Pickup Suggestions?

[JohnA]

I wanted some other people's opinions, and some users of these pickups to chime in.

Okay, the deal is this: getting a new guitar soon. It's mahogany bodied, maple neck, rosewood fret board, double humbucker wraparound bridge style guitar (Ibanez). I will be using this guitar to play METAL. I already have a great guitar for clean sounds. Whether or not the pickups you reccomend have a good clean sound is irrelevant to me.

The bridge pickup needs to have a well defined 'chunk', and a precise sound where the notes don't smear together under heavy distortion. Probably have a high midrange response, but I am flexable, as long as it has that sound. I want the neck pickup to have a smooth sound, like Satriani or Vai, where it sounds real natural and legato. I want a bright neck pickup. No Air Nortons.

The combos I was considering are:

X2N/PAF Pro

Steve's Special/PAF Joe

SD Full Shred/PAF Joe

I'd love to hear your feedback on these combos, or your suggestions for others.

ALSO: No suggestions for EMG's. If I decide to get those, I already know what combo I want.

thx This is really long, but please respond.

I hope this is the right place to put this...

Edited January 9, 2006 by JohnA

[GregP]

Seems like an OK enough place to discuss it.

FWIW, and mainly in my opinion, for high-gain usage, the amp itself will determine note separation and clarity more than the pickup.

Er... semi-useless post, since I don't have an actual recommendation. I still prefer a lower-output pickup even for metel (sic) because there's often a more balanced tonal range. Seymour Duncan JB is never a bad choice for a bridge pickup from what I understand. Haven't tried every flavour of pickup out there, though, so it's not a completely objective or informed opinion.

Greg