Help Deciding on Passive Pickups for ESP Eclipse

homespun said:
I was going to suggest Lollar dBs but the Imperials are super nice, too.
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That's also a solid choice.

I went imperials to make mine more rock and roll oriented rather than metal oriented. Also swapped out the nut for bone. It's maybe a little on the bright side given it's not a rosewood fretboard but it can easily be EQ'd out.
 
Wow. Thanks for all the responses! Looks like I have more research to do haha.

It's funny... in some prior threads it seemed like the Custom received a ton of love and it's one of the options ESP offers on the Eclipse (I think for their USA models) so I thought it'd be a shoo-in. I also really liked the tone that SonicDriveStudios got with the LTD Phoenix-1000 that comes stock with a Custom in the Bridge, but I totally realize that channel and many others on youtube are experts at mixing/post-processing.

Sorry I can't respond to every reply at the moment, but a few thoughts:
  • The 24v mod seems interesting as does the 57/66 set (which ESP also uses sometimes), but even though it's not a big deal replacing the batteries I don't think I want to do actives at least not right now.
  • Some people mentioned the Custom Hybrid. I am intrigued by that pickup and I noticed ESP uses them on some of their models. I guess my only concern would be if it can handle Drop C and remain fairly tight.
  • Some of the other smaller pickup makers mentioned such as ToneNerd and Wagner I'll have to look into more. I've heard a lot of positives about the Roxy.
 
mentoneman said:


tone specific. some of the best pickups i’ve played in many years. very similar to my tom holmes in PAF clarity. not cheap.
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Agreed. They are the non-vintage pickups I still use

The set that impressed me most actually was the 1950 Tele deluxe. I’ve got some real pre-cbs early ‘60’s Tele pickups and actually like the TS Deluxe set a little more
 
To me, the Duncan Custom is better for rhythm... has a nice growl to it with chords, but a little too high midrangey and shrill for leads. I found the natural lead EQ sounds Kirk Hammett-ish. JB is a better balance if you want something that truly does everything well. The '59 Bridge pickup sounds a little more low midrange (think "Sometimes She Cries" by Warrant and a lot of Poison). If you have a high gain amp and can sacrifice some gain without losing compression, the Screamin Demon is a great, defined and clean-sounding pickup for leads and clean work, and can get you by with chord work. There is no pickup that does it all... always a tradeoff. You'll need several guitars for several applications. The Distortion will get you a crunchy Ratt/Dokken sound (lots of gain and treble), but a little too hot to nail the Lynch lead sound. Once again, the JB can do all of these things to a degree without excelling in any of them.

But still: there are a zillion pickups out there. I am really impressed with Bare Knuckle. If you play with lots of bending and feel, I have to urge you to get away from active pickups. The X series from EMG are a little more flexible, but still sound and feel sterile to me. I can see having a guitar with EMG 81/85 for rhythm-heavy thrash work.

It helps to be handy with a soldering iron and experiment with different pickups. You'd be surprised how different they all sound and feel.
And the wood in your guitar will have a little bit of an effect on your tone... just not as much as the electronics. All you can do is experiment and determine what works for you.
 
ners said:
I have this guitar and replaced my EMGs with Lollar Imperials
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I've heard a lot of good things about the Lollars. Are the regular Imperials able to play drop tuned metal well?

Ultradeaf said:
To me, the Duncan Custom is better for rhythm... has a nice growl to it with chords, but a little too high midrangey and shrill for leads. I found the natural lead EQ sounds Kirk Hammett-ish. JB is a better balance if you want something that truly does everything well. The '59 Bridge pickup sounds a little more low midrange (think "Sometimes She Cries" by Warrant and a lot of Poison). If you have a high gain amp and can sacrifice some gain without losing compression, the Screamin Demon is a great, defined and clean-sounding pickup for leads and clean work, and can get you by with chord work. There is no pickup that does it all... always a tradeoff. You'll need several guitars for several applications. The Distortion will get you a crunchy Ratt/Dokken sound (lots of gain and treble), but a little too hot to nail the Lynch lead sound. Once again, the JB can do all of these things to a degree without excelling in any of them.

But still: there are a zillion pickups out there. I am really impressed with Bare Knuckle. If you play with lots of bending and feel, I have to urge you to get away from active pickups. The X series from EMG are a little more flexible, but still sound and feel sterile to me. I can see having a guitar with EMG 81/85 for rhythm-heavy thrash work.

It helps to be handy with a soldering iron and experiment with different pickups. You'd be surprised how different they all sound and feel.
And the wood in your guitar will have a little bit of an effect on your tone... just not as much as the electronics. All you can do is experiment and determine what works for you.
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Hey thanks for the rundown on those various Duncans. Have you tried the Custom/Hybrid or Custom 5 by them? Both the other guitarist and myself play rhythm and lead in our band, but I definitely do a lot a lot of bends and slower sustained parts (am nowhere as skilled of an alternate picker as the other guitarist). Had a JB in a Schecter and remember liking, but not loving it. I think I might reach out to Scott at ToneNerd and ask his recommendation as I know the Roxy is supposed to kind of be an improved JB based on what I've read. I think you're right though that I'll probably just have to experiment. I can only learn so much from reading reviews, watching youtube vids, listening to clips, etc.



Also, kind of a dumb question, but I noticed some pickup sites give you the choice of a single conductor wire vs 4 conductor wire whereas others like the Seymour Duncan site don't. How do you know which option (single conductor vs 4) to choose? Thanks again!
 
Akira said:
I've heard a lot of good things about the Lollars. Are the regular Imperials able to play drop tuned metal well?
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I think so, but it'll mostly come down to if you like a PAF voicing. It's not a high output pickup, but if you've got a high gain amp then that's not an issue.

It's probably not the most common choice for drop tuned metal, but I like it.
 
Akira said:
Had a JB in a Schecter and remember liking, but not loving it.
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What part of the JB do you want to expand on or improve on?

For instance, the Dimarzio Norton will give you a same kind of harmonics, bright and crunchy, but less screechy than the JB can sometimes be. It's also a lot tighter than the JB, but definitely with less low-end (not THIN though).
If you have a thin sounding guitar already or you want a certain level of beefiness in the low-end, then the Duncan Custom 5 will be a better choice.

The Custom 5 will have less high-mid screechyness too than the JB, but also it behaves more politely, meaning you'll lose some of those awesome harmonics as well.

Compared to Celestion speakers, if the JB was a T75, the Custom 5 would be more like the K100 (and the Norton would be more akin the V30).
 
BKP Miracle Man, or I think the Duncans will work. I've never liked the Duncans, but I think if your style is 80's you can pull it off.
 
I'd stick with the EMG's, plus they look really cool in your guitar. I've compared my passive loaded guitars to my EMG loaded guitars and for anything metal, EMG's win. Way tighter sound. Duncan distortion was a close second though, it's a great pickup for metal, and has a nice cutting sound. Fairly tight low end.
 
I've bought several pickups over the years to put in my Eclipse II but always chicken out, because the guitar sounds great with the EMGs, I'm afraid it'll ruin the guitar for me if I change them. It's the only guitar I still own with EMGs. Replaced all the others years ago. However, I've always liked them in the ESP, I just feel like it COULD be better... Maybe someday the BKP Warpigs or Duncan Custom Custom set I have will make it in there... Maybe I should try the 24v mod first??
 
Definitely NOT replace EMGs with a Duncan Custom Custom if you're after a tight, punchy aggressive metal tone.
The Custom Custom is loosey-goosey, a lot lower output and my experience with it was : couldn't sell it fast enough.
For someone who's not after the most high output pickups and plays a fair share of classic rock and blues from time to time, the CC to me still was too limp and lackluster.
 
Ultradeaf said:
the Screamin Demon is a great, defined and clean-sounding pickup for leads and clean work, and can get you by with chord work.
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I still think the Demon would be the best Duncan humbucker if it had some more mids and a lil compression.
 
MatrixClaw said:
I've bought several pickups over the years to put in my Eclipse II but always chicken out, because the guitar sounds great with the EMGs, I'm afraid it'll ruin the guitar for me if I change them. It's the only guitar I still own with EMGs. Replaced all the others years ago. However, I've always liked them in the ESP, I just feel like it COULD be better... Maybe someday the BKP Warpigs or Duncan Custom Custom set I have will make it in there... Maybe I should try the 24v mod first??
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Heck if you have ceramic warpigs already then they are certainly worth a shot. They are not as bassy or lacking of highs as their eq chart would lead one to believe. Actually they are very juicy and articulate at the same time.
 
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