# Best pickups for Doom?



## Sammicat (Jan 21, 2014)

So hey guys! I've been playing doom for a little while and I'm looking into new pickups for my Ibanez. I generally go back and forth between a soldano rig and a peavy 3120.
I play really dark sludgy stuff, and im going for a tone somewhat in the same area as Dark Castle. (I know i won't get it exactly, I don't have her pickups or guitar or Sunn Model T)
Any suggestions for pickups? With the amps I use I actually get fairly close, I just want to nudge it up a bit.


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## InfinityCollision (Jan 21, 2014)

Whatever sounds good to you. Medium output pickups of some sort generally, but doom isn't particularly gear-dependent despite the typical love for Gibson guitars and Sunn/Orange/Matamp/etc. Can't really make a better recommendation than that without knowing what pickups you're currently using and what you feel needs to change in your sound.


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## abandonist (Jan 21, 2014)

Honestly I'd suggest a pedal change before a pickup swap.

I use a Musket Fuzz.


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## Mprinsje (Jan 21, 2014)

Gibson pickups are the obvious choice since a lot of doom/sludge players use/used gibsons, but honestly, my EMG's doom just as well. It's more about the pedals and amps


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## gunshow86de (Jan 21, 2014)

Lace has signature sets from some of the best players in the genre;

Rock Guitar Pickups by Lace | Matt Pike guitar pickups | Signature Pickups Set, the Dirty Heshers humbucker can be split for single-coil tones or pound a power, heavy rock and metal sound.

Rock Guitar Pickups by Lace | Wino's Signature set Lifers is based on the Drop & Gains with modifications for Wino's desired tone and look.

Rock Guitar Pickups by Lace |Bill Kelliher's Signature set Dissonant Agressors are based on the Nitro-Hemi with modifications for Bill Kelliher's Killer Tone.


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Jan 21, 2014)

Looking at her guitars, I don't think she gives a shit what pickups she uses.  She seems to use... whatever's in her guitars. 

But most doom bands seem to favor PAF-style pickups with alnico magnets. Maybe try the Duncan Seth Lover, '59, or DiMarzio 36th Anni PAF? For more aggression, the Duncan Invader is really high output with more focus on the lows and mids.


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## Carl Kolchak (Jan 22, 2014)

I still like the DiMarzio Super Distortions for doom. Those and the Gibson 490T.


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## celticelk (Jan 22, 2014)

HeHasTheJazzHands said:


> But most doom bands seem to favor PAF-style pickups with alnico magnets.



I've been wondering lately about how that happened. The foundational bands in the style all seem to have played guitars (LPs and SGs) in which these were the stock pickups, but those guitars share a couple of other characteristics (mahogany bodies and shorter scales) that you wouldn't find on a Tele or Strat. I wonder which of these attributes, or combination of them, made them most attractive to the proto-doomers. Or was it just the look? A Strat just doesn't *look* like a doom guitar. (I've seen Pallbearer with a Tele, though....)


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## Carl Kolchak (Jan 22, 2014)

celticelk said:


> I've been wondering lately about how that happened. The foundational bands in the style all seem to have played guitars (LPs and SGs) in which these were the stock pickups, but those guitars share a couple of other characteristics (mahogany bodies and shorter scales) that you wouldn't find on a Tele or Strat. I wonder which of these attributes, or combination of them, made them most attractive to the proto-doomers. Or was it just the look? A Strat just doesn't *look* like a doom guitar. (I've seen Pallbearer with a Tele, though....)



Mahogany sounds best for doom. I think it just resonates thicker, for lack of a better term. Think this is why you can get such heavy tones out of an SG and an Ibby Iceman.


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## InfinityCollision (Jan 22, 2014)

celticelk said:


> I've been wondering lately about how that happened. The foundational bands in the style all seem to have played guitars (LPs and SGs) in which these were the stock pickups, but those guitars share a couple of other characteristics (mahogany bodies and shorter scales) that you wouldn't find on a Tele or Strat. I wonder which of these attributes, or combination of them, made them most attractive to the proto-doomers. Or was it just the look? A Strat just doesn't *look* like a doom guitar. (I've seen Pallbearer with a Tele, though....)



I'd say the scale and pickups probably contributed the most. It's a lot harder to get that stoner tone from a stock Strat or tele, both because of the clarity/snap of the scale and because of the pickup wiring. I've seen it every now and then though... Pallbearer as you mentioned, Aaron Turner's HH tele (similar tonal territory at any rate), and the guy from Sons of Otis uses a strat.

A modded Strat could do it pretty well though I think, especially as you get into lower tunings. Run the middle pickup in series with one of the other pickups and you get a substantially thicker tone. Medium-hot single coils should get you there pretty well in my experience.


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## MAJ Meadows SF (Jan 24, 2014)

I'm liking the alnico BKP warpigs for Doom, just from the amount of massive sound they produce. They are better yet for Grindcore, but do well with the Stoner/Doom tones. I agree with the Lace models, and that the pedals/amps have a bigger role in that sound than the pickups do.


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## Theteeth (Jan 25, 2014)

I use a ceramic warpig for all my doom. Dig it.


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## youngthrasher9 (Jan 26, 2014)

I really like the Seymour Duncan '59/custom hybrid for doom, but any PAF voiced pickup should work fine. If you have the dough you could check out the Seymour Duncan custom shop Brobucker. It has a darker PAF on steriods type sound. I'd also look into humbucker sized P90's.


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## youngthrasher9 (Jan 26, 2014)

Carl Kolchak said:


> Mahogany sounds best for doom. I think it just resonates thicker, for lack of a better term. Think this is why you can get such heavy tones out of an SG and an Ibby Iceman.



I don't think it's thicker sounding necessarily, but perhaps warmer. IME it has a wider sounding lower midrange and less treble and upper mids than say maple. One could say it is more round sounding.


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## Dawn of the Shred (Jan 26, 2014)

Bkp warpig for some good ol doom.


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## Carl Kolchak (Jan 26, 2014)

I tried a BKP Warpig in a basswood bodied guitar and wasn't all that thrilled with it. 

Go with one of the various PAFs like DiMarzio or Gibson.


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