Hard Rock/Metal Pickup suggestions

[grungemaster]

I'm thinking about building a guitar suited for hard rock and metal, and I was wondering if anybody had experience with such projects and what pickups they used. Thanks.

[bcdon]

I love my Seymour Duncan Blackouts, check it out: http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php/16408-Blacked-out-twice-in-as-many-days!!?highlight=

[marnold]

The older I get, the more I think that the best pickup for metal is the humbucker in your guitar. Hook it up to a metal pedal and have fun. If I were to build a guitar from scratch, I'd probably use something like a SD Screamin' Demon, and not just because I'm a Lynch fan. It's low (relatively) output and reasonably bright, more PAF-like. The cool thing with that is that if you want to play clean, you can still get a very nice clean sound, unlike the muddiness you'll get with highly-overwound passive pickups. For heavier stuff, let your metal pedal/Tubescreamer/amph take it from there. Even with a high-output humbucker, you can get a pretty nice clean sound by hooking up a push-pull to run the coils in parallel instead of series.

Having said all that, I thought at one point that I'd yank the JB out of my DK2M and put in a Screamin' Demon. I haven't found any reason to spend the money. The JB sounds great to me and if I want cleaner stuff I can switch to the Jazz in the neck or go middle position.

With my old Floyd Rose guitar, I spent a lot of money on SD and Dimarzio pickups (search here for all the gory details). Did they make an improvement? Yeah, but it was remarkably subtle. In retrospect, I think the reality was that I was just trying to find an excuse to like that guitar. I love my DK2M so I have no reason to mess with it, beyond the little trem stop (for string changes) and the treble bleed cap I added. The good news is that I can spend more time playing instead of messing with the guitar itself.

[FrankenFretter]

I think what the Rev said holds true, but I'm the last guy to tell you not to change pickups. I have one guitar that has had four different sets of humbuckers in it, and I'm not likely done with that one yet. One thing I would add is that [from what I've read] pinch harmonics are easier with hotter pickups. I do fully agree with Matt about the Metal pedal. I only have one guitar that cannot sound like a metal monster with the right pedal, and that's my semi-hollow Epi Flamekat. It just wasn't meant to be, and that's okay.

Another thing you have to consider is the style that you want to emulate. Pickup choice is so VERY subjective. If there's a player you especially like, find out what he or she uses. That's a good jumping off point. There are also budget alternatives to the better known brands, and there's always the custom pickup winder guys if you want to go that route. I've found several custom shops that charge less for a set than you'd pay for some Duncans.

Best of luck, and let us know what you choose!

[Katastrophe]

I loves me some EMGs, but the Rev is right. A PAF style passive humbucker with the right pedal will get you there.

[Jimi75]

Made good experiences with the Seymour Duncan SH-1 and SH-4. They are very similar to the Jeff Beck HB.

[Tig]

Lamb of God guitarist Mark Morton primarily uses Seymour Duncan SH-1 59's. You'd expect metal guys to use super high output pickups like the SH-13 Dimebucker (16.25 K DC resistance), and many do. I guess it depends on where they choose to get their edgy and distorted tones, at the pickups, an effects chain, or the amp.

The ability to have individual string definition within a high gain chord is what I'd look for. This is where active pickups might come into play.

I have a set of Seymour Duncan SH-6 Distortion ceramic pickups that came with a used guitar and they have a great metal driven tone, especially the bridge.

[marnold]

Made good experiences with the Seymour Duncan SH-1 and SH-4. They are very similar to the Jeff Beck HB.

The SH-4 _is_ the "Jeff Beck" aka JB pickup. IIRC, Beck decided that he wasn't going to use/endorse it so the full name was lost but the initials live on. My DK2M has the TB-4, the "Trembucker" version of the SH-4, that is, the slightly wider version for guitars with Fender/Floyd string spacing.

[deeaa]

My experience with all this is mostly summed this way, in case you're after a 'normal' guitar sound, not some extreme buzz galore/numetal:

- IF getting your sound largely from SS; SS preamp, or amp, lots of rack gear > get a nice passive pup like an SD Distortion, dimebucker, whatever, because they will give you more color and tone to fight the SS gear's inherent lack of liveliness and tube harmonics.

- IF getting your sound largely from tubes; tube preamp and poweramp, rather direct line from guitar to amp > get active pups like SD blackouts, EMG85, whatever, because they will help retain tightness and bite sometimes lacking in 'softer' sounding all tube gear, as well as help to squeeze every ounce of tone from those tubes with less noise and more power.

Also one option is to keep the existing pups and install an onboard preamp like EMG PA-2 or such.

[grungemaster]

Thanks guys. I'll let you know when I'm done.