Pickups for RG321MH

[lttoler]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am currently looking for some pickups to put in one of my new RG321MHs. I play hard rock/metal, so I am looking for something with plenty of output on the Bridge. I have owned a Seymour Duncan JB and loved it but I am considering getting the Seymour Duncan Custom and either a Jazz or '59 in the neck. I am also considering Dimarzio's Tone Zone for the bridge. Any suggestions? Thanks!

[lyconxero]

Well, for those styles I would say that the Tone Zone/Air Norton combo is a good place to start. I'm actually quite in love with the D-Sonic pickup in the bridge right now because it makes my S470DX sound very aggressive.

[JM5150]

So we've got AN/TZ and AN/D-sonic. Any other bridge pu a good one to combine with the AN?

[ElectriK]

Evolution and, Steves Special are also great in the bridge.

[horstausmforst]

The Duncan custom is a great choice. Slightly more scooped sound (compared to the jb) and pretty hot, it will suit metal just fine. I never tried it in mahogany, but I have one in a basswood guitar and it's awesome.

The Jazz and '59 are both great neck pickups; the 59 is warmer and slightly hotter than the jazz - i think you'll be more satisfied with it.

[lyconxero]

I was looking at the specs on the Dimarzio website and going just by those, the EVO 2 seems like it would be a pretty good metal pickup.

[Dimarzio989]

In my guitar i have a evolution neck and bridge set with a chopper in the middle and they sound great.
Altho Evo's are only good for certin types of metal becuase they dont have tons of low end

[rty13ibz98]

i have the AN/TZ combo in my rg321. its super versatile. its also my prefered pickup combo, tho.


rich

[lyconxero]

I've been tossing around all sorts of ideas for my RG321 as far as pickups go but now I think that I'm back to the TZ/AN option. Of course, I may opt for an Air Zone instead of a Tone Zone because I don't want muddyness to be an issue.

[lttoler]

Yeah, I am considering the TZ/AN combo too, but I'm a little scared to branch out to Dimarzio. I've played with Duncan's my whole life and its kind of hard to leave something that you are used to.

[lyconxero]

I totally understand that, but then the first pickups that I ever got installed into a guitar were EMGs. Now I love the sound that they give me and I love the guitar that they were in but I wanted to try something different so I checked out Dimarzios since that's what you hear about most of the people on this website using. The Dimarzios in my S470DX (D-Sonic bridge and PAF Joe neck) are pretty awesome. I LOVE the D-Sonic in the bridge of that guitar just about as much as I love the EMG 81 in the bridge of my other guitar. The PAF Joe sounds good in the neck position when distorted but its clean tone can't seem to compare with my other guitar's EMG 85. That's why I'm thinking about trying the Air Norton in the neck of my next guitar and I'm still tossing around ideas for the bridge pickup but it'll definitely most likely be a Dimarzio pickup. I really want something that sounds similar to the D-Sonic but maybe with a tad bit more treble.

[rty13ibz98]

Originally Posted by lttoler

Yeah, I am considering the TZ/AN combo too, but I'm a little scared to branch out to Dimarzio. I've played with Duncan's my whole life and its kind of hard to leave something that you are used to.

think outside the box, bro. i have a ton of guitars. many with dimarzios and duncans. its more on a per guitar basis as to which pickups i put in them. i just ordered an arc300 and that will get duncans. my more shred oriented guitars get dimarzios, whereas my more traditional ones get duncans. thats not a rule necessarily, just a generic. i don't relegate myself to just duncans and dimarzios, tho. i love rio grandes for strats and have several american standard single coils as well. for me it plays out something like this:
ibanez rgs get dimarzios
ibanez set neck/hardtails get duncans
not totally accurate, but for the most part is on point.
just what i use.


rich