Pickups for Session Style Music

[mbchepburn]

I'm looking for an HSH BKP combo that would be great for University when studying to be a session musician. Any ideas? The guitars an Ibanez S 570.

[Kiichi]

I have that same guitar and while do not know a lot about the sound a session gitarist needs (I guess versatility is important and I need that too in my tastes), I fitted mine with a Mule neck, Irish Tour middle and Rebell Yell bridge.
This gives me a very versatile axe with capabilitys from clean up until metal and vintage to modern (more vintagy though). It is like classic rock, blues and heavy metal leaning but can do most things in general I think.

Donīt know how you like your bridge, the RY is rather bright, so if you want darker maybe something else will do. If I want the bridge a bit darker and softer I add the middle.
The middle is just the perfect single coil for this kind of combo for me, as it is vintage hot, has real single coil character and works with the other PUīs.
The neck is bit darker and softer, I use it mainly for soft singing leads, but again this is a versatile PU.

Donīt know if it is what you need or want, but it is a combo that works really well for me.

[Telerocker]

Abraxas-bridge, Irish Tour-middle, Mississippi Queen-neck.

Just my idea of a versatile set.

[XxpapertigerxX]

I think it would be easier for people to help you if you said what your personal tastes are first, because one player's "versatile" setup can be very different from another player's. It also depends on what you mean by versatile, because to some people that could simply mean pickups that sound good both clean and dirty. What styles are you looking to cover?

[mbchepburn]

Well I already have a Ceramic Nailbomb/ Cold Sweat combo so I've got the metal aspect covered. I'm looking for something that can play more a disciplined type of music tbh. Something which can plan clean chords, but can also play singing leadings. I'm kind of after a beautiful sounding guitar tonally if that helps

[Kiichi]

For most clean chords the RY bridge would be a bit bright and agressive in my book, but the Mule neck and IT middle especially (the SC qualitys really come out when played clean) work well for my tastes.
I think the Mule does deliver the singing, soft and warm leads too, but then again I have heard much good about the MQ neck, I hear it is awesome.

I am not sure which PU is right for you now, but I am rather certain about the IT, as telerocker recommended as well.

For me versatile is that I can not only play clean and dirty, but also cover a lot of ground tone wise, fitting a lot of different styles. I got a bright and a dark humbucker + a SC, Vintage and modern (vintage leaning though), one HB agressive, the other soft, etc.
Just a lot of variety in general I think.

[Telerocker]

I thought Abraxas, cause it has more beef then the Mule, but still sounds open and will split well with the IT. The MQ in the neck is just for versatility, cause I think P90-necktones are great, but it could be a Mule- or an Abraxas-neck too.