Breed vs. Evolution - Is the Breed or Evolution pickup bette

johnjohn969 · #1 01-05-2002, 08:37 PM

I luv Steve Vai, and i wanna get a JEM, but one thing i'm not sure about is wether i should get a JEM with Breed pickups or Evolution pickups. Besides Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen, i play alot of hardcore bands like Slayer that demand a very hot pickup. I want the hottest pickup i can possibly get. When the distortion's on, i want my guitar to scream. Which one is better? Or should i be looking at a different pickup all together? I do want to get a JEM though; defenitly, they're the most beautiful guitars around! I'm lookin to spend about $800 to $1000; probably on a used one if that helps at all.

trouble311 · #2 01-05-2002, 09:06 PM

If you want a pickup that screams and is superhot, I would say Evolution in this case. *Of course, if you want even more output later, you could drop in an X2N....supahot.

Two hands31 · #3 01-05-2002, 10:02 PM

Or you could put in some EMGs. *

johnjohn969 · #4 01-06-2002, 12:04 AM

Thanks Two hands31 , and Trouble311. But what is the absolute hottest pickup on the market? I don't care about what kind, or how much; what is the ultimate hottest pickup in production?

Given to Fly · #5 01-06-2002, 12:22 AM

Dimarzio X2N and EMG 81, I think would be the hottest. The X2N is the hottest one Dimarzio makes. And Seymour Duncan has a Livewire Heavy Metal Trembucker(I think that is what it is called. Look on their website just in case.) that is very hot. You can't play it on the clean channel because it is so hot. It comes out sounding distorted. However the EMG and SD are both active so you will need to out a battery in the guitar.

Jimi D · #6 01-06-2002, 02:10 AM

Personally, I much prefer the Breeds - there's a whole lot more personality in Breeds, imho; they are a hot but musical and expressive pickup. I even put a pink Breed in the bridge of my Floral Jem

Christopher Chen · #7 01-06-2002, 06:16 AM

I don't think that the hottest pickup will give you the best sound. In fact I feel that evolutions distort your tone more than contribute to it in a less than detrimental fashion. I like to go for a hot sound in the bridge with lot's of emphasis on the high mids so much so that every pick stroke is clearly heard. The same goes for the neck position but of course a more smooth and low mid sound is what I go for.

The thing about the evo pickups is that they have a different character. Some hate them, but some love the sound that they produce. But for me and many others I'm sure is that they are just too much to handle. Breeds have a really nice smooth and best of all balanced tone to them. In fact I'm trading in my evos in my jem90 for a set of tone zone and humbucker from hell pickups.

My advice is to test drive these 2 very different pickups, test them in similar conditions such as amp and effects. They possess very very different characteristics. I'm aware that in America dimarzio has a 30 day return policy...give them a go!

Good luck!

Chris.

**jono** · #8 01-06-2002, 07:38 AM

If you're wondering about whether or not to change pickups to even hotter models such as the super distortion or X2N etc. It might be an idea to consider the tone of the model of JEM itself, by than I mean the fretboard and body woods. And by buying used you get the whole range of features ever available on a JEM.

The Alder bodied 7VWH and new 7VSBL which should be unveiled in a few days both have ebony boards and sound different to the basswood bodied guitars which have been available with ebony rosewood and maple boards.

Also the feel and maybe the look of the guitar could well be important again whether you like the feel of maple or ebony or rosewood boards etc. ( And also whether your bandmates will feel weird about you playing hardcore on a flowery guitar

)

Anyway hot replacement pickups include...

DiMarzio X2N and X2NB, Super Distortion and Super 2 and Super 3. And don't overlook the Steve's Special
Seymour Duncan Invader and the new SH-13 "Dimebucker"
Bill Lawrence's L500 and L500XL
EMGs 81 and 85

Texter · #9 01-06-2002, 01:08 PM

Seymour Duncan's are nice...

Guitarlos2 · #10 01-06-2002, 01:34 PM

I can honestly recommend EMG's for the type of music you like to play JohnJohn. *I bought a Jem7DBK myself, and it had the Breeds in it. *Although the breeds do sound nice, full and smooth, they just didnt have the aggressive attack, and output that I wanted for a heavier style of music. *I upgraded my Jem and slapped an EMG 81 in the bridge, and an EMG 85 in the neck, and I love em. *The output of EMG's are nearly twice as high as any passive pickup out there, and they have all the power and focused energy you need to get a great metal sound.

If I were you id seriously consider checkin into EMG's *:-) *It would be close to a $200 upgrade on whatever jem you buy though (if you bought both bridge and neck EMG's) but its worth it. *I like seymour duncan pickups a lot too, but I dont know if id be using those in a Jem.

Two hands31 · #11 01-06-2002, 05:31 PM

If you don't want active (like me, I'm too cheap/lazy for batteries) the Super Distortions nice too.

johnjohn969 · #12 01-07-2002, 03:19 AM

Well, i went and played a stratocaster today with the EMG 81 and 85 in it. They were great pickups; i must admit, i was impressed. I'm gonna get the Ibanez JEM7vwh with the Evolutions, and i honestly wasn't as impressed with the EMG's as i was with the Evolutions. I like them much more.

*When i plugged the JEM in, the pickups sung and played like butter with a sort of prescense that is really needed for other music besides Steve Vai. The EMG's had a much fatter sound, even on the bridge pickup, they were just a little too much. For speed metal, i need a pickup that allows me to barely touch my fingers on the E,A and D strings and get a sound with alot of prescence to it. The EMG's did give me that prescence. The lower notes sounded really muffled; with not much sustain. It could just be the Stratocaster, but who knows; i didn't like it as much

So i think i'm just gonna stick with the Evo's. And anyways, *i don't think i wanna spend $200 or more for something that's not that much better anyways. But thank you very much for all the imput; you saved me alot of time and probably a ton of money$$.

shredmaster · #13 01-07-2002, 04:17 PM

BREEDS MAN, I'M TELLIN' YA. *if you are into heavy stuff, it's BREEDS. *i have a jem7dbk and love its tone! *very tight bottom end that is punchy. *nice scooped mids but not too much, and nice level highs. *

EVOLUTION... great pickup for the same metal sound but have more warmth to them. *they will work fine for you but the breeds have a little more bite.

of course it's your amp as well. *for that i recommend LINE6 POD PRO through BBE maximizer through MESA BOOGIE 50/50 tube amp. *INSANE MY FRIEND INSANE!!!!!

EMG81's are way cool as well, although, lack character. *they are cold in a way...raw and mean, not much color with them.

a really excellent pickup....i mean, TOTALLY EXCELLENT, is the humbucker found in the peavey vandenberg guitar. *VERY PUNCHY, VERY TIGHT, VERY HIGH OUTPUT. *i forgot the rating but i had it tested. *it's almost twice as high output as the duncan distortion. *but like someone said in this post, output isn't everything. *these vandy's had tone and power and punch and attitude. *i loved them so much! *i used to have a bunch but had to sell them all. *i love the breeds in the jem. *only way to go for metal. *that is what i used. *

EVO'S AND BREEDS ARE THE ONLY WAY TO GO. *i usually use my jem with breeds for rhythm and the neck p/u for solos or the jem with EVO'S for solos and clean stuff. *either would be good...but that is just what i do.

toshiro · #14 01-08-2002, 02:49 AM

Quote:

shredmaster on 3:17 pm on Jan. 7, 2002
BREEDS MAN, I'M TELLIN' YA. *if you are into heavy stuff, it's BREEDS. *i have a jem7dbk and love its tone! *very tight bottom end that is punchy. *nice scooped mids but not too much, and nice level highs. *

I'd go for the Breeds as well, but I don't know where this 'scooped mids' thing comes from.. I've found the Breeds to be almost all mids, with just the right amount of lows, and chopped highs.. This gives them a fat punchy chunk.. :biggrin:

The Evo's are nice, but sound shill to me in their six string version, also the bridge model is too hot IMO.. The Evolution 7 I like, though, but it sounds very different from it's 6 string counterpart...

shredmaster · #15 01-08-2002, 04:19 PM

I've found the Breeds to be almost all mids, with just the right amount of lows, and chopped highs.. This gives them a fat punchy chunk

YOU'RE RIGHT ON THE MIDS. *sorry, i was thinking something else. *it's mostly mids but it's not bad...you'll just have to check it out for yourself.