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Smoother, high-output replacement for Crunch Lab?

4.7K views 7 replies 7 participants last post by  craigny  
#1 ·
I recently picked up a gorgeous S540 with some interesting aftermarket pickups in it.

Neck: GFS Crunchy Rails
Middle: GFS Lil Killer
Bridge: DiMarzio Crunch Lab

The neck pickup is surprisingly not bad, though a bit muddy.

I've never been a Petrucci fan and the Crunch Lab reminded me of some of the reasons why. Despite being spec'ed as a high output model, the Crunch Lab is grainy and dies easily during tapping and legato runs up the neck.

I've been a longtime user of Evolutions in my Ibanez guitars, but I'm not sure how they'll do with the mahogany in this guitar. Any other suggestions for a high output bridge pickup for smooth legato and tapping?
 
#2 ·
the breed, tone zone or dominion ?


they are smooth but fatter, if you dig the evos you may find that those have too much bass.

the steve's special is great too if you want a little brighter but no much in you face crunch.
 
#3 ·
Seems basically you want higher resistance and j.arledge summed-up the dimarzio options well.

Ron Thal to me is amazing at tapping and he uses a tonezone. I use the tonezone on an 3120 (mahogany body), its full sounding and has its own (wahwah like) vibe to it and changes character dramatically to height adjustments. You'll probably like it almost as high as possible.