Replacement (jazz) pickups for AX7221

[thomascmurray]

I recently got a great deal on a used, but near-mint, Ibanez AX7221 (Korea, 2001) so that I could check out the whole 7-string thing. It’s got a string-through solid mahogany body and a 24.75” scale 5-piece maple/walnut neck with a rosewood board. It’s a basic lower-end guitar, but I think it’s very solidly built and plays quite nicely with D’Addario Chromes 11-65 flatwound strings. When playing clean (which is most of the time), I find that, if I open up the tone control in order to make the low strings clearly defined, the stock pickups become a little piercing on the high-end. Conversely, if I roll back the tone control for a rounder sound from the higher strings, the lower register gets muddy. Needless to say, a more even string response would be nice.


I love the way the guitar feels and plays (especially the wide/flat neck) and I don’t yet have the money for a higher-end 7-string, so I want to keep it for now, even though I know that a 24.75” scale will never give me the low-string clarity of a 27” scale. I mostly play clean and love jazz, so a fat and warm, but articulate, clean sound is most desirable, but versatility is nice too. Basically, I’m thinking DiMarzio’s (PAF 7, Air Norton 7, Blaze, Tone Zone) or Seymour Duncan (JB, Jazz,’59), but am unsure what model too choose. Jim Soloway (of Soloway Guitars) seems to prefer the PAF 7, but I don’t have personal experience with any of these pickups, so I’m not sure how they will perform in my setup. Based on sound clips, I tend to favor either the PAF 7/Air Norton 7 (or Blaze) or Jazz/JB combo, but can't find any online retailers who stock the 7-string Jazz model. FYI, my amp is a Mesa F-50 combo.


Also, I’m very intrigued by a jemsite.com forum posting (that I now can't find) about a production 7-string blade P-90 that I think Jim Soloway was somehow involved with. I’ve always loved the P-90 sound for jazz AND rock (and I'm not into playing anything heavier than Black Sabbath/early Ozzy).

[The Dark Wolf]

Here's the URL for that thread.

http://www.jemsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39906

That being said,I think you'd probably be real happy with the PAF7 and/or the Air Norton 7. A good combo might be the PAF7-neck/AN7-bridge, like on Jim's Swan guitars. I LOVE the AN7 for jazzy cleans on the neck, although I think the PAF7's are a bit cleaner and brighter. The AN7 is supposedly a bit dark in the bridge, but maybe that's what you want.

If you want lots of clarity, consider the Blaze pickups. Again, how you use them is up to you... you could use a PAF7-n/Blaze Bridge-b (n=neck, b=bridge), a Blaze Neck-n/Blaze Bridge-b, A Blaze Neck-/Blaze Neck-b (some people love the Blaze Neck in the bridge) the AN7-n/Blaze Bridge-b... it's up to you.

The SD JB is nice, but VERY hot. It screams. It's a bit harder to tame, and definitely not what I think of as a 'jazz' pickup. The '59 however, has beautiful clean tone, and sounds decent distorted. It has always reminded me a bit of the Air Norton pickup, I guess.

[frankfalbo]

For everything you've described, especially with a 24 3/4" scale 7 string, a pair of Bartolini humbuckers would be the best choice you could make. A 492C-B in the neck and a 494D would really make you happy. Without going off on a long rant, if you trust me you would not be disappointed.

[The Dark Wolf]

Frank, as soon as I saw your name on this thread, I KNEW the Bartolini recommendation was coming

That being said, I'm sure you're right, but I've never had the chance to play Barts, so I wouldn't know about those. But have played the assorted Dimarzios and Seymours.

[frankfalbo]

Ha!

In most cases, I'd consider Bartolinis "one of the best" in a group of good choices. In this case, I think they are a lock. The 24 3/4" scale for a 7 string is a huge deficit right from the start. Jim Soloway's tones are greatly a part of his scale length, so the pickups are heard for what they are. On a 24 3/4 you have to compensate greatly for the short scale with pickups that have extra clarity.

[thomascmurray]

Thanks to both of you for all of your input so far. I should've mentioned that the AX7221 has direct-mount, not ring-mount, humbuckers, so Bartolini's and EMG's are out of the question because neither will fit without routing, both are expensive, and the Bartolini's are also very difficult to find (certainly a special order item).

When I listen to the sound clips on the Seymour Duncan website, I love the clean and distorted sounds of the Jazz (clarity and warmth) and JB (clarity and balls). (To me, the '59's clean sounds are a little too fuzzy in the neck and compressed in the bridge, though it's distorted sounds rock in both positions.) The Jazz/JB pretty much typify how I'd like my guitar to sound and, given the fact that the sound clips are made with a Les Paul (which shares my guitar's scale length and tone woods), those sounds are probably pretty close to what I'd get from putting them in my guitar. (I really wish DiMarzio had clips online for all of their pickups.)

However, I haven't been able to find the Jazz 7 online and Guitar Center wants $100 to special order it. Since I can find all of the DiMarzio's mentioned online for $60-70 each, I'd be willing to try them, provided I can find the right tonal match. Since I've been cutting the mid's quite a bit and the bass a little more than normal on every amp I've played the AX7221 through, I'm guessing the stock Ibanez pickups have a little much low-end and way too much midrange (at least on this guitar). Given that, I think I might like either the Blaze Neck-n/Blaze Bridge-b or PAF7-n/Blaze Bridge-b combo. Everyone seems to really like it, but I'm afraid I'll find the Air Norton to be too middy in any position. Soloways can probably get away with the Air Norton in the bridge position because of the greatly enhanced clarity of a 27" scale.

Again, thanks for all of your input.

[The Dark Wolf]

Frank, you're spot-on IMO.

Thomas, your choices sound right for what you describe, and the JB is nice sounding, but SERIOUSLY, be forewarned. I HAVE the JB-7, and it is...

1) HOT AS HELL (It will distort your cleans. Very open and not compressed like Dimarzios tend to be. Maybe good to you, but a bit much to me)
2) Very, very mid-rangey (in the upper mids)

The AN7 is NOT very middy, surprisingly. It is clean, dark, and rich. Very warm, but not even close to muddy (The JB-7 actually has a muddier bass response IMO, to be honest. Although way more upper mids).

The SD Jazz is GREAT for cleans, but the AN sounds alot more like a 'jazz' pickup. The SD Jazz, well you said it, and you've heard it. It's how it sounds.

The PAF7-n/Blaze Neck-b MIGHT be a winning combo. The Blaze neck is real clear, warm, and detailed in the bridge, without being overpowering. But I can't help but think of the Blazes as 'metal' pickups. The JB, definitely 'rock', but damn, is it hot. Maybe PAF7-n/AN7-b? The JB has way more mids than the AN, let me tell you (I own both pickups), but I have heard some people say there is a lack of treble with the AN7 in the bridge. I will agree, it is not overly trebley... rather, smooth, round, and clear, with a nice dark tonality.

Back to my original response, I play a mahogany RG (RG2027), which is 25.5" scale, but! I downtune to drop C/drop F (for the 7th), so it's sort of similar to your situation, and I get great clarity, warmth, and response from using the AN7/BC pickups I mentioned before. This is a very, very versatile combination... great for jazz, rock, metal, blues, neoclassical, funk, you name it. These are high output pickups, with a (relatively) short scale (for my tuning), AND a mahogany body, but it works. (As an aside, if I didn't use these pickups, I would probably go for some low-output pickups, with tons of clarity, like maybe the PAF7/BB. As it stands, I don't use heaps of gain, even though I play metal. But I have zero complaints... these are the best pickups in one of the best-souding guitars I've ever heard. )

[frankfalbo]

For the record, the Bartolinis I mentioned are standard sized, with mounting ears. There would be no special routing or anything to install them. They are not like EMG707's. Guitarelectronics.com will order them for you, and should have a reasonable price and delivery.

I'm not trying to be persuasive or anything, I just wanted to clear it up for anyone else reading now or in the future. They are basically direct replacements for a Dimarzio or Duncan.

[thomascmurray]

Hmm, curioser and curioser... Just when I thought I'd finally settled on the Blaze Neck / Blaze Bridge pickup combo, The Dark Wolf comes along and disrupts everything! In a good way, of course, but I'm going to have to mull things over a bit more, now.

I know that I love the clarity of the SD Jazz and am reasonably confident that, if I were to roll back the guitar's tone knob and the amp's treble, it would deliver a really nice full, warm, and articulate jazz tone. So, I either get one from Guitar Center or I figure out which (if any) of DiMarzio's 7-string offerings most closely approximates its sound. The reported EQ curves (bass,mid,treble) of the PAF7 (6.0,4.5,5.5) and the Blaze Neck (6.5,4.5,5.5) are somewhat similar to the SD Jazz (5,3,9), but the former is probably closer in output.

As for the bridge pickup, I'll take your word as a metal player that the JB is super hot. If YOU think it's "HOT AS HELL", it'll probably tear my head off. However, it's precisely because it's "very open and not compressed" that I like it. I dislike compressed sounding bridge pickups. Even the SD '59 sounds a little too compressed to me. I also like the fact that it'll distort the cleans. I'm not into country and I'd never use the bridge pickup for a jazz sound, but it sounds like it'd be great for getting some cranked clean channel rhythm crunch. However, the muddy bass response doesn't sound good...

I'm currently leaning toward your your "low-output pickups, with tons of clarity" idea, so I'll probably try one of the BN/BB, PAF7/BB, or PAF7/BN combos. This guitar seems to need scooped mids.

As for the Bartolini's, I didn't mean to imply that they're non-standard size 7-string humbuckers like the EMG 707's. However, I looked in the Bartolini catalog (downloadable as a PDF file from they're website) and it shows them with what looks very much like a non-removable cover. The routes on my guitar are rounded and pretty form-fitting, so I really don't think they'll accomodate pickups with covers, only exposed coils. Just take a look at the pictures of the AX7221 on Ibanez's website and you'll see what I mean. Though I'm sure they sound great, I'm just not willing to have the body routed.

However, if I ever get around to replacing the SD Seth Lovers in my Hamer USA Artist, I'll seriously consider them. I have a love/hate relationship with the Seth Lovers: they're really warm and pretty open sounding, but lack a little clarity. And they're unpotted, so they hum like a motherf*cker around anything that interferes with electronics, which is totally annoying. My American Strat doesn't even hum that much.

[The Dark Wolf]

The bass on the JB is wierd... not exactly 'muddy', but sort of... it's really round, blurry, and nowhere near as distinct as the Blaze/BC. Even the muddy-ish Tone Zone has more bass clarity/definition/whatever than the JB. But it's not dark, so it's not exactly muddy...

It just wasn't my thing. It's an awesome sounding pickup in many ways, but those two issues... UBER hot (it is much more susceptible to feedback/squeal than the Dimarzios, even the quite-hot Blaze Custom. And my guitar is a COMPLETELY shielded top-end Prestige RG, so feedback/squeal is not an issue. The pickup was just too damn hot) and the round/indistinct bass, just didn't do it for me.

It definitely distorts the clean, too, but in a harsh, gritty kind of way. I didn't find it pleasant. Although, if you roll the volume off, the cleans are BEAUTIFUL. Like a mega single coil, minus the hum, sort of Very nice. But way over-powers the neck pickup... and I used an Air Norton with it! (Which is a pretty high-output pickup for the neck). I mean, WAY. Not noticeable under heavy gain, but clean/crunchy? Gah. It's glaring. I think a BIT of compression for the bridge pup, esp. in the bass, is a good thing. (Maybe that's the thing... imagine a bass guitar with zero compression, and cranked to hell and back. Ugly, right? That's the JB. The top 2/3 of its eq is open and beautiful, but the bass is LOUD, and on par with the rest of the pickup's eq, but, unfortunately, just as open... so it comes across really, really fat, and obnoxiously loud, which makes it lose clarity and definition. And sound harsh. But the upper 2/3's of its eq is heavenly.)

[frankfalbo]

That's true about the cover, and that Bartolini/EMG 6 string pickups require a squared off route. The Bartolini 7 strings are slightly narrower than the baseplate of a Dimarzio or Duncan. So they'll fit within a more rounded route, because your route is slightly wider than necessary for a Bartolini. Even though the corners are sharp, they shouldn't hit the rounded edge of your route.

Again, not to suggest that you get them for your AX, just for future reference.

[thomascmurray]

In case anyone's interested, I bought and installed an Air Norton 7 and Tone Zone 7 in the neck and bridge respectively. In short, I love them both! They sound fantastic and are an unbelievable improvement over the stock pickups. I was worried that they'd be too dark with a mahogany body, but the fat maple/walnut neck on the AX7221 seems to add more than enough brightness. Both pickups are warm and have just enough high end to be articulate, but not shrill or piercing.

The Air Norton manages to smoke both clean (for rhythm and leads) and distorted (leads in particular really sing). What a great pickup! The Tone Zone has a good clean for rhythm, but really shines with distortion for both rhythm and leads. I rarely use bridge pickups for clean leads and the Tone Zone will probably be no exception, but it still sounds good clean. I was also worried that the Tone Zone might overpower the Air Norton, but the two pickups blend very nicely.

I will not be returning them for PAF 7's like I thought I might. They ain't goin' anywhere for a long time. The next project will be installing a switch for series/parallel/split wiring, but I've had more than enough soldering for now.

One caveat that anyone replacing the pickups in an AX7221 should be aware of is that the mounting holes of the original pickups are slightly narrower than than the DiMarzios. Not a big deal, but it did necessitate making new holes in my guitar when I thought they'd be clean replacement. In fact, they just barely fit in the pickup routes at all.

Thanks to everyone for their input.

[The Dark Wolf]

Glad you're satisfied. I found the TZ7 to have one of the best clean tones for a bridge pickup I've heard. Hence, why I thought it would make a good jazz bridge pup.