Alright guys. I recently got a RG560 and I wanna put new pickups in it. Now I usually play heavy stuff, but lately I am trying to diversify. The only famous player's guitar tone I absolutely love is Joe Satriani's. So naturally I was looking at the Mo'Joe for the bridge, but is it able to get reasonably heavy? I want to be able to play with any kind of band that uses distortion. I'm trying to find a band and not be so picky so I need a set that can do a lot of things. Let's say from classic rock to As I lay dying. Probably impossible I guess.

I'm poor and right now I can't afford more than one guitar. I asked DiMarzio and they recommended the EVO2, but I want more opinions, plus I don't really like Steve Vai, I know, an immature reason not to choose a pickup.

I'll deal with neck and mid positions later. Any suggestion is good.

i don't think it's immature not to want an evo or evo2 because you don't like vai. it's good to mention actually because you'll get recommended that pickup all day if you didn't mention it.

back to the mo joe. i have one in an alder bodied rt450. it's definitely hotter than a fred, but not as hot as higher output offerings (aka, tone zone, jb, evo, etc.). it's like slightly hotter than mid output. can it do metal? well, depends on your approach to gain. if you prefer your pickup to do the overdriving, then it may not be your cup of tea. if you like to let your amp do the work (which is how satch, timmons and lynch do it), then yeah, it can definitely handle the high gain well. the other consideration is that it is a very 'open' sounding pickup. some pickups have some natural compression going on that makes them sound 'tighter', especially on the low strings when you palm mute. the mo joe doesn't really respond that way, but it does sound very clear from string to string, has very balanced frequencies (although the upper mids are slightly higher) and allows for some crazy harmonics.

that being said, satch really hasn't used the mo joe that much (since it came out a couple years ago). you may find the fred may get the job better and offer better clarity. it just depends on your approach to tone and generating gain.

I used the Fred for a while in my JS before I got rid of it and it sounded great. Very good tone, and I tuned down to drop D a couple times and it was very clear and heavy. I guess the MJ will be slightly hotter and thicker.
smitty

Well, based on what you said the Mo'joe doesn't sound like it fits for me. I need to have soul and tight attack. Maybe not the best representations of each, but a fairly good one of each.

About the Tone Zone, I like how it sounds in Paul Gilbert's playing and it has crazy harmonics supposedly, but Paul Gilbert's playing also doesn't have any tightness. That would bother me if I were trying to play aggressive metal rhythm. I like how thick it sounds for solos and such, but PGs muting sounds too much like squeezing a sponge. Am I mistaken on the TZs capabilities?

This is hard because I live in Japan and although there are lots of Ibanezes there aren't many guitars with the pickups i want to try in them. Also, people think that since we have J Customs and real ESPs they would be easy to find, but even here in Nagoya (Ibby and ESP homeland) you can't find them. Everyone here is into Fender and Gibson. And they don't even think of other brands. If you think Brian Setzer is god then maybe you'll love the ideal sound I hear at all the guitar stores locally.

PS: I respect and enjoy Setzers playing, but I am not interested in sounding like him.

I think you should get a Norton or a D-Sonic

Mo Joe sounds good. It is nice and tight and can do heavy very well. Very good overall pickup.

personally, i don't think that the pickup he really needs is going to be a dimarzio. i think the duncan distortion is the one for him. he'll need the meat AND cut for the styles of music he's looking to do. the crunch tones are there...in spades. its a very tight pickup that is agressive, but not over the top. the lead tones are articulate and pretty balanced while still being in your face. if it is too hot, i would go with the duncan custom...it's just a bit tamer than the distortion, but with more meat in the lower mids.
if you have your heart set on a dimarzio, i would look at the super3. not to familiar with the d-sonic, but the steve's special may work for you. great sounding pickup, the eq curve makes this pickup very note focused. good for chunky rhythms, but not the kind that are too huge...like the tone zone(which i love, just not in basswood). the super3 is my personal favorite in basswood and i play a ton of different style with it. even coil taps well. really great when combined with single coils.

rich

Take a look at GFS' LOUDMOUTHS.... http://store.guitarfetish.com/humbuckers.html I just installed a bridge model in one of my guitars, and I like it. Kinda in that Tone Zone territory. Good for coil-tapping also.

Yeah, I went played an Edwards Viper with the Duncan Distortion in the bridge an really digged it. I think that I'm a bit of a Duncan guy, I don't know, but it just seems that they have that sound that originates in the classic and then is taken up a notch. I was trying to see which DiMarzios do that as well.


One more question: I heard that if you have a ceramic magnet pickup and you play through a solid state amp (I only have a Roland Cube right now), that it will be unreasonably harsh sounding. Just something I heard , is it true?

The Dimarzio Air Norton/Norton, Breeds, and Fred/Mo' Joe pickups are all under this "vintage/classic taken up a notch" take on pickups.


tone is subjective to everyones interpretation. Just because 1 setup doesn't work for 1 person doesn't mean it won't work for another. You just have to experiment and try things out until you like them.

So basically, unless it's going to blow up something or melt it away... just try it out because you never know what will happen.

I've never really thought about it, but that might hold some truth to it, because I think that solid state amps are a little more "harsh" or "brittle" and I also think ceramics are a little more "harsh" or "brittle" as well, so who knows... I haven't even bothered trying to figure that out...

Duncan Distortion, even though a ceramic, is a very underrated pickup, and also works very well in the neck, which is not something you see or hear of everyday.

Thanks, that helps. DiMarzios site isn't that helpful when wanting to know this kind of info, and what's with their sound bytes? They aren't all that helpful. I much prefer SDs sound bytes even though they are subtle you can actually hear the differences instead of hearing someone solo with what may or may not be the pickup you want to hear. Some sound bytes are used for two or three pickups too. That's a bit confusing.

I'll second the Duncan Distortion suggestion.

I have tried most of the DiMarzio pickups and while some have been hit and miss, excelling at some areas while blowing goats at others, I recently tried the Seymour Duncan Distortion mayhem set, Distortion bridge and neck, in my Ibanez RG5EX1 and I love it!

I tried it out at a classic rock covers gig and at my nu metal ish original band shows and it was great in both drastically diffrent scenarios...

I started doing some leads on a shred recording I'm doing for my own amusement and I used that same guitar and was just blown away.
Very Lynch-esque as a lead tone IMO.