# Pickup Set for Djent and Deathcore



## Augury (Aug 20, 2011)

Hi,
I need some pickups since my stock ones suck alot.
I will mostly play Djent and Deathcore. My axe is Epiphone Goth Explorer. *!!! 6 STRINGS !!!*
Should I just buy EMGs 85/81 or Blackouts? Or some passive pickups?

Thanks!


----------



## Marv Attaxx (Aug 20, 2011)

I use blackouts in my Rg7321 and while they're awesome for deathcore they tend to sound kinda harsh for djenty stuff (they seem to be a little bit too sensitive, I'm gettin' a lot of string-scraping kind of sounds while "djenting"). I'd rather use something passive like a D-activator 
The perfect pup for this kind of music if you don't wanna throw out a lot of money for a lundgren or bareknuckle.


----------



## youshy (Aug 20, 2011)

If I were you I'd go with D-sonic/Crunchlab, I've got CL in my Ibanez and it's really djenty.


----------



## JPMike (Aug 20, 2011)

BKPs. Aftermaths, Painkillers, Cold Sweats.


----------



## Djdnxgdj3983jrjd8udb3bcns (Aug 20, 2011)

Periphery use the Crunch Lab/Liquifire combo a lot. And various Bare Knuckles. Tosin Abasi a la Animals as Leaders uses EMG 808x pickups although personally I prefer the tone of Periphery.


----------



## thedarkoceans (Aug 20, 2011)

sorry for my useless reply,but i think that everybody around here should stop copying guitar tone from djent and whatevercore bands,and starting developing their own guitar sounds.anyway,i heard a lot of good things about djent and BKPs.


----------



## Augury (Aug 20, 2011)

thedarkoceans said:


> sorry for my useless reply,but i think that everybody around here should stop copying guitar tone from djent and whatevercore bands,and starting developing their own guitar sounds.anyway,i heard a lot of good things about djent and BKPs.



Developing own sound with stock Epiphone pickups is pretty hard man xD I need something to start with.






Ok I find the Crunch Lab cool, I'll only buy a bridge pickup and leave my stock on neck there. Good idea?


----------



## Konfyouzd (Aug 20, 2011)

Any particular voicing you going after, OP?


----------



## Konfyouzd (Aug 20, 2011)

thedarkoceans said:


> sorry for my useless reply,but i think that everybody around here should stop copying guitar tone from djent and whatevercore bands,and starting developing their own guitar sounds.anyway,i heard a lot of good things about djent and BKPs.



I agree to an extent. I think it's silly when people post threads asking... "What pickup should I use for djent?" completely ignoring that the voicing on the pickup is more important being that 100 "djent" guitarists could potentially djent using 100 different voicings...


----------



## Augury (Aug 20, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> I agree to an extent. I think it's silly when people post threads asking... "What pickup should I use for djent?" completely ignoring that the voicing on the pickup is more important being that 100 "djent" guitarists could potentially djent using 100 different voicings...


Man, I really have no idea which pickups i should get, that will be my first pickups other than stock ones. I said which music I want to play and which guitar do I own, the only thing I need now is which pickups will fit to this genre, which are worth the price and which are recommended.


----------



## Augury (Aug 20, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> Any particular voicing you going after, OP?


Something like Veil of Maya, After The Burial, Bring me the Horizon (on the album Suicide Season at least).


----------



## Konfyouzd (Aug 20, 2011)

Well the reason I say that is because I've used pickups that are classified as "Vintage" to do things far beyond the scope of what most people would consider "Vintage". Thus I find a lot of the nomenclature to be arbitrary and a lot of the terms are just buzz words used to sell you shit. 

The BKP Emerald, for instance... Vintage Hot pickup according to their site... One of the heaviest sounding fucking pickups I've ever heard. How many times have you seen the pickup recommended on this site to a metal player? They won't bc no one here has "djent"ed on it yet and plus its classified as a "vintage" pickup. How could you possibly play metalz on that? 

The voicing matters a whole lot more sir. This is why I asked my question.

EDIT: I'm not familiar with either of those bands... Youtubing... I'll be back.

POST EDIT: The BKP Emerald will do that... The Dimarzio Blaze Custom would also be another good choice... Much cheaper as well.

POST POST EDIT: You're on a 6er... Nevermind... I don't know... Try the DiMarzio Tone Zone/Air Norton...


----------



## Augury (Aug 20, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> Well the reason I say that is because I've used pickups that are classified as "Vintage" to do things far beyond the scope of what most people would consider "Vintage". Thus I find a lot of the nomenclature to be arbitrary and a lot of the terms are just buzz words used to sell you shit.
> 
> The BKP Emerald, for instance... Vintage Hot pickup according to their site... One of the heaviest sounding fucking pickups I've ever heard. How many times have you seen the pickup recommended on this site to a metal player? They won't bc no one here has "djent"ed on it yet and plus its classified as a "vintage" pickup. How could you possibly play metalz on that?
> 
> ...



Well:



Something like that.


----------



## Augury (Aug 20, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> POST POST EDIT: You're on a 6er... Nevermind... I don't know... Try the DiMarzio Tone Zone/Air Norton...



Haha yes, I should write it in the main post, I'm sorry. So, how about DiMarzio Crunch Lab?


----------



## Konfyouzd (Aug 20, 2011)

Never played it. Sounds like you want something high output... The Evo and the Tone Zone are pretty well known pickups that fit that requirement... From what I hear the Crunch Lab sounds like a X2N/Evo hybrid... Or perhaps I've mixed it up with another pickup...


----------



## Augury (Aug 20, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> Never played it. Sounds like you want something high output... The Evo and the Tone Zone are pretty well known pickups that fit that requirement... From what I hear the Crunch Lab sounds like a X2N/Evo hybrid... Or perhaps I've mixed it up with another pickup...


Well, the DiMarzio Pickup Picker said Crunch Lab or D Activator... The Evo Pickups sound interesting too.

Something from other manufacturers too?


----------



## Konfyouzd (Aug 20, 2011)

Augury said:


> Well, the DiMarzio Pickup Picker said Crunch Lab or D Activator... The Evo Pickups sound interesting too.
> 
> Something from other manufacturers too?



I'm really only familiar with EMG, DiMarzio and one BKP

I use the EMG 81/85 set in my RGT42DX but I don't play djent/deathcore so I can't really comment on them in that context. But they work well for metal in general in my opinion.

Also, not that those are bad options, but be wary of the DiMarzio pickup suggestions... They have also been known to suggest the Air Norton as a bridge pickup and most people I know that have tried that don't like it. Again, that doesn't mean they gave you bad advice this time; I've actually heard great things about both the Crunchlab and the D-Activator. I use the D-Activator 8's in my 8 string but I hear these are a bit different from the 6 and 7 string versions. I have played the D-Activator 6 string versions in the Ibanez Xiphos, though. I think they're okay, but they're certainly not my favorite pickup... I consider them... "Usable"


----------



## Augury (Aug 20, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> I'm really only familiar with EMG, DiMarzio and one BKP
> 
> I use the EMG 81/85 set in my RGT42DX but I don't play djent/deathcore so I can't really comment on them in that context. But they work well for metal in general in my opinion.
> 
> Also, not that those are bad options, but be wary of the DiMarzio pickup suggestions... They have also been known to suggest the Air Norton as a bridge pickup and most people I know that have tried that don't like it. Again, that doesn't mean they gave you bad advice this time; I've actually heard great things about both the Crunchlab and the D-Activator. I use the D-Activator 8's in my 8 string but I hear these are a bit different from the 6 and 7 string versions. I have played the D-Activator 6 string versions in the Ibanez Xiphos, though. I think they're okay, but they're certainly not my favorite pickup... I consider them... "Usable"


Well, I know I can't 100% trust any generators, suggestors etc. but I also heard good things about Crunch Lab too, they are actually on the top of my list.


----------



## cyril v (Aug 21, 2011)

Augury said:


> Well:
> 
> 
> 
> Something like that.




Well, that'd be EMG's and EMG's if I remember correctly. 

As for After the Burial, I believe their last album was a mixture of EMG 808's and Dimarzio Blazes, though I think I remember seeing some fluorescent green 8 string blackouts recently.


----------



## Dead Undead (Aug 21, 2011)

Konfyouzd said:


> Well the reason I say that is because I've used pickups that are classified as "Vintage" to do things far beyond the scope of what most people would consider "Vintage". Thus I find a lot of the nomenclature to be arbitrary and a lot of the terms are just buzz words used to sell you shit.
> 
> The BKP Emerald, for instance... Vintage Hot pickup according to their site... One of the heaviest sounding fucking pickups I've ever heard. How many times have you seen the pickup recommended on this site to a metal player? They won't bc no one here has "djent"ed on it yet and plus its classified as a "vintage" pickup. How could you possibly play metalz on that?
> 
> The voicing matters a whole lot more sir. This is why I asked my question.



I agree 100%. I mean you see guitarists using Teles for metal all the time and they sound killer. Just goes to show you can pull off metal really well with "vintage" gear.


----------



## ShreddingDragon (Aug 29, 2011)

I can +1 the Crunch Lab/LiquiFire duo at least. BKP Aftermaths should be great too, probably even better for djent. Still waiting to get mine installed...



thedarkoceans said:


> sorry for my useless reply,but i think that everybody around here should stop copying guitar tone from djent and whatevercore bands,and starting developing their own guitar sounds.anyway,i heard a lot of good things about djent and BKPs.



And I'm sorry for off-topic, but: yeah, developing one's own sound is definetly a top objective for all guitarists, but if I never attempted to mimic great tones like Petrucci or Vai for example, I would have no idea how to achieve any tone. There's no shortcut to knowing what kind of a tone is good or fitting for the job. Sure I could dial a tone that I think is "awesome", but without experience and perspective, I might not be aware that the tone actually sucks balls. This is pretty standard with beginning guitarists, we all know that from some kind of experience.

Trying to copy already existing sounds gives you the "building blocks" of tones, and shows them to you in a real context.


----------



## Augury (Aug 29, 2011)

Guys, I don't wanna strictly djent, I said I play djent because I often play Veil of Maya and BoO stuff, the main genre the pickups will exist for is Deathcore and Death Metal.


----------



## xMaNgOxKusHx (Aug 29, 2011)

JPMike said:


> BKPs. Aftermaths, Painkillers, Cold Sweats.



 All of these ^^^ mentioned are incredible, high-quality pickups that suit your needs. I have a calibrated Painkiller set in my mahogany JRV. I play mostly death metal (and combined "djent" from time to time ) And no other set 'feels' better than these IMO. Extremely recommended, last thing said assuming you are willing to spend just a little more currensy for something of better quality. My .


----------



## Opion (Aug 29, 2011)

JPMike said:


> BKPs. Aftermaths, Painkillers, Cold Sweats.




What he said


----------



## Konfyouzd (Aug 29, 2011)

I had a friend with cold sweats in his 7620. I remember them being very very very articulate as he plays way faster than anything I could even imagine doing. I also remember the cold sweat being a very very smooth pickup in the neck position from what I heard when he played. I really don't remember anything all that special about the cold sweat as a bridge pickup but that may also be a result of his particular playing style. I never used either pickup personally.


----------



## Jakke (Aug 29, 2011)

The SD Custom is a great passive humbucker, I can recommend it for probably any kind of metal/rock. It's very high output, probably hotter than a crunchlab/tonezone..


----------



## Phil-Centralia (Aug 29, 2011)

Dead Undead said:


> I agree 100%. I mean you see guitarists using Teles for metal all the time and they sound killer. Just goes to show you can pull off metal really well with "vintage" gear.


 
I'm not wanting to be ignorant or rude, but saying "tele" is shallow because it is only a guitar model, what must be looked upon is the gear within the guitar and the wood type.

I wont argue much into this, as i dont have the knowledge about gear as most of the member here, but what defines music, is not the model, it is the tone that matters.

Knowledge is gathered through testing, what i would recommend is to go to a shop and asking which guitars have the gear that you are looking for, go through many instruments and watch which one has your desired tone.


----------



## oliviergus (Aug 30, 2011)

Hm, VoM and BMTH.

I know that Lee Malia from BMTH did use/use BKP warpig. And that should be a good pickup for deathcore. Otherwise i'm using BKP aftermath right now, fits both deathcore and djent, and that was what I was looking for.

Sometimes I think that it was wrong putting a AM in a mahogny guitar tho..
Might should have gone for a CS.


----------



## pearl_07 (Aug 30, 2011)

Jakke said:


> The SD Custom is a great passive humbucker, I can recommend it for probably any kind of metal/rock. It's very high output, probably hotter than a crunchlab/tonezone..



This or a D-Activator. I loved the Custom when I had it in my S470DXQM, but I traded it for a D-Activator just to try something different, and I love that pup as well. Plus they won't break your bank too hard either


----------



## IAMTHESQUALL (Sep 7, 2011)

cyril v said:


> Well, that'd be EMG's and EMG's if I remember correctly.
> 
> As for After the Burial, I believe their last album was a mixture of EMG 808's and Dimarzio Blazes, though I think I remember seeing some fluorescent green 8 string blackouts recently.



ATB uses blackouts on their 8 strings, they're sponsored by Seymour Duncan.


----------



## Inferno_dante (Feb 20, 2013)

I use the crunch lab liquifire set and i think they sound great but i have never tried BKP so i can't comment on them. I originally got the CL/LF set because i wanted something good for metal but versatile as well (also being a huge JP fan may have helped) Both pickups seem to have quite a bit of bass but its not that muddy bass that you get from say stock ibanez pups. They are the only after market pickups that i have actually tried so i cant say they are better or worse than anything else but i really love the sound i get through my pod. And make sure you get the liquifire too, i couldn't want anything more out of a neck pup.


----------



## MyNameIsMax (Feb 20, 2013)

Getting a crunchlab and liquifire is a really good way to go. If you want a little bit more heavier tone, get a d-activator instead of the crunchlab. I really love both of those pickups. If you want active pick-ups, get Blackouts. I have then on my 6 and they are just amazing!


----------



## Breakdown (Feb 20, 2013)

all of the bands you have listed so far Use or have used EMG's or Blackouts and Whenever I have seen someone looking to get a death metal tone one of the first things suggested is an 81. EMG's are not bad pups at all especially if you play mostly metal andthey do cleans just fine.


----------



## noUser01 (Feb 20, 2013)

Guys, this is a major bump from 2011...


----------



## BIG ND SWEATY (Feb 21, 2013)

^ seriously, the last time the OP posted something was almost a year ago


----------

