Which pickups for 80's hair metal in san dimas?

[mrjones2004x]

Ive had my san dimas pro mod for a few months now and i love the way it plays but cant get what i want out of the pickups.

Its got the stock pups the 59 and jb at the min and ive fitted a floyd upgraded titanium block which made a massive thickness boost and made it more articulate with better note clarity

I play covers of bands such as def leppard, europe, scorpions, van halen, metallica ect.

Im finding the jb a bit bright with no warmth and the 59 i just cant get a good lead creamy tone. Do i need to get a tone pot fitted to warm the neck up?

Playing through a blackstar ht5 and marshall tsl 2x12 cab at present.

What can you recommmend?

my thoughts were,

EMG 85 bridge 81 neck
Dimarzio SD bridge neck???
Bare knuckle range???

[neilli]

I love the EMG 85, but the Duncan Custom and Dimarzio ToneZone are both pretty cool too. For me, the EMG does Metallica (duh) and Leppard best, but the Duncan would do VH and the Scorps...

[mrjones2004x]

i had emg 81 bridge and 85 neck in my ibanez rgt6ex which was mahogany bodied and thru neck and the tone was warm as hell and screamed harmonics but the charvel looks and plays better so i traded it in. only issue with emgs is having to fit pickup rings to the charvel
I done a 24v mod on the ibanez and that made a big diff also. i though if they were reversed in an alder body it would be better as it would be a brighter guitar than the mahogany ibanez.

[mrjones2004x]

What colur combo would you go for?

White san dimas?

White emg with chrome rings?
Black emg with chrome rings?

ARRRGGGHHH!

Think i want emg but gotta be sure. Also i will say i love the clean tone of a emg pickup when rolled back on the gain channel with the 24v mod.

[mrjones2004x]

Do you agree 85 bridge and 81 neck in alder san dimas? or the std way?

[Hellbat]

Duncan Custom in the bridge. Or Duncan Distortion since most of the hair metalers played a DD at one time.

[mrjones2004x]

Duncan Custom in the bridge. Or Duncan Distortion since most of the hair metalers played a DD at one time.

What about neck pickup?

Sd distortion reads well, tighter low end and more balanced highs. Cheaper than emg route too.

What would the jb do in the neck?

[Hellbat]

I would suggest a Duncan Jazz in the neck for cleans or a DiMarzio PAF Pro for distorted leads. That's of course only if you don't fear a rip in the space time continuum from combining a Duncan and a DiMarzio. The Jazz will give a definite creamy lead too but it can be a little boomy.

[mrjones2004x]

Paf pro sounds good to me will look into one.

How the dimarzio super dis compared to sd super dis?

[Hellbat]

I don't have any direct experience with the DiMarzio but I think it's probably a similar pickup, both hot ceramic magnet models.

[dulrich1227]

BareKnuckle Pain killer in the bridge for some killer 80s tones OR a suhr Aldrich ... a tone pot/cap will clean up that neck pup and make it sound just killer just like sweet child o mine...

[Chief_CrazyTalk]

Both the Dimarzio and SD distortions are good. I never use neck pickups so I can't speak for that...but you may want to check and see if you need to use a neck model specifically. They may be calibrated or wound specifically for the neck position.

I've been very happy with the JB lately. The only pup I've really flirted with trying as a replacement for my JB would be a Bareknuckle VHII...but every time I really consider getting one, the JB reminds me of how good it really is. This is in an alder bodied bolt-on guitar.

Another pup I remember really liking was the SD full shred. Wow.

[JACKSONFREAK]

Try The custom Custom and the Jass or an Alnico pro ii in the neck. all have good clarity and definition and sound great.
Gil

[MarkTheMuscleShark]

Bare Knuckles without a doubt. Holy Diver, or the Nailbomb for a heavier sound. Just listen to the sound samples and decide. My personal favorite is the Ceramic Warpig, but it's much warmer and very high output, which doesn't sound like the sound you're going for. Also, mrjones2004xm, you mentioned some sort of 24v mod? What is that? I've heard of an 18 volt mod, 24 seems a little excessive. Can you explain the actual mod, and what it does to the sound?

[mrjones2004x]

24v mod because my guitar at the time had a dedicated cavity for a battery and had no room for more batteries. Emg are safe to 27v. I got my 24v off of eBay.
To search it type 24v emg. It's 2 small 12v soldered together to create 24v. The actual size of unit is smaller than a STD 9v battery.
Comes with a push clip so you can clip straight on old connector.
Great product for less than the cost of two 9v batteries