Help me out.

[Snowblind]

Hi this is my first post.

I have a peavey raptor plus exp guitar(strat). I dont want to spend my money in buying a new guitar so I want to put in new pickups. I play all music styles so I need pickups to suit that. So, the best way to go is to have 1 humbucker for high distortion and have a single coil for blues and cleans and tahts it? Or is it more complicated then that?

Thanks.

[ZoSo65]

Well I would suggest checking out Rio Grande Pickups, they kick ***,,,period!
And have a few good options of the combination your looking for. Talk to one of there reps, they know what would be best for your style.

Also check out EMG Pickups, they don't only make active, they have passive also, and make a few good sets basically ready to bolt in.

DiMarzio is another really good option, it was one of the first I was going to use for "Black Betty"

Pickup options can get real frustrating at times, it took me almost 2 months of research to finally make my decision, but remember I was building an axe from the ground up with materials not used before for a guitar. I changed my mind several times during the build according to the sounds I heard while machining the materials and what I knew, combined.
ANyhoo, I'm sure the rest of the crew here will add to this and hopefully be very helpful.

[tot_Ou_tard]

Well I would suggest checking out Rio Grande Pickups, they kick ***,,,period!
And have a few good options of the combination your looking for. Talk to one of there reps, they know what would be best for your style.

Also check out EMG Pickups, they don't only make active, they have passive also, and make a few good sets basically ready to bolt in.

DiMarzio is another really good option, it was one of the first I was going to use for "Black Betty"

Pickup options can get real frustrating at times, it took me almost 2 months of research to finally make my decision, but remember I was building an axe from the ground up with materials not used before for a guitar. I changed my mind several times during the build according to the sounds I heard while machining the materials and what I knew, combined.
ANyhoo, I'm sure the rest of the crew here will add to this and hopefully be very helpful.

Yeah you can't really email Seymour Duncan & say, I've got a guitar built out of a kitchen counter...so what'd'ya think a Jazz or a 59?

[warren0728]

Yeah you can't really email Seymour Duncan & say, I've got a guitar built out of a kitchen counter...so what'd'ya think a Jazz or a 59?

i wonder if moen makes pickups

[ZoSo65]

LOL,,you guys crack me up!!!!

I wish this kind of talk happened while I was building it,,,I would have put a sink drain in it for the hell of it!!!,,,,,hmm that gives me an idea!!!

[tot_Ou_tard]

LOL,,you guys crack me up!!!!

I wish this kind of talk happened while I was building it,,,I would have put a sink drain in it for the hell of it!!!,,,,,hmm that gives me an idea!!!

I figured that you already had a guitar shaped sink in your kitchen. I'm sure it totally pissed your wife off when she caught you cutting the blank for your guitar out of the counter!

[ZoSo65]

I figured that you already had a guitar shaped sink in your kitchen. I'm sure it totally pissed your wife off when she caught you cutting the blank for your guitar out of the counter!

LOL,,,there goes that silly little man again!!!! WOOT!

[warren0728]

I figured that you already had a guitar shaped sink in your kitchen. I'm sure it totally pissed your wife off when she caught you cutting the blank for your guitar out of the counter!

lmao

[ZoSo65]

lmao

HEHE,,Think about it,,,faucets for volume and tone knobs,,,sink drains for pickup covers,,,,soap dispenser for pickup selection switch,,,LOL!!!

[Spudman***]

Snowblind

The Raptors are pretty cool guitars. However, do yo have any effects pedals? Maybe a distortion or a boost pedal of some sort? These can make the Raptor sound much better and the best part...you will probably keep and use those pedals long after you upgrade to a better guitar. I wonder if it worth dropping $100 - $150 in pickups into that guitar?

If you go to sell that guitar later with the pickup upgrades you still won't get that much for the whole package just because of the level of the guitar. Yes you could pull out what ever you put in there, but what if it is years later and you can't find the original pups to put back into it, or the new guitar that you buy has great pickups in it already. Then you'll just have pickups sitting around doing nothing.

I'd advise looking into a Digitech Bad Monkey to make that Raptor sing and hold out for a guitar upgrade as your playing and interest evolve.

[Snowblind]

Snowblind

The Raptors are pretty cool guitars. However, do yo have any effects pedals? Maybe a distortion or a boost pedal of some sort? These can make the Raptor sound much better and the best part...you will probably keep and use those pedals long after you upgrade to a better guitar. I wonder if it worth dropping $100 - $150 in pickups into that guitar?

If you go to sell that guitar later with the pickup upgrades you still won't get that much for the whole package just because of the level of the guitar. Yes you could pull out what ever you put in there, but what if it is years later and you can't find the original pups to put back into it, or the new guitar that you buy has great pickups in it already. Then you'll just have pickups sitting around doing nothing.

I'd advise looking into a Digitech Bad Monkey to make that Raptor sing and hold out for a guitar upgrade as your playing and interest evolve.

At least one guy stays on topic
Well, I was thinking no matter even if in years I will get a new guitar, Ill just put in these pickups because Ill always change stock pickups. I dont know if its worth like 500 dollars of my money to buy a new guitar right now when I can get a new pickups that will fix it up a lot. The amp im getting is really good and It will bring up the raptor.

[Nelskie]

I'd advise looking into a Digitech Bad Monkey to make that Raptor sing and hold out for a guitar upgrade as your playing and interest evolve.

Snowblind - Spudman has some good advice, and I would agree with his line of thinking - esp. for a newer or beginning player. Another thing - nobody's bothered to ask you what kind of amp you play through - a tube or a solid-state? That also makes a difference in what kind of tone you'll be getting with a particular pedal. There are all kinds of pedals ranging from a warm, tube overdrive like the Bad Monkey, to raging nu-metal distortion. The Bad Monkey is indeed a versatile pedal, but may not suit your needs if you play a lot of Metallica-type stuff. Conversely, a heavier-sounding distortion pedal may not suit your needs if you like to noodle around with the blues. See what I'm saying here? It's tough to have it all with just one pedal, one guitar, or one set of pick-ups.

Anyways - pedals are an inexpensive way to experiment with your sound. Behringer has an good-sounding line of cost-effective pedals, some of which may appeal to you. If you want a pedal that'll do a lot of different stuff, you might want to check out the V-TONE GUITAR GDI21 unit, which is actually a mini effects modeler / processor. You can get a bunch of good usable tones - nice cleans, and crunchy overdrives, with just about any guitar through just about any amp, and it's less than $30! I used to have a little Behringer GM-108 amp, and this pedal was based on the same electronics it used. I thought that amp sounded great, too. Might be a good way to get your feet wet.

I've included a couple of links for you to check out. Be sure to check out the sound samples on the first link. The second link is where you can buy one, and the last link is to the Behringer web site. Just scroll down the page to the "Stomp Boxes" section for a little info on each of their pedals. Hope this helps.

http://www.behringer.com/GDI21/index.cfm?lang=ENG
http://www.8thstreet.com/product.asp...Guitar_Effects
http://www.behringer.com/02_products...=GUITAR%20GEAR

[Snowblind]

Thanks for all your responses guys.

I will be shortly getting a vox ad15vt. I know its famous on these boards. I know I will get a wide range of sounds with it. But im just saying that to get EVEN better sounds. I want to swap the pickups. I thought just getting a new pedal wont help get the pinch harmonics sounding better. Only better pickups will help with that. No?

[Spudman***]

Sometimes more gain will do the trick.

Suggestion: get your amp, try the models with lots of gain and see what happens. Be patient and play with your sound a lot. Take weeks or months if you have to, but see if the amp won't make that guitar come to life first. Those pups aren't that bad that they put in the Raptor to begin with. Yes, better ones will change the sound and the response of the guitar. My point is that you might not have to make the change. I was listening to various samples of Fender single coil pups the other day and the change in sound was noticeable between pickup sets, but was it worth $140-$250 to get that sound? Not to me. I can get close just by changing the height of the pickups or boosting the signal to the amp.

Patience is what I recommend. Then do lots of homework before you switch if you still have the desire.

[warren0728]

i have to agree here....i have a 1990's Peavey Predator (Fat Strat Knockoff) and was playing through a low end ss practice amp. I was convinced i needed new pickups so i took the guitar to my local shop....the owner plugged in to a nice tube amp and the thing sounded awesome! He adjusted the neck, adjusted the height of the pickups and told me to forget about a pickup change. It's still one of my favorite guitars to play!

ww

[Nelskie]

I will be shortly getting a vox ad15vt. I know its famous on these boards.

Famous? Vox amps? On this forum? Are you sure you have the right address?

Robert, has Vox offered you stock options at this point? If not, they really should!

[Robert****]

Stock options? No, I'm still waiting for that wall of Vox AC30's to show up!

[Bloozcat]

Unless you know the pickups to be bad (as in, sound crappy in every amp you've tried), I'd look elsewhere first to improve your tone. If I were putting them in order of importance, I think I would list them like this (I'm basing this list on a tube amp in the equation):

1) Guitar set-up - A proper set-up can do wonders for a guitars tone and playability.

2) Amplifier - If the amplifier won't do the job, it won't matter what kind of pickups or effects you put in front of it.

3) Speaker - It's amazing how just changing a speaker can turn an amp you were ready to give up on into a great sounding amp.

4) Tubes - Tubes do make a difference. While I prefer NOS tubes, even newly manufactured tubes can change an amps tone dramatically. Pre-amp tubes on balance will do more to impact tone than output tubes will. This is not to say that you won't hear a difference between crappy stock Sovteks and JJ's, Ei's, etc. (let alone NOS types).

It took awhile (and considerable amounts of money) for me to get my tone priorities in order. I have tried so many different types and brands of pickups that it's ridiculous. Sometimes the guitar need better pickups, but many times not. I've heard marginal quality guitars sound pretty darn good through a great tube amp.

[Tone2TheBone]

Setup suggestion's a good point. Also if you can find one...look for an MRX Micro Amp pedal. Great for boosting your guitar signal. Even just a little teeny tiny bit might be good for you.