pickup choice (yes, another one of those threads)

senn_liu

New member
i have an ibanez rgt3020 with a dimarzio fred as a replacement for the stock paf pro in the bridge.

after using the fred for awhile, i've gotten a little tired of it. it's not quite hot enough and is a little too mid-focused for playing downtuned metal/hardcore. basically, it's too satriani-esque in tone.

i'm wondering whether a dimarzio d-sonic or a duncan custom would be a better replacement bridge pickup. the d-sonic seems like a good all-round pickup, but it may be too "hi-fi" sounding for me (not sure). i would like to get something like kurt ballou's (converge) or kris norris' (darkest hour) tone, but i don't wanna use emgs as they are too sterile-sounding.

overall, i want a balanced, fairly high output pickup that can both chug and scream, and i'm deciding between the two mentioned above. anybody has any advice?
 
Fred's are med output pickups. It would not be hot enough. What amps & pedals do you use?

Steve's Special or D-sonic would be fine.
 
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Med output pickups will give you more variety to play around with ODs, Dist, clarity, dynamics, etc...
 
leecs: i'm using a marshall avt20 amp, with an mxr kfk-1 10 band eq and EHX metal muff, but i'm considering just getting a BOSS gt-10 and using that alone with headphones for practice/recording.

my only concern about the d-sonic is that it doesn't sound "fierce" enough/doesn't "scream" as well as a duncan JB/Custom. althought the d-sonic is high output and recommended by dimarzio for drop tunings, it has a petrucci sorta tone, which isn't exactly aggressive, more of a hot-but-polite tone (sorry for all the vague descriptive language).

also, i'm alright with mid-to-high output pickups, but the fred in particular (which is already in the guitar's bridge) isn't my cup of tea tonally.

***

bloodsolo: i'm not considering a tonezone cos many people have mentioned that it can get muddy, and i don't fancy the lower-mid/low bump in its frequency response. the d-sonic is more balanced than the tonezone.

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rhizopus: the x2n has too much output for me. tonezone's output is 375mV, d-sonic's is 390mV, and x2n's is 510mV.

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so far nobody has commented on the duncan custom vs. the d-sonic. any ibanez/duncan custom players out there?
 
BILL Lawrence L500XL -- dam smooth


I have a duncan custom wound - Crazy 8
Still like the L500XL ---
and is going to try the L90
 
ok, now the situation has morphed a little. here are my final three pickup combi options:

1) dimarzio paf pro/d-sonic
2) seymour duncan '59/custom
3) tesla vr-60/plasma III

i know many of you have alternative pickup suggestions, bt i've narrowed it down to these three pairs. please comment on the suitability of them, based on my guitar (ibanez rgt3020) and preferences (metal/metalcore, with some clean passages). thanks in advance.
 
leecs: i'm using a marshall avt20 amp, with an mxr kfk-1 10 band eq and EHX metal muff, but i'm considering just getting a BOSS gt-10 and using that alone with headphones for practice/recording.

my only concern about the d-sonic is that it doesn't sound "fierce" enough/doesn't "scream" as well as a duncan JB/Custom. althought the d-sonic is high output and recommended by dimarzio for drop tunings, it has a petrucci sorta tone, which isn't exactly aggressive, more of a hot-but-polite tone (sorry for all the vague descriptive language).

Petrucci sorta tone? Its the Mark IV doing the job. What amp, pedals you're using all contributes to the heavy, tight tone you want. Not only the pickups lor.

GT10 is good.
 
yea, i'm aware that the amp/pedals are a huge part of tone, but i don't really have any way of hearing the d-sonic in my guitar, very clean or with marshall distortion etc, so i can only roughly go by the general tone of artistes and the clips on dimarzio's website. that's why it's kinda like :confused:

anyway, your input is greatly appreciated, leecs. any thoughts on the 3 pickup pairs i mentioned above?
 
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senn, if you don't like the honk of the FRED, you might wanna pick up a used PAF Pro to replace it. Its got less mids, less honk - a more balanced EQ if you will.

I've heard it in student's guitar before and it was surprisingly chunky and heavy - guitar was an SA120.
 
Interesting....

How about an EVO 2?

Its actually very screaming and stuff - the low end is usually criticized but on a mahogany guitar, its tight and stuff.

However, HAS Sound's Viper is is an EVO 2 killer.
 
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