Pups replacement on Ibanez.

[Phil]

Hi Daniel,

Ah haha, it's okay I understand that you're not critisising my guitar or anything. Thanks for the concern about me going off-track with swapping the pups out on the Prestige. But really, I know what I'm looking for, I understand that you can never make an RG as thick sounding as a fixed bridged LP. I'm under no illusion that I can greatly alter the sonic characteristics of an RG. I know, I know all that. I've been a regular here since 2005!

Coincidentally, I have an Edwards LP, mahagony bodied with SD SH-1n & SH-5 pups. And it really is thick and lush.

As I was saying, I don't like the stock pups on the Prestige. I won't ever be selling this guitar, I've some extra cash, I want to improve a particular aspect of this guitar, of which are the neck pups. I think the stock ones sound thinny, and quite bland. I want something thick, creamy and fat.

I'm not very familiar with all the various pups, hence this thread to ask for recommendations. It's just as simple as that.

And to all, thanks all for the replies, I really really appreciate the time taken to help me out.

 

[ShredCow]

Cool cool... just in case... heh.

Just to clarify though - being a little anal - you said "I understand that you can never make an RG as thick sounding as a fixed bridged LP"... I didn't really mean that you can't because... you CAN make an RG sound as thick as an LP. Just that, you get a very bland kind of thick tone, its all mids and mids, devoid rich little tonal nuances that an LP (or any acoustically thick sounding guitar) with low output pups would have.


Anyway, how's the hellion? I'm interested in your thoughts on that too.

 

[Phil]

To be honest, I don't use the Hellion much now as I don't play much metal these days. Now, I find it too piercing and too hot for practical usage. But in a band situation, it does well in cutting through the mix.

 

[ShredCow]

Then you might be better off getting a new set & make it a matched pair.

Check out highorder pickups. He is very very good at the lower output stuff and he will be able to make a matched pair for a great price.

 

[Phil]

Hmmm, I checked out the website, pretty interesting. And frankly, I've never heard of them before.

How did you come across Highorder? And which of their pups do you've?

Getting a matched pair is a nice idea, but I don't think anyone'd want a Hellion even if I put it up for sale, haha.

 

[Santa]

vote goes for a clapton style active midboost. haha. maybe john voodoo, lindy fralins heard great things about them. seems like you are aiming for a very PAF-ish sound.

personal vote goes to tonerider - made in china, assembled in God knows where to give u very nice sound with good prices.

(shameless plug) i still have a pair of toni iommi pups lying around somewhere (/end shameless plug).

 

[ShredCow]

Phil, surf & surf till you find something.

I came across highorder first on TGP. Checked him out. He seemed to be genuine in his dealings, forthcoming on the details, and he seemed to know a good deal about things. So I gave it a shot. Ordered an Alnico 2, 8.4k PAF styled humbucker. It sounded very very good. The previous pickup, the HAS Sound Legacy, was not bad. However, its Alnico 5 magnet was a little too strong, overpowering my single coils, plus, since it was wound to 7.8k, it was a touch too bright. I explained to highorder that my current humbucker (specs & all) would sound perfect if it were less powered and had the treble tamed just as if I ran my tone control at 7. He nailed it on 1st try. Our correspondence was quick and detailed - he was very clear in his explanations. So drop him an email and discuss what you want with him - he doesn't really have fixed models.

I find the Highorder very... musical. There's something in the mids. The harmonics aren't like.. orderly? Its messy. Like clumped together, clashing and dissonant. This is in comparison to say... all the Dimarzio humbuckers I've tried (abt 12 of them). The highorder had more character. I understand this is due to the heavily mismatched coils (PAF wind) which also results in more hum. My humbucker is noisier than my Bill Lawrence noiseless singles. But its bearable. I understand if you want less hum, matched coils, you don't get that harmonic result. I also had a friend who mentioned he disliked that clashing harmonics thing... its rich and character-ful.. .but... it doesn't work for him when he plays jazzy stuff because the chords (on clean) sound less clear/clean.

Keep the Hellion for a high out put guitar project one day. who knows. Maybe you'd think of doing a 1 humbucker shredder. Which I am thinking of doing some day.