Jump to content
aberdeen-music

Looking for a high output bridge pup


EnkaiScreamer

Recommended Posts

I imagine you might be able to scour around for a second hand SDJB or something for about that price, maybe on ebay or something. Can't imagine flogging something like a BK or EMG for 40 notes. Might wanna up your budget by about 20 quid or so

You also say it must be passive, which in that case, don't bother with the passive EMG stuff. They are turd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No way in hell you will get a bareknuckle for that price. The hot ones like the warpig/painkiller/nailbomb all got for about £70 on ebay. I have a similar model RG (http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/RG1620X) with a bareknuckle warpig in the bridge and nailbomb in the neck you can maybe try if you bribe me ;) Why do you specifically want passive? EMG's are cheap as chips second hand compared to the top end passives. I've got an RG with 81/85 if you also want to try that. Probably gonna get them changed for seymour duncan blackouts though which are IMO the best active.

£40 is still borderline but might be able to get something like a dimarzio evolution, breed or x2n. Best dimarzio I have heard is the crunch lab but finding them second hand is near enough impossible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why do you specifically want passive? EMG's are cheap as chips second hand compared to the top end passives. I've got an RG with 81/85 if you also want to try that. Probably gonna get them changed for seymour duncan blackouts though which are IMO the best active.

because fitting Active pickups is a farce, i have H/S/H - as you probably are aware, and thats a total farce trying to change the whole set up ... at home .

Also, im only changing the bridge one just now, im happy with the neck pickup - the bridge just sounds like mud :(

thanks for advice though man!

what do you think about a seymour duncan Invader?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just for anyone else that is interested in the info/suggestions that I gave you the other day:

A big downside to the Invaders are that they get lost in a band mix very easily. The Seymour Duncan 'Alternative 8' is voiced similarly but with a lot more clarity.
However, my style involves other people playing at the same time, and in that scenario the Invader failed hard. :)
As for the Dimebucker, they are far scratchier than a Bill Lawrence L-500XL. They, again, are voiced similarly but the Bill Lawrence doesn't have the overbearing treble. There are 2 versions though, the Bill Lawrence USA version (more readily available but sounds shit) and the 'Bill & Becky' version. This is what Dime used and what Dean fitted to their custom shop Dime models. It is quite cheap brand new too (about £50). :)
For the RG, I'd see if you could find something like a Warpig or Nailbomb for cheap (not an easy task unfortunately!).

For something well rounded, the Seymour Duncan JB is always a good shout, though I find them a little boring. The - again Seymour Duncan - 'Full Shred' is a great pickup too. Definitely worth checking out! You'll find them cheap quite easily I'd imagine.

Doing an 18V mod to the EMGs will smooth them out a bit (stops them being as sterile and, for lack of a better word, fizzy). It also enhances your headroom so the cleans aren't as harsh and you will get a bigger sound. Harmonics suffer a bit though. This is a nice cheap mod that is worth at least trying while searching for a new pickup :)

The Distortion is good, I quite like them. Best example of a Distortion is definitely Max Cavalera, though obviously the rest of his rig contributes to his sound as well. The pickup is a very important part though!

For the RG, I'd probably swap out the bridge pickup first. Especially if you're using that most of the time for riffing etc.

The neck pickups on them aren't too great either (in my opinion of course, it is all open to interpretation but I've never been a fan) so maybe something nice and warm like a SD Jazz, 59 or even the 'Pearly Gates' could work.

There are a few guitars in R&B that you should try to get an idea of the voicing of the pickups.

For example the Charvel So-Cal models have Di Marzios in them (Tone Zone at the bridge (another one worth considering) and Evolution at the neck). Being somewhat similar in spec to the RG it'd give you a good idea of how they sound.

The Jackson SLS3 Soloist has a pair of 59s so you can hear how they respond at both bridge and neck (I think you'd want something with a little bit more at the bridge, though the neck sounds great!). It is mahogany though so will be a little different as a base model.

Certainly worth a go though for reference!

DiMarzio Breed has HUGE mids and high output. DiMarzio Super 3 is similar to a Super Distortion but with more pronounced mids for more cut in a mix. DiMarzio Tone Zone also gives lots of mids, it also gives you a lot of bottom end but not much treble compared to some others.

Bare Knuckle Warpig is one of the best going in my opinion, though BKP are more expensive than many other options. The Warpig is like a Super 3 in terms of frequency properties, though with tonnes of output and great harmonics. One of the best I've used.

The Bare Knuckle Painkiller is a slightly scratchier model from BKP, more top end than the Warpig. Still pretty nice. Bit much IMO though.

As for Seymour Duncan, we discussed them quite heavily the other day haha! Alternative 8, JB, Full Shred and Distortion are always good. The SH-5 Custom is also a great one. Lots of treble and mids on that one. It is like a PAF on steroids :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

because fitting Active pickups is a farce, i have H/S/H - as you probably are aware, and thats a total farce trying to change the whole set up ... at home .

Also, im only changing the bridge one just now, im happy with the neck pickup - the bridge just sounds like mud :(

thanks for advice though man!

what do you think about a seymour duncan Invader?

I forgot the RG1570 had a single coil! I've had 3 RG's over the years and every one has had 2 humbuckers.

Anyway - http://www.emgpickups.com/products/index/47/7/1 That way you can have 3 active pickups ;) I have seen quite a few people fit 81/85's and just leave the single coil unwired but I do agree it's stupid to have the pickup there and not use it. Alternatively you could just glue a thin veneer of wood over the single coil then cover it in nail polish. Probably look just as good as the normal paint job, especially with the sparkly colours :p

Never played a duncan JB myself but I'm sure Will Adler (Lamb of God) has a JB/'59 combo in his guitar so they are certainly not unsuitable for metal.

If you want to try out any of those guitars give me a shout and can maybe arrange something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I reckon it would look better to leave the single coil in and just not use it, then do a botch job of patching it up, or leaving a hole. Or buy a cover for it with no holes for the pole pieces so it looks like an EMG type PU.

Does the middle PU get used anyway? I never used mine on an old Yamaha I had with a H/S/H setup.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I reckon it would look better to leave the single coil in and just not use it, then do a botch job of patching it up, or leaving a hole. Or buy a cover for it with no holes for the pole pieces so it looks like an EMG type PU.

Does the middle PU get used anyway? I never used mine on an old Yamaha I had with a H/S/H setup.

I was just joking at how shit the stock Ibanez finishes are. Although the RG1570 is actually one of the few RGs that is available in more than just black and sparkly black.

I think a black single coil cover would do the trick fine to cover up the aesthetic issue of having an open pickup. http://www.thomann.de/gb/goeldo_cover_single_coil_black.htm It's all about what pickups he wants though of course. You can buy coil tappable EMG's too should he still want a single coil esque tone too. Nothing compares to a coil tapped warpig though. I prefer that to any single coil I've had in a guitar before.

IIRC the OP plays metalcore so an EMG set would do fine and are cheaper than good passives. It just depends on personal taste. Many people just don't like the sound of actives. (Even though the 18V mod or blackouts don't really have the 'compressed and sterile' sound associated with actives) Again I've got guitars with normal EMG81/85, 18v modded EMG81/85 and EMG707's so he is welcome to try them all out and compare to the bareknuckles

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a coil tapped Warpig in the Jet King I used to have. Christ. What a sound.

Yup, the one in my guitar is tapped due to it having 5 way pickup switch and a mere 2 pickups. Bareknuckles are just awesome fullstop. Plus the range of colours and the covers you can get just make them even nicer. Pricey though. It's something like £120 for a covered warpig :O

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most of what you say/advise contains sensible suggestions and truth, though this statement above is not true at all :)

Oops had it correct in the first post... it should have been 'expensive' as opposed to 'good'.

EMG's are cheap as chips second hand compared to the top end passives.

Price is the one thing that is objective and not subjective unlike sound. In my experience EMG's are cheaper second hand and don't retain value compared to BKP/SD/DM pickups.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont like SDJBs because i owned one in my Jackson RR3 for almost 4 years and got SICK of it, utterly sick of the tone and the sound, so i want something with a different EQ or similar. It would be a better idea to get the dual EMGs and just disconnect the single coil wire, but i cant afford to buy two EMGs AND fit them. And i have a pair of EMGs in my LTD MH so it'd be nice to have different sounding pickups :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I dont like SDJBs because i owned one in my Jackson RR3 for almost 4 years and got SICK of it, utterly sick of the tone and the sound, so i want something with a different EQ or similar. It would be a better idea to get the dual EMGs and just disconnect the single coil wire, but i cant afford to buy two EMGs AND fit them. And i have a pair of EMGs in my LTD MH so it'd be nice to have different sounding pickups :)

It's xmas next month. Just save your money or ask your parents to get you some bareknuckles. They are worth it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The word "save" is crucial. Tone isn't cheap. Don't spend less on something that isn't as good due to impatience. It's a pointless investment. Especially when it comes to pickups, there's only about £30 or £40 difference between something reasonable, and something at the very top end of the market. Instead of spending about £50 on a Seymour Duncan, spend £90 on a Bareknuckle. It will sound much much better and it will also increase the value of whatever guitar you put it in, if you ever wished to sell it.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Save up and buy Bare knuckles man you'll never look back. Website has all the information on the sound your looking for, for example Warpig has massive amounts of output and lots of low end. If you want output but more biting high you might want the miracle man or the nail bombs. Also some of the neck pairing pickups are shit hot like the cold sweats. I have the calibrated nailbombs in an SG and in my PRS a miracle man bridge and a mule neck. Unbelievable sound and output. I recently bought a ESP Horizon which came with Duncans as standard which are pale in comparison and feedback alot faster than the knuckles. If you email Tim at bareknuckle and tell him what your looking for he'll sort you out and will even tweak your pickups for you (slighlty more output or treble etc).

Knuckles+metal=100 tonnes of win

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...