What are the best Metal Pickups? Active or Passive

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Art_n_Music

Art_n_Music

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I have a Schecter C-1 Hellraiser with EMG 81/85...but I'm not too sure about them. What do you consider the best pickups for high gain distortion?
MY Epi LP has Seymour Duncan Jazz and Jb, the Gibson SG has P90's and the Schecter Hellraiser has the EMG's. I'm not sure the EMGs have the voice I'm looking for...I want a more articulate sound, but still hot humbuckers. I guess I am spoiled with the SD's.

And as a side note, what brand of strings do you like to use for metal guitars...tuned to C or Db?
 
To honest, there is no "best".

Lots of people like the EMG. Lots like the JB/'59 combo. Lots like the Ducan Distorsion/Custom/Custom custom etc......

Personally there are a few I always tend to gravitate to.

Bill Lawrence L500xl/L500c bridge/neck
Dimarzio SuperDistorsion/PAF Pro
Dimarzio D-sonic/Air Norton

But that's me. I'm sure someone will chime in with Bareknuckles or Andersons or Suhrs or whatever...
 
If your looking for a Passive pickup.. I found the Duncan Distortion to do very well. Its pretty hot pickup and has an aggressive thick tone. More in the high-mid type tone.

if you want Active.. check the Duncan Blackouts. I put 1 in my Flying V instead of a EMG81 and let me just say that the EMG81 never went back in :D

The Blackouts have a thick tight aggressive tone. Even more than an EMG81. and to my ears, they have more "passive" like feel than an EMG81.

Good luck
 
It also depends on the guitar wood you have, some pickups will sound great in one, and not too good in another. (Atleast from my experience). I play aggressive metal/thrash, and these pickups sound great;

If you've got Alder/Ash then go with Duncan Custom/59

If you've got mahogany go with Dimarzio Super Distortion/PAF Pro, I've got those in my LP and it's solid as hell ;)
 
hey guys, im new to this forum but a long time member of the gear page, under the name 7string thing,

i play primarily metal so ive tried a bunch of stuff. alot of guys like lundgren pickups as well as bare knuckle and wcr.

im not a big dimarzio guy so id try other options, but they work for alot of people.

If you like certain bands i could tell you what they use if you would like similar sounds.

Meshuggah - lundgren
Children of Bodom - EMG passive
Arch Enemy - Duncan
Tool - Burstbuckers in adams silverburst les pauls if im not mistaken.
 
number 2":e3ceb said:
If you like certain bands i could tell you what they use if you would like similar sounds.

Meshuggah - lundgren
Children of Bodom - EMG passive
Arch Enemy - Duncan
Tool - Burstbuckers in adams silverburst les pauls if im not mistaken.
Click to expand...


Hi #2,
We want to put some metal songs together from bands like:
Fozzy
Metallica
Disturbed

The Schecter Hellraiser is Mohogany/Mohogany/Rosewood w/ EMG 81/85. When I first got the guitar I wasn't too sure about the sound of it...maybe just needs different/new strings. The band guys seem to like it the way it is, I guess I have just been too used to the SD's in my LP.
 
Both Metallica and Disturbed use EMG so you're on the right track with what you have. You might a different gauge string or adjusting the pickup height and see if that makes enough difference for you.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of the 81, I'd go with 85 bridge and a 60 neck.
 
number 2":9d7ca said:
hey guys, im new to this forum but a long time member of the gear page, under the name 7string thing,

i play primarily metal so ive tried a bunch of stuff. alot of guys like lundgren pickups as well as bare knuckle and wcr.

im not a big dimarzio guy so id try other options, but they work for alot of people.

If you like certain bands i could tell you what they use if you would like similar sounds.

Meshuggah - lundgren
Children of Bodom - EMG passive
Arch Enemy - Duncan
Tool - Burstbuckers in adams silverburst les pauls if im not mistaken.
Click to expand...

Adam Jones uses a Duncan JB in the bridge and either the original pickup or a Duncan Jazz in the neck (depending on which silverburst he decides to use).
 
All my guitars loaded with
Dimarzio Super Distortions
I am about to try out a Bill Lawrence
Too hard to tell which is best
I like Dimar Super Distortions
and others may like EMG'S
but they all pull a heavy sound :rock: :rock:
 
Metallica and Disturbed do use EMG pickups. But dont forget that Hammet also uses a les paul and a v with different pickups in them. Also he uses a zemitas in the studio as well as a bunch of other guitars.

as far as fozzy all i know is that band leader is a wrestler.

There are a bunch of ways to set up your guitar differently dependent on how you like to play. I would suggest based on what guitar you have and what kind of sound you would like a few things. I would most definitely change your strings, you should do this at the very least once a month. i do once a week. Id recommend D'addario 10s with a heavy bottom/lite top EXL 140. They have 12s on the wound strings and 10s on the top. They feel great and sound even better.

I like very low action so i set my strings up as low as possible without excess string buzz and fret out.

I personally dont like EMG pickups because i think the actives sound very sterile. Id go for a set of duncans or bardens or whatever passive pickups your familliar with. You could do a 59 in the neck and a JB in the bridge from duncan. You could do a PAF Joe set from Dimarzio. You could do a Burstbucker II in the bridge and a 57 Classic in the neck from gibson.

What kind of amp/pedals/cables do you use? This is a huge factor in your overall tone. Your sound could be achieved so long as you follow all the steps.
 
My favourite pickups now are :
DiMarzio D-sonic
Bareknuckle nailbomb

and for strings, I use the Ghs boomers ZW set .010 - 060 for lower tunings.

The bareknuckles are by far the most note per note articulate pickups I've ever heard

I also have a TA guitar with the H2+ in it. Like it, not love it

EMG's :
81 is sterile
85 is overlooked. I like that one.
 
I can tell you that EMG in a good LP sounds a lot better & different than the same pickup in a Schecter.

FWIW JB is a killer pickup, especially with Diezels. PU choice is really like underwear, you need to try yourself & see what feels & suits your body better.
 
I'm surprised there's been no mention of the Gibson 500T. Super high output, very edgy, with the flex of a passive pickup. Go check it out, nobody seems to know about this one. They come stock in Les Paul Classics and Explorers.
 
Whatever I mentioned earlier you can forget about. I got a chance to play a LP fitted with Bareknuckles, Nailbomb set, and it was simply awesome. I'll have to put off buying another guitar so I can afford a set of BK but that's where I'm heading.
 
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