Pickups for Carvin HF2?

[Jack]

Hey all, let me start by saying that I have an Aftermath in the bridge of a Schecter Hellraiser and absolutely love the tone; it's thick, brutal, yet still tight and extremely clear especially with complicated chord voicings.

I have recently acquired a Carvin HF2 with a mahogany body, walnut top, 5pc mahogany neck and ebony fretboard. The thing plays like a dream, literally one of the best guitars I have ever touched. However, due to it being a hollow bodied guitar, the tone is somewhat trebly. I was wondering what pickup would be optimal to get a similar character out of it that I do from the Aftermath in mahogany. Alternatively, I was listening to the soundclips for the Stockholm HSP90 and thought it sounded amazing as well. How would that fare in a hollow bodied guitar such as the HF2?

BTW: I play a somewhat straightforward somewhat progressive style of rock that could be described as if He is Legend, Thrice, and Periphery had a musical child, if that helps with the application side of things. Here's a track for reference http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13399338/reiterate.mp3  :lol:

[Telerocker]

The Stockholm doesn't sound like the Aftermath, but has serious output and beef to make your Carvin a tonemonster. You will love the P90-dynamics. At least I do. Just my 2 cents.

[Jack]

Thanks for the reply man! I am definitely considering the stockholm as my choice. I'm curious however as to how it handles the djentier side of things. My music has a lot of complex chords so I'm sure it excels in that area, but I'm just concerned that especially with the hollow body it'll feedback like crazy. I used to have a faded Gibson doublecutaway with P90s that were noisy as $%&# while not playing, so I just want to avoid that.

[Telerocker]

P90's go with some hum, especially with distortion. If you want to avoid that, I would look for humbuckers. The Stockholm is what forummember Nolly (now global moderator) describes as tight enough for metalstyles and downtunings. This pu has a beefy midrange but the chime and character of a P90. Of course a hollowbody has a tendency to feedback earlier then a solidbody. Keep distance from the amp.  :)

[Jack]

Thanks a lot man. Any opinions on the Rebel Yell or any other suggestions? At this point I'm just looking for something to beef up the lows and mids and smooth out the highs without a huge amount of feedback.

[Madsakre]

maybe a nailbomb :)

[Telerocker]

Thanks a lot man. Any opinions on the Rebel Yell or any other suggestions? At this point I'm just looking for something to beef up the lows and mids and smooth out the highs without a huge amount of feedback.

RY is quite bright on the topend and for the rest all about mids.

[darkbluemurder]

At this point I'm just looking for something to beef up the lows and mids and smooth out the highs without a huge amount of feedback.

That does not at all sound like a Rebel Yell - it sounds like a Black Dog would be appropriate.

Cheers Stephan

[Telerocker]

I concur with the BD, however even a Holy Diver might be the answer to tame the trebly side of this guitar.

[Nolly]

The lower output you go, the less low end the pickup will produce and the more open and bright the top end will be (until you get to the AIV/II/III pickups at the extreme low end), so the Black Dog wouldn't really be that appropriate - the top end is distinctly brighter than the Rebel Yell's even if its midrange is thicker/meatier.

If you want to add a lot of beef to the guitar's low end and smooth out the top, you should look to the alnico Warpig. It might sound like overkill but in practise the output will not be greater than your Aftermath because of how much more powerful the latter's ceramic magnets are. In a bright guitar like yours the Warpig will be clear and rich sounding, with plenty of aggression for your heavier moments but also dynamic enough to roll back to good clean and mid-gain tones.

[darkbluemurder]

I am not sure whether a Warpig would match well with a hollow bodied guitar. Too much output and bass could end up in uncontrollable low frequency feedback.

If the Black Dog is really brighter than the Rebel Yell, then maybe Crawlers would be the way to go. High output on the bridge but not too much, and a thick sound.

Cheers Stephan

[Nolly]

Feedback is going to be an issue with a hollowbody when playing with high gain tones at volume, regardless of pickups. The Crawler's voicing isn't well-suited to the styles the OP has referenced.

Having actually played a HF2 with Warpigs I can attest to the fact that it's a great sounding combination and suitable for the OP's needs. :)

[darkbluemurder]

Having actually played a HF2 with Warpigs I can attest to the fact that it's a great sounding combination and suitable for the OP's needs. :)

Very well, then. I haven't yet played such a combination (or either of them) - maybe I should :)