Hi All,
I would really need some help and advice for my next purchase.
This is the background: I play a rig optimized for single-coil strats; the signal goes through loops with boosters, trebleboosters, tape-deck preamp circuits (similar to a very high-gain booster, with a lot of added compression) and a single overdrive - no distortion pedals in sight.
The signal is then fed into a (class-A) THD Bivalve-30 amp; the already hot signal is further amplified by the preamp stage, which drives the power stage (KT-88) even more. The result is a very driven sound, on the bright side, with lots of sustain and very clear note separation, an aggressively quick attack and tight bass. Not a lot of heavy distortion, though.
This setup covers most of my needs - my main references are players like Ritchie Blackmore and Michael Schenker, classic hard rock, if you will.
However, I tend to stray outside of that style in two directions: one is towards blues-rock (think Rory Gallagher, Robin Trower, some Eric Clapton/Cream) and in that context my setup holds its own very well.
On the other end of the spectrum, I also play some "traditional" heavy metal, along the lines of Iron Maiden, Randy Rhoads' Ozzy, etc - the hardest may be things like Metallica.
To cover that area, I have bought a Schecter C-1+, which I am fairly happy with: not expensive and good overall quality, electronics aside.
I am about to swap pickups to get something better than the Duncan-designed version of the JB/Jazz it came with. The guitar is mahogany, with a rosewood fretboard and set neck, which makes for a fairly dark-sounding instrument.
My goal would be to get a higher gain level compared to the strats to be able to play metal in a convincing way, but without mud and with some degree of flexibility to cover a few bases.
My initial thought would be to go for a Holydiver in the neck (because it gets rave reviews for single-note runs and is a typical '80 metal smooth PU, so definitely different than the rest I have but useful for the kind of music I play) and a Rebel Yell in the bridge (because it is tighter, cleans up nicely with the volume control and has a more modern voicing - in some way more similar to the single-coil sound I have but more powerful, so to say), but would welcome any suggestion and feedback about how these PUs (or other ones...) might combine with my setup in terms of woods/effects/amp.
Thanks,
Massimiliano
