ESP Eclipse PUP Recommendations

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Beyond Black

Beyond Black

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My buddy just bought a new ESP Eclipse and he wants to change out the EMG's. He's looking for good hard rock, metal tones with some nice cleans. Not a boutique kinda guy, so probably thinking some Duncan's or something similar. I understand an Eclipse is basically an LP, but what do you Eclipse guys like in yours?
 
If he hasn’t ripped out the emg wiring yet he might want to give the Fishman Fluence Modern pups a try. I don’t personally have them but I hear really good things about them.
 
The JB/59 combo is the other stock option. I've gone with a Norton/36th Anniversary PAF combo in a few, but the Norton is too low mid focused for some.
 
^ JB/59 is hard to beat for the passive route, tried and true. So many players use/have used them.
For a good reason, they sound amazing! Can cover tons of ground.
If you wanna stick with active: the Het set is the clearest emg’s IMO.
 
Not sure which model he has, but I think all Eclipse's are mahogany body and mahogany neck with rosewood or ebony fretboard. With that combo and wanting to stay to the major pickup (non-boutique) category, I'd look at anything that's rated as "high" output on the pickup website and has a mid or treble spike in the EQ curve. All pickups (Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio) will have an EQ curve for each pickup.

I think Seymour Duncan Black Winters would sound outstanding in the eclipse for metal/rock tones.
 
If I had EMG’s equipped I’d definitely pop in a Fishman just to see. They can accept the EMG quick connect but the downside is you can only use the one voicing. But that’s definitely a good way to test to see if it’s worth rewiring for them permanently.

If he is set on Passives, I was very impressed with Balaguer Feral. The EQ on them is a bit heavy but once I dialed my amp to compensate the tone was glorious. Full, open and still brutal.

TBH they replaced Bareknuckle Miracle Man. Either way, whatever he decides I am more of a fan of medium output pups vs. super hot. Just sounds better to me.

I guess for a top 5 I would be looking at Balaguer, Lower output BKP, Arcane a USED Motor City or I’ve been wanting to try Peters pickups.
 
Keep the active wiring and try SD Blackouts. I love them. All the clarity, crunch and low noise of actives, without the sterility and compression.

Second pick would be SD Black Winters.
 
Try the 18v mod on the EMGs first. I have them in my eclipse and love it, but only after the mod. Whole lot cheaper than new p'ups
 
EMG 57/66 set. I replaced my 81/60 that came in my Eclipse I CTM with the 57/66, it sounds great! I like the kind off passive feel they give when playing, and there is much more string definition
 
I really like the Gibson 57 Classic pickups. They have a real sweet sounding top end IMO
 
Right now My Eclipse Standard has Dimarzio Super D bridge & PAF 36neck , loving it. Previously EMGs, then PAF 36 bridge and neck. It killed with any of these, just my mood changes and so do the pickups.
 
Thanks for all of the suggestions! I'm forwarding this to him. :thumbsup:
 
If he has the 81 in bridge and 85 in neck, maybe he can try swapping the pickups if he didn't. For standard to drop D tuning it's the better setup in my opinion, for lower than that the 85 becomes muddy.

It's free and takes about 5 minutes to do if he has the quick connect EMG's.
 
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