Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: rallax on November 26, 2013, 01:55:35 PM
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Hi,
I got an Ibanez 3120 Prestige with 2 humbuckers and FR style trem.
It's made of Mahagoni Body w/ maple top and a bold on maple neck w/ rosewood fingerboad.
I want to replace stock both humbuckers because I do not like them very much.
I play classic rock, blues, Hardrock and 80ies hairmetal.
What would be the best combination of pus to get most versatile Sound?
A set of RY, HD, MM? Or 2 different like crawler Bridge and mule neck?
Any ideas, suggestions or recommendations.
Thanks in advance.
Ralf
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Well the HD is certainly great and has a nice musical smoothness. Very versatile too, so if you want to go towards the warmer end of things this is certainly great. Perhaps it is also a bit more metal than the RY.
The RY is more agressive cause of itīs lovely upper mid spike making it really rocking. Again very versatile. Bass is there, very tight, etc.
So between those two it is mostly about if you want more agressive upper mid sound or musically smooth.
Crawler is even more dark than the HD and has a lovely roar to the midrange.
Since you also wanne blues and rock I would throw out the MM though. The rest, depending on your preferences are all viable to me
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As per usual, I'm pretty much in agreement with Kiichi. Much as I love the Miracle Man, it just isn't versatile enough for what you're after. You might also want to consider the alnico Nailbomb as that's often suggested for versatility in the styles you mention, though I found other options more versatile.
Rebel Yell - Classic Rock voicing but with quite a bit more aggression in the upper mids and much tighter. Ceratinly does Rock and Metal very well but can be used for other styles too.
A-Bomb - Darker sounding than the Rebel Yell but not a particularly dark pickup in itself. I found it not significantly darker than the Holydiver. but like the Rebel Yell, it is tight and aggressive sounding. The voicing always makes me think primarily 'Metal' but BKP usually suggest it when versatility is required. It will do most styles as long as you like things with an aggressive, hairy edge to it. Not a polite pickup at all.
Holydiver - Where the previous two are aggressive, this one is much smoother. There is certainly aggression there and tightness but not as extreme as the RY or NB. Plenty thick mids, especially centre mids and remarkably versatile. Chords are thick, smooth and very articulate while leads are super sweet. Awesome pickup. Think Doug Aldrich and Jake E. Lee.
Crawler - Certainly the darkest sounding pickup here with a decent amount of bass and lower mids but should be fine in your guitar. You have enough maple to brighten things up and the Floyd trem will make things brighter too. There's a very distinct growl to it that is extremely satisfying but without the overt aggressiveness of the RY or NB. Like the Holydiver, this is much smoother. To my mind, this easily has the biggest operating window of any of the pickups mentioned as I can quite happily run from Blues to 80s Metal with this pickup. Fat, sweet, rich and supremely satisfying would describe this one and would be my choice if I wanted a pickup to do pretty much everything.
If I had to choose something more specific I'd say go with the Crawler if you want ultimate versatility and great Rock tone or go with the Holydiver if you want to move things a bit more in the direction of Metal.
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I have an Ibanez RG 3120, and the Holydiver will be just fine ! I don't know the Nailbomb, but you should trust these two gentlemen up there. You got pickup wisdom there man !
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Yeah, the Holy Diver will do fine, for the neck the question is how vintage and open you want your tone. I tend to say Emerald.
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Thanks a lot for your replies.
I'll go for HD.
Ralf