NGD.........and need pickup advice

  • Thread starter Thread starter EyesOfTheSouth
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EyesOfTheSouth

EyesOfTheSouth

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FedEx dropped off this new Ibanez hardtail Prestige this morning. This is my first ever "shredder" style guitar other than a couple of Charvel San Dimas' that I no longer have. I am blown away at the craftmanship, playability, and tuning stability. The Super Wizard neck is insanely fast and confortable. This guitar WAY exceeded my expectations for just under 1k.

The Air Norton in the neck sounds great, but I can already tell I'm going to have a problem with the Tone Zone. The high strings sound perfect.............but the low E and A are just too muddy and round sounding. I'm gonna' need something with more clarity and articulation......but without being too bright for the basswood. The pickups are direct mount, so I would like to stick to Dimarzio of the same size. The large ceramic magnet pups (Super Distortion, Super 3, etc..) will be too tall for the route.

Here are a pic and feel free to recommend me a bridge pup.

 
Congrats on your new Ibanez. I have a EVO2 in a Ibanez RG Prestige, and I like it a lot. It is very tight ,clear, and aggressive.Perfect for metal,prog metal and shred which is what I play.
 
I have Suhr Aldrich in my hardtail RG - but it is mahogany.
 
I second the Evolution recommendation. Listen to some clips of the PAF PRO, still a great sounding Dimarzio. Also, before getting rid of the Tone Zone, experiment with pick-up height.
 
I plugged into a different cab and did some tweaking on the amp EQ. I got the Tone Zone sounding really good now. I just can't switch guitars on the fly. I'm gonna give it some more time before I decide to roll pups.
 
Ibanez + hardtail = win
Also agree on adjusting pickup height

*Take into consideration that Dimarzios don't always have the same height (from bottom plate); I learned that the hard way while trying to install some in my Charvel San Dimas (wood mount also)

Edit: You already mentioned that. From what I remember, the Charvel had no room for adjustment, but my RGA121 did; a lot of people stick some EMGs in there, which are taller, and they do fit
 
Evolution in the bridge forsure. I like the dactivator better but I loved the evolution as well.
 
Evo2 is my recommendation too. I replaced the Evos in my old Jem with Evo2's and the guitar became more articulate and dynamic. Loved them
 
Congrats, nice guitar, you may also want to look at the Dimarzio Breed, which from what I've read was designed for basswood body guitars and to give Vai a different sound from the Evo's. I also like what I've read about the Dimarzio Titan and would be interested in trying them out.
 
Iron Dog":6er5uflz said:
Congrats, nice guitar, you may also want to look at the Dimarzio Breed, which from what I've read was designed for basswood body guitars and to give Vai a different sound from the Evo's. I also like what I've read about the Dimarzio Titan and would be interested in trying them out.
Click to expand...

The Breed were designed so Vai could sound more like a Les Paul; they're really thick pickups, quite the opposite of what the OP wants ;)
 
Business":1g7pyimm said:
Iron Dog":1g7pyimm said:
Congrats, nice guitar, you may also want to look at the Dimarzio Breed, which from what I've read was designed for basswood body guitars and to give Vai a different sound from the Evo's. I also like what I've read about the Dimarzio Titan and would be interested in trying them out.
Click to expand...

The Breed were designed so Vai could sound more like a Les Paul; they're really thick pickups, quite the opposite of what the OP wants ;)
Click to expand...

Oops, my bad didn't fully read the original post :aww:
 
The Airzone is not as hot as the tone zone BUT the bottom is tighter and that pup is similar to the tonezone i thought... just less output and a little more polite. Something to consider if the tone zone gets old..
 
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