I am a pretty decent guitarist, just cheap, and don't like to do things more than once, in other words, trial and error is out of the question.
I need a new bridge pickup for my vanguard. Needs to be passive, and i'm looking generally at DiMarzio, but open for Duncan's.
I have really been thinking of the X2N pup, but, i don't want something too sensitive.
I need something really chuggy, fairly bass-y but not muddy, and high ends don't hurt the ears.
The duncan invaders seem really cool, destroyers are close.
Any help would be sweet

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How much are willing to spend?

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100 plus, i mean, it's the brain of the guitar, price isn't too big of a deal. Solid Alder is the wood it is made out of. Not great sustain, not an amazing guitar, but i do need new pups.

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DiMarzio Tone Zone has a good amount of bass, isn't very trebly, and isn't overly sensitive while still not being muddy.

What model Vanguard do you have?

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I'd recommend a WB Heaven & Hell bridge pickup then. They are about $115, and I can promise it will smoke the shit out of any Dimarzio.

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100 plus, maybe look into Bareknuckle Nailbombs or Lundgren M6's or Sucker Buckers. I'd personally rather go blindly with these manufacturers than WB whom I know nothing about.

They might be out of your price range though. Judging by the description of the sound you want and all the pickups I've tried, I think the Dimarzio Tonezone is probably what you want. It also makes an amazing bridge lead pickup, it's pretty warm, not muddy although I wouldn't recommend it in dark sounding guitars tuned low. Or the Dimarzio Super 3, which has a similar basic sound but gets even grindier and has even more output, but again I wouldn't suggest it if you tune very low. Invaders just have way too much bass and practically zero highs.

With either of these I would suggest using a 1meg value volume pot to get the most out of their sound. Maybe an invader would sound better with a 2meg volume pot.

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the FR-440? ish? the black one with the floating bridge. I have never heard of WB, and only looked at the other ones that you've named off soeru.
And i do not really have a price range. The invaders are fairly cheap, and the link you gave earlier for the different volume pots was convenient.
The tone zone though? Never gave it a shot, i'll find a dealer with some of those in his guitars or something.

Much appreciated

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I'll totally vouch for the WB's. Handwound perfection.

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Np. I don't think the TZ comes stock on any guitars, but it's really great. Plus you have the 60-day exchange thing with Dimarzio, if you don't like it you can send it to them/take it to a store for a different one I believe.

The lead tone is very deep and present, "brown" sounding a la evh at times while doing legato and tapping. Definitely very bassy and middy, with a "neutral" amount of treble. Alder bodied guitar with a floyd? I think it would make your guitar sound great, more so if you have one of those kramers with maple fretboards.

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i in fact do have one of those kramers with the maple fretboard. Valtiel, do you have any sound clips or anything?
I'm running it thru a triple rectifier with a 4 X 12 cabinet (which i'm gunna replace, you know the story). If that helps.

I really wanna give this tonezone a shot, and that replacement thing seems fucking sweet

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This was a clip that was taken with a small camera when I got some of his custom pickups, the birdge pickup in the clip is similar to the Hell humbucker, this is on the crunch setting on the Laney, so you can imagine what the full blown gain sounds like.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWID4Wv3QUs

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FYI the tonezone is stock on the new Fender Vintage Hot Rod Strat, that shouldn't be too hard to find if you wanted to try before you buy. Its the Jr-type version i.e. single coil size but I don't think it makes much difference.

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I'm fairly sure it'd make a difference. No matter how much dimarzio says that thier single coil sounds 'just like' a humbucker, it's still substantially different from thier humbuckers. Nevertheless, i'll see if i can find one.
And Valtiel, are these pups fairly noiseless? that's why i like my stock ones so damn much, can barely hear a thing (excluding the playing obviously)

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The single coil tonezone still sounds different, it's only slightly similar in terms of EQ curve, but the full size one has a lot more output.

And all big-brand aftermarket pickups are all wax potted and noiseless of course, if you install them correctly and the rest of your guitar's electronics ain't crap. That's independent from strong sensitivity though, some pickups will not pick up a lot of your mistakes and others will make you sound like a ball of mush or squeaks if you're not a tight player/don't take the pickup into account when setting amp settings.

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well i'm not exactly inexperienced. But, not gunna lie, much like many people, there are occasional sloppiness in my solo's... i didn't make my guitar through, and i never really glanced at the electronics, figure if i put new pup's in though, I'll get the new volume pots, and get a tune up on any bad electronics.
But yowza the crunch in those WB pickups is godlike...i think i may have made my choice, just gotta wait till payday.

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If you are referring to the youtube clip, then thanks! You wont get any noise from the WB's, Will lightly wax pots all his sets. Honestly, I know its hard to believe some ranom person on a forum, but WB's are really the best out there right now. Will is one of those freaky geniuses, he just loves what he does and it shows in his work, and people are going ape shit over these pickups, especially all over the Mylespaul.com forums. He's actually going to be raising his prices in 2008, so ill try to get some more clips when I get up there so you can make a better decision. I'll have my 4x12 with me as well instead of that 2x12. Any requests for certain things to play?

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well, try playing some lamb of god riffs, nothing crazy y'know. And after that just some sort of tapping solo...if you can downtune low enough, any nile song of ithyphallic. Basically the style that my band plays in, so it's the most important.

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Honestly with those types of styles, the pickup dosent have nearlly as much importance. You would probably be fine with something like a Duncan Distortion.

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that's not all that I<<< play though, i'll go anywhere from Gorerotted, wintersun, Immortal, emperor, you name it.
I want a really good metal versitile pickup. So just play whatever comes to mind man

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With styles using that much gain, your amp is far more important. With the amount of gain used in those styles, most pickup nuances are pretty obscured. I would still say the WB Hell would fit perfect, especially if you decided to anything lower in gain as well.

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that's what i'm sayin, the pups i have now, i have my fucking triple rectifier at maxed gain. I'm sold man, much appreciated

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Maxed gain? Jesus christ! Yea dude, get the WB Hell, put it in, and thank me later.

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anyone every played the rio grande crunchbox?

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sounds liek yous needs a bewst.

Valtiel, is that you in the youtube video with the Laney?

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Sounds like you need better preamp tubes too. 0.o

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a tad bit of over-exaggeration i must admit with the highest gain. But compared to my other guitars, she's not the crunchiest. Besides, i already bought the pups, holy christ they are perfect. I recommend them completely.

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