S540: Needing a tighter and brighter bridge pickup

[D.Vial]

Hey folks. I have a 1991 S540, it's a pretty nice guitar, I use it 1 step down (D), as you might imagine I am playing metal.

The Ibz/usa F2 pickup it's nice, but I've been playing my LP Goldtop with 59/JB (tuned one step down too) combo a lot recently, and I realize that it's much tighter and defined that the Ibby!.

So I need something that can bring that tightness and brightness to my beloved S540
I was thinking in..:

Dimarzio D activator
Seymour duncan Tb/sh-6
Bill Lawrence XL500

What do you guys think? thanks.

[corey j grieve]

I WOULD'NT ! But i am a huge F2 fan,my fav p'ups of all time and i fit them to every guitar i own 90% of the time. Remember,the F2 is a hotter version of the Dimarzio Tone zone but with a little of the TZ's bass removed.
I'd look at it this way,a p'up is basically an EQ curve with wire's hanging off and i would just play them back to back and re-eq your amp settings to recreate the curve of the jb. It will save you cash,leave your classic axe original and give you the option of having different sounding axes when you need them. I personally have some guitars with other p'ups,but i have seperate settings if i use them within my band so the sound is usually consistent with the voice/eq i use for that project.
If you are gonna look at a replacement i would definately be looking at the new Dimarzio liquidfire p'ups designed with Petrucci. They seem super clean and clear and are designed for lower tuning clarity. Here's Petie's review and sound clip's,hope this helps.
http://www.iheartguitarblog.com/2009...marziocom.html

[jaxadam]

F2 is a pretty awesome pickup.

I definitely wouldn't recommend the D Activator. Tighter, but not brighter.

[D.Vial]

Hey guys, I agree F2 is a kick ass pickup, but I'm looking for another type of sound, Dimarzio doesn't seem to be the brand for the kind of sound that I'm looking for, like I said, the S540 is a "less-tighter/brighter" guitar than the LP by nature, so I think that I'm gonna need a Tighter pickup than the Jb to get the sound that I like. My vote right now goes for the Duncan Distortion.

Any other opinions?

[teokiatuan]

I like the Dimarzio Dsonic.
Plus it looks cool :P

Has that techno cyber warrior look to it
totally

[D.Vial]

I was listen to Jeff Waters of annihilator (killer guitar player) comments, he recommends the duncan Sh/Tb-5 (custom custom?) over the Sh-6, acclaiming that's cleaner pick up, I'll maybe check that one too.

I'm convinced right now that Dimarzio can't give me the sound that I'm looking for.

Please give me more advices!

[jaxadam]

The SD Custom Custom is a freakin' great pickup, and I would highly, highly recommend it.

[D.Vial]

OKEY. So I'm between the SD Custom Sh-5 and the SD Full shred Sh-10, can you tell me your experiences with them?

[Jblaze]

The EVO is very tight and bright. I love it. The Doug Aldrich is also suppose to be just as tight. The XL500 is also a tight/bright pickup, with kicking crunch. The Full shred is tight, with a lot of treble. It has nice lows for chugging action. Not much in high mids. The Custom isn't really tight in the lows. If you want a JB sound, the Tonerider Generators, and Dimarzio Norton, are both tighter. The D sonic is also brighter/tighter then his new pickups