Suggestion to replace SD Distortion

[Neon_Knight_]

I stopped myself from suggesting this, as you were asking about specific SD pickups, but now that someone else has brought another option into the conversation...

DiMarzio D Activators are my pickup of choice for melodeath. Plenty of high-mids. You would have no problem nailing Kalmah or Children of Bodom tones with those through any 5150 / 6505 variant - just as I'm sure you find with your EMG 81 equipped guitar.

 

[SubsonicDoom99]

I get what the original poster was saying about the Distortion.....it does have plenty of mids but that pickup in certain guitars and with certain rigs, etc., can tend to be very bright and powerful on the top end and makes it seem like it's lacking in the midrange.
In which case, if you generally like the Distortion but want more mids and less of that harsh top end, then the pickup I'd suggest first (as others have already mentioned plenty) is the Black Winter. As much as I like what the Distortion does in many scenarious, I feel like the Black Winter does it even better. It feels that much more mid-forward without the top end harshness. Nazgul is cool too but in my experience it doesn't have quite the same versatility and clarity that I get from the Black Winter.
Another option that is in a somewhat similar vein the Jupiter, although again going by the vibe I'm getting from your post, I think the Black Winter still would be even better suited to you than the Jupiter.
And the suggestions earlier of considering the Duncan Custom (SH-5) is a really good one too. Not nearly as hot as a Distortion or BW, but a really lively and versatile pickup that's become one of my favorites in recent times especially when messing with different tunings. And I know some say it's a more "scooped" pickup but I disagree, that really applies moreso to the Custom 5 (SH-14). Sometimes I think people get those two confused. The Custom isn't as mid-forward as a Black Winter but I think in most cases it's got plenty.

 

[BrutalRob]

How about just swapping the magnet to alnico 8?

 

[Warmart]

Call me crazy but I think everyone should have at least one guitar with a SD Distortion. It's an iconic time-proven pickup and pure sacrilege to even discuss changing it.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

Call me crazy but I think everyone should have at least one guitar with a SD Distortion. It's an iconic time-proven pickup and pure sacrilege to even discuss changing it.

The same could be said of the JB, Super Distortion, PAF Pro, EMG 81 etc., but some of the newer options are preferable to plenty of people, even if they aren't "better" (including Black Winter / Nazgul / Pegasus vs. Distortion).

 

[Darkscience]

I have 1 guitar with SD Distortion and another with Black Winters. Me personally, my favorite pickup of all time is Black Winters. Those pickups are just so good for your type of music, (also my type of music!). The SD Distortion I also love, but its a wild one and I think requires taming and very good technique to play with, I am likely going to experiment with a SH-5 in this guitar, but not because I dislike the Distortion, I just need to compare to other pickups to choose the final one.

I agree with those saying the SD Distortion has plenty of mid. Lastly, I recorded myself playing the SD Distortion and it sounds sic recorded.

 

[Coryd]

More mids, I’d suggest the Dimarzio Dominion. It’s a killer pickup with tons of mids, a nice high end and tight lows. One of my favs that I have tried recently. Not super hot either but you can always just add more gain but I think a 5153 would have plenty of gain.

 

[Neon_Knight_]

More mids, I’d suggest the Dimarzio Dominion. It’s a killer pickup with tons of mids, a nice high end and tight lows. One of my favs that I have tried recently. Not super hot either but you can always just add more gain but I think a 5153 would have plenty of gain.

I'm not dismissing Dominion as an option, but some extra info for the OP:

The bridge seems to have less bass and less output than most people's assumptions/expectations based on it being a Lamb of God signature pickup.
Lots of low mids (too much for some people), but fairly tight / lean bass.
The medium output means it needs more boosting than you might expect, but they still handle gain well.

The neck is a good match for the bridge and is highly thought of. I'm not sure I've ever encountered someone using a Dominion bridge with anything but a Dominion neck, but the neck seems to be a popular choice to pair with an array of medium/high output DiMarzio bridge models.

Drop-D / D standard is probably optimal tuning to get the most out of this set, but YMMV.