I have an S2170 as you probably guess from the title, and I also have enough money lying around to get it not only fixed (ZR trem holder...noooo) but to upgrade the pickups in the process. I definitely want to upgrade the two humbuckers, the single coil isn't essential because I don't use it that much due to buzzing but if anyone can throw a great upgrade suggestion my way then go for it.
The main things I want out of a pup swap are extreme versatility and definitely more bite to the bridge pickup. The clean tones I have dialed in for the neck right now are great but on the same token, I'd like the same 'roundness' to the bass but without the booming i get sometimes.
I use a POD X3 Live, so its pretty easy for me to dial a tone slightly differently. The one thing I do notice is the guitars main tonal problems are this:
Neck pickup - can be a little boomy in the low end. (only VERY slightly, easily EQ'd out at the expense of some fullness to the tone) A little more sparkle in the treble would be great, a little more definition, and definitely the output needs boosting, and matching to the new bridge pickup. (IE, LOUDER) This is based on my clean sound. For lead work, same applies, I love the big rounded sound i get now, but wish it sustained a little longer, harmonics were brought out a bit more for squeals, and most importantly, I don't want a pickup where the increased output manifests in more string noise once the distortion kicks in.
Bridge pickup is muddy and needs more bite. PERIOD. But I want it to be versatile, so the x2n or similar are OUT. I find a consistent problem is with lines like michael romeos or
paul gilberts in scarified I have to back off the distortion a lot otherwise palm mutes 'flab' into each other and don't give good definition. Plus the muddiness makes it hard to pick out notes when its chordal work.
TL
R: Sorry guys, if TLDR applies to you, I can't summarize this one. But if you have a suggestion on a great versatile pup config for an S2170, please post it anyway with some pointers on the sounds it gives!
