Quote:
Originally Posted by
heshanj
β‘οΈ
AInfinity pickups, which are alright, but I'm sure my guitar (even though it's a cheap-ish one) can sound quite a bit better with other pickups.
Don't be too sure about that. Ibanez pickups are really good. It should actually be more about how each model are made specifically not about the brand perse.
It comes down to the tone chart for each pup. There are several factors.
Output, type of magnets, bass mid treble curves etc...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
heshanj
β‘οΈ
I was very much thinking of putting a Duncan JB in the bridge, but CroMag above mentioned that the S series body of my guitar might not sound very good with these pickups. Ah, confusing - haha
JB is an extremely hot pickup. something like 17k. It is a good 70s stoner rock pickup. if you are looking for a pickup that cuts through JB does not work well. It is a very muddy pickup especially with high gain amps. JB is a good pup for Bad company tone where you use an old style non master volume amp. It is a good pup if you plug into an old hiwatt and amps that are cleaner and don't breakup quickly like many new amps. You can overload the input with the JB, but by contrast if you use a high gain amp with a jb in the bridge it would overload to the point that it will sound like you switched to your neck pup. You know, that sort of bassy warm, perhaps muddy (depending on point of view) Slash sweet child tone?? or sunshine of your love, sweet lief tone.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
heshanj
β‘οΈ
Thanks for the tip about the Bill Lawrence pickups, I'll definitely check those out!
In general these are great pups for shred or jazz where you play alot of notes and they cut through very nicely. However not all their models are necessarily like this. You have to look at the output and charts and what type of magnets you like. They all differ
What is your sound?? Keep in mind the lower the output sometimes the more articulate the sound depending on your amp.
Keep in mind JB were made when amps were whimpy with no master volumes and people wanted to get a heavier more sustain sound like JB himself. Original Gibson PAFs are roughly half the output of a JB. You may or may not want this. Most Ibanez pups are roughly the output of a real PAF, about 8-9k.
They do this because most ibanez guys are shredders and use high gain amps. If you use ultra high output pups with an ultra high gain amp it will sound really muddy like stoner rock. An Ibanez pup is going to clean up nice for solos but still give you a good PAF style crunch on rhythms.
Also not all pups clean up when you lower the volume. Some do. It depends on the construction and how you guitar is wired up, pots whatever
So the question is what "1" sound are you really looking for? It's tough to find one pup that can do all the things you mentioned in your first post. Also what amp do you use?
What pedals?? Since you could use a highgain amp with a JB and then use a tube screamer to clean it up. Where a distortion pedal would make it even more muddy.
So many options, this is why many players just have several guitars.