Hi guys
I've been planning to upgrade the pickups on my dual-humbucker Ibanez S320 for a while now . I love this guitar - it was my first, and it deserves better pickups for sure!

My current choice of brands are Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan, as they're the best bang for the buck, and I can't afford more on pickups. A friend of mine deals with Dimarzios, and can get me a great price on them, so I'm leaning towards those. Question is, which to pick?

I'm a huge Petrucci fan, and am almost decided on the Crunch Lab for the bridge. Then again, I don't play much of that kind of music, although I do mess around with metal a bit; but I need this guitar to be pretty versatile, really. I'd like to get these metal/hard rock tones, along with some more classic rock tones - I've lately been into the vintage Santana sound, and his 70s Les Paul (?) sound. I also will be playing both clean and heavy, rather equally!

With the same thing in mind, I'm less decided on the neck pickup. I'm liking the sound of the PAF Pro, though - but I'm also wondering if I should look at the more 'vintage' type of Dimarzios out there. I'm worried that the vintage output of these might not go too well with the high output Crunch Lab, if I go for that, but I'm not sure

Anyway, what do you guys think? I hope I've given enough info on what I will use guitar this for: classic rock, some alt rock, a lot of clean and heavy playing, and a bit of metal here n there too. Santana to Satch to Petrucci - and I'd also be thinking getting some single coil sounds by splitting these

Anyway, Duncan or Dimarzio, let me know your choice if you were me - and if you would go with the pickups I'm thinking of

Thanks for your time, guys!

My favorite humbucker combination is the Duncan JB (bridge) and Jazz (neck). Installed with a set of Triple Shot rings, you've got one hell of a versatile guitar.

I never cared for the whiney sound of Dimarzios

I thought about upgrading the HB's and the pots on my 2005 Ibanez AF105NT, but it's just not a priority.

If I did so, I'd be looking at Lollars or Fralins.

I also am not of fan of Dimarzio's, Between that and Duncans I'd get Duncans , but my preference is Fralins these days. I have an Ibanez PL2550 that I have some fralins in that I like a lot.

This combination works well. Especially the Jazz in the neck position. I've used the JB in the bridge position in several guitars and some worked better than others, meaning in some guitars it sounded muddy and in others nice and creamy.

I also like the Duncan Antiquities.

Also the Lollar Imperials, my current favorite.

I have another PL2550 that has a Duncan JB in the bridge, it's pretty good, but I like the Fralins better. I have another guitar, a 48th St Custom with a Jb in the bridge and a 59 in the neck that sounds pretty good. I have an EPI Sheraton with a set of Duncan Antiquities it's a decent fit for that guitar but I think the op is looking for a more Hi Gain pickup. And I suspect Lollars are way out of his price range.

Thanks for the replies, guys! Wow, no love for Dimarzio! Haha. I'd love to get a set of Lollars, Fralins, or Bareknuckle, there are so many options when I up the budget, but seeing that I can get a set of Dimarzios for the price of one Lollar/Fralin etc, that's why I'm deciding between these two brands. I'll look more closely at the Duncans recommended here before making my decision; thanks again!

I was checking out the Duncan site just now, n came across the P Rails pickups, and got rather excited. I've been wanting to try out P90s for my guitar, but didn't want to get rid of humbuckers entirely - this SOUNDS like a fantastic option, but is it too good to be true? Does it actually work like it claims i.e. humbucker, P90, single coil?

Apart from that, the JB in the bridge and either the Jazz/'59 in the neck seems very nice too

I didn't know what Triple Shot rings were until now - and wow, that seems perfect! :D Thanks!

The P-Rails are really cool, I've had the chance to hear them. You really need the Triple Shots to get the most out of them, though.

The Fralin UnBuckers wired with a single coil tap, sound Great!

Thanks guys. The P Rail pair is something I'm definitely interested in. But even if I decide to go with more traditional humbuckers, the Triple Shots seem really useful to me. I'm looking closely at some Duncan pickups now, but just to know - will the Triple Shots work with any other humbuckers too i.e. Dimarzios?

The Triple Shots will work with any four-conductor humbucker, they have five small solder points for the four humbucker leads and a ground lead. You just have to be careful, because they are clearly marked for Duncan's color scheme for wiring, and there (unfortunately) isn't a standard (even though most everybody uses red, white, black, and green, they aren't all tied to the same points on the individual coils).

Duncan 59 in the neck and Custom Custom in the bridge. I did not like the JB for rhythm. For lead work it was fine but too midrange honk for other stuff. The custom custom has good output but more balanced than the JB.

Ahh I see. Yeah, I read on the Duncan site that they're suppoesd to work with almost all other humbuckers too - and I clearly noted most Dimarzios are 'four conductor' humbuckers. But I knew there was a catch, haha

Has anybody tried installing other brand pickups with Triple Shot rings? I'm very interested in some of the Duncans recommended here, but the switching system that the Triple Shots offer is what I'm most excited about - and I'd like to keep other pickup options open too, for now! Thanks

I've wired the Triple Shot with Duncans and it works fine.

Thanks, KR - but I was wondering if anyone managed to wire any other brand, other than Duncan, to the Triple Shot rings? Just in case I remain stubborn and stupid and go against the great advice I've got here, and get a set of Dimarzios? :P

Seriously though, the JB/Jazz or 59 combo is what I'm very much leaning towards right now - but just to keep my options open, I'm wondering if it's fairly easy to wire Dimarzios to the Triple Shots
Thanks!

I'm a big Dimarzio fan and, while it may be cliche, the CrunchLab/Liquifire combo is one of the best pickup combos I've played. Unfortunately, the only way you will really find out what works is by buying the pickups and installing them. But for what you are playing, I think the CL/LF combo would be perfect. If you were playing all classic rock I would suggest something else.

I think I would actually prefer to stay with my stock Ibanez '58s than switch to Dimarzio.

I remember how much I hated that whiney Dimarzio tone,
after the rhythm guitarist changed out the stock pickups in his early
Epiphone Double Neck SG.

The guitar actually sounded better with the stock milder pickups.

All you need to do for another wire scheme is look at both brands and how to hook up a three way toggle switch. This will help you decode the hot and cold of each loop. There are 2 loops on each pickup. Easy stuff. Any 4 conductor can be used as long as you can get that info.

Lower Ibanez S models are 2D and thin sounding guitars due to cheap mahogany and light body. So don't buy picky/trebly JB or Paf Pro - try Dimarzio Super Distortion. It's universal and BIG sounding pickup.

ibanez pickups are generally better than dimarzio, despite popular disbelief

But Gibson makes the best pickups, they always have

checkout burstbuckers

FWIW, I think it's important to look at what other Ibanez owner's are saying. The Ibanez guitars are just different IMO and it takes an Ibanez owner/player to give good advice on those guitars.

Having said that, I'll say this; I've never been a big fan of DiMarzio pickups. I rolled in a pair of Super distortions once to a solid mahogany '79 Epiphone Genesis and was severely disappointed. But, the Genesis is a very dense/heavy mahogany, had a mahogany neck, and weighed like 9 lbs. It was heavier than the M-16 I traded it for, LOL.

I can also say the Duncan '59 pickup is Huzzah all the way. Really nice output, very nice PAF sound without being over-edgy like a Dirty Fingers pickup.

For the money (and tone) you might also consider the low price (but Fralin quality of Bill Lawrence's L-500's. Nuno Bettencourt kinda made them famous. The shape of his N4 is very similar to the Ibanez S series and loaded with Bill's L-500's.

Just food for thought.

I've been dropping pickups in guitars for 30 years. They are all easy as hell to do. My opinion on DiMarzio vs Duncan is easy to follow. DiMarzio in a guitar you get the sound of the pickup. Duncan is more clear so you hear more of the amp. Which do you want to hear more of? I don't say one is better than the other, just know what is more in line with your needs.

I walked away from DiMarzio entirely when I found out about their double cream humbucker trademark. That was something like thirty years ago, and I haven't given their company a penny in all of that time.

Ah, lots of new replies, thanks guys. I don't know about the Ibanez pickups you guys are talking about, but my low-end S series comes with Infinity 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.

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

Thanks for the tip about the Bill Lawrence pickups, I'll definitely check those out!

With most of the comments here for Duncan, i'm really leaning towards a combination of the JB & Jazz/'59. Either with the triple shots or with a switch/push-pull pot

My experience with Bill Lawrence pickups is that they allow you to hear the guitar itself and the qualities of the guitar. With certain amps, especially all tube antiquated gear and amps, you can hear the qualities of the amp better as well. But I notice more of the qualities of my Strat.

@ the OP, I'm of the opinion that your stock Infinity pickups sport Alnico V magnets, meaning they didn't skimp when designing them and the tracks I've heard using the Infinity series pups are pretty nice in the hands of a competent player; that's not to say an upgrade wouldn't help you achieve a more desirable tone for you. I'm just saying I don't feel your stock pickups are cheap.

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...


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.

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.

The only issue I really have with the electronics on my Ibanez AF105NT is the quality of the pots.

Because upgrading a hollow body or semi-hollow is somewhat tedious, I'm not going to bother until I can afford a serious upgrade, or none at all.

Ouch! JB is still mounted in many, many modern guitars for metalheads, as 7string version also. Because it CUTS THROUGH. It will work not only for stoner and will work very well with modern high gain amps. You can hear it on the Arch Enemy, Avenged Sevenfold etc. albums. Yes, it has warm/round bass and palm mutings made by begginers or lite handed guitarists can appear as flabby/boomy. JB sounds very good as a metal pickup in tonally balanced instruments for sure. But for cheap bolt-on as Ibanez s320 there are better, FAT sounding options.

+1

And I don't get how Dimarzio's are "whiney", but I guess it's subjective. In general their buckers are more compressed than SD's imo, depending on the pup, but I like that in some cases.

I've used many from both companies and find it's nice to have both choices and that it sometimes comes down to finding which one matches the particular guitar and objective best.