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What makes a great Metal pickup?


Jon Bell

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For straight out balls (can I say that here), I'd have to recommend the DiMarzio X2N or the Dimebucker. They are overwound, so that's part of the equation. Magnets are another part of it, but by in large Alnico 5's are going to be in every pickup out there (Okay there's a few Alnico 3's for the blues buffs out there too).

I'd also recommend the trusty Dimarzio Distortion.

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the dimarzio super 3 is supposed to be a good metal pickup (says dimarzio), i actually have one, just haven't had a chance to install it yet.

if you're into seymour's? the....umm... custom custom or duncan distrotion model might be good to??

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I still (and probably forever) will rave about the Gibson stock 500T. It's in my stock Explorer, and it blows any of my other guitars with EMGs or Duncan Distortion or anything else out of the water.

I read bad things about them every once in a while, but in my experience, you can over distort it, and it starts sounding bad. The only bad thing I can say about them is that you need to shield and ground the guitar really well.

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if you want a good metal pick up, i suggest:

passive: alder, poplar, basswood bodies: seymour duncan custom, seymour duncan invader.

mahogany, korina bodies: seymour duncan JB, seymour duncan distortion.

seymour duncan dimebucker.

Active: EMG 81, seymour duncan heavy metal live wire and Master Tone SPA. >>> http://www.mastertonepickups.com/

well from what i know, pickups that are over wounded are usually suited for metal. as for magnets, ceramic magnets are mainly used in metal pickups now.

ceramic: EMG 81, SD Distortion, Invader, Custom, Metal Live.

alnico: SD JB, Mastertone SPA.

happy trails. :D

Page.

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i forgot to mention, i think a good high gain set up, is on ly about one thing, noise. the lower the noise the better, IMO. shield everything really well, then use whatever p-up you want and trial and error. that is the main reason i love active p-ups, they are so quiet in comparison.

look for p-ups also that have encapsulated shielding build into the pick-up ala EMGhz, dimebucker.

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