# Metal pickups in mahogany



## ShredEmall (Jan 29, 2012)

hey guys, im spyros. im playin the guitar for about 3 years or so

i have my ltd v-401(x2 emg81)since then...and im SICK of the emg's. back in the time i really liked my tone but now...i dont like it anymore. he sounds a little bit digital compared to other passives. also ive heard guitars with different woods(basswood/alder) with emg 81...and they sound almost the same. the only pickups ive used and are not actives, are the stock ones in some low-price jacksons that friends of mine own. i like their tone more than mine...they sound more ...natural? they just sound better to me, cant really describe it.
i found this forum while i was googling info about some pickups and since i found helpful info i decided to register and do some questions.

ive decided to change the emg's and move to passive pickups.


i wonder if u can help me choose some pickups

here's some info 

1. I dont ever use cleans. i only care about having a good distorted sound, not cleans.
2. i play thru ux2 line6 and engl screamer combo
3. my gutiar is ltd v-401(mahogany body and rosewood fretboard)a tuneomatic bridge guitar.
4. i play technical death/thrash stuff. also some metalcore/melodeath 
5. i love the sound of bands like, black dahlia murder(especially the lead guitars in the nocturnal album), REVOCATION, necrophagist, spawn of possession. Dave Davidson's sound is awesome.
6. i had in mind the following bridge pups : Dimarzio crunch lab/tone zone/super 3/evolution/d-activator/x2n and Seymour Duncan SH-6.
and neck : dimarzio paf pro/evolution/evolution II/liquifire or seymour duncan 59.


i want a "warm" sounding pickup in the bridge for progressive death/thrash stuff...that is agressive but doesnt sound so "digital" like the emg's. e.g..


i really like this tone

thats all..i hope u can help me because i dont have the oportunity to try the pickups

ps forgot to mention that im not interested in BK pickups because they;re far away from my budget.


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## Purelojik (Jan 29, 2012)

SD custom or SD Distortion. both awesome pups. Distortion sounded great when i had it in my mahogany les paul. custom is a bit more versatile but thats just my opinion.


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## Lagtastic (Jan 29, 2012)

I love the Dimarzio X2N at the bridge in a mahogany bodied guitar for metal tones. Quite a bit of the tone in the above video is coming from the strong right hand technique of the player.


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## Dead Undead (Jan 29, 2012)

Evolutions, dude. They kill in mahogany. Really crunchy and tight. They're rather unforgiving, so they'll force you to clean up your playing. You'll find yourself backing them off from the strings more than other pups. They're sensitive, but in turn they are expressive and will capture a lot of the little details in your playing.
I'll also recommend the X2N or D-Activator X.
If you wanna go with Duncans, I recommend the Custom 5/'59 set.


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## ShredEmall (Jan 29, 2012)

damn its so hard to choose. the worst thing is that i cant try them by my own so i can decide! expensive items ...i dont think ill have the chance to sell them fast on ebay if i dont like them..and noone will ensure me that the next pups will be better than the previous!
i hope the internets will be helpful in that decision. 
arent the evolutions too "harsh"? Steve vai uses them as far as i know and his tone is not so warm i think :O my pup experience sucks

seymour duncan distortion
x2n
evos

are on top i see


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## Dead Undead (Jan 29, 2012)

Evos are thin and harsh and shitty in brighter woods. In Mahogany they sound absolutely perfect. It brings out the best in the pickup. Searing mids, smoother highs, deep lows.


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## MistaSnowman (Jan 29, 2012)

SD Distortion bridge/59 or DiMarzio D-Activator X bridge/D-Activator neck


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## Ironbird (Jan 30, 2012)

D-Activator / D-Activator X set, or if you want to just remove your EMGs and quick-connect some killer pickups in their place, Blackouts. Basically you'd want a pickup or pickup set that has an EQ which isn't mid-scooped by nature.

I have no experience with Blackouts in a mahogany guitar, but I know for certain that D-Activators sound absolutely INSANE in a mahogany axe. Actually it would sound quite close to the Revocation tone up there.

All the best!


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## ShredEmall (Jan 30, 2012)

thanks a lot for all of your answers!
seems there are many pickups in the list...in about a week or so ill have the chance to play the following guitars

charvel socal style 1 - alder body with dimarzio tonezone/evo
ibanez xiphos - mahogany with d activators
michael kelly hex deluce - mahoganny emg 81(to see the difference with the xiphos)
and ltd mh400 - mahogany - emg 81

the charvel is the much different one between those 4 guitars

i hope a test drive will be helpful since ive not the chance to try them in the same guitar.still there are some differences between mine and them

sure thing is that ill upload videos before and after the installation in my guitar so people will see the differences...plus its too hard to find good comparisons on youtube.

as for the blackouts i dont want active pickups again...and their tone compard to emg81 is better but they sound really...modern/"core"? i think..no offense but as ive heard from emg81/blackouts comparisons im judging

thanks again . even if this topic is going dead ill revive it in about a week or so to tell u what ive choose and then to post a video with my comparison!


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## Ironbird (Jan 30, 2012)

The Blackouts, to me, sound like active/passive hybrid pickups. They don't 'force' their tone on guitars as much as EMGs do (this is why a lot of people say EMGs sound more or less the same in every guitar) and they're not as compressed. 

If you ask me, they behave like actives (almost noiseless, predictable through different amps, etc) but have the open, airy tone of passives. This, to me, takes anything remotely 'core' out of the equation.

Anyway, all the best with your guitar tests next week. I know how hard it is to live in a place where guitars/gear are a bitch to find!


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## trickae (Jan 30, 2012)

I've tried a number of dimarzio's and I have to say its matter of personal preference. 

It all matters on how you use the pickup, the gear you use and how well you can EQ your system to most effectively use the pups.

I'm one of the few on here that hates the crunchlab. It's not as defined as I'd like it to be and it has too much mids. To me the defintion lies in the treble, and booming bass end gives it a heavy low end. The mids are there to thicken up the tone 
(Correct me if I'm wrong)
Frankly the Crunchlab is too even in terms of EQ and a slightly higher spike in the treble and bass end would of done it wonders. 

I'm a massive fan of periphery but when I hear misha's demonstration video tone - I'm not sold - but on the albums he's tweaked it just nicely with the axe-fx. 

On the other hand my guitar teacher uses stock ibanez pups from the 80's and hasn't had any issues playing vai or satch covers along with the backing tracks. 

So far I've liked the articulation in the EVO7 and liked the balance in Deactivators. My killer 6 string combo [no vai nutug] is the evo2 and breed combo [/no vai nutug]

I also use the aftermath's in my Jcustom - and they're all right for metal. They aren't really that high output, but have good responsiveness. They responde well to picking dynamics and a wealth of tone can be heard by rolling off or on on the vol knob. It's articulate for solo's and lead type rythms. 

But I prefer the lundgren M7's more and those are going into my custom guitar coming mid this year. 

Matter of preferences really. Appologies if I raised more questions than answered them - but really make it a point to play different guitars with different pups.


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## ShredEmall (Jan 31, 2012)

thank you ironbird and trickae.

firstly..ironbird i think i understand their difference now. maybe the videos i watched on youtube werent very accurate to spot every difference. i really need to listen to the pickups in real life to get their differences. i wish i had this opportunity..thanks for your help and that u understand! i cant wait to try different pickups and see the differences in my own guitar too.

second, trickae of course its matter of personal preference..not only dimarzios but every single pickup! but if i had the chance to try them in my guitar or anyway in similar guitars i wouldnt have made this topic.

about the way i use the pickup, the amp the EQ etc..well. That thing scares me a little bit to be honest because the amp i use(engl screamer 50 combo) is not a MONSTER of high gain. i mean, hes an awesome amp, with the emgs i have plenty of output/gain/distortion and a really cool tone but i dont think if i should buy...example given, a PAF Pro because he is a medium output pickup and maybe i will have problems with his "lower output". i havent the chance to try lot of stuff in real life so i get some info from the videos on youtube. someone told me "get a tone zone in the bridge" and i was thinking "hm tone zone..is a fine pickup but will do the job for me? or in the high gain mode i will get a hard rock tone instead of metal tone becuase of his lower-than EMG-output?"
sry for my english 
maybe im going to buy an EQ or boost pedal. my output is fine with EMGs but i hope an EQ will force him to create more metal sounds.

as for misha's tone in some videos i heard..hes fine!a bit too harsh i think.

aftermaths are really awesome too, every vid i found with them has awesome tone. maybe because people who can afford them have generally cool gear  



sick tone(and guitar) i just would like a little bit more treble i think. that probably misses.
words like , low/high mids i cant understand exactly what they are! ill look for it.

ur words were really helpful thank you too! 


PS forgot to mention that i dont play in standard tuning but 1 or 2 tunings down. D and C


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## HollowmanPL (Jan 31, 2012)

In one guitar I've changed EMG81 to Seymour SH8 and IT'S AMAZING!!!! It's worth it.
Now in the second guitar I'm replacing EMG81 with SH6 - Will give an a little youtube shootout 

Both guitars with mahogany (one is ESP LTD)


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## Ironbird (Feb 1, 2012)

Glad I could help, ShredEmall! http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/members/shredemall.html


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## thrill74 (Feb 2, 2012)

Dead Undead said:


> Evos are thin and harsh and shitty in brighter woods. In Mahogany they sound absolutely perfect. It brings out the best in the pickup. Searing mids, smoother highs, deep lows.



+1 here. The Evo is ideal for Mahogany and Basswood, as is the Super 3. Can't go wrong either way. I do use the Evo in an Ash guitar but had to use 250k pots to warm it up some. Might jump to 300k Gibson pots though. Get the Super 3 for an amp with thick distortion.


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## Arsis (Feb 2, 2012)

ShredEmall said:


> about the way i use the pickup, the amp the EQ etc..well. That thing scares me a little bit to be honest because the amp i use(engl screamer 50 combo) is not a MONSTER of high gain. i mean, hes an awesome amp, with the emgs i have plenty of output/gain/distortion and a really cool tone but i dont think if i should buy...example given, a PAF Pro because he is a medium output pickup and maybe i will have problems with his "lower output"C



If you like the character of the pickup but it doesn't drive your amp as hard as you would like you could drop about 100 bucks or less and get a tubescreamer/Overdrive pedal to put in front of the amp to boost your tone to taste. I'm speaking of pedals like the Ibanez ts-9, Maxon OD808, Fulltone OCD. The list goes on!


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## Zado (Feb 2, 2012)

You are from greece,so i suggest something coming from europe.I'd say go for a couple of I-spira pickups,seriously magnificent though expensive.

The Ciclone is one of the heaviest humbucker I ever heard,but proly the falco would work better for a mahogany guitar


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## ShredEmall (Feb 3, 2012)

thanks again for ur help guys!i rly appreciate that!well

thrill74 ... thanks! pots can help me to fix my tone? i dont know what exactly are the difference between 250k pots and 300k pots :O 

Arsis, thanks! well...the next week that ill get to try the pickups...ill probably buy a pedal! but i dont know what will be the ideal. an EQ pedal(mxr 10band EQ) or an overdrive pedal(ts9)? if they have both ill try to spot the difference! someone told me that his gain with engl screamer wasnt enough for him and after he got his 10band EQ he was so pleased with his tone...he was trully amazed.

Zado thanks man! i got on their site..its in Italian language i cant really understand it ..i also cant find a seller here in grece or somewhere that the language is english.ill search more for it! and watch some vids!


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## thrill74 (Feb 3, 2012)

Pots can capacitors can play a huge part in treble roll off and so on. A 1 meg tone control can do wah effects because of it's drastic travel. Gibson uses 300k pots for their humbuckers. Ironically, most everyone else uses 500k. Fender uses 250k pots for their single coils and for their humbuckers. I use 250k pots for my superstrat 6 string guitars and 500k pots for my 7 strings.


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## ShredEmall (Feb 10, 2012)

for some reason some messages are deleted :/ 
today i ordered from thomann(european music store) D-activator X and PAF pro.
video/pics coming soon.
is it going to be hard for an amateur to install them? or i should get someone experienced?
i currently have EMG so it may be a bit harder.


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## ShredEmall (Feb 23, 2012)

today i received a package with the pickups in it!

white d-activator x and white paf pro look sexy as hell. i hope they play as good as they look 

i gave the guitar and the pickups to someone who can install them properly, i have to wait 4 days again...


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## halfzer0 (May 12, 2013)

ShredEmall said:


> today i received a package with the pickups in it!
> 
> white d-activator x and white paf pro look sexy as hell. i hope they play as good as they look
> 
> i gave the guitar and the pickups to someone who can install them properly, i have to wait 4 days again...


How do they sound? I was thinking of getting those for a mahogany guitar


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## yellow (May 16, 2013)

altho EMG 81/85 is the best config, id go with either SD blackouts OR for passives tone zone/air Norton or tone zone/paf pro


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## Stuck_in_a_dream (May 16, 2013)

Well, if I may play the devil's advocate role here. I (an EMG fanboy if you wish) HATED the 81's that came stock with my LTD. Tried the 18v mod and although it improved the tone a little bit, I couldn't stand it after a while either. 

Then, before discarding EMGs all together, I tried their X-series, and man what a difference. So, if I may offer a suggestion here, I'd say, go 60X, or 85X for neck, 81X for bridge. Another suggestion would be the new 57/66 combo, it just oozes with tone, and you can easily tell they are much closer to the X-series than standard EMGs.

My 2 cents.


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