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Author Topic: Help me choose a pair of pickups  (Read 1285 times)

alternativc

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Help me choose a pair of pickups
« on: October 15, 2011, 07:17:29 PM »
Hi there!

So I've been thinking of changing the pups in my ibanez sz4020 (http://ibanez.wikia.com/wiki/SZ4020FM). It's a neck-thru guitar with a mahagony body and maple top, the neck is made of maple/walnut. It weighs a bit more than a LP and sounds about the same - a very ful and a bit dark sound.
I'm play mostly stuff thats somewhere between alter bridge/black stone cherry/nickelback. I want the birdge pickup to get me close to that kinda sound (full, saturated, etc...). The neck pickup will be mostly used for clean tones. I don't like thin sounding clean tones.

I was looking at the nailbomb for the neck and the warpig for the bridge (both alnico). Would that be a good choice or would it be too much?

I'm playing thru a framus cobra (which has been modded and it has a little less gain).

What pickups would you recommend?

Telerocker

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Re: Help me choose a pair of pickups
« Reply #1 on: October 16, 2011, 12:06:04 AM »
Saturation comes from the amp. Of course the hotter the pickup, the harder the amp gets slammed. I think the Warpig is too hot and too bassheavy for the tones you're after. When I think by example Nickelback, I would shop in the vintage/hot-range and, bec the guitar sounds full and dark as you say, with some bite. Something like a VHII or Emeralds. They stay tight and articulate with loads of preamp gain. The neck-VHII is stellar.
Mules, VHII, Crawler, MM's, IT's, BG50's.

darkbluemurder

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Re: Help me choose a pair of pickups
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2011, 08:56:40 AM »
Nailbomb neck would probably be good because you said you did not want a thin clean tone. Warpig would be too much output IMHO but the ceramic Nailbomb should be a good option for the tones you mentioned.

Cheers Stephan

alternativc

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Re: Help me choose a pair of pickups
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2011, 08:21:11 PM »
Thank you both for your input.

I think I'm going with the nailbomb for the bridge. Haven't decided yet on the neck pickup...

Telerocker

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Re: Help me choose a pair of pickups
« Reply #4 on: October 18, 2011, 12:08:10 PM »
The Nailbomb can cover a lot of styles, though I find it has a 90's-metal-vibe to it. Just to know.
Mules, VHII, Crawler, MM's, IT's, BG50's.