The Eight String Pickup Guide

Hey guys,

Mine are BKP vhII neck/Rebel Yell Bridge,
body: brazilian mahogany/flame maple top
neck: maple/walnut ith ebony fretboard
brass nut and frets
music played: pop/rock/jazz/funk/blues/metal

I find the sound too shiny and with a lack of personality, lack of bass, I tried a lot to move the pickups but seems like it doesn't fits me... I don't know how pickups choose, I have a blackat Leon 8 with almost similar specs except rosewood fretboard,frets and nut, and pickups: Dimarzio D Activator, that are really better, with more mojo in it, and really versatile, a good surprise.

Could you please advise me for pickups that could darken the sound ?

 

Anyone done series/parallel and/or single coil stuff on a Sentient/Nazgul? I'm going to get my RGA8 modded for those and was wondering if someone did something similar with good results.

 

Dimarzio Ionizer pickups

-Ibanez TAM10 (basswood body, maple and walnut neck, rosewood fingerboard)
-Marshall MA50C amp (with different tubes, not sure on model)
-Additional pedals in usage:
-Dunlop 535Q Wah
-Line6 FM4 Synth
-Digitech Whammy pedal
-Boss OS-2 Overdrive
-TC Electronic Vortex Flanger
-Preferred music style: Metal, with plenty of progressive


Okay, so to keep it short and simple, these pickups have had me floored since I first played them. Their clarity and presence is super enjoyable, and the variety of tones available with them is nothing short is encyclopedic.

The bridge pickup is like something of a good middle-ground, balancing crunch and grit with enough clarity and warmth that nothing results in sour notes. The harmonics are gorgeous and fairly easy to nail, though at times maybe a bit difficult, though that could just be my playing style.
The neck pickup is deep and rounder than a bowling ball. The bass just rings on clean sounds, and on distortion it keeps a lower profile for me.
Throw in the middle pickup, and any of the single coil settings call up beautiful strat and tele-esque tones that satisfy a big part of some blues ingrained into my soul. They also have some AWESOME punch with the neck and middle coil combination.

Overall, my favorite pickups that I've ever played. Beautiful tonal range, loads of variety and flavors to pick from, and they never sound muddy or garbled. It makes every pick I make feel wonderful.

 

Anyone tried those new EMG's?

 

Guitar: walnut body, rosewood top, walnut neck, ebony fretboard
Pickup: emg 57-8 and emg 66-8
Amp: black star ht20 or positive grid bias
Music: metal, rock, blues

I went from an emg 808 to the 57/66 on my guitar. After changing, I immediately could hear and feel a difference for the better in favor of the 57/66.

For an active, the 57/66 was more dynamic and better showed nuances of pick attack and fingering strength. It was less hot and less fizzy as compared to the emg 808. It felt more open and not as compressed - more like my passive hum bucked guitars.

In terms of it sound, through a clean channel, it was very clean and very clear. It had a vintage feel to the sound like a good paf humbucker. On a dirty channel, it maintained the clarity and better frequency spectrum. It is not as trebley as the 808. On same settings, the 57/66 had better mids and bass, it was more balanced eq wise. It can do all types of metal and rock. I was most surprised how it can give a very good blues tone too. Responsive to change in volume and my on board gain control.

The 66 is great neck pickups. It is smooth and not as wooly, boomy, or woody as other neck pickups. Compared to the 808 in the neck, again more even frequency response. A brighter neck pickup in a good way. Note separation is very good and not muddy when you play chords or chug.

The 57 is one of my fave bridge pickup. Clarity on all strings esp the 7th and 8th string, very surprised it could do that being it was more vintage inspired. Cuts through very well. Even response with good mids, treble, and bass. It doesn't get muddy like the 808 when you play barred chords involving 7th and 8th string.

There is a volume difference if you switch from the neck to bridge - to me, the 66 has more output volume compared to the 57. So I had to lower the neck a bit more to even it out. Other than that, I am happy with this set. I think 57/66 is better suited to ERG just because it feels open, dynamic, and more even frequency response.

 

GUITAR: Ibanez S8QM
PICKUP: Bill Lawrence L-705

Here is the vid with the nightmare of installation with some crappy sound clips (but still illustrates the difference).

http://youtu.be/oTNjf7QxRQ8

Definitely an improvement over stock pickups and similar to the dimebucker i had installed in my 6 string. High gain passive and clean sounding rail style pickup. A bit on the treble side but cuts some mud out

 

I don't wanted to make a new thread for this, so I will pull it in here: what are your thoughts on EMG 808x vs SD AHB-1 vs SD Nazgul/Sentient comparison?

(These would be my future 8 string stock pickup options.)

Thanks!

 

Pickups:
Lace Deathbar and XBar

Guitar: Kraken Octa
Mahogany Body
Mahogany Neck
Rosewood fretboard

Amp:
Pod HD Pro direct to PA


Pros:
clearest pickups ever. Unreal clarity
totally noiseless
perfect lead tone
Perfect clean tone
Great for low tunings.

Cons
Maybe a little too much fizz/fuzz but then i did use a 500k pot instead of 250k like they suggest to tame some highs. So its probably that.

In which case there arent really any cons.

 

Pickups: Q-tuner 2.0 for 9 string

Guitar: Custom 9 string
rosewood with mango top
maple and zebrawood neck
ebony fretboard

Here is a crude 15 second clip riffing on the 9th, 8th, 7th, and 6th string. The melody line is on the 4th, 3rd, and 2nd string.

The amps used are insane 5150 models in positive grid bias fx with a tubescreamer

https://soundcloud.com/frahmans/9-string-riff-n-lick-q-tuner

Pros
Hifi and extreme clarity
Extremely quiet
Great for extended range riffing and melody
Feels like a single coil with the output power of a humbucker
Extremely dynamic and you can hear every nuance of you fretting and picking

Cons
Bridge can be a bit too bright like a single coil if you never played one
Does not reward imprecise playing

I was initially sceptical because q-tuner sounded different than the EMG 57/66 or other alnico humbuckers I played before. To me, they are extremely clear and hi-fi humbuckers with single coil like characteristics. It has that bite that only single coils can have. And I think you can hear it in the chuggin portion and the lead portion. It's clear and not muddy at all.

 

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I want to second this heavily. I hear a fair amount of dislike to EMG pups, and I really think the x series pups are great. Regardless of which EMG you have I think using any mod to get more volts to the pickup has a great outcome.

I wasn't willing to do an 18v mod. But did go for the 24 volt mod. It's just an adaptor that allows you to hook up two 12 volt batteries in a housing the size of a 9volt. Very nice alternative.

http://www.24voltmod.com

not al all affiliated with the company. Just a fan of the product!!!

 

thought I'd post up some demos of the Lundgren M8 and X-bars I've done recently.
Lundgren: https://soundcloud.com/skwisgaar-sandervaal/sets/lundgren-m8
Lace X-bars: https://soundcloud.com/skwisgaar-sandervaal/sets/lace-x-bars-demo
same amp settings for both, no amp tweaking except adding/removing gain.

 

^^^ thats a big difference in tone using the same amp and settings. the laces sounded much more rounded and loose.

 

Yeah they're a little rounder sounding but they still get pretty tight. I find that bumping the mids with them really helps tighten them up.
The lace are super versatile, and still get crushing high gain tones (honestly I'd say they're better at super high gain than the m8 due to their clarity). I really want to test the Deathbar and see if it's tighter than the x-bar.

 

Finally Demo'd the C-pig /Cold Sweat combo in my 8 string:
https://soundcloud.com/skwisgaar-sandervaal/sets/bare-knuckle-ceramic-warpig-8cold-sweat-8-demo
same amp settings as before, Gain is the only thing that changes.

 

threw together some sloppy clips with the omega if anyone wants to hear 'em : https://soundcloud.com/skwisgaar-san...-bridge-pickup
same amp as the other pickup demos I posted but volume settings are a bit different.

 

I had seymour duncan Black Winters on my RG8 for almost two years,
-Ibanez RG8, basswood body, bolt neck
-BIAS amp and Mesa Boogie Mark V 25
I mostly use this guitar for core, death and prog music (not black metal as they are supposed to be for lol) although i made an emperor cover and it sounds REALLY great:
https://soundcloud.com/user-272400266/i-am-the-black-wizards
High output with nice dirty but defined distortion. A bit over-trebled, it might scream a lot.

I also have to mention, clean tone is absolutely balanced and awesome at mid position, i promise, ive never heard a clean tone like this before:
https://soundcloud.com/user-272400266/in-flames-bullet-ride
Here you can hear some cleans and some powerful chords and palm mutes.
Neck pickup is meh, but not bad either, it does its job as soloing pickup. Lower output, and as i said, when combined with bridge pickup cleans are

Any question you have, feel free to ask, and please don't mind my poor english haha


...., just realized i don't have any sound demo of the 8 string. I guess i dont use it too much. Bridge pickup, combined with a nice amp setting can give good defined 8 string tones, but it depends more on how do you record it.

 

Updated my pickup shootout, now with juggernaut demos.
https://soundcloud.com/skwisgaar-sandervaal/sets/overload-rea-8-pickup-shootout
if you want to just hear the juggernaut tracks:
https://soundcloud.com/skwisgaar-sandervaal/sets/bare-knuckle-juggernaut-8-string-version

 

I 2nd that! The M8 is insanely tight.