[sakeido]

I'm looking for a set of pups to give my trusty old Dean a kick in the pants. Its a basswood bodied guitar and it just plays so nice I am keeping it around, but its going to need a freshening up with a new set of pickups.

So the body should be really balanced tone, and I'm looking for something that sounds like the Gibson pickups in my Silverburst - not overly high output, but really articulate with just so much to listen to. They are so full of life compared to EMGs. They are the 490 and 498T in a all mahogany guitar - the Dean is basswood with a bolt on maple neck. I don't want to spend a fat stack of cash on Bareknuckles or anything, I was looking at either Seymour Duncans or Dimarzios but haven't the foggiest idea of what actually sounds good.

Suggestions?

[Humanoid]

Basswood with a maple neck makes the guitar sound pretty strong from the middle freqs. So if you are considering Duncans, I would recommend SH-5 Custom or SH-14 Custom 5 to the bridge and SH-1 '59 to the neck. However, SH-14 is not available as a 7-string version.

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

THE BLAZE PICKUPS BY DIMARZIO ARE A DECENT BALANCED SET FOR A VARIETY OF TONAL CHARACTERISTICS IN BASSWOOD BODIES.

OTHER THAN THAT, THE AIR NORTON 7 OR PAF7 IS A GREAT PICKUP FOR THE NECK OF A BASSWOOD BODY. I HAD A PAF7 IIN THE BRIDGE IN MY ESP/LTD F207 & AGAIN IN THE NECK OF MY ESP/LTD H207, & I ACTUALLY PREFERED IT IN THE BRIDGE OF THE F207 WHICH IS MADE OF ALDER. I HAD A BLAZE IN THE BRIDGE OF THE H207 & IT WAS NICE, BUT I THINK IT COMES ALIVE IN THE BASSWOOD BODY.

SO FAR, FROM WHAT I'VE TRIED. THE BLAZE HAS BEEN A GOOD ALL AROUND PICKUP, & THE AIR NORTON IS THE ONLY OTHER PICKUP FOR THE NECK THAT I WOULD EVEN CONSIDER AT THIS POINT, PARTLY BECAUSE OF THE INCREASED OUTPUT LEVEL. THAT'S JUST MY PREFERENCE THESE DAYS THOUGH, AS I USED TO PREFER LOWER OUTPUT PICKUPS BUT AM DESIRING MORE OUTPUT AS OF LATE.

HOPE THAT HELPS A BIT.

[Drew]

I'm not familiar wiith the Gibson pickups you mentioned, but my biggest complaing with the Tone Zone 7 was that it sounded TOO much like a Gibson (especially in mahogany). I'm not sure I'd recommend it, but if you're looking for something not too bright but with a ton of mids...

For "clarity" without uber-output, a Blaze bridge and an Air Norton neck might do the trick. Very John Petrucci.