Help with pickup choice for Ibanez S guitar

67mike

67mike

Well-known member
I picked up an ibanez s1520fb last week.

Awesome axe...except the quantum pickups are a muddy mess.

Have a Semour Duncan Trembucker and a Dimarzio Breed Neck on order.

Just wondering if anyone here can suggest a better set for this are before they ship me the above?

I was impressed by the AT1 and Satur8 bridge pickups in a few guitars I played at the store......

Thanks.
 
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Thanks for the flood of info.......lol

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Haven't played that model so I can't really say. Not sure what Bubinga does but the S I had was all maple with mahogany body. Bright sounding. I threw in a tone zone and it was the perfect swap.
 
Got an '97 S540 myself and the original QM1/2 pickups were kinda muddy an bland too.
Had an Evo set in it: too bright.
PAF Pro in neck= too middy/nasal.
Super Distortion bridge= a bit much.

Settled on a Tonezone bridge, Fast track 1 middle and Air Norton neck. Volume pot switched to a push pull one to coil split them. Awesome tones. 👍
AT-1 might be better (less flubby probably) than the Tone Zone in the low mids.
But the Air Norton and FT-1 are absolute keepers.
Breed Neck might work too indeed.
I did place my Air Norton with the pole pieces towards the bridge for a little extra clarity.
 
Thanks for the help.

I think I am going to give the jb/breed a try.......dimarzio discontinued the breed....so glad I snagged one ( you can still get em at the custom shop...but when I hear "custom shop" I look to get screwed on pricing.)

If they don't do it....I will order up some of your suggestions.
Much thanks.
 
67mike said:
Thanks for the help.

I think I am going to give the jb/breed a try.......dimarzio discontinued the breed....so glad I snagged one ( you can still get em at the custom shop...but when I hear "custom shop" I look to get screwed on pricing.)

If they don't do it....I will order up some of your suggestions.
Much thanks.
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If you find the JB is too flubby in the lows, but you love the harmonics and kerrang of it, the Dimarzio answer would be: Norton.
If you find the JB is flubby, but the Norton might be too tight/lean in the low end, Duncan's answer=SH-14 Custom 5. Only downside would be less 'harmonic mids' in this one, but it's bigger AND tighter sounding than the JB with a great split tone.
 
Speeddemon said:
If you find the JB is too flubby in the lows, but you love the harmonics and kerrang of it, the Dimarzio answer would be: Norton.
If you find the JB is flubby, but the Norton might be too tight/lean in the low end, Duncan's answer=SH-14 Custom 5. Only downside would be less 'harmonic mids' in this one, but it's bigger AND tighter sounding than the JB with a great split tone.
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Is the jb known to be flubby?
 
Very guitar dependant, but yes, the low end *can* be on the loose side.
Also, in humbucking mode, the JB will be actually darker when playing clean stuff than a Super Distortion.
But when coil split, the JB sounds better (a bit louder and wider) than the Super D.
Norton, AT-1 and Custom 5 all split really nice.
 
My first S had the V7/V8 :bleh:, and they sucked for anything but single notes. New one I bought recently came with Tone Zone and Air Norton, and they are pretty damn good, great clarity but not as much power as the Dreamcatcher/Rainmaker. May also try the Dimarzio Pandemonium, they are made for similar thin mahogany/maple top guitars.
 
I think this jb trembucker ( which I ordered) sounds pretty great in this video....but perhaps I am nuts?

 
It does sound good sure, but he's playing mostly shreddy lead style. That's where the JB usually shines and a little extra thickness helps the single notes sound bigger...but when you're palm-muting/chugging on the low E string, that's when the loose low-end might show. But as I said, it's really guitar dependant; in some guitars it's absolute magic...in others the looseness and screechy high-mids/highs becomes annoying.
I'm not taking it out of my Kramer SM-1, because the whole idea of that guitar was 80's shred stuff. ;-)
 

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Speeddemon said:
It does sound good sure, but he's playing mostly shreddy lead style. That's where the JB usually shines and a little extra thickness helps the single notes sound bigger...but when you're palm-muting/chugging on the low E string, that's when the loose low-end might show. But as I said, it's really guitar dependant; in some guitars it's absolute magic...in others the looseness and screechy high-mids/highs becomes annoying.
I'm not taking it out of my Kramer SM-1, because the whole idea of that guitar was 80's shred stuff. ;-)
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I don't play the doom stuff, just as long as I can rip some Sabbath on it...that works for ne.
 
67mike said:
I don't play the doom stuff, just as long as I can rip some Sabbath on it...that works for ne.
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oh sure, in that case you should be fine.
I typically play more thrash/power metal, classic heavy metal, so I need a good level of tightness in response, both from the guitar and the amp. You won't see me play Orange amps any time soon for instance. :sneaky:
 
DiMarzios. FRED in the bridge, Bluesbucker in the neck with the screw coil facing toward the neck. Get a push/push 500K pot and replace your tone control with it. Then wire the Bluesbucker to the switch on that pot. Wire it for series/parallel or series/split. The output of that switch on the push/push goes to the pickup selector switch. Split gives a great Strat tone!
 
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