Which pickups??

[Superhuman]

Hi there,
I'm thinking of upgrading the stock pickups (muddy as hell) on my Ibanez Prestige. I', looking for a setup that will provide extremely heavy and powerful crunch for rhythm sections and a warm, thick clear sound with good sustain for lead sections. I play neoclassical shred so clarity is very important.

I was thinking of Dimarzio (as I've had excellent results from the Breeds in my Jem). Anybody got any comment of a Paf Pro at the bridge and a ToneZone at the neck? Another pickup I was looking at was the Dimarzio XN2... anyone got experience with this one? If so what would work well in combination at the neck?

I don't have to go Dimarzio, would also consider Semour Duncan or EMG once they can nail the sound. Let me know what you think!

 

[Zed10R]

Seymore Duncan.....check ther web site. IMO they are the best. EMG 81's are also GREAT, but not flexible all.

 

[ibanezrocks]

I'm by no means a pickup expert, but of the ones I've played with, it seems you need a SD Full Shred, they give a lot of clarity in high distortion.

 

[guitarist]

For shred style I'd definitely say Humbucker from Hell in the neck. It's the clearest humbucking pickup I've ever used so far, more like the sound of a single coil than a humbucker. The Air Norton is also clear and has a thicker sound but it is pretty similar to the Breed neck if you're trying to get something different from that. As for the bridge, if you like the general sound of the tone zone I'd consider the Air Zone as it is similar but is supposed to have more clarity and articulation (I've never used this one though).

 

[Superhuman]

For shred style I'd definitely say Humbucker from Hell in the neck. It's the clearest humbucking pickup I've ever used so far, more like the sound of a single coil than a humbucker. The Air Norton is also clear and has a thicker sound but it is pretty similar to the Breed neck if you're trying to get something different from that. As for the bridge, if you like the general sound of the tone zone I'd consider the Air Zone as it is similar but is supposed to have more clarity and articulation (I've never used this one though).

I like the Breeds in my Jem 'Bad Horsie' but they do not pack punch when it comes to muted power chord progressions and rhythmic chop sequences. They are great pickups for neoclassical lead parts which involve string skipping and especially 2 octave sweep picking patterns as there is little or no extraneous noise and the individual tone of each string can be easily heard (eg on a six string sweep you can easily identify the 'fatness' of each string/individual note). Problem is the really heavy crunchy parts lacks balls and sound kind of empty, especially when played through a Rectifier. Also, the sustain is not that great, crap in fact when compared to Evolutions which means that any whammy bar work can sometimes fall flat in a hurry.

I heard good things about the Air Zone too but was thinking that the Tone Zone might have a more powerful sound. Basically I'm looking for a bridge pickup that makes your lungs shake with the impact of crytal clear ultra heavy chops.

 

[guitarist]

It makes since that the Evolutions would have more sustain as they are higher output and have ceramic magnets. Ceramic magnets have quite a bit less string pull than alnicos I believe, and also supposedly make pickups more compressed sounding. Alnico pickups can be lowered to reduce magnet pull but this also lowers the output and punch so it's a compromise really.
The Tone Zone is certainly powerful/heavy sounding but I wouldn't necessarily describe it as crystal clear. Admittedly, the only time I've used this pickup is when playing my friend's mahogany strat which is pretty dark sounding to begin with. The thing about pickups is you really don't know exactly what they'll sound like in your guitar and through your rig until after you use them. For what it's worth though, the last I heard, Paul Gilbert's favorite pickup was the tone zone (paired with the humbucker from hell in the neck), and he does a lot of string skipping and fast leads, so it can't be all bad. However, he also used Paf Pro's occasionally, and his amplification is Laney which are based more off Marshall amps, so some differences are to be expected there.