[Mind Riot]

Seymour Duncan '59-7

This, like the JB-7, came stock in my Schecter 007 Blackjack seven string.

The Bad: It is too hot for me, as a neck pickup. Even in split mode, it's just a bit too hot. Jim Soloway gave me the tip of rolling off the volume whenever I use it, which works quite well and sweetens it up nicely. Interestingly enough, it seems to work with amp models on the PODxt that my PAF-7 in my RG7421 wouldn't work with at all. The PAF-7 sings sweetly through Fender Twins and Deluxe Reverbs in the PODxt, and the Roland JC-120 sounded awful, sterile and brittle. The '59-7 sounds way too middy and honky through the Fenders and sounds absolutely heavenly through the JC120. Go figure.

The Good: As I said, once the volume is rolled off a tad it sings with a nice voice. Like the JB, it has a tad too much treble response but also like the JB it seems to really come into it's own with the tone knob rolled back a tad. Lovely cleans through the JC120 model, it is my fave clean sound with this guitar. Distorted lead playing, it sounds similar to the PAF-7, as in smooth and vocal, but it is a bit hotter than the PAF-7.

Overall, quite a nice neck pickup, even though I feel like I have to tame it a bit for it to be useful. I'm still getting to know it, and I'm sure over time I'll come to understand it better and be able to use it more effectively.


I typed all of these pickup reviews in a row, and man, are my hands tired. But I've been wanting to type these up since I came here; it didn't look like too many people had posted in this thread yet. I hope this info is helpful, and thanks for reading!

MR

[7StringofAblicK]

The EMG 707:
Well...My dream was to own one of these. I fell in love with Fear Factory tone and I raged how I wanted it. I was not dissapointed one bit in its performance, but it didn't do what I hadn't already done.

The bad: Very, very bright on clean. It was so crystal clear with no bass in it that it was thin sounding. Power chords were sufficient, but any jazz or neck movement was left dry.

The Good: Distorted, it was clear and taut. Clarity out the ball sack, but still lacked a awesome low end. They say this is supposed to be bassier than the 81-7, but any less bass and you'd have a problem. But, this thing has some good output volume wise. ::the clean can be very good at times for single picking and that lo-fi kind of sound. by rolling back some of the tone, you get that more rhythmic feel.

I still prefer my JB, but that is in a mahogany bodied guitar. I may try the 707 in a mahogany body, considering it will maintain some low end. My basswood guitar with the 707 is awesome for speed riffs and for that fear factory clarity. But my other guitars that are passive retain that deep gutsy low end that I prefer.

Damn glad to have it as a part of my arsenal, it is there when I need it and it has its great points. People may argue and desire the tone that it has more than any other kind, it is just not my favorite.

[Jerich]

Lundgren M-Model

Humbucker:

Carvin 747 Ash body painted Black with a Birdseye Maple fret board,and Floyd Rose Copy tremolo: for this test, I felt it sounds different in my Other Carvin 727 with full mahogany Bodied & string with maple fretbaord:

The bad: very hot pickup even when toned down it is still too vibrant for some. Very harsh distortion is not a smooth pickup when on full. Splitting the coil is reccomended.You must order them from the Ludgren Factory and be on pins and needles until they reach you. Comminication from them is not really the greatest,But i think it is becasue they do not speak English (swedish).

The Good: It is a very High out put crunchy pickups, It has many different tones of distortion just by the volume pot alone, I use the tone Pot as a Blender pot for the treble so I use a cap to keep the tone at a simple setting that works for me. If you tune extremely Low It works well cutting through the mix.It is more consistant than the EMG-707,and i had them in both of these guitars first. Meshuggah use them But i do not like meshuggahs tone,so do not go by them.

Great pickups for your dollar, and you do not have to route out the body cavity to fit them in.

[LordOVchaoS]

EMG 81-7

Now played by Dino Cazarez. I bought one of these from the custom shop section of guitarpartsdepot.com and I love it. I think I've had it about 8 months now (not sure exactly). I had a 707 at the bridge and a crappy HZ at the neck (it came with the guitar). The 707 was great for a while! Then I started missing the glory of the 81 that I have in my 6-string Jackson. Convieniently, I was browsing guitarpartsdepot and stumbled across this. I bought it on the spot and installed it the second it came to my door. Anyone who's ever usen an 81 knows how bad ass this thing is! I moved the 707 to the neck and put the 81-7 in the bridge. This thing is so hot I had to improve my playing because it picks up everything! The clarity is amazing and the sensitivity is almost ridiculous! There is NO noise unless I'm standing close to a TV when I'm playing it. You can get a harmonic from literally every fret on the neck. I get sustain from a bolt-on neck that you could only imagine coming from a neck-thru due to this pickup. Anybody who is a fan of active pickups should get one of these! It blows even the almighty 707 out of the water! I can't compare this to too many passive pickups because I don't own any anymore and the EMG-HZs are hardly a good example to compare them to. All I can tell you is that the other guitarist in my band has some Blaze 2s and is quite envious of my EMG.

[Jerich]

Rio Grande 7 String... The Texas Tall single coil.

I have a Mutt Fender Style 7-string Strat. It has a Birdseye Maple Neck&Fretboard and a H-S-S pickup configuration. The single coils are counter angled like Jake E Lee did on his custom guitars, and wired with a 5 way selector and a coil tap on M-Model. This guitar was made by Ron Lucca for me; solid alder body with black Dupont Prism paint. HipShot Bridge, super ajustable, brass (black), brass nut.

I tried a lot of pickups in the guitar and finally found these Rio Grands to get that thinner Strat sound. I wish Joe Barden made seven string pickups... But if he did this is what they would sound like. They are a mid range, thin, full-sounding strat sound. I hate to compare it to someone, but maybe a Chris Impellitteri clean/bluesy tone.

This guitar has a Lundgren M-Model Humbucker in the Bridge and two Rio Grandes in the Middle and neck. The output from the two Rio's is weak and I am working on a cap/resistor for the M-Model to drop it down to even it out with the Rios. This guitar is a project in the making.

I love these pickups. If you install them in a body you must rout for the triangle size and shape they are, but I just cut/dremmeled out my pickgaurd.

Price: I purchased three of these off ebay for $22 each = Good deal.

[Wayniac]

Tom Anderson HB
Guitar: Anderson Pro-Am 7
The Good: Beefy tone, versatile, very responsive. Available cheap from Warmoth.com
The bad: As most Anderson HB's are - a little bassy. Need to change the EQ'ing on your amp.

EMG 707 - I agree with above statements... very bright and a bit thin on the clean settings.... pretty beefy when distorted. Guess I'd like to get my paws on an 81

[ecalcagnino]

All these were in my 7620 test mule:

Dimarzio EVO 7 - (bridge position) Bright as a mutha. Not a good choice for a one guitar band IMHO, it's too shrill and a little thin. Cuts great with two guitars and great for stand out leads. Good harmonics. Not too hot.

Dimarzio Air Norton 7 - (neck position) As smooth as the Evo is bright. Love this pup, the right amount of clarity with no mud. Petrucci lead tone for days.

Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB-7 - (bridge position) Hell yeah. This is what I am talkin' about. Not too hot but it has some juice boy. One of my favorites for metal/fusion. Super clear, no mud. Great PUP. Similar to the Blazes in the UV and Tone Zone 7s.

Seymour Duncan SH-1 '59-7 - (neck position) Perfect balance of output and clarity. Not very different than the AN7. Reacts very dynamically to playing style and picking strength.

[terrorsound]

emg 81 7's and emg 707's on ibanez and mh 307 customs:

the emg 707's on the esp going through my line 6 vetta II sounds a bit fuller in the bass department than the 81-7's do. Both setups have the pickups angled away from the bass strings with the same spacing from the top surface of the pickup to the bottom of the b, e, a, strings. For the line 6 setup these pickups definately do the trick, mids are pretty good, presence is right there and harmonics are rediculous on both pickup models. I do not experience the thin sounding issues on any of my clean channels. there is a song on acid planet called the storm in which I use the MH 307 and 7620 for both left and right guitar parts, no thin sounding tones coming from the guitars or the gear. Maby it's just the eq cutting the treble?

[eaeolian]

Seymour Duncan Custom 7

I have a Washburn Sonic 7 (maple neck with birdseye maple board, mahogany body with the oddest paint you've ever seen) that arrived with a Duncan Distortion 7 in it. Since that pickup was WAY too bright for normal settings (my main 7 string has a JB-7 in it), it had to go. Since I've had good luck with the Custom in maple neck/board w/mahogany body guitars before, I jumped on this one in the classified of another forum. The tone of the guitar is now, um, brutal.

The Good:

Thick, angry midrange. The guitar now has a low-mid "roar" to it that's really hard to explain, it just sounds evil. Single notes jump without being brittle, and chords are a wall of fundamental and harmonics.

The Bad:

Might be TOO thick. I use a realtively bright sound, so it's OK for me, but if you are used to a bassy sound this pickup - especially with this wood combo - might well totally mush out for you. It's not as clear as the JB-7, especially during chording.

The Verdict:

In the right guitar, this thing is positively evil. It's always going to be close to mud, though, 'cause the low mids are so strong. It works in this particular guitar very well.

[Drache713]

Dimarzio Blaze Custom

Installed in bridge postion of Ibanez RG7321

One word to describe this pickup is middy. Not so much mids to make it muddy or mushy, but enough to make it thicker/fuller and stand out in the mix. It has a good amount of low end so it is warm and has good thump to it, and yet the high end is bright and clear and yet not the "icepick in the ear" sound, not harsh and is actually somewhat smooth. In all actuallity it's a very balanced pickup tone wise. The high output helps it work great for distortion, i actually had to lower my gain a lot and my mids as well on my amp. The mids and high output help with harmonics too. Sounds great coil split, only thing is that it doesn't sound that great clean; too high of output and too much mids for my taste clean wise. Distorts the clean channel fairly easily. To me it's kinda like a middle-ground pickup between the tone zone and evo, warmer and less harsh/smoother than an evo, and yet tighter and brighter/edgier than a tone zone. If you're into the scooped metal pickup sound this pickup isn't for you (although having this pickup and scooping the mids on your amp DOES work quite well). If you're into a middier metal sound ala newer dream theater, killswitch engage, shadows fall or anything like that, this pickup would work really well. I actually e-mailed dimarzio and they said the blaze custom is basiclly the pickup that is being used in the bridge of the EBMM Petrucci guitars (or the D Sonic for the 6-strings) so for those looking for a tone similar to newer dream theater/petrucci (once he got his EBMM guitars), look no further. A great high output metal pickup I say, my personal favorite!