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pickup choices, halp plz!

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:06 am
by mellowlogic
Hey guys.

I've got a jagstang playing through a peavey classic 50 with a ds1 distortion pedal.

I like to play punk and hard rock type stuff, but I haven't been able to get the tone I'm looking for (I usually use the bridge humbucker). I've been thinking about replacing this, but I'm not sure what to get. It definitely needs some good chunky palm-muting sound out of it. What do you guys thing would be a good fit for me?

I could totally be wrong about this, and maybe my setup just sucks for what I like to play but let me know if you have any advice :D

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:35 am
by Haze

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:48 am
by mellowlogic
Ohh intriguing. Are there any potentiometer considerations when changing pickups? I'm a newb to mods :shock:

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 12:58 am
by Mages
here are my recommendations. play with the neck pickup if you want something more chunky and don't use a ds1, it is not chunky. unless..... you use an EQ pedal to make it more bassy. or just use the EQ on your amp.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:27 am
by mellowlogic
It sounds so twangy though! O_o

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:34 am
by Ninja Mike 808
mellowlogic wrote:It sounds so twangy though! O_o
Twang is suppose to come from the bridge pick up. A lower sound comes from the neck pick up. Maybe joo got it backwards?

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:53 am
by mellowlogic
This is all very confusing. Must be my eq on the amp or my pedal....

I have to admit that i've only been playing for like 1.5 yrs so I haven't gotten into much of the stylistic stuff until now. I've mostly just been working on scales and chord progressions without much attention to tone.

I guess if my pickup isn't the problem, what pedal should I be using? I tried a big muff one time, but I wasn't that impressed with it honestly.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:58 am
by Haze
as much as some people here might not like this...
i would try out a Boss MT-2 [Metal Zone]
Go to your local guitar shop and play one
and bring your guitar too, hell try to even find the same amp you have
if you go to a "mom n pop'' store they'd be pretty cool about it

the MT-2 can do alot of stuff because of its 4 band EQ [high, low, mid, mid freq.] and distortion

it can get crazy, but its pretty versatile, i used it in a funk/ska band for about 6 months with nothing else but a wah pedal =)

so if you want a ballsy sound, i'd go there, of course it might run you upwards of 90 USD

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:25 am
by aphasiac
what tone you after? name a band you want to sound like.

If its Nirvana you need to stick a Seymour Duncan JB or Dimarzio Super Distortion in there.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:27 am
by Mike
Neck pickup is not what you want to use for punky rhythms - at all. it'll just sound wooly and undefined when dirty.

Just get a seymour duncan JB trembucker for the bridge position.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:05 pm
by mellowlogic
Thanks for the info.
What does F-Spacing mean exactly? Is that what I need for my guitar? I was looking on guitar center's website and they have a jb-tb reverse. Is that reverese wound or something? Also what is a trem-bucker vs the regular jb?

I also looked at the superdistortion, those look kinda nice. Plus it says they can do regular or 'f spacing'. Sorry for all the questions, just want to make an informed decision! :oops:

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:08 pm
by Mike
A Trembucker is just a JB for Fender Spaced tremelos. You want that one. Don't worry about reverse wound.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 3:38 pm
by light rail coyote
get rid of the DS-1. It cant make any ear pleasing noise. I have a MT-2 and it's actually pretty versatile, can go from light distortion/overdrive to the super metal sound, and has eq. You would notice more of a difference with that then a different pickup, and is probably the sound you're looking for. I did the exact same thing as you, went from a DS-1 to a MT-2 when I had been playing for about a year.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 3:58 pm
by mellowlogic
Hmm thanks for the tip. Maybe I'll try a different pedal before I start mucking around with the innards of my guitar.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:07 pm
by Mike
Marshall GV-2 or BB-2 would be a definite improvement on your DS-1.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:12 pm
by light rail coyote
Yeah, pretty much anything but a DS-1.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:14 pm
by Mike
Actually he's got a Classic50? Just use the amp overdrive channel.

Throw the DS-1 out of your window.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:19 pm
by mellowlogic
Yeah I have the classic 50. I can't seem to dial in the tone I'm looking for, this is originally why i was wondering if pickups were really the problem. Even with the bass jacked up on the dirty chan I can't get that chunky sound I'm looking for.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:23 pm
by Mike
EQ pedal.

Danelectro Fish N Chips is Cheap and very good.

Posted: Thu Apr 24, 2008 5:40 pm
by mellowlogic
Seems like one of those distortion pedals with the built in eq may be a good compromise.