Best pickup for Extreme Metal??

[blastastick]

I am looking for the best pickup for extreme meta, active or passive. Suggestions, and input appreciated.

 

[soulsonic]

EMG85 or EMG81... I used an 85 alot and it's hard to beat.
DiMarzio Evolution is cool, but a little too mushy for tight rhythm stuff.
DiMarzio Air Zone might be worth a try for tightness.
Bill Lawrence L500 is a classic.
Gibson Tony Iommi is good quality, but it has a sound that is very mid-peaky, so probably not what you'd want... it's more of an old-school metal sound.

 

[blastastick]

Have tried the EMG, bith the 81 and 85, and was too harsh for my ears. The Humbucker from Hell in the neck position is the only Dimarzio I ever liked. Bill Lawrence too harsh to my ear. Any other suggestions appreciated.

 

[aquadog]

these look promising:
http://motorcitypickups.com/

The nuke in particular looks pretty insane

 

[forum_crawler]

How about the Seymour Duncan Blackouts?

 

[brewtality]

If the Emg's are too harsh for you, you can try the Duncan Blackouts neck as your bridge pickup. It sounds killer in his floyd equipped superstrat, no harshness whatsoever. It has higher output and gain than my EMG 81.

 

[deluxemeat]

whats your definition of extreme metal?
what kind off amp are you using?
what kind of guitar? floyd? tune'o?

to me; extreme metal was death metal/ black metal back in the 90s...
we could have very different definitions.

 

[soulsonic]

to me; extreme metal was death metal/ black metal back in the 90s...
we could have very different definitions.

The same goes for me.
It's hard for me to imagine extreme metal not sounding "harsh".
Isn't a bright cutting edge with a tight big low end the extreme metal sound? If an EMG85 is too harsh, then I'm thinking you're wanting a very different sound than what I'm thinking of. I used an 85 as a bridge pickup and it wasn't harsh at all.

 

[miks]

Bare Knuckle Nailbombs

 

[Stressfest]

Have you tried the EMG 85 in the bridge?? I agree about the 81...absolutely useless pup imho. I had a lot of sucess with the Duncan JB in the past...

A lot of variables though...is it a Floyd bridge? Fixed? Neck Thru or bolt on?? What amp? What valves? What are you running in your V1??

If i were setting up a guitar for metal now...i'd grab a JB and either a Jazz or 59 in the neck and be done with it... Tried a lot and always ended up back with that combo

Good luck!! :AOK

 

[Eagle1]

Oldies like the Duncan Distortion and the Dimarzio Super Distortion still are cool for metal .Others could be the X2N and the JB.

 

[doralin]

EMG 85 + 81 set.

Have em in my ESP Viper Standard Series and they fit what you're looking for.

In actuality, most active pickups will definitely do the job for extreme metal.

You'd probably want to have an EQ to try to even out the mushiness that comes with the extreme amounts of gain.

 

[swimrunner]

these look promising:
http://motorcitypickups.com/

The nuke in particular looks pretty insane

these or bkp's are probably a good place to start.

 

[tidalbomb]

Gibson 500T.

+1 I've had much better luck with these ceramics than any other common "metal" pickups. They do squeel a lot though.

 

[cube]

Bare Knuckle warpig

 

[JMP72]

I used a EMG81 on 18V but I wasn't happy, i'm now using a Seymour Duncan JB --> amazing

 

[GuitarGuy510]

If you're looking at Bare Knuckle stuff (depends on the body/neck type too) I've found the Painkiller works great for focusing on upper-mids and the Warpig works well for focusing on lower-mids. Ceramic Warpig is a good option to get the lower-mid focus with a little extra high-end added from the ceramic magnet.

 

[dantedayjob]

I've always liked Duncan Invaders

 

[blastastick]

whats your definition of extreme metal?
what kind off amp are you using?
what kind of guitar? floyd? tune'o?

to me; extreme metal was death metal/ black metal back in the 90s...
we could have very different definitions.

Necrophagist, Arsis, The Faceless, Cynic, Neuraxis. I want more definition than some of the bands have. Currently I am using a heavily modded Engl 520 Stereo Preamp into either a Mesa 50/50 or VHT 2150 Power amp depending on the gig size. Custom Shop ESP Bolt-on, vintage setneck Hamers, and Guilds. 2 Floyds, 1 Kahler, and 1 blocked more traditional style tremolo.

 

[deluxemeat]

hmm hasnt paul from cynic been using a steinberger w emgs since.. forever?
if you want something thats got output but also warm yet defined my choice has always been duncans.
these days i play mostly custom customs as my tastes have changed but back in the day i'd have good results w the distortion and full shred which is the sleeper duncan metal pickup.
to me the best example of extreme metal that wasnt harsh was trey from morbid angel. his tone compared to his contemporaries at the time sounded more like uli roth or shenker. esp on covenant and domination.
not sure what pickups he was using though...