Pups!

MarkM

Ok Ive been looking at a few guitars that i like and they either have emg or rockfield pups on em, im a hard rock guitarist so im just wondering what will work best for good distortion, i hear seymour duncan pickups are pretty good too.

BMU

Hi there.

The range of pickups you can get good distortion from is really wide. It's more the amp than the pickups. As long as you have humbuckers and an amp with lots of gain. The rest is up to personal preference, really. For example, if you know Lamb of God, they use Seymour Duncan '59s, which are low gain pickups aimed at a vintage sound afaik. Just crank the amp!

EMG 81/85s are popular, Seymour Duncan JB's, lots of different DiMarzios... many many possibilities. Who do you want to sound like?

kp247

Don't waste your bucks. Just get Tonerider Generator pups. They're awesome. Get them here http://www.tonerider.co.za/genblack.html

MikeM

+1 to BMU. First tell us what guitar, what it sounds like now and how you want it to sound ?

MarkM

Well right now I have a cheap `n nasty little SX fender strat knock-off, whole lot of buzz included. But recently ive been looking at buying a B.C. Rich Warlock guitar and ive just been wondering if the standard emg 81 + 85 pickups will suit my style. But obviously the amp makes the difference here, if Mark Morton only uses the low gain pups then guess i can too... Lamb of God pretty much sums up what i want to sound like. Though still want a good clean tone quite often.

And here is a link to the Warlock i spoke of earlier, any suggestions on that will help too.
http://www.bcrich.com/warlock_nj_deluxe.asp

Thanks

MikeM

Best bet is youtube man. 81 + 85 is probably the most famous metal combo ever though.. They could probably do decentish cleans still, probably a step up from what you have now ?

I'd youtube a bit and see how it sounds by doing that man.

MarkM

A bit more than a step lol
But thanks in anyway ill go check it out and see if i can get any vids with clean tones of the emg`s

Switch-Munky7

Both Mark and Willie use Seymour Duncan pickups.
EMG's will give you the most generic metal tone but the best thing to do is to go test guitars with a variety of pickups and see which one offers you the tone you are looking for.

inflames

If you are going the metal route then EMG 81/85 would be my advice.

It sounds like you are more into the rock scene, so then rather look at the Dimarzio Breed / Air Norton combination.
Amazing cleans and some nice distortion.

Listen to some of Andrew Bryson's stuff on the forum. He runs a Dimarzio configuration.

MikeM

Another option is the SD Blackouts. Basically the midground between those ?

ZarK

I'm completely happy with the Dimarzio Tone Zone/Air Norton combo for everything up to and including metal... I'm also very fond of a Dimarzio Paf Pro in the neck position for clean tone and high gain solos and seriously impressed with the Dimarzio True Velvet single coil in combination with the aforementioned humbuckers... Makes for an incredibly versatile setup all in one guitar.