Clearest pickup?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mchn13
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Rdodson said:
You guys all have rigs with more than enough gain. You want clarity? Try the SD '59n.

It is what Holdsworth used (I know he had a "signature" pickup, blah blah blah). I use it. It is a hum bucker with a Telecaster EQ. Fantastic.
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Will look at it. A ‘59 did come to mind..
 
I will throw out the Duncan Custom Custom SH11 as I am pretty much in love with this pickup. Alnico II

 
If you are looking for balance and clarity, I highly recommend the Duncan PATB-1b.
 
mchn13 said:
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.
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What is the ohms resistance of the Detrioter? 9K? I thought it was 14K for some reason maybe not? The Detroiter from the clips I've heard have clarity yet grinds like a great PAF. You should be able to pick up a Sh6N for a reasonable price to try. I definitely feel it is less middy than the duncan custom, I have an old 80's Duncan Custom in another guitar and I tend to prefer the Seymorizer II to the Custom, not that the 14K Custom doesn't sound great but like you I have been getting away from higher output pickups and I have been playing the SH6N seymorizer II for alot of years now and it is home to my ears. :m4:

My favorite PAF pickup is the Duncan Model 78 EVH pickup at 9K, even though is has an A2 magnet it's not soft at all in the low end, string attack or percussiveness, it dynamic as hell and it just depends on how hard you play and how you dig in to the strings, it can be rude, it can grind, it can be clean... it's a fabulous PAF that won't break the bank and I tried most of the great PAFs out there. All my Duncans have been wound by MJ at duncan even my old ones. I had a set of Arcane clone PAF's but I never got around to installing them and I sold them, I wanted to hear them, I just didn't have enough desire to pull out what I already liked.

If I were you I'd try the standard Duncan PAF, model 78 and the SH6N, then pick your favorite.

I've heard alot of good things about Wagner pickups as well as Braintheory suggested.
 
Smashedguitarist said:
I really hate to pick on you, but damn. It is pretty much known that trolling a post is in bad taste. Maybe the title interested you and then you got butthurt because it was dirty metal heads. You are a "well known" member, and I feel like I have seen your posts where you don't act like an ignorant child, so it further surprises me. Just think when gibson and fender were making electric guitars, and all the folk/bluegrass guys were talking about what an abomination it was. You wonder why someone would call you a boomer? I don't like justin bieber, but i don't go stalk his youtube videos to talk about it. Sometimes I click on a post of a clip, and it will be labeled high gain, but it is high gain like a tubescreamer on a fender twin, and every fiber of my being wants to set the person on fire that thinks that is high gain, but I just get out of the post without being an asshole because I am an adult.
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Nope. I’m doubling down. Drop C cuts through the mix like a limp dick compared to closer to standard tuning. The frequencies that both guitars and most amps that are built benefit from “mid” frequency ranges. Ever wonder why bass amps need so much more power?
 
scottosan said:
Nope. I’m doubling down. Drop C cuts through the mix like a limp dick compared to closer to standard tuning. The frequencies that both guitars and most amps that are built benefit from “mid” frequency ranges. Ever wonder why bass amps need so much more power?
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Fair enough. I don't really want to argue with you, honestly. I just have one question. Does a 7 string guitar not cut through the mix? I only ask because it is much lower than drop C or drop C#
 
Smashedguitarist said:
Fair enough. I don't really want to argue with you, honestly. I just have one question. Does a 7 string guitar not cut through the mix? I only ask because it is much lower than drop C or drop C#
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depends on the player. I do scratch my head when I see a 7 or 8 string player do a song or demo and never leave the first 2 strings. It’s like they need more strings to use less, doesn’t make sense to me. That said, using the extra range to augment the existing ranges is just that. Unfortunately it’s the earlier where it’s a lot of fretboard gymnastics without being able to discern one chord/note to the next. Do get me wrong. I like heavy, but for me it’s all about the “less is more” or moderation approach.
 
I understand. I like when people tape their treble strings so they don't make noise. But I think there are a lot of guys making badass music in low tunings. And those bass strings are pretty addictive.
 
Maybe you have listened to this video, maybe not. It is a great resource for a starting point. There are a lot of ways you could go. BKP Rebel Yells, Black Dogs, Mules, Riff Raffs all have a nice balance to my ears. A lot of this of course depends on your guitar etc. The SD Black Winters have been a pleasant surprise to me and are nice for many things. The Alpha and Omega set is very articulate and nice for all kinds of things. The Sentient neck is a great neck pickup and plays well with a lot of other pickups. I have been impressed with the Suhr Thornbucker pickup for balance and clarity. If I know how you feel about the sets I listed and what you gravitate towards from that comparison video I can further help point you in a direction with more options. Good luck!

 
Funny someone mentioned the '59. I have a lil'59 in a vintage strat, and plugged into my 5150 (currently with el34s) with a TS boost and it had one of the clearest articulate tones i'd head from that amp in a while.
 
RockyStar said:
Maybe you have listened to this video, maybe not. It is a great resource for a starting point. There are a lot of ways you could go. BKP Rebel Yells, Black Dogs, Mules, Riff Raffs all have a nice balance to my ears. A lot of this of course depends on your guitar etc. The SD Black Winters have been a pleasant surprise to me and are nice for many things. The Alpha and Omega set is very articulate and nice for all kinds of things. The Sentient neck is a great neck pickup and plays well with a lot of other pickups. I have been impressed with the Suhr Thornbucker pickup for balance and clarity. If I know how you feel about the sets I listed and what you gravitate towards from that comparison video I can further help point you in a direction with more options. Good luck!

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ive watched that so many times, its a pretty great reference video imo. Ireally like the tone i get with the nazguls, and thats where i landed a couple years ago, after trying a bunch. I just feel like they are pretty hot and always looking to improve the clarity of my signal is all. The omega looks pretty interesting.
 
mchn13 said:
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.
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the new duncan candy eric steckel model is pretty damn clear. tight as well as punchy, as well as being very articulate
 
mooncobra said:
the new duncan candy eric steckel model is pretty damn clear. tight as well as punchy, as well as being very articulate
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I did hear some chatter about those Eric Steckel PAF models, I've listened to some his stuff and I have to say they are pretty nice. I saw they were Alnico III magnets. I love my EVH model 78 but I may check out the Steckel's.
 
mchn13 said:
ive watched that so many times, its a pretty great reference video imo. Ireally like the tone i get with the nazguls, and thats where i landed a couple years ago, after trying a bunch. I just feel like they are pretty hot and always looking to improve the clarity of my signal is all. The omega looks pretty interesting.
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The Omega is great IMO. I really like the Holcomb set. I am also very pleasantly surprised with the Black Winter set. Far more versatile than the marketing makes them out to be. If you like the clarity and articulation without the feeling of being so hot the Omega may be perfect for you. On a side note, what do you think of the Pegasus? My personal findings and the findings of several of my friends on the pickup triangle of the Nazgul, Omega, Pegasus is that the Omega is ALWAYS the constant while some like the Nazgul and not the Pegasus or vice versa. None of us have tried the three and said the Omega is not good. I don't know if that helps or not but I hope it does. :)
 
Got around to trying Black Winters in one of the Prestiges; it’s pretty clear even under high gain. Dig em, not my favorite but they’re good. The neck is actually really good for clean picked stuff.
 
I don't care for the tone, but the Seymour Duncan Jason Becker Perpetual Burn has LOADS of clarity. So does an EMG 85 in the bridge. if you like single coils, a Duncan Quarter Pound had great clarity.I love the tone of my EMG 57 and Fluence KSE pickups. If you want lots of clarity, try dialing the gain back and go for lower- medium output pickups.
 
Schecter Custom Shop stuff is criminally underrated. Very much ion the vein of Anderson pickups with the unique magnet configuration for most of their pickups (Tom used to wind pickups for Dave Schecter). Very clear and articulate even with tons of gain. I dig the Superrock in my USA California Custom Elite, and have a San Andreas on the way just to try something hotter. The Apocalypse seems to be pretty cool too.

https://www.schecterguitars.com/pickups/humbucker-series

Here's a quick comparison of the high gain stuff:

 
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