve Morse Dimarzio DP205 in the neck.

Hey Fallenangel

what are the omh ratings for the Axis pickups? are they Hot or mid range style.

Not sure mate.
I had tech measure the bridge pickup of my tobaccoburst and he said it was 18k. I dunno though.