Clearest pickup?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mchn13
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mchn13

mchn13

Well-known member
God i know this is going to be subjective as hell, but what do you find to be the clearest/balanced pickup. Bridge humbucker. I currently use SD nazguls in a jackson, and a charvel, in drop C, through a grind into a triple recto.
Its a bludgeoning combo, and i have no complaints, just after years of 5150’s, rectos and tubescreamers, ive gotten tired of the mids upon mids approach, and have been using a more scooped (barely), tone the last couple years.
I have more than enough gain, and cut in a mix, just looking for clarity.
 
glip22 said:
Bare Knuckles have clarity. Try a Miracle Man.
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Maybe. Just pulled a bkp aftermath, and it was high mid city! Had this crazy 1.6k thing going on and I couldn’t unhear it.. ill look at the eq of the miracle man.
 
Maybe a Dimarzio Steve's special John Petrucci pickup, I think it boosts all frequencies across the board. I don't know where it lands output wise but I would say a high output. That being said, I've never cared too much for Dimarzios over the years.

Possibly a straight up PAF pickup that's not overwound, overwinding tends to push mids which you say you don't want.
 
Bare knuckles have exceptional clarity .... I would recommend the Impulse over MiracleMan. Thats just my prefence though, if you want very scooped go MM , slightly scooped Impulse... There are actually 4 or 5 of there pickups that are not mid forward, as others said I would look at the eq graphs on the BK site.
 
harddriver said:
Maybe a Dimarzio Steve's special John Petrucci pickup, I think it boosts all frequencies across the board. I don't know where it lands output wise but I would say a high output. That being said, I've never cared too much for Dimarzios over the years.

Possibly a straight up PAF pickup that's not overwound, overwinding tends to push mids which you say you don't want.
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same. Ive never gotten along with dimarzios for some reason, and im thinking its maybe the output (overwound?), of the Nazgul. ?
Was thinking maybe an sh5, or maybe even an sh6n, which i think they used to sell as a bridge....?
 
the4thlast1 said:
Bare knuckles have exceptional clarity .... I would recommend the Impulse over MiracleMan. Thats just my prefence though, if you want very scooped go MM , slightly scooped Impulse... There are actually 4 or 5 of there pickups that are not mid forward, as others said I would look at the eq graphs on the BK site.
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I’ll look at that one. Have tried holy diver, painkiller, aftermath, miracle man, so far
 
Lundgren m6 is the clearest pickup ive played for high gain. There may be some lower output pickups that give more clarity though?
 
mchn13 said:
Was thinking maybe an sh5, or maybe even an sh6n, which i think they used to sell as a bridge....?
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Funny you should mention the SH6N, it used to be Seymour's hot PAF bridge pickup prior to the Duncan Custom(14K) it was originally called the Seymourizer II pickup and it measures11-12K output, it has just a smidge mid push it is not mid heavy at all, it has alot of clarity like a PAF and less mids than the Custom.

It is absolutely one of my alltime favorite pickups, I have two early 80's Seymourizer II in my two favorite guitars. It might be worth a try for you. Maybe a Motor City pickup in the 9K range might have the PAF clarity you are looking for. Maybe a straight up duncan PAF, known for clarity 8-9K ohms resistance.
 
For clarity and balance the best I’ve tried by far have been the Tone Specific Virtuoso Set and a highoutput Set he hasn’t been released yet. The Virtuoso is paf like in output, not that hot, but very articulate and balanced. They are very expensive though, so if out of budget I’d say maybe Jim Wagner Darkburst or Iron Man

Bare Knuckle’s have good clarity, but sterile tone and the others I mentioned I felt were even better in clarity and nuance of playing and responsiveness. Lundgren M6 has a lot of clarity too (more than BKP), but imo definitely not balanced, but rather quite scooped and trebly. Arcane’s also had good clarity and balance, but still would choose the above mentioned (Tone Specific and Wagner)
 
harddriver said:
Funny you should mention the SH6N, it used to be Seymour's hot PAF bridge pickup prior to the Duncan Custom(14K) it was originally called the Seymourizer II pickup and it measures11-12K output, it has just a smidge mid push it is not mid heavy at all, it has alot of clarity like a PAF and less mids than the Custom.

It is absolutely one of my alltime favorite pickups, I have two early 80's Seymourizer II in my two favorite guitars. It might be worth a try for you. Maybe a Motor City pickup in the 9K range might have the PAF clarity you are looking for. Maybe a straight up duncan PAF, known for clarity 8-9K ohms resistance.
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Alright. Good to know. By the eq charts on the site, it looks like the sh6n has a ton of mids and highs. Damn i used to have a detroiter in an sg years ago and it was sick! But i wasnt playing death metal at the time. I really want to get an sh6n now.
 
Full Shred is my favorite for clarity with gained up amps.
 
Also, if you're willing to think outside the box, I have a set of PRS McCarty's in a decently heavy LP and I'm always shocked when I pick that guitar up, after weeks or whatever playing my ESPs with EMGs or my RGA121 with Black Winters in it.

Clear as plastic wrap....lower output, think they're like 9k bridge and 8k neck, should be A5 in the bridge and A2 neck. Boosted, not an issue but I DO have some amps here that don't really like them.
 
JW Ironman has great articulation and seems pretty balanced to my ears. Love me some Painkiller & the DD too, but I love pushed upper mids...Can't deny the clarity of those two.
 
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