-Need opinions on few itemS-

[An Kerreng]

Hello guys!
My RG's pickup getting old.
So are the wires, 5way switch
(oredi start to make prob),
cable jack in bla bla bla.
As for the pickup:
I wanna change to passive ones
still. (Considering only for Seymour
Duncans AHB-3 EMTY Blackouts
for active). The passive i have in
mind now is only Bare Knuckle War
Pig. The ques is, Is it REALY sounds
good as it sound?
The MINOR parts:
Changing the 5way switch. Which
brand is better? Dimarzio or Muztek?
(only this 2 ive seen at my nearest
guitar shop).
Changing the WHOLE wiring inside.
Including the cable jack, wires, pots,
capacitors etc.
If i throw in $150(budget), can i get
all of it done?(without pups)
If i change everything, will the guitar
value drop?
Help on this. Tq =>

 

[ShredAddict]

Guitar value will drop significantly if irreversible mods are done. you'd be fine.

 

[An Kerreng]

Im upgrading to better ones. I
think shud be fine. =>

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

i overhauled my guitar's electronics at beez a couple of times and i would estimate the cost to be closer between $80 to $100 if you're getting all dimarzios.

for mine, i got dimarzio's push pull 500k pots × 2, 5 way switch and jack. i also got the orange drop cap mod done at beez, with a rather tricky wiring done to put the two push pulls to maximum utility on my HSS guitar.

as for bare kunckles, heard them in action before but never tried one myself. some say they're really great, others say they're not worth the money. if you don't mind spending to try, then go ahead but they should be good la. if you're not too anal or you are tight on cash, consider the cheaper offerings by dimarzio, sd and tesla

 

[noobkerpal]

Get dimarzio crunch lab / liquifire combo, has never let anyone down and thats what I'm getting, might replace the liquifire with a 2nd hand air Norton if budget is tight though.

About the bareknuckles , I have read many reviews on the more metal and djenty pickups ( nailbomb,col dsweat, etc...) And most of them say they are outstanding in giving that punch and umph in djenty playing , so like meshuggah or periphery

 

[An Kerreng]

I think of it first. Wats with the push pull?
Its for the volume n tone knob? Sounds
cool! My nearest shop is SV guitars. They
hv the Bareknuckle n Dimarzio. I play
mostly metal, Trivium-ish kind. But the War
Pig cost $188(for bridge only) after discount
and SD actives only cost $260 for bridge n
neck. Most rockstars use active. Mostly EMG's.
Thought of getting EMG's too. Lol! Emg only
$135 each. The only famous ones that uses
SD blackouts is Mick Thomson. Sick sick tone
with it. EMG players like Matt Heafy, Zakk
Wylde, Jim Root have better tones IMO. Mick
Thomson's blackouts enough to distort by itself.

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

now that you mention, i would say you're looking at the wrong thing in achieving the tones you want. the variation of tones you get from different pickups after multiple stages of distortion is small. amps and effects play a larger role of tone shaping here and if you've got them covered, you would get "sick" tones with a wide variaty of pickups.

unless you've got friends who have these pickups installed on their guitars, you won't be able to try before you buy. so it's usually trial and error. one good way is to do what you've done, by seeing who uses what and what's the tone you'll like to achieve, but for heavy distortion sound, pickups most probably contribute to like, 5 to 10% of the overall tone

 

[An Kerreng]

Think i'll get either the Warpig
or Emg 81/60 or 81/85... Depends
how budget... Anyway, the tone i
want or need is by myself. How i
want it. So i'll get what i need, pups
and amp den i'll be on my own from
there. Tweaking away to get the tone.

 

[noobkerpal]

There is a reason basswood ibanez rg don't come with actives, emgs or blackouts only resonate well with mahogany.