Sorry for starting a whole new thread about this, but I need some advice. I noticed that I forgot to select any pickups for my custom Ran! Here are it's specifications:
+Virgin Body Shape
+Mahogany Body/Maple Top
+Mahogany Neck/Ebony Fretboard
+Neck-Thru
+Tune-O-Matic/String-thru bridge

I was thinking about EMG 85/81's but I heard they dont compliment the natural sounds of the woods used, I want my guitar to be quite versatile, but also to be good at thrash/death metal. What do you guys recommend for bridge/neck pickups?

Cheers

Since your getting a Les Paul type wood combination I suggest a JB in the bridge.

If you want EMG's just get the cheapest wood.. like alder.

Now what do you want in a Neck pickup? Nice cleans? Smooth lead tone?

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For the neck pickup, I'd like an OK clean tone, as that's not my top priority, I'd like an smooth and clear lead tone for the neck, clarity is quite important for me.

The SD Jazz is what your looking for then.

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Thanks BLS, it seems they are a quite popular match, so yeah, I'll go with them.

emg's would still compliment that guitar nicely... but only if that's the sound you want...

a mahogany guitar with an 81/85 set is still going to sound quite a bit different from an alder guitar, all other specs being the same.

but they're definately more isolated sounding than say a jb/jazz combo, which would sound insanely different if you were to switch woods around. even if you were going from one peice of mahogany to another, with the unpredictable ways that wood grows, not all guitars of the same specs are going to be the same in sound.

just some food for thought, as nobody around here sticks up for emgs enough.

i wouldnt say an 81/85 set is any better or worse than a jb/jazz set, they're just different.

i think you should give the dimarzio tonezone a look aswell....

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I fully agree, I do like EMG's as long as they're combined with a guitar with loads of sustain and 'body' which is the reason I got them in my ran custom. I like the defined sound EMG 81's give and the 85 has tight cleans.

the ran will have plenty of sustain (neckthru, fixed bridge, graphite nut) so I bet it will sound like I want it too. if not, I'm getting different pickups in it. it's not that big of a deal. I like some guitars with EMG's better then others, for example EMG's in an RG don't work for me, but they do in a Les Paul, I guess a big issue is the sustain there and ofcourse the quality of woods and shit has to be part of it too.

I allready have dimarzio's in my other guitar, so I can grab that when I'm looking for that tone. there's no real better or worse, it's just what you like best, like xdx said, they're just different.

I kinda have the same problem

I dont know what kind of tone wood to use with which pickup

I need to get out 2 sounds, a low grind like Mastodon or Ahumado Granujo.. and a more medium sound like Gorgoroth or Immortal,

so EMG's are out of the question because of their lack of versitility.. theyre more chugga chugga than grind.

i was thinking a s.duncan, but i dont know which kind. Any suggestions?

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JB/Jazz

edit: this was an answer to the reply above, not to the author

meh, id go with emgs or a dimarzio x2n

i used to think the jb was the shit, but now im not a big fan of it, at least not for death metal

go with what sounds good to you though

You won't get a clean tone out of the X2N unless you drive your clean channel incredibly low and boost the power amp to hell so that you can hear it, and even then if you pick to hard you'll get some distortion :\

if you drive the poweramp very hard, you're going to get alot of poweramp overdrive. which is just another source of distortion.

if you want to tame the x2n, just roll off on your guitar's volume knob a tad.

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I just made a les paul body out of mahogany. I favor actives because of their tight low end but I don't want to limit the sound, especially with the mahogany. Can anyone suggest some passives that have lots of gain and a tight low end. I listened to sound clips of all duncans and dimarzio but for some reason none appeal to me.

Does anyone know a good combination of the X2N in the bridge and 2 single coil or stacked pickups in the neck and middle?

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you can get a clean tone if u have a coil tap. anyways the x2n isnt even really made for clean, if you want clean use ure fucking neck pickup

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I'm well aware of this, thank you; unlike some people I tend to do my own research before buying PUs, and the fact that it is designed for overdrive is the very reason I bought it

I disconnected my neck pickup since a) it's stock and terrible, and b) I never use it, so I use the pickup selector as a killswitch for when I'm not playing

Awesome ive never though about that.Does it make any feedback.is it possible to do the same with the middle pickup on an RG?

If you ground the killswitch it shouldn't make any feedback or hum.

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I didn't want to make a thread for my question. PLZ, anyone?

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