I've recently bought an Ibanez RG1527 Prestige. It's a great guitar.
Been playing a Jackson TH-1 with an EMG 85 installed for 6-7 years, and I've been really happy with the sound of the 85. I also had an EMG 81 in a previous guitar, it was great but I like the 85 better.
My obvious choice would be the EMG 707 for the Ibanez, but it doesn't fit in the guitar, and I'm NOT going to modify the body, so ...
I don't know which other pickup to choose. Been looking at the Dimarzio 7 strings, but can't figure it out.
Can anyone tell me what might be a good choice, when I like the sound of the EMG 85?

... thanks

theirs been a few threads on this, do a search

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Yes I know. But I found no one corresponding to my particalur situation.

what about the seymour duncan invaders for 7 strings?

the 707's don't sound like the 85/81's if you ask me, they're even more sterile, kinda lifeless even.. but super tight. and they're fucking expensive here too.

They sell 7 string 81's at guitarpartsdepot.com

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I just checked that site and found that, is that a new one or something? last time I checked they only had the 707's...

Only guitarparts depot sells the 7 string 81, they made a deal with EMG, they've been selling them for about 4 months

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ah, sweet, thanks for that, a friend of mine was looking for emg's in his 7 string, bet they sound less nu-metal then those 707's..

Try maybe a Dimarzio Evolution, I am going to toss one into my Ibanez RG7 as well as a Paf7 for the neck

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I put Blaze 7's in my 7 string guitar. I have no complains about them, but I haven't tried to many other quality 7 string pickups, so I don't know if I would like something else better. I would have EMG's, but their 7 string pups are a pain if your guitar isn't made for them.

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Well.. they do make JB 7 strings

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Yeah, and Seymour duncan Invader 7sring too

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lets not drag shitty pickups into this.....

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Dont like Invaders?
They seem to work well with me. Its all personal preference though.

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You know what? I thought Invader would be shitt too It's fucking ugly and all...
I thought JB would be the best. The Invader won me over even though the JB was the one I had decided for, before I tried the invader.
JB sounded like my mexican fat-strat... Maybe a litle better, but it was in the same style(I think us fat-strats have JB, or some dimarzio). Nice sound, but then I could just have played with my babyblue metallic stratocaster(who is nice, but I prefer other sounds for metal)...

Invader sounded bassy metal, and I found a guy selling a pair of them cheaply second hand, he had them in his LP for three months and thought they was a little to heavy, and I bought them.

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Inavders have little to no note clarity, thier just high gain noise. No tone in them.

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high gain noise? wtf?

you sure you tried the invader? they're not that high gain compared to other pickups really, they do lack a bit of clarity but thats because they're a bit too heavy low down IMO, though I wouldn't say 'they don't have no tone'

I play the tom delong strat with the invader... i really didnt like it at all. Might of been the fact that its a strat though

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i don't think invaders are THAT great, everybody is always like they're soooo brutal and have such high output... they arent. i've played pu's with just as much gain if not more that had a better sound to me...
i sorta agree with bls, in alot of guitars i've found the invander lacks in clarity and tone.... but the way passive pu's work, i don't think it's fair to judge the invader just by how it sounds in the tom delonge strat. you put an invader in a nice gibson lp or something.... it will sound very different. because a strat and a les paul are two totally different guitars.



if you want nice sounding high output from a sd... livewire metal... it's active, and i'd prefer it over an emg 81 or 85 in the bridge position anyday...

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meh, active's are lifeless IMO, but the livewire metal is pretty good for an active, its surely sounds less sterile as an EMG...

I way prefer passive pickups, actives are like the solid state of pickups.

I played a Jackson RR1 american select series with invaders and I liked it a lot, but I guess I like the RR1 a lot too so yeah... those small bodies make pu's sound a bit more thin, I've heard the invader in a gibby LP too and it sounded way too bassy.
I do think they sound neat on the heavy obituary style shit but they're not good at the high notes above the 12th fret, if you do sweeps and taps they make your playing sound sloppy (honestly it wasn't my playing..)

I agree with Invaders not beeing all that high-gain though. compared to some DiMarzio's that seem to have way more gain.

Just play a guitar with a JB in it... its so warm, yet crunchy. And its the PERFECT amount of gain (for me atleast) It also picks up harmonics very well.

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I concur, JB's are good.

though not as great as DiMarzio's.

I like the Paf Pro and the Tonezones, they have a cool "Wah" sound to them. I dont know how to explain it... Thier not really suited for metal, but for blues licks and solos... mmm

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yeah, I have tone zone's and a blue velvet in the mid pos, its a great combo and really versatile, makes the old RG even better!

dimarzios are where it's at imo... the xzn has loads more gain than the sd invader and sounds clearer imo. same with the super distortion..

evolutions & tone zones are all around beautiful bridge pu's for any type of rock...

and the multibuckers are sooo heav'. really sweet, thick yet clear.
but yes 'd take a jb over an invader anyday.. very nice pickup in my mind.

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true, but if you look at the tone zone's, like you said, they're for any kind of rock, you can get the classic sounds out of them too, they're not super heavy but then again my amp can get as heavy as I want it, so its no problem for me.

Evo's are pretty cool, as are Breeds, haven't tried those multibuckers, never seen em.

i love the tone zones, i have more than enough gain from my amp, so pickups with good tone and a decent amount of gain is what i like....
the multibuckers are like two mini buckers sandwhiched together....
kinda like how humbuckers look like two single coils smashed together...
anyways after playin a friens lp standard with two of em.... i was sold.

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