Need humbucker recomendation

[mellapong]

Hello there I have SD Alnico Pro 2s and stock Orville PAF-like pups in my guitar. I like how chords ring out on the alnico pro 2s. think guns n roses. However i am not really looking for that now..

The Orville pups are someone very dark and at high gain it ends up being very muddy.

I am looking for hi-output pickups for metal. Considered the JB Jazz combination, never tried them, heard them in action in songs, sounds not bad but kinda.. tasteless?

I am not saying that JB Jazz is a definate no for me, maybe you can convince me haha.

But for now i am looking for something that doesn't sound sterile (especially on clean) for occasional blues, clean appregios blah blah.

i tried dimarzio evos they kinda have very nice soaring leads but i prefer something more vintage sounding, more grit, and more agressive. ( vai doesn't do much riffing..) but with that clarity.

however i dont fancy a metallica sound. somewhat sound too 'standard' doesnt sound special or really tasty..

I am gonna put these into an orville les paul custom, the guitar is somewhat dark sounding by nature. probably cause of the pots? i have no idea how these things like the signal brighter or darker.

I play probably a mix of 80's hard rock, metal, metalcore, and hope to have a tone nice enough to do probably instrumental pieces (racer x, satch?)

I very much hope the pups suit songs with nice chordings at low gain , ( hendrix, andy timmon's electric gypsy)?

Please help! Many thanks! Pardon the noobiness

 

[ShredCow]

You win some you lose some.

Higher the output the more ... compressed, fatter, "sterile" the pups will sound. Lower the output, less compression, tone gets thinner a little, more jangle, more sparkle to the tone.

Dimarzio Evos are... very high output. I've used an Evo neck/ Evo 2 combination before. I'd say... very fat fat fat. Very compressed. Screaming. That's it. Don't expect sweet cleans from the humbucker in series. Even split, it wasn't anything to yell about.

www.has-sound.com has some tasty pups. The Viper especially for your higher gained needs. The Vipers kicked off all the Dimarzios (about 12 different models) I've tried... there's no way I'm going to return to Dimarzio unless ... well, I'm dead broke and my pups broke or something. There's something about the has sound pickups and its way more than dimarzio's offerings at the moment.

 

[HarrisonYeo]

maybe u can try Seymour Duncan Livewire

 

[subversion]

need not be apologetic if you are a newbie 8)

JB & Jazz are definitely not high output but for metal, they have their applications (especially with me).

you can also start 'safe' by opting for Gibson units. for high gain/ drive settings, the 496/ 500 combo is recommended 8)

 

[ChanMin]

for heavier metal stuff... in a lespaul ... EMG sets are hard to beat.

 

[subversion]

i prefer Duncan Live Wires to the EMGs...

 

[trianglebiscuit]

buy my viper mella.

 

[Reth]

no, buy my duncan distortion! :twisted:

 

[mellapong]

Thanks for the input everyone.

I am not going to consider active pickups.. No experience with it but the idea of having to use batteries is not a very attractive one.

Suddenly got damn intrigued by the viper, I know Shredcow talks about it sometimes but didn't really see the beauty of it until now.

I would probably get one from mattleesc, but his however is overwound to 16k? What tonal difference does it have from the regular one?

Also, anyone can recomend me a nice neck pickup to match a 16k humbucker in the bridge?? Thanks!

 

[HarrisonYeo]

lol changing battery take's less then 1min ,
1.unscrew
2.remove battery
3.put in new battery
4.close back

done lol

 

[mellapong]

Its about the money bro.. Can be quite costly eh? Though i am not sure of how frequent the batteries have to be changed, assuming that it is played everyday for 2 hours straight? Hmmmm.. Thanks anyway!

 

[daryl]

probably change it once in 6 months to be safe but i think the battery can last up to a year.

 

[ShredCow]

Suddenly got damn intrigued by the viper, I know Shredcow talks about it sometimes but didn't really see the beauty of it until now.

I would probably get one from mattleesc, but his however is overwound to 16k? What tonal difference does it have from the regular one?

There are sound samples on www.has-sound.com you can hear for yourself the dynamic range of the Vipers via the clean clip which was going into a Sansamp TRI OD's speaker emulation.

For those who know, the TRI OD's speaker emulation isn't the best, its actually very flat and compressed sounding.

A few softies have ordered the Viper. General consenous is that its surprisingly dynamic. Scream if you want to, or back off and it really does back off. Hmmm, actually, scratch that, I haven't hear anyone say the Viper was not dynamic. :lol:

Anyway... 16k? Its thicker, less treble, more compressed, hotter. Basically its more "metal" in a darker, heavier way. :twisted: You can send it back to Stan for re-winding anyway.

 

[mellapong]

Thanks everyone for your nice input!

I couldn't make up my mind so i bought both the jb and the viper. Let the ears do the judging. Hehe.

 

[I_M_Ken]

mellapong, once u';ve tried the JB and decided that you do not like how it sounds, let us know whats lacking in it so that it will be easier to narrow down recommendations.