Pickup replacement

[Loplo]

Hi, I'm looking to do a pickup replacement and possibly all the pots and capacitors in my Vintage V100. I play alot of metal, usually Drop C or Lower so of course I was thinking about going down the EMG route, what EMG setups would you guys reccomend? However I'm also open to other suggestions, prefferably DiMarzios or Blackouts but anything else will be looked at, also any particular pots and capacitors you guys could reccomend?

[Destro 007]

They are not a very popular pick in this forum, but I myself am a EMG 85 man. I used to play in a band that tuned down to B, and they always worked well.

[Loplo]

Originally Posted by Destro 007

They are not a very popular pick in this forum, but I myself am a EMG 85 man. I used to play in a band that tuned down to B, and they always worked well.

85 for the neck and bridge positions?

[djohns74]

If I had to pick a versatile EMG combination, I'd probably go with 85 bridge and 60 neck, personally.

[Loplo]

Originally Posted by djohns74

If I had to pick a versatile EMG combination, I'd probably go with 85 bridge and 60 neck, personally.

60 in the Neck definately seems to be THE choice for LP bodied guitars

[vai n maiden]

I'm going by the 7 string pickups but I wasn't a fan of the 707 in the neck (which as far as I know is similar to the 85)

I like both the 81 and 707 in the bridge though. 81 for clarity and sheen aggression, 85 for chunky chuggy aggression.

[Loplo]

Originally Posted by vai n maiden

I'm going by the 7 string pickups but I wasn't a fan of the 707 in the neck (which as far as I know is similar to the 85)

I like both the 81 and 707 in the bridge though. 81 for clarity and sheen aggression, 85 for chunky chuggy aggression.

Chuggy is definately the sorta thing I'm after

[Weezel]

Despite all the EMG bashers out there, I love those things; they work great for me. I recommend them to any guitarist who plays Metal. upgrade your pots and caps throw an 18v mod and your EMGs will sound like nothing before! They’re really great for down tuning especially for drop C Bare with me and i'll explain some differences

*EMG* - You can put them in almost any guitar with any type of wood No matter if it’s a $3000 or $100 guitar! The good news is if you have a crappy guitar and put some EMGs in it, it'll sound like a $3000 guitar. On the flip side, if you have a custom $3000 guitar (exotic wood and hardware) and put EMGs they’re going to sound almost identical with that classic EMG sound. Your not going to get your unique guitar sound as you would with passives.
*BLACKOUTS* - Although they do give you that active metal crunchy loud sound it does a good job characterizing and incorporating the wood and hardware of a guitar into its tone giving it its own unique overall guitar sound. So with blackouts the quality does matter.

With EMG you get more Chunk and Crunch and with Blackouts you get more Warmth and Clarity. Chuck Schuldiner from “Death” used DiMarzio X2N humbucker. So if you like that type of sound then get a DiMarzio or you can go all out and get possibly the best humbuckers made for guitars which are by -BareKnucklePickups-

As for EMG setups, you can use many variations such as: 81/85, 81/60, 85/60 or 85X/85<--- I’m planning on trying out this setup soon or if you have a coil tap feature you can use an EMG 89/89R or 81TW/89

Hope this helps and good luck with your decision

[Timbaline]

Save yourself money, batteries and tone... just get a Dimarzio D-activator set. It get's all that active "OOMPH" and Chunkiness, but you still get a nice natural tone.

[Loplo]

Originally Posted by Timbaline

Save yourself money, batteries and tone... just get a Dimarzio D-activator set. It get's all that active "OOMPH" and Chunkiness, but you still get a nice natural tone.

I've tried D-Activators in an ICT700, I didn't like the sound of them at all

Originally Posted by Weezel

Snipped.

Thanks for being in - depth as Blackouts are the other pickups I was thinking about getting. I'm split between an 81/60 set or the Mick Thompson blackout set, thoughts?

[djohns74]

Originally Posted by Loplo

Thanks for being in - depth as Blackouts are the other pickups I was thinking about getting. I'm split between an 81/60 set or the Mick Thompson blackout set, thoughts?

I've got a set of 7 string Blackouts, so it's not a completely fair comparison, but if I had to compare the various pickups, I would say that the Blackout bridge is more versatile than the EMG 81 and roughly on par with the 85, but the EMG 60 is vastly superior to the Blackout neck pickup. Again, the 7 string variants aren't exactly the same, but it's the neck pickup that really makes the difference for me, the bridge ones just aren't different enough to definitively say one way or the other. To my ears at least.

[Loplo]

Originally Posted by djohns74

I've got a set of 7 string Blackouts, so it's not a completely fair comparison, but if I had to compare the various pickups, I would say that the Blackout bridge is more versatile than the EMG 81 and roughly on par with the 85, but the EMG 60 is vastly superior to the Blackout neck pickup. Again, the 7 string variants aren't exactly the same, but it's the neck pickup that really makes the difference for me, the bridge ones just aren't different enough to definitively say one way or the other. To my ears at least.

Possibly an EMG60 and Blackout mix then?

[Weezel]

Originally Posted by Loplo

Possibly an EMG60 and Blackout mix then?

As djohns74 pointed out...
The EMG 60 is far superior. It gives you an ideal combination of single-coil bite and clarity with humbucker punch and sustain- It has tremendous cut, its crystal clear and very brilliant! You can strum across full chords and hear every note or you can deliever brilliant single notes with perfect clearity!
The EMG 60 is probably one of the best pickups for quick clean chording! Its Also great for soloing but is More suitable for Rhythm! It may have more base then the EMG 85 but its more smooth and not as muddy(More alive then the 85)You can get that nice bone Crunching rhythm sound.

The EMG 81 is rich and Bright and has that fast cutting sound which is great for solos/leads and low end stuff!

If your looking for more of an organic sound then go with the blackouts
as far as mixing the two, I havent heard of someone yet doing it and im not sure if the pickups would compliment eachother(switching from bridge to neck, there might be a big tone difference.)

[Loplo]

Originally Posted by Weezel

Snipped

Thanks for the feedback. My Iceman has a GFS Hot Vintage neck and a Bill Lawrence L500XL in the Bridge and there is a massive tone difference, but I like that, allows me to make solos stand out, the EMG/Blackout mix is something I'll look into, but I think at 60/81 will be the easiest/most conventional option

[LonePhantom]

EMGs are great. I want to try out the new X series pickups which apparently have even more versatility. I love the 81 - 89 combo myself.