Pickups for my Ibanez s5470f

[MetalFanatic]

Hey guys! I was wondering if any of you could give me some advises on which pickups to choose for my ibanez s5470f. the genres I'm mostly playing is heavy metal (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest), trash metal in the style of Testament (think "Formation of damnation" and "dark roots of earth"), progressive metal (Symphony X, Dream Theater) and Technical death/death metal (Behemoth, Aeon, Wintersun, Ensiferum).

What I'm looking for in the bridge humbucker is tightness, punch, brutality and a good solo sound. Clean tones aren't too important here since I never use the bridge pickup for clean tones.

I would like the middle single-coil pickup to be warm, and fat since it will only be used for cleans.

The neck humbucker will be used exlusively for solos and clean tones. Again, I would the clean tone to be warm and fat. The solo sound of this pickup is more important than clean tones. I would like the solo sound  to be tight, with great note definition, and fluidness. In my solos I tend to use alot of alternate- and sweep picking. From what I've read I guess the Cold Sweat will be the best bet.

The body wood of the guitar is mahogany with a thin flame maple top, the neck is a bolt-on 5-piece maple/walnut with a rosewood fretboard. The guitar also has a ZR-2 bridge (Similar to a floyd rose)

The amplifier I'm using is a marshall JMD 50 watt combo

I greatly appreciate your help and I am looking forward to reading your recommendations. This will be my first time trying Bareknuckle pickups, so I'm really looking forward to it  :D

[Slartibartfarst42]

For the neck, I'd say that either the Cold Sweat or the Emerald would be ideal. I've had them both and they're both superb. The Cold Sweat is tighter and brighter, though the Emerald is hardly lacking in this department. The Emerald is more versatile and has a sweeter lead tone. Both will do what you want supremely well.

For the neck, if you want 'warm and fat' you could try a bridge Sinner with a baseplate. I used to have this option for the neck and middle positions of my Jackson and GuitarIV recently made a post about them, describing them as almost as fat as a humbucker. Your description doesn't really fit many of the singlecoils. The Slowhand fits the description but it's whether it could live with the power you have in the bridge. With the Sinner, you can lower the pickup to give you picking room and still have enough power.

The bridge I find more problematic as you seem to be after a huge range of tones, each of which suggests a different option. Holydiver, Miracle Man, Aftermath, C-Bomb and Black Hawk all leap to mind. My initial thought is that I'd go with the Aftermath but I'll think on this a bit more.

[JimmyMoorby]

I love all those bands you mentioned other than the death metal ones as i'm very specific when it comes down to what kinds of 'extreme metal' I like more Morbid Angel, Nile and Death and a few more.

For metal rythm's the alnico nailbomb would work well for ALL those bands BUT im not so sure for leads but then again I never really solo on the bridge.   I'd say the A-Bomb bridge could do Kirk Hammett Black Album type leads really well though  but I much prefer a fluid/creamy tone when soloing that you can only get from a neck pup so im not the best person to advise i guess.

I have a cold sweat neck it's cool and it will cover all the bases for those bands you mentioned re shredding solo's and reacts well to piling on the gain so im confident you'll like that.  It'll always done non shredding metal androck soloingtones really well so a very versatile lead pickup.  Some people suggest getting a high output neck pickup to make shredding 'easier' but i think if your technique is decent enough it doesnt matter at all.

I always describe the black hawk bridge as being great for full on metal i.e rythm and its the first bridge pickup where i've been tempted to do leads on....still dont though!  There's a massive range in tones in the bands you've mentioned though and its more extreme than any maiden or symphony x stuff but it could 'pull it off' fo sure.

All I can say is im sure you'll be more than happy with a cold sweat neck and a sinner pickup.
Might be worth considering a Holy Diver for Testament type rythm and leads but ive never played one personally I do fancy one to $%&# though! 

[MetalFanatic]

Hi, and thanks alot for your replies!

There is one possibility that came to my mind. I have another guitar that i would like to change pickups in and that's a Dean Dave Mustaine flying V (Mahogany neck through, mahogany body and TOM bridge). What I think about doing is putting pickups more suited for death metal in that guitar.

So in that case I can use the Ibanez to the other styles i mentioned above (Heavy-, Trash and progressive metal).

I guess this will make it a bit easier for those familiar with bareknuckle pickups to help me out.

I love all those bands you mentioned other than the death metal ones as i'm very specific when it comes down to what kinds of 'extreme metal' I like more Morbian Angel, Nile and Deah for me personally and a few more.

Yeah I love Nile and Death as well, but i wanted to keep the list short.  :D

I too tend to switch over to the neck pickup when playing leads (almost all the time), but sometimes I want a tone that screams more. Then I use the bridge pickup.

I must say I really like Testaments tone on their two latest albums

This is my favorite song theirs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXy6YL6kOJw

I really like the tone on this song

So to sum it up I will use the Ibanez for Heavy-, Trash and progressive metal and the Dean for Death metal.

Oh, and tuning vice the Ibanez will be in either D-standard og E flat-standard and the Dean will probably be in C#-standard most of the time.

[Slartibartfarst42]

To me, that does make it easier.

Ibanez - Holydiver bridge and Emerald neck. This will give you about the most versatile Rock/Metal guitar you can imagine. It's main home will be 80's Metal but it will go well beyond that. Both are excellent rhythm pickups as well as excellent lead pickups. The Holydiver bridge is often mentioned as having the sweetest lead tones of any of the contemporary bridge pickups and lead playing with an Emerald neck is sublime. This is easily my favourite pickup combination.

Dean - A-Bomb bridge and Cold Sweat neck. The A-Bomb is the tightest and most aggressive pickup I've ever tried and will suit your heavier styles very well indeed. The Cold Sweat neck won't have the sweetness of the Emerald but is fantastic for shreddy solos and will fit better with the A-Bomb bridge.

[MetalFanatic]

Hey, and once again thanks for your reply  :D

I will definitely go for the Holy Diver/Emerald combo, but what middle single-coil would you say best fits that pickup combination? I'm guessing the Irish Tour or the Slow Hand.

For the Dean, wouldn't the C-Bomb be tighter than the A-Bomb?

And one more question. Which tools do I need to change pickups? I have never done it before and I certainly won't do it on my Ibanez (My pride and joy  :D) without experience. I do however have an old beginner guitar that I never use anymore, so I can practise on that  :) My local guitar technician charges about 70£ an hour and that's money I'd rather not pay.

[Slartibartfarst42]

The C-Bomb may well be a bit tighter than the A-Bomb but I wouldn't judge Bare Knuckles by the standards of other pickups you may have tried. I know that alnico pickups are supposed to be 'soft' but that really isn't the case here. You'd need something to be surgically tight if you wanted anything tighter than an A-Bomb; it's insane how tight and aggressive this thing is. Before I tried it, I never would have believed it possible from an alnico magnet. I mentioned the A-Bomb because your Ibanez is so thin that the mahogany has very little impact on the tone so it's not like you'll need the extra tightness (such as it is) from the C-Bomb but you may appreciate the sweeter leads the alnico magnet will give you as well as a touch more versatility. I used to think I wanted a pickup that was tight and aggressive until I tried the A-Bomb but it was way too much for me so I sent it back and swapped it for the Holydiver. It's your choice on the Nailbomb if you go alnico or ceramic but don't think that the A-Bomb will be in any way loose because it simply isn't. I found the A-Bomb to be tighter and more aggressive than the Miracle Man.

As for the single coil, I think it depends how much of a volume drop you're prepared to take when switching from the bridge to the middle. Regardless of what the DC Resistance is, none of the single coils will match the power output of a hot humbucker. When I had a bridge model Sinner with a baseplate in the middle and a Miracle Man in the bridge, the volume drop was minimal but it was still there. With a Holydiver in the bridge you'll get a closer match. The other alternative you could look at would be a Trilogy Suite. That would be brighter and have a more traditionally single coil tone but very sweet and fluid. If you drop down to either a Slowhand or Irish Tour, you'll certainly notice the volume change. Some people like that; I didn't and usually, in the middle position it's usually harder for the single coil to keep up because most people place it further away from the strings to leave room for their pick.

As for installing, other than a screwdriver, wire cutter, wire strippers, soldering iron and some solder, I don't think there's much you do need.