What pickups to warm and fatten tone with lite ash body??

[Anonymous]

Ok, my Ibanez J Custom RRG6 has these specs:

Body...Lite ASH
Neck...5pc Maple/Walnut
Selected Rosewood fingerboard/430mmR
Bridge...Edge Zero
Neck P.U... DiMarzio/Air Norton
Mid P.U...DiMarzio /Blue Velvet
Rear P.U...DiMarzio /Tone Zone

Great player, but UNGODLY THIN and BRIGHT sounding, especially in the bridge PU, but also in the neck pickup. I always seem to have this issue with light ash body guitars, but I've heard people make them sound great...

Anyway, I love the way this guitar plays, but I've GOT to fatten and warm up the tone to make this guitar useful for me. I'm open to anything up to about 14K output on bridge... boutique, cheap, whatever... What say you guys? What would you do to warm up this ash guitar?? I'll replace only the hums in neck and bridge - not changing the middle single coil...

Steve

 

[Vrad]

I have a Duncan Custom in my swamp ash musikraft. It works VERY well in there. Nice mid range, but still has bite.

 

[H Golf Sport]

Duncan custom custom.
I have one in a swamp ash maple necked strat and its super warm and fat.
Maybe alnico pro 2 for the neck?
Aloha, Rob

 

[Dale B]

Anderson H2+ or Anderson H3+ in the bridge.

 

[hunter]

Bare Knuckle Holy Diver

 

[grooveHT]

I'm pretty surprised that even the Air Norton and Tone Zone are bright...maybe an SD Alnico 2 Pro in the neck and Custom Custom in the bridge? Not sure the A2P would tap super well just because of the low output.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

I'm pretty surprised that even the Air Norton and Tone Zone are bright...maybe an SD Alnico 2 Pro in the neck and Custom Custom in the bridge?

+1

The Tone Zone is one of the fattest sounding pickups out there...pretty much to a fault.

 

[MrDan666]

I always remember people saying the Rio Grande BBQ is a huge fat sounding pickup, maybe it's worth trying one in the bridge? And maybe a Duncan Alnico II Pro in the neck. You can roll the tone pot back when using the A2Pro in the neck and it gets that big smooth LP like tone

 

[CaseyCor]

I always remember people saying the Rio Grande BBQ is a huge fat sounding pickup, maybe it's worth trying one in the bridge? And maybe a Duncan Alnico II Pro in the neck. You can roll the tone pot back when using the A2Pro in the neck and it gets that big smooth LP like tone

I put a Crunchbox in my Ibanez Artcore, which is all maple for awhile. I love that guitar, a great player, but it's just so bright I had a lot of trouble finding a good pickup for it. I liked the Crunchbox for the lower-gain "classic" stuff, but I switched it out for a GFS Crunchy Rails, which I REALLY like. It's my favorite high output pickup right now. I'd really like to see more people looking at GFS pickups. Great sound, solid build, and cheap as hell!

I've also got a GFS Mean 90 (humbucker sized P90) neck model that I want to put into my Artcore, but the wiring is difficult because of the center block in the guitar, and I'm worried about the clean tones.

I just realized that I've got a bunch of pickups I need to sell. EMG 85 and 60, Ibanez ACH1, Ibanez Infinity 4 and 5, Rio Grande Crunchbox, a few more I can't recall..

 

[dstroud]

I had an overly bright guitar that no pickup could tame. I ended up using a 200K ohm resister with a .022 cap to simulate a slightly rolled off tone knob - and it worked great. coulda saved myself lots of $$$ by doing that to begin with.

 

[CaseyCor]

If you're looking for a more vintage vibe, I really like this pickup a lot. It's right at 14k as well.

http://store.guitarfetish.com/alfatpafbohu.html

 

[TheMagicEight]

I use a Dimarzio X2N in my Fender Strat. It's a little hotter at 15.8k, but the tone is unbelievable. It'll take even the thinnest sounding guitar and make it thick and huge.

 

[chunktone]

I always remember people saying the Rio Grande BBQ is a huge fat sounding pickup, maybe it's worth trying one in the bridge? And maybe a Duncan Alnico II Pro in the neck. You can roll the tone pot back when using the A2Pro in the neck and it gets that big smooth LP like tone

I've got a Rio Grande BBQ bucker in the bridge position of my RG770, and it sounds great! My current favorite full size humbucker.

 

[Nigel]

Changing pot values helps...

I run a 333K resistor from the hot output of the bridge on my Ibanez Studios...gets the peakiness under control.

 

[MrDan666]

I always remember people saying the Rio Grande BBQ is a huge fat sounding pickup, maybe it's worth trying one in the bridge? And maybe a Duncan Alnico II Pro in the neck. You can roll the tone pot back when using the A2Pro in the neck and it gets that big smooth LP like tone

I've got a Rio Grande BBQ bucker in the bridge position of my RG770, and it sounds great! My current favorite full size humbucker.

I must try one sometime, so i can see if it's my thing or not!

 

[CaseyCor]

I always remember people saying the Rio Grande BBQ is a huge fat sounding pickup, maybe it's worth trying one in the bridge? And maybe a Duncan Alnico II Pro in the neck. You can roll the tone pot back when using the A2Pro in the neck and it gets that big smooth LP like tone

I've got a Rio Grande BBQ bucker in the bridge position of my RG770, and it sounds great! My current favorite full size humbucker.

Maybe I should put my Crunchbox in my RG770..
I'd have to get some of those blue bobbin stickers for it first

 

[J.B.]

Rio Grande BBQ.. End of thread Steve. Just get one and put it in. If it doesn't solve your problem nothing else will. IMO of course.

 

[CaseyCor]

Rio Grande Crunchbox.. End of thread Steve. Just buy CaseyCor's and put it in. If it doesn't solve your problem nothing else will. IMO of course.

Fixed.