# Best pickups for death metal?



## SmashinWithTone (Jan 24, 2013)

Wanted to know which pickups you all prefer for death metal? I've had active emg's in guitars before, but was thinking of changing.


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## Seanthesheep (Jan 24, 2013)

my band is currently tracking with EMGs and were melodic death metal. were going to be switching over to the stockers in my PRS in the next couple days though 

amp matters wayyyyyy more as always.


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## VESmedic (Jan 24, 2013)

Depends on what you want... All the death guys use EMG's for a reason... Must be something to that... I'm a bkp guy, but especially for recording, still can't be beat for Low end clarity and tightness with fast riffing and low tunings...


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## Seanthesheep (Jan 24, 2013)

yea for sure, EMGs are good, but theres better 

depends on what style of tone you want really


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 25, 2013)

EMG 81, Duncan Distortion, and Dimarzio X2N.


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## AngstRiddenDreams (Jan 25, 2013)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> EMG 81, Duncan Distortion, and Dimarzio X2N.


This so much.


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## VESmedic (Jan 25, 2013)

Seanthesheep said:


> yea for sure, EMGs are good, but theres better
> 
> depends on what style of tone you want really



Im sorry, but what is " better"? This term and philosophy needs to be deleted from peoples mindset... There is no BETTER, in this world of gear, generally only DIFFERENT.


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## Ironbird (Jan 25, 2013)

I can vouch for the D-Activator, personally, because I've used it and loved it.

But...

I keep going back to EMG 81, either by design or by accident. There's something about its distinct CHUNK when playing palm-muted stuff... of course, the killer harmonics it produces is also a plus point for me.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 25, 2013)

Speaking of the D-Activators and EMG 81's...
How about the Lace Drop n' Gains?


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## karjim (Jan 25, 2013)

SD for gigs, brutal and alive feeling, choose the one you like, check out Keith's test
EMG81 for studio because....don't ask to me, ask to all death metal engineers.
The sound is full and easy to mix because it's a simple aggressive tone.


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## MetalBuddah (Jan 25, 2013)

EMG 81 or the Het Set! I wrote some pretty brutal stuff for my friend's upcoming album and tracked it with the Het Set and it sounded even better than the 81 does for death metal in the studio


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## BotchStank (Jan 25, 2013)

I'll third the X2N, awesome pickup for death metal, also have you considered the SH-8 Invader? If you swap out the pole pieces with Dimarzio pole pieces and remove the ceramic magnets it tightens up the low-end and gives it more clarity and overall more versatile with amazing harmonics. Almost like a beefier Dominion.


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## KiD Cudi (Jan 26, 2013)

Ceramic Warpigs..


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## karjim (Jan 26, 2013)

I want a HetSet7  so beautiful pickup and what a great tone


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## MyNameIsMax (Jan 26, 2013)

I have seymour duncan blackouts one one of my guitars. I love them so much. you can get such massive tones out of them. Look at Keith Merrow's comparrison video between blackouts and emgs. I like the sounds of the blackouts more


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## MrYakob (Jan 26, 2013)

KiD Cudi said:


> Ceramic Warpigs..



This. I've got a set and imo that's the way to go (assuming price isn't a factor of course)


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## 7stringDemon (Jan 26, 2013)

To the guys who suggest the 81, have you ever tried an 85 in the bridge?

Now THAT'S a good death metal pickup. Chunky and thick with but loads of clarity. Better for low tunings too. 

But I also had a Painkiller in the same guitar and never looked back. WAY more clarity and even thicker and punchier but with more character to the tone. There was nothing dull about it. 

I also love my D-Sonic 7 but have never tried the 6 string variant. 

And being a past owner of an X2N, I can say it had low clarity when tuning lower than C. Great otherwise though.


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## RobPhoboS (Mar 1, 2013)

Just gonna hop in on this as well, since I'm looking.

I've got a really crap old r.rhodes, which currently has a SD '59 in there (donated from my baritone which is on blackouts now) but I'm thinking of giving it something else.
My first port of call was to see what the suffocation guys use, Terrance on the Dimarzio -Super Distortion and Guy on the SD Distortion SH-6b.
That Jackson will probably be tuned to their standard C# tuning (C# F# B E G# C#) with 56, 46, 26, 17, 13, 10 strings.
I'm more swayed towards the SH-6 but any other suggestions are more than welcome !


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## tacotiklah (Mar 2, 2013)

If you want super tight pickups with lots of clarity, I'd recommend the Duncan Distortion. I get a tone similar to Vogg's (Decapitated) almost instantly with it. Very heavy with lots of low end chunk, but never muddy.


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## ConstantSea (Mar 2, 2013)

Seymour Duncan Invaders sound MASSIVE... people bash on them a lot without even trying them but seriously, those are good


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## Andromalia (Mar 2, 2013)

There's no tried and true answer. I've played Death Metal with EMG 81s, SD Full Shred, Lundgren M6, Gibson 498T and 500T, all fit the bill. they sure each sound different but it's just a matter of tone, all of them can be "aggressive". Tonally my preference would go to the 500T but that's probably because I've been on an Amon Amarth rampage these last years and they have to me "special" highs that make a difference. Lots of "presence" but not ear piercing. Someone's likely to add whetever kind of BKPs they like soon, too.


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## kris_jammage (Mar 2, 2013)

iceM7 said:


> Seymour Duncan Invaders sound MASSIVE... people bash on them a lot without even trying them but seriously, those are good


 

Yeah was gonna suggest the Invaders. Now I didnt like them in my Basswod RG but I've heard some killer tones from them! Karl from Nile uses them and I'm sure Keith Merrow prefers them over Distortions.


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## OmegaDoyle (Mar 2, 2013)

I really like EMG81s for death metal which is probably why I like Miracle Mans(Men?) so much. They have a lot of similar characteristics but I find the MM responds a bit better when you bring the tuning down to A or below and they're very clear, despite still creating a wall of sound. They remind me of the beefed up tone on the last three Cannibal Corpse albums. I don't see MMs get a lot of mention for death metal and ultimately they may not be for you, but I think it would be a mistake if you overlook them completely.


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## sear (Mar 2, 2013)

Anything so long as it's a medium-hot humbucker. Single coils can work for leads, but generally speaking you don't need any special pickup to play any kind of music. Tons of death metal bands play Gibsons with stock pickups and they get along just fine, while I'm sure others are gear snobs and tweak like crazy.

EMG 81 is very popular for its clarity and articulation, but it's also a somewhat flat and one-dimensional sounding pickup compared to others. Works great in the studio but to say that you need one for that purpose is idiotic. Any engineer worth his salt should be able to to get the job done with nearly any decent pickup.


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