[Alexanzer]

Hello everyone. Sorry for my English, but it’s not my first language.
I own an Ibanez rg370ahmz electric guitar and it is very comfortable to play but I don’t like the sound very much.
It has ash body, one-piece maple neck(wizard III), edge-zero II tremolo with ZPS3Fe and quantum pickups(humbucker - single coil - humbucker configuration).
The sound feels soulless and maybe little bright. I don’t like dark sounds like Les Paul(in clean) but this guitar seems a bit brighter.
I have deactivated the humbucker’s split so if I select position 2 or 4 there is activated humbucker and single coil in parallel because the guitar with precedent configuration lost a lot of volume/resonance.
I haven’t a favourite music genre,but I play fingerstyle,blues,hard rock and metal.
I would like to change the quantum pickup to either:
• DiMarzioair Norton F-Spaced DP193FBK on neck position
• DiMarziotone zone F-Spaced DP155FBK on bridge position
• DiMarzio ISCV2 Evolution BKor DiMarzio DP175S True Velvet BK on middle position.

I chose air Norton and tone zone because rg652ahm prestige with ash body has these pickups.

For middle one I have seen a lot of prestige models use DiMarzio true velvet but i found DiMarzio iscv2 evolution at a good price.

I don’t want to spend a lot of money for a new guitar, therefore do you know if I will hear some substantial sound difference with DiMarzio rather than Quantum pickups?

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[KennyV]

You would absolutely hear a difference in the sound.

There's alot of controversial conversations about how guitars sound.

There are many who will say that the woods make up most the tones, and so a small extent I agree. Others will say that the pickups make up the make up the tones. This I lean more towards myself.

But everyone has there own story on their own experience. For example, an rg550 with rosewood fretboard and stock pickups sounds 90% the same to me as an rg550 with maple fretboard. The maple just makes it slightly brighter.

On the other hand, I have 2 Schecters that are the same but with different colors. Ones a red burst and one is a cherry red satin. Otherwise, they are both maple boards, mahogany body and neck, and figured maple tops.

The only difference is that 1 has Duncan invaders, the other has emgs.

The invader is very bright and growly, meanwhile the emgs are very bassy and digital.

Some may say it's cause it's active vs passive pickups but it still settles a point that there is a difference.

The Quantum pickups are very thin, very clear pickups with little to offer when you have heavy distortion.

As long as you found pickups you feel are the tone you are after, go for it.
Of course not every pickup sounds the same, and not ever pickup sounds the same in the same guitar.

But it should get you something closer to what you want.

 

[Joan]

Hi, contrary to what KennyV said, in my own opinion..Quantum Pickups are quite good compared to many other stock pickups. It is somewhat comparable to Schecter Diamond series, which are very good too.

Alexanzer, you should remember that elec.guitar sounds and tone don't come only from the pickups. If you are thinking of a huge different. This will probably not the way. Keep in mind, I said "probably" because in my experience..many pickups react differently with amps, set-ups, etc. But most of the time, it is just subtle.
Amps, cables, pedals and even your guitar set-up can make bigger impact on your tone.
For instance, I don't know why you bought it at first if you don't like the pickups at all.. Have you tried it before buying? If you have tried it and it sounded great and that was why you bought it. Then, the problem may lie in your other equipments, not the guitar itself.

Please remember that your guitar setup (string action, Intonation, Pickup height) may also affect your tone...a lot!!!

When I started playing guitar, I wanted to replace my pickups because that was what all people said to me..but after I learned a bit about setups, most of the time, I felt that probably I didn't need to replace them..the tone diff is not that far!!.and so, I left the quantum pickups in my guitar.

So, please experiment with those..there are so many videos on youtube about it these days...it is fun.

For me, I don't like the tone zone very much..air norton and tonezone are standard for Ibanez prestige these days...so, many people have changed those pickups too...my advice is to search info and demos about several different pickup makers if you decide to change it...find which pickup that gives u a distinct quality different than your quantum.

 

[KennyV]

Well I never said that quantum pickups were bad.

Just that compared to other guitars I have they are thin.

Compared to say my rg550 from 87, the quantum pickups sound better in clean tones, but lack spunk with high gain.

With high gain, they sound ok, but they just don't impress me.

 

[FireEagle]

I don't have too much to add... guitar tone is so subjective. You might try adjusting the pickup height though, that can have quite an impact on tone and sustain. Make sure they are not too close to the strings. My only experience with the Quantum pickups is in an RG7421PB and they just sound dull and dead... but others like them and they sounded good in the reviews I saw on youtube. Good luck!

 

[KennyV]

That's true.
A set up can change the overall feel of the pickup.
More so like talking to someone in the same room as opposed to across the house.

The overall voice of the pickup will be about the same but it can sometimes make them more pleasant