Pickup selection

[Kiichi]

Hi,
hereīs another "which pickup..." thread^^
I am about to replace the PUs on my Ibanez S570b (HSH) and was looking at Dimarzio Bluesbucker, Red Velvet and Norton, but then stumbled upon BKP and am quiet intrigued, as it may easyer to realize my vision here.
So if you would be able to help me pick the right PUs for me that would be great.

First of all the outlines then: Mahagony Body, locking trem, Orange Tiny Terror Amp.
With the PUs I have a certain vision that I will try to express here as good I can.
First of all, I like hearing quite a big difference when flipping my switch around, so it is not that important that all the PUs go well together in the normal sense. I also generally like warmth and fullness and basecally never play clean at all. The amp is always at least at the start of the breakup stage. In general I probably like vintage more than modern, but perhaps best of all is that modern vintage. Like an old maffia time caddy that got renovated and fitted with some upgrades.

Bridge: Mostly will be used for rythm playing, mostly Rock things (all kinds of rock really), and a bit of metal. This should be the most modern sounding PU. I like really tight, fat lows, but they have to be controlled. Middle is quiet important here too, for a good rock riff I just think you really need warmth and righness in the lower mids, (without too much mids for my 10band +-12db Eq to compensate for when I wanne do metal though). Also here I like some percussion  (do not like it that much in the neck) and sharpness woudl be in order here. Other than that harmonics and overtones en masse.

Neck: This is pretty much exclusivly for soloing or melody play, which I mostly do anyways. I do not go for shredding or fast metal solos, but more for a bluesy thing, kinda Slash like. This thing should have loads of tone and be singing as hell. The bass is realtivly unimportant for me here, its the mids and highs that count. I do not like a lot of percussiveness and pick attack here (donīt want it eliminated, but not too much of it) I am going for kinda a sunbeam (not an artificial beam of light, I want sun). That overdriven sound that is so full, warm, defined, clear, soft and rounded that a nice long bend just leaves that certain feeling in your tummy.
Hope you get what I mean.

Middle: When it comes to single coils, it not that I do not like strat sounds, but I prefer Tele, so a certain singing is called for. The middle PU for me is really somewhat the middle between the other to PUs for itself and should be able to get great coil split results. I kinda what a certain vintage nastyness with this or one of the splits, like what I get with a centercoil split combo on my Crunchlab / Liquifire, which is exactly in the middle of the to PUs, but with those nasty frequencys in the distortion.

With the wiring I thought of going for Neck / Neck outer coil + middle (supposed to me more tele like) / middle / bridge inner coil + middle (strat like) / bridge.
If anything would make more sense with recomended PUs, please feel free to tell me. Also, am I right that I need a reverse polarity middle for this?

Sorry if this is a lot, but I just painted everything in my mind, well rather ear, so vividly, although itīs kinda something that feels like a, what we in germany call it, egg-laying woolmilkpig.
Still, I really appreciate every input you could provide.
Thanks!
Ole

[Kiichi]

Alright, that would be great.  Could you tell me how to reach Tim? Is it just the normal contact or something else?

There are just too many PUs here that kinda sound great...^^

[Telerocker]

Maybe this a nice combo: Nailbomb (lots of - aggressive - crunch), Trilogy-middle and Cold Sweat-neck.

[Kiichi]

Mhhh my first impulse kinda was more of a crawler in the bridge, slow hand in the middle and a mississipi queen p90 or a Mule or Riff Raff or even VH II for the neck.
I fear that the ones you propose will be too modern and too metal, though that kinda applies to most of the non vintage PUs here...I wish every style would be sampled with every PU here. I just canīt imagine the Coldsweat doing that bluesy thing I love.

For the neck I do not really want a lot of agression, more of the voice of Jónsi the singer of SIgur Ros, soft highend, expressive, powerful but also a bit fragile. I kinda want the neck to possibly sound like the feeling I get when listening to this song (mostly the power part) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgEGVKwURKc

Another reference point would be the sound sample for the Bluesbucker on the dimarzio page (HB, Vintage), which I really like.

[lulusg]

Saw Jonsi at the Voodoo fest last year and they played that song last..... Powerful..really powerful stuff. Ask Tim ....! Good luck.

[Telerocker]

Sorry yes, did not pay attention enough, cause most Ibanez-players wants something hot. You're looking for some more vintage. I think the Crawler could be on the warm side for your mahagony-Ibbie. In this case I would go for a Mule in the bridge, IT in the middle, and a VHII in the neck. Should everything from blues to metal (Mules are versatile). The Crawler has more oomph, but is at the same more compressed then the Mule.

[ericsabbath]

sounds more like nailbomb bridge, trilogy middle, mule neck

[dheim]

sounds more like nailbomb bridge, trilogy middle, mule neck

+999

i agree 100%!

just a thing, how's that egg-laying woolmilkpig in german? please tell me! ;)

oh, and you're totally mad. that's the right spirit! :)

[Kiichi]

Madness? Sure! I kinda donīt wanne be another Air Norton in the neck player and just have this idea derived from my influences, which are somewhere between Sigur Rós, Dream Theater and Iron Maiden (and many others).
I already have a 7 string with Crunchlab and Liquifire (with centercoil humcanceling split) and so I have a generally modern sound there and now need something different xD

I called it "that" because it just seems like I want to have everything in these pickups and when we describe something in germany that should do everything we sometimes call it "eierlegende Wollmilchsau"

Just got mail from Tim and he proposes Mule neck, Irish Tour middle and Rebell Yell bridge. That kinda sound reasonable as well.
There just seem.
So now I am leening towards IT in the middle, since the trilogy sounds a bit too modern for me there. Thing is: with or without zink plated steel base?
With the neck both mule and VH II sound great, now I am wondering which is "softer" in sound and pick attack...which I guess would be the mule cause of the output so that would be that.
Bridge...well I heard from some people the Nailbomb is very bright. And the rebell yell is supposed to have a lot of overtones and harmonics, can anybody confirm that? Cause it kinda sounds very nice.


One more thing concerning the wiring: Taking the wiring diagramm from the website (or a dimarzio I got), do I need a reverse polaritiy middle for my wish wiring? And what would I need to change?

[dheim]

Madness? Sure! I kinda donīt wanne be another Air Norton in the neck player and just have this idea derived from my influences, which are somewhere between Sigur Rós, Dream Theater and Iron Maiden (and many others).
I already have a 7 string with Crunchlab and Liquifire (with centercoil humcanceling split) and so I have a generally modern sound there and now need something different xD

I called it "that" because it just seems like I want to have everything in these pickups and when we describe something in germany that should do everything we sometimes call it "eierlegende Wollmilchsau"

Just got mail from Tim and he proposes Mule neck, Irish Tour middle and Rebell Yell bridge. That kinda sound reasonable as well.
There just seem.
So now I am leening towards IT in the middle, since the trilogy sounds a bit too modern for me there. Thing is: with or without zink plated steel base?
With the neck both mule and VH II sound great, now I am wondering which is "softer" in sound and pick attack...which I guess would be the mule cause of the output so that would be that.
Bridge...well I heard from some people the Nailbomb is very bright. And the rebell yell is supposed to have a lot of overtones and harmonics, can anybody confirm that? Cause it kinda sounds very nice.


One more thing concerning the wiring: Taking the wiring diagramm from the website (or a dimarzio I got), do I need a reverse polaritiy middle for my wish wiring? And what would I need to change?

i called you mad because the description you gave for your tonal needs were quite peculiar, but i meant it as a compliment! :)

about your neck tone, i've never played VHIIs, but they're generally referred to as "single coilish", and i'm sure you don't want anything like that. the Mule isn't percussive at all, not because it's a low output pickup, but also thanks to its AIV magnet, that gives it a softer attack. it's bright but round at the same time, so i think you'll like it...

for middle position i'd have said trilogy just because you mentioned singing mids, but i'm not exactly a single coil expert so i'd stay with Tim's advice.

a rebel yell is an excellent option, but you mentioned fat lows and its lows are a bit thin in a thin sounding guitar (and the S certainly is)... nonetheless it's tight, grindy enough to play extreme metal as well as classic rock. RY's got a whole arsenal of harmonics and overtones, that's for sure!

[Kiichi]

Interresting...thanks for the info.
First of all, I certainly took mad as a compliment ;)

Then....yeah that with lows on the RY could be a problem for some things, if it lacks that certain umpf that Iīd need for exaple for volbeat.
Question is if my 10band Eq could do something about that, as I usually have it as somekind of heavy stomp box with mid scoops anyways. My concern is that the Nailbomb might deliver the lows, but might be too much of a trade in in the other areas.

Also you are definetly right in assuming I like a single coilish sound, but I just noticed the "superb pick attack" in the VH IIs description...usually one of the downsides of neck single coils is quite of lot of pick attack, which can be great for shredding but not what I look for here, I guess at least.


Since you seem to have quite a bit more knowledge then myself, would you perhaps have any notes on the underlined parts of my last post?

[dheim]

I just noticed the "superb pick attack" in the VH IIs description...usually one of the downsides of neck single coils is quite of lot of pick attack, which can be great for shredding but not what I look for here, I guess at least.

yeah, that's why i said that a Mule should fit much better your requirements! :)

as for the middle sc, as i said, i'm not an expert... in my chrysalis stage i had a strat  (i'm talking about more than 15 years ago), and currently have got just a middle trilogy (that i don't use much, to be honest) in an Ibz S470. my middle sc has a zinc plate, to increase its "singlecoilishness", but you might want a thicker and middier tone, so i'd go without the base plate. the RW/RP option make the two coils used in position 2 and 4 work as an humbucker, and i don't think this is what you need (at least i think you're looking for "true" coil split tones in those positions)

[Kiichi]

No, the humcancelling is kinda welcome^^
So I gather I want the SC non baseplate, but reverse polarity. Thanks!
I am quite interested if I will use the single coil much myself, but righ now I use the stratty middle with my Crunchlab / Liquifire quite often, as for Claptons Leyla you need that touch of glassiness and for classic rock riffs the nastyness is great.

Now to go on with equestions, like I havenīt asked enough yet:

Now pretty much the only thing left is what I have to do to get the outer neck coil (hot one) + middle in pos 4.  , (want it cause itīs supposed to sound more tele-like)
(I still want inner bridge (slug) + middle in pos 2. cause I fear the outer would sound too thin there)

And a bit doubt if the RY has enough "umpf" (if it just comes with EQ thats ok, as said).

Oh and I just noticed: short or long legs? Never seen that choice before...from the FAQ Iīd guess short but, dimarzio doenīt have the choice, but I am confused^^

This thing is coming together nicely...I feel anticipation and a mad professor laugh rising in me...oh yeah, and my wallet weeping. xD

[Telerocker]

If Tim says so, follow his advice. He knows what he is talking about. I like the RY, but I think the Mule is great in the bridge too and heard some great tones with the VHII in the neck, but also with The Mule in this position.