Suggestions for Ibanez RG570 pickups

[Dave Simpson]

Going to replace the pickups in an old RG570 and looking for suggestions for the right combination of pickups. It will be a HSH setup. Looking for a versatile combination. Sound wise think Queensryche Empire tones, that's what I'm aiming for.

Bass wood body, maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Thanks in advance.

[Yellowjacket]

Isn't this Holy Diver territory?  The tone you are talking about really reminds me of Dream Theater Images and Words.  Mark 2C+ stuff. 

[Slartibartfarst42]

To me this sounds like a job for the trusty Holydiver bridge and Emerald neck combo. I'd use a Trilogy Suite in the middle.

[GunnarMH]

I have never posted before on this forum, but I just had to step in and say that this is just what I did a couple of weeks ago. I took my trusty old RG570 from 91 and put a Holy Diver in the bridge, a Trilogy Suite in the middle and a Supermassive HBS in the neck. The Holy Diver and the Ibanez works really great to my ears, giving that 80's supercharged metal tone. Very punchy and warm, with a nice mid bite, and I could not be more happy with it. The RG is no longer collecting dust. (The original V1 was quite hot, but also fairly muddy, and I was not too crazy about it.)

Now for the others I have to say that I did not really use the mid or the neck much on this guitar, so that my comments with a grain of salt, but the Trilogy gives excellent clarity, and more than enough output to match the HD. Perhaps too much? Given that my objective with the mod was to make a "guitar that could do everything", I might have chosen something slightly less hot (such as the Irish Tour), but I have really warmed to the Trilogy once I set it higher than I first would have thought advisable. Hard to compare to the S1, as I did not use it much, but much clearer for sure. Might be useful for soloing and some clean work? We'll see.

The Supermassive worked well in giving me that growly P90 sound that still would work well in a more modern context, but I realise that this is somewhat of an idea that is more particular to me (Humbucker/Single coil/P90) and not something that others might enjoy to the same extent. I just find that I tend to use the bridge humbucker in my other guitars, and in my P90 Les Paul, I only use the neck pickup, so with the Ibanez I tried to combine the best of all worlds.

I do not have any experience with other Bare Knuckle models, but for sure I can say that I cannot find fault with the HD and the RG570 as a combination. So seeing others make the same recommendation makes perfect sense. The amps that I have used so far are only the ones in my home; a Laney TI-15 (mid-high gain) and a Fender Bassbreaker 007 (fairly low gain), and it works equally well on both.

[Slartibartfarst42]

I really liked Trilogy Suites with my Holydiver. I tried other combinations and they were all good in their own way but Trilogy Suites are the only singlecoils I'd be tempted to buy again from BKP. I found them to be just hot enough to live with the humbucker bridge and still retain the singlecoil characteristics. I'm experimenting with a singlecoil sized P90 at the moment but for more traditional singles I tend to have settled on DiMarzio these days.

[Dave Simpson]

Sounds like I'll have to give the Holy Diver a try. How about a Cold Sweat neck pickup, anyone have experience with that pickup and a bass wood body?

[Slartibartfarst42]

Like the Emerald, the Cold Sweat is an awesome neck pickup. The tone of the Cold Sweat tends to be a bit more modern than the Emerald. It's a bit tighter and is more tailored to shred. The Emerald has a bit more PAF DNA in it. I found it not quite as tight but still highly articulate and with a richer tone than the Cold Sweat. I also found the cleans better on the Emerald. The Cold Sweat is fantastic and should certainly be your choice if you like to shred while the Emerald delivers more ultimate tone and is a better all-rounder at the expense of a little shredding ability. Both will pair nicely with a Holydiver in the bridge but I think the Emerald is the usual preference here while the Cold Sweat, being that bit more modern and 'Metal' tends to go more with the Miracle Man, which is similar to the Holydiver but tighter, more aggressive and has a bit of a scoop in the upper mids. 

[Lucas]

When it comes to Cold Sweat neck pickup I tend to agree with nearly everything that has been said before.
I have CS in my all mahogany Dean Cadillac. As far as I`m concerned, CS still have some PAF DNA as well, it is not totally modern voiced. So far I have two BKP necks, CS and Aftermath and in comparison Aftermath sounds more modern and a bit more fluid than CS.
From my experience I would say that CS is quite loud and it does have quite a bit of bass too but it might be my all mahogany set neck guitar.
For me, the best part of CS are definitely cleans.