So I've got this Ibanez RGD...and she needs new pups!

[BWofDOOM]

Like the subject line states, I've recently purchased an Ibanez RGD2127fx. This instrument is by far the best I've ever owned as far as quality (it puts my Gibson explorer to shame) and I'm really happy with it, except one small detail. The tone. It feels great to play, but the tone is just lacking something. This something, for lack of a better term, I'm going to call "character". Basically, the pickups just aren't cutting it. I'm leaning toward a calibrated set of VHII pickups. Anyone have any suggestions or insight on these pups? Whatever I get for this guitar would be my first set of Bare Knuckles.

I'm going to use this guitar to cover a bunch of musical ground. It is a 7 string, but I like the "folk metal" of Opeth. Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch are another couple of bands that represent what I'd like to be able to do on this guitar. So I'm going to need really clean tones and relatively dirty ones out of these pickups. Cleans for the folksy parts and dirty tones for that black/death metal grind. That's why I'm leaning toward stuff in the vintage hot range. Hopefully someone out there can help me out, I'd definitely appreciate it.

[fhn_lopes]

Hard to tell, what kind of amp do you play? do you need output?

There's some good choices at the contemporary section as well.... there's some good choices for 7 strings such as cold sweat, nailbomb, AM... I'm assuming your guitar is baswood and the tone you're getting now is "dull", right?

Tell us some more about the rest of the gear...

[Telerocker]

If you have a highgainamp, you could go the route of a Black Dog and use a booster. The BD is quite tight and often a choice for sevenstrings if it has to be a vintage(hot)pickup. If you want way more output, I would look at the alnico Nailbomb, that will clean up very well.

[BWofDOOM]

Yes it is basswood, and dull is a brilliant way to put how I feel about the guitar's tone. Other important parts of my sound (at least for right now) are an Orange Dual Terror 30 watt Head with a closed back 1x12 cabinet. The only pedals I'm using include an MXR Phase 90, a boss chromatic tuner, and an Orange channel switcher footswitch. I've heard good things about the nailbombs, too. It doesn't have to be vintage hot, but it does have to handle the low B (and I do keep the guitar in standard 7 string tuning) and be able to clean up well.

Also I'm really giddy that I can get Bare Knuckles 7 string models in purple. Just had to mention that :D

[Kiichi]

I must ask as it was not clear though quite important: Is the sound of the guitar dull when plugged in of when accoustic?

The tonal character of the guitar when played unplugged are quite essential too. My Ibanez S series also sounded dull when plugged in, but that was due to the horrible Infinity pickups in there....bah. The guitar itself was rather different, a nicely tight sound, not a lot of low and as to be expected, with a classic rock voice to it which I build upon.