Grindcore Pickups?

A

ausgrindslaught

New member
Hey people, need your opinion on some killer pickups - I dont care about the price. More specifically, I'm looking for a thick guitar sound with an awesome crunch, so whatever pickups best exemply these qualities would be great. I literally know NOTHING about pickups, so; explain. What do you use. Whats it good for, etc.
 
Grindcore! Finally! Honestly, I have a feeling most dudes on here won't have a clue what you are talking about.

If you are going for a more metallic sound, go with EMG 81 and 85 active pickups. Those things will melt your face off with the amount of gain they produce.

If you are going towards a more punk/hardcore/powerviolance influenced sound, any kind of moderatley high output (read: not mini-buckers from Gibson) humbuckers should do. Get your licks tight, that's the best way to produce good tone.
 
Any decent humbucker will work just fine. For grindcore, I don't imagine that you're concerned with the subtleties. Your amp will make alot more difference to your tone than your pickup will.

Active pickups might give you a fatter low end for palm mutes and such.
You might want an EMG 81.
 
i use the classic emg 81/85 combo... though i really play thrashcore... i could see them working fine for grindcore....

i noticed a big difference when i changed my cabinets speakers recently... really cleaned up my sound (ie. much more definition)

if the emg combo sounds too 'clean' for ya.. put some lower rated speakers (power handling) in your cabinet... this should crunch the hell outta it.

gl
 
seismetr0n said:
i use the classic emg 81/85 combo... though i really play thrashcore... i could see them working fine for grindcore....

i noticed a big difference when i changed my cabinets speakers recently... really cleaned up my sound (ie. much more definition)

if the emg combo sounds too 'clean' for ya.. put some lower rated speakers (power handling) in your cabinet... this should crunch the hell outta it.

gl
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Just curious, what kind of speakers did you switch from/to?
 
If you're looking to just go balls out a heavy as humany possible, may I sugest the Kerry King signiture EMGs? They have their own active gain control, I'm actually surprised more death, black and grind guitarists don't go for them.
 
ScreamingHead69 said:
If you're looking to just go balls out a heavy as humany possible, may I sugest the Kerry King signiture EMGs? They have their own active gain control, I'm actually surprised more death, black and grind guitarists don't go for them.
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I thought Kerry King used BC Rich P/ups in his? Well either them or the EMG 81/85 combo should be fine.
 
episg said:
I thought Kerry King used BC Rich P/ups in his? Well either them or the EMG 81/85 combo should be fine.
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I may be mistaken. I've never had the oportunity to play them myself (unless the dudes at guitar center all of the sudden decide to be cool as shit and slap them in a guitar somewhere) but I've never heard anyone say anything bad about them.
 
I've been interested in those pickups. I have a very n00b question. I have a tone knob on my shecter c1xxx guitar that pulls out to split one humbucker into two single coils. Do you know what i'm talking about? Well I was wondering if I got those kerry king pickups, will I be able to use the knob for them or not?
 
You wont be able to use any of your quitars current electronics other than your pickup selector switch. EMGs come with new tone and volume knobs because they require a different ohm rating. To my knowledge, 81s and 85s aren't coil-tap-able, so the push pull pot would be useless anyway. You'll basically be gutting all of the electronics from your guitar besides the pickup switch, and replacing everything with the stuff that comes with the EMGs. I use EMG's in all my guitars. I actually preffer the 85 in both positions as it sounds more natural than the 81, but for grindcore the 81 should do fine.
 
The gibson 500T is pretty hot. I have one in my SG-I and it is the heaviest sounding guitar I my self have ever played.

I use to listen Entombed a alot and they in the past used Kramer Quad Rails (quad coil pickup in a humbucker size). I doubt they are still in production but I've seen them on ebay. I here they are dangerously hot. Listen to the Calandestine album from Entombed. I have yet to hear a guitar to remotely close to that.
 
thanks guys. Well that's what I figured but I wasn't quite sure. I'll just stick with the pickups i've got. I use the coil tap all the time for clean stuff and even some solos. What pickups would you recommend I get that I can use the coil tap thing on that are good for black/death metal?
 
Can't say I've used the kerry king pickups, but to reply to the coil tap pickup subject, EMG has their 89s, which to my knowledge is basically a coil tappable emg 85. A lot of people are skeptical about 85's in the bridge position as they're generally used as neck pickups, but I preffer the 85 in the bridge as well. They have a bit less output than the 81, but theyre fuller and rounder, with more bottom end. Listen to Killswitch engage or Soilwork for a examples.

In the passive pickup arena, I'm pretty sure almost all of Seymour Duncans humbers are coil tappable. I had a fernandes with a Duncan Full Shred in the neck position and a Duncan Distortion in the Bridge position. I had coil tap switches on both of them. The Distortion was a bit clearer and more cutting than the full shred, which is why I put it in the bridge position, but it still didnt have the output of the emgs that I like. I ended up selling the guitar to a guitarist for a band called Apiary, who ended up using the guitar for all of the tracks on their album. you can hear samples at myspace.com/apiary. They used an ENGL head for all of the tracks too, which I'm sure had a huge impact on the tone.
 
I think i'm wrong about the coil tap being just on the bridge pickup. Actually I know I am because I use it when I play clean on the neck pickup. Whether the pickup selecter is on the bridge of neck the coil tap seems to work. So maybe it would be cool to have that 85 just on the neck pickup(which is the only time really where I use the coil tap) and an 81 the the bridge.
 
The KK EMG set is way hot! If you watch the new Guitar World cdrom, KK has to switch the preamp off, when not playing. Perfect for Metal! They are a one trick pony, though. Forget dynamics, or any decent clean tone, these mothers roar! Check out the Seymor Duncan SH13 DIMEBUCKER, before you install the EMGs. It's the hottest pickup out there! It will rip your fucking face off! :D
 
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its the 89 thats coil tappable, not the 85. I'd feel horribly responsible if you bought an 85 and put it in your guitar and realized you couldnt coil tap it. I'm pretty sure you'd need a new push/pull tone knob for the coil tap to work, unless perhaps you bypassed the tone pot and just used the switch part of the unit for the coil tap. But then you wouldnt have a tone knob. You'll have to do some research for sure. The EMG website has a good FAQ to read before you make the jumb to active pickups.
 
I think i'm wrong about the coil tap being just on the bridge pickup. Actually I know I am because I use it when I play clean on the neck pickup. Whether the pickup selecter is on the bridge of neck the coil tap seems to work. So maybe it would be cool to have that 85 just on the neck pickup(which is the only time really where I use the coil tap) and an 81 the the bridge.
 
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