which dimarzio pickup is best for metal???

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tc8849

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okay so im in the hunt for a great passive pickup that will replace my EMG 81.. I play in drop A and B do lots of chugging, im looking into seymour duncan distortions but i have been reading up on dimarzio's but really dont know much about them.. so anyone have any suggestions on which dimarzio pup would work for me.. i will be putting in a esp ltd sc 200/ PRS SE singlecut.. my amp is a 5150.. what about Dominion,Crunch Lab,D Activator,D Sonic,Super 3,The Tone Zone,X2N..??? out of these pups which would work for my style..

and if anyone has any other suggestions besides the SD distortions or dimarzio pickups let me know.. and dont mention bare knuckle because i cant afford them right now.. :thumbsdown:
 
duncan custom sh-5 into that 5150 CRUSHES....just enough crunch, cleans up good, clear with high gain and has sustain for days.

if you want to stay with actives, then the ahb3 is the one for you...i fuckin LOVE that pickup.

Ola has done a TON of amp demos with the duncan distortion.... here's a 6505 demo.



 
I have a Crunch Lab 7 in one of my 7 strings. I have been liking it recently.
 
i think im going to go with either the distortion of super 3.. now the decision...
 
I just put a regular Norton (not Air Norton) in one of my guitars and I love it. Kinda like a Tone Zone with more clarity...very under rated pickup imo :yes:
 
The Duncan Distortion is my favorite pick up of all time. I know it gets a lot of shit from some people, but I like it in almost any guitar and with almost any amp....just my .02 .
 
I just got a set of Dominions, we tune down to C#, E to E. I've heard good things. Got to put them in today.
 
X2n, had one in an old Jackson V back in the day and it was brutal as all hell. Had more push than my emg's and just sounded bigger.
 
For the pickups I haven't tried, but researched:

X2N is really bright and buzzy, it might work with really low tunings and dark woods and amps
The D-Activator is supposed to be really flat and is marketed as an "active sounding passive"
The Steve's Special is different, with scooped mids, it might sound good if you dial your amp with lots of mids
The Super Distortion and Crunch Lab seem like the most obvious, risk-free choices

For the pickups I have tried:

The Duncan Distortion, which I have in a Mahogany Ibanez tuned in D, is also pretty bright and can get harsh at times, like most high output SDs... but with the right settings it can sound awesome, like I had in a Les Paul in D. The SH-4 or JB is also a popular choice
The Tone Zone is a personal favorite of mine, but it's really bassy and might get muddy at lower tunings
Dimarzio Breed is pretty similar to the Tone Zone... both these pickups would be better suited for lead playing IMO

If you're a gain freak, you might also look into bright, lower output pickups, as they could give your tone more clarity
 
I've had good luck with my D-Activator in my Apex2. The PAF7s it came with sounded great clean, but just too loose in the bottom end for me when I got chuggy. The D-Activator is really tight in the bottom end, and that's really important to me.
 
I'm not a Dimarzio guy. I did just recently start working with a band that uses a lot of drop tunings. Mostly B standard and drop A. My current favorite for these tunings is the MCP Detroiter. I prefer to get my gain from the amp, and have just enough heat from the pickups to get pinch harmonics as needed.
 
Agree with Chunktone! Im not a dimarzio guy either. I have an 81 in my flying V and its ok, does the job for recording, but lacks a bit of life. Duncan Custom is my fav, as someone else has said, it crunches, is quite percussive, plenty of mids but not an overwhelming wall of output (like the 81). Very versatile. I *think* Operation Mindcrime is all Duncan Custom...
 
favorite dimarzio pickup would be the x2n as well, but as mentioned above, they are quite bright sounding so they would obviously sound better in darker sounding guitars.

my favorite overall metal pickup for mahogany bodied guitars is the bareknuckle painkiller, bareknuckle ceramic warpig for brighter sounding guitars. Close second would be an emg 85 in the bridge position.
 
well i jsut bought a motor city solution off of laura.. so im going to try it out and see what happens..
 
D Activator all the way!. Especially if you are coming from using an 81.
 
I have been shifting my pickups a bit in the last little while. For the metal stuff, I have Evolutions in one of my Jems and the other one has the Evo2. Both nice pickups and work great with high gain. My gold J Custom now has a Crunch Lab with the blade facing the neck and it does sound very good in that guitar. I have Dimarzio Blazes in my 7 String Ibanez and it sound fabulous. The oddball is my Purple J-Custom which as the custom 5 Duncan in the bridge and it really works nicely in there as well. I'm starting to go on the premise of perhaps moving to a lower output pickup with a higher output amp tone if I do any changes in the future. I'm looking at those new Gravity Storm and Transition pickups from Dimarzio.
 
Evolution pickups are voiced for leads. Blaze is a 7-string Steve's Special.

Norton is an excellent lower output pickup. Great in every guitar I've ever installed.
 
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