Kinda regret, now in dilemma over what pickups to buy.

[Mirrorboy]

Few months back i got the DiMarzio EJ(eric johnson) Custom Bridge pup for my Ibanez RG350M. (Yea was on impulse). As compared to the stock INF4 bridge pup, it did not have the brutality when playing rock/metal. Kinda regret buying it.. but it sounds fantastic on cleans.

Therefore, I hope someone can recommend a pickup that suits rock/metal, (stuff like Bullet for My Valentine) and has average or above average sounding cleans. Most important, versatility. I'm open to any brand

My amp is Vox DA10 and yes I have twitched around with the amp settings but still not able to get that brutal tone.. must be the vintage output pickup, I'm guessing i need something with high output.
Prefer passive pickups btw.

Arigato gosaimasu!!

 

[asdf]

if want high output, look at dimarzio evo, breed or duncan jb, alternative 8 those kind lo. but how did you buy an ej when you play metal that's what i'm interested to know.

 

[MusicPebbles]

i'm using an ibanez too.

i would recommend. Evo on neck and SUper distortion on bridge

can be heavy as well as nice cleans

 

[theunknown]

I'd recommend Dimarzio's D-Activators. Passive. High outputs. Good on both cleans and driven. Had them in my Xiphos.

 

[kernelspy]

if want high output, look at dimarzio evo, breed or duncan jb, alternative 8 those kind lo. but how did you buy an ej when you play metal that's what i'm interested to know.

Can't help to LOL bro... sorry... EJ pickups = METAL TONE!

But on serious note, I had a very good results before with my DiMarzio Steve's Special, cuts to the mix pretty good!

 

[subversion]

Duncan recommendations:

*Duncan Distortion if you live by all-out distortion & want decent cleans
*Duncan Custom if you still live by distortion extremity with added bass, better cleans with this one. The Custom is a modified '59 according to the SD techies...

TESLA VR Extreme- some of the best distortion & cleans are here. love this one.

Reminder: distortion brutality is abt distortion first & foremost, the pickup's job is to manifest this respective to their voicings. a good amp distortion would render pickup swap unnecessary in the short term. if one's amp is inadequate distortion-wise, pedal supplement is necessary.

 

[MHD]

i have a Ibanez RG350EX. kinda the same as yours. only abit diff.
abt early this year, i bought EMG Hz (Passive Emg's) from a fellow softie and install into that guitar.
i listen and play Bullets too. the guitar sound close to Bullet's sound.

but, i play that guitar through my MT-2 and Roland Cube 30X.

i recommend the Emg Hz.

P.S. Bullet For My Valentine uses Emg 81(bridge) and 85(Neck)

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

Reminder: distortion brutality is abt distortion first & foremost, the pickup's job is to manifest this respective to their voicings. a good amp distortion would render pickup swap unnecessary in the short term. if one's amp is inadequate distortion-wise, pedal supplement is necessary.

@Mirrorboy:

sub summed up pretty much what i wanted to say. why yngwie could still use pickups with less than half the output of the EJ kinda puts the case in point. also an interesting point most people overlook is that the tone of a pickup can be changed by adjusting it's height, i've seen some people complain that their humbuckers sound too soft / hollow just to find out that their pickups were way too far away from the strings. maybe you would like to check out dimarzio's or sd's faq section for some recommendations and suggestions for pickup heigh adjustment and play with it to see if it works before considering a pickup swap again. =D

 

[attoegg]

generally its not so much abt the pickup. esp since the dimarzio EJ is a pretty decent pickup. try playing around with the eq of your amp. or invest in a dist pedal. i am getting pretty good results with my suhr dsv in the bridge and its also around the same output lvl of your dimarzio.

 

[bf0502tr]

if u're feeling an impulse again, go get a 50watt marshall stack. crank the gain to max. if u dont get enough distortion...well go find malmsteen.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

lol, why get a 50 watt when one needs more distortion at a lower volume? we should be looking for lower wattage amps to get more distortion at low volumes, try a 5 watt amp, it'll be as saturated as a 50 watt amp in roughly half the volume, which should be too loud for bedroom levels.. =D