Which pickups....

[maliciousteve]

I'm sure this thread has been about more than once before.

I'm a bit confused to which pickup i should get, but i've narrowed it down to these.

EMG 707 or 81/7
Dimarzio Tone Zone 7
Seymour Duncan JB 7
Seymour Duncan Distortion 7 (if i can find one about)

I mainly use my 7 string for playing death metal and shredding. But i use it now and then to play blues, jazz and sometimes funk.

But i have a Fender Strat to cover the other styles of music.

Which is the best pickup to go for out of the ones i've narrowed down to?

Any help is appreciated

[SpikeSocietySucks]

This indeed has been done to death, a simple forums search would bring up all the help you need, that said I'll attempt to provide a brief summary.

The EMG 707 / 81/7 :

Is something which unless you have past experience of emg's, I would save till last. The reasoning for this being, if you do buy them, put them in your guitar then DON'T like them, you're going to have a hidious hole in your guitar due to the body routing. the good news is this next to never happens.

The EMG is a ubber powerfull active pickup employing a Voltage in the 2000mv range. as a result the sound is thick, and powerfull giving you tight bass and clear trebble. the downside is, as any player who has put these into more than one guitar will tell you, EMG's sound just about the same in anything you put them in.

And before you go thinking, cool, I'll stick 'em in a bad guitar to improve the sound, Don't even bother, they'll just amplify the guitars inconsistancys.

The Tone zone 7 :

Lovely pickup, Similar to Paf, but More foucused in the lower midrange. I feel it lacks perfect bass definition, but it's not bad if you want a darker PAF type. Scoops out the mids well too. Allen Garrow uses these in I believe 2 of his RG7s, and swears by them.

Jimmy J has a Video clip up in the mulimedia section of his tone zone 6, which is quite helpfull here.

Duncan JB 7:

Quite a heavy Pickup, but to be honest I've only played through a 6 string model on a shecter so I'm not qualified to help you there, Someone else probably will though.

Duncan Distortion:

Same as before, however, I have an Invader equiped to a pacifica, and to be honest, I seem to find tonaly all seymours sound the same.

[The Dark Wolf]

For serious metal, I'd go with EMG 81-7, or the Lundgren Model M (Meshuggah) pickup. I have te TZ7, and I'm not too impressed with it. Very round, warm, and lacking in treble. LOTS of lower midrange, which makes for mud. And the bass is not very tight. I MUCH prefer the Blaze Bridge, but! The Blaze seems to be somewhat wood specific. I hear tell it doesn't like basswood and the like, but I have it in mahogany, and it sounds GREAT! (I play metal, BTW. The Blaze is very clear and articulate. Great for metalcore, death metal, anything requiring a clear, punishing sound.)

The Blaze Custom is alos a worthy pickup to consider, and I'm a huge fan of the JB (esp. in mahogany).

[7stringofablick]

I have had a Tone zone 7, the 707 and the JB. My fav of them all in the JB. It has output and harmonics, but at the same time retains good warmth when rolling the tone off and/or using the clean for jazz runs(especially with the jazz neck or 59). I have two guitars with the JB in it. I love them both, one is mahogany the other is basswood. There is definitely a difference, but it isn't bad. The mahogany is more rich while the basswood has good tight clarity, the bomb for metal(pinch harms freaking galore). The 707 sounds freaking tight distorted, amazing for metal. But, for cleans and stuff, it is just too sterile for my liking. It is in my Warlock 7 and is the only pickup in there(bridge alone). It is a one thing only guitar, and it does that one thing well. The tone zone was very middy(as told before). It cut through, but the low strings were kinda mush(it was a mahogany guitar though), especially when down tuning. I have never tried the 81-7, but I've played the 81 in a six string and I'm really not looking for that type of tone. It cuts through as well, but it has less bass frequencies.

I suggest the JB, but it is your call. It is very well rounded for many applications. I've never played a distortion, but with its name, I'm not sure if how much else it can do.