Pickup Woes

[Pickles_the_Drummer]

This post is going to be a little lengthy, so please bare with me.

I'm a little confused about what to do with my guitars, a Jackson rr24 and Ibanez UV777BK.

They are complete opposites. (yeah I know, surprize right?)The EMG 81 in the RR24 is absolutely awesome for shredding, and has great harmonics, but sounds really thin in the lower register, no chunk at all.

The UV sounds pretty good with shredding, but it's very "vai" in that everything is very fluid and imo, not very articulated, and it's very annoying in the lower registers cause they are just so fluid that it's "muddy" , and even though I know the notes I'm playing, I can't distinguish them very well.

Before the RR24, I had an RR3, which was made out of pretty much pure ****, with the one exception being the bridge pickup (seymour duncan JB) really sounded good. Alot of chunk, and very good for shredding.

Here in lies the problem. I don't know if it's the pickups that bug me or my amp. It's an old Fender princeton chorus, which I've never noticed a problem with. I've played it for years and it always sounded good to me. I just don't know if it's the pickups or my amp can't put out what I need, so I just need to buy a good tube amp to get the sound I'm looking for. Suggestions? And please, I'd prefer serious suggestions and not the lame emg and jackson flames

[CosmicDebris]

Take your guitar(s) to the music store. Then spend the day there trying them out. If you find one you like get it if you still have the same problem then get new pups. Also Pickup height makes a HUGE difference in Tone etc.

[Pickles_the_Drummer]

Originally Posted by CosmicDebris

Take your guitar(s) to the music store. Then spend the day there trying them out. If you find one you like get it if you still have the same problem then get new pups. Also Pickup height makes a HUGE difference in Tone etc.

yeah, that's probably what I'm going to have to do. I've tried adjusting the height already, and they got crunchier, but the UV is still muddy and the RR24 is still thin. I was mainly seeing if anyone else had a situation like this and what they did to resolve it. I'm sure with the right amp and eq everything would sound better, but I don't have enough money to invest in a whole new amp setup, however I do have enough to just buy new pickups

[ryanb]

I would guess that it is the amp you aren't liking in your setup. I second the recommendation that you take the guitar(s) to the store and try out some other amps. At least you will know if the amp is your issue. You can figure out what to do about it/how to pay for it later.