Pickups for Mahogany Ibanez 7 recommendations

[Lorcan Ward]

Wall of text but try to skim through it, Cheers!

I bought an Ibanez J-custom RG8527z recently and I still haven't decided on a pickup combination I'm happy with.

Specs: Mahogany Body, Flame Maple Top, Maple neck with Wenge laminates, rosewood board.

Tonally it doesn't have a lot of bass compared to my other guitars, lots of low mids, smooth highs but still quite bright depending on how much pick attack I use. Its very tight sounding.

Compared to my basswood Rg1527 there is a lot less bass, its tighter, brighter, not as warm in the highs.

So far I've had:

Dimarzio Paf 7s: I've never been fond of Paf pickups, they sound great clean but don't saturate/distort the way I like when put under a lot of gain.

Bare Knuckle Holy Diver 7s: I didn't like the neck HD much. It didn't match the bridge in output and got very bright when pushed with a boast pedal so it had to do. The bridge Holy Diver sounded really good but there wasn't enough bass. The mids were perfect but their was a bit to much presence for my liking.

Bare Knuckle Black Hawks(currently installed): I like how tight these are but they have to much bass and saturate to much under gain for my liking(too aggressive). The sound great for djenty riffs and the fatness makes them great for soloing on the bridge but they don't work for my style. They are almost a little dry/gritty sounding.

I've been looking at the Seymour Duncan Pegasus & Sentient set. For riffing they sound like what I'm looking for but I've heard they are very harsh in the highs. I use the bridge for soloing a lot(think Per Nilson) so they might not be what I'm looking for.

I use and Axe-fx II so this is the kind of tone I go for:


Tight bass, lots of mids, smooth high mids and presence for soloing so something similar to the Holy Diver but more modern. Also I prefer cleaner pickups that don't pickup to much string and picking hand noise.

 

[bob123]

EVO 7 neck, no question in my mind.


tight bass... lots of mids... I am REALLY leaning on telling you to get Tone Zone 7 or Breed 7 in the bridge!

 

[Not The Same as Yours]

I couldn't disagree more on that EVO for the bridge.

I have a similar guitar in wood matters, an RG2027Xvv, mahogany body, flame maple top, maple neck (can' remember strips) and rosewood fretboard.

I have been experimenting with DiMarzio's pickups on it: Air Norton Neck + Evo Bridge; DAs and Blaze Neck+Blaze Custom.

• Air Norton + Evo set: the Air Norton sounded OK at the neck pickup, but the EVO on the bridge gave a sort of sharp distorted sounds that were unpleasant to me, way too much harmonic content maybe. The whole set sounded too bright for what I was used to.
• DAs set: super responsive set but hard to control or to clean up. DA neck pickups was too much for this guitar, difficult to get full clean sounds. The DA bridge is, as I like to call it, a growler, difficult to get subtle picking dynamics. Could be wonderful for super heavy stuff.
• Blaze Neck+ Blaze Custom set: this was the first set I placed on this guitar and probably because of that is my favorite. Super defined distortion with the Custom, Neck or both. Clean are full and rich on the neck and coil splitting gives almost a dark sounding strat sound. Overall this is a great combo, darkish but not muddy. Tight and rounded distortion is possible in any of the 5 positions (full neck, coil tap neck, full neck+full bridge in parallel link, coil tap bridge and full bridge). These are simply my tone reference for fretted guitars.

My rig is: Mesa-Boogie Triaxis, Roland GP100 for FX, Mesa Boogie 2:50 Power amp, 2x 112 home made cabs loaded with Celestions Vintage Century speackers. My night rig excludes power amp and cabs and goes from triaxis record out to my Audio interface. On both systems, the tone of the Blaze Neck+Custom set is super consistent, rich and thick.

However, that Air Norton7+EVO7 set on a basswood guitar is spot on... go figure...

My two cents, hope to have helped...

 

[Konfyouzd]

E... Vo... 7...

X2N7 as well...

 

[narad]

This sounds like exactly the dilemma I'm facing with my upcoming Daemoness build - same woods, pretty similar goal tone - definitely with you on the Per Nilsson. Is a BKP Nailbomb something that would be close to this on the bridge?

 

[myampslouder]

I have a Nazgul and Sentient installed in an Ibanez S7420fmtt which is a mahogany body and i dont find either pickup harsh at all. i'm. The tone is bright but punchy with chunky lows. If your after an Unearth type tone why not try blackouts or the new passive sized emg pickups? I can nail their sound with my pittbull and my EMG or Blackout equipped guitars.

 

[bob123]

I couldn't disagree more on that EVO for the bridge.

I have a similar guitar in wood matters, an RG2027Xvv, mahogany body, flame maple top, maple neck (can' remember strips) and rosewood fretboard.

I have been experimenting with DiMarzio's pickups on it: Air Norton Neck + Evo Bridge; DAs and Blaze Neck+Blaze Custom.

• Air Norton + Evo set: the Air Norton sounded OK at the neck pickup, but the EVO on the bridge gave a sort of sharp distorted sounds that were unpleasant to me, way too much harmonic content maybe. The whole set sounded too bright for what I was used to.
• DAs set: super responsive set but hard to control or to clean up. DA neck pickups was too much for this guitar, difficult to get full clean sounds. The DA bridge is, as I like to call it, a growler, difficult to get subtle picking dynamics. Could be wonderful for super heavy stuff.
• Blaze Neck+ Blaze Custom set: this was the first set I placed on this guitar and probably because of that is my favorite. Super defined distortion with the Custom, Neck or both. Clean are full and rich on the neck and coil splitting gives almost a dark sounding strat sound. Overall this is a great combo, darkish but not muddy. Tight and rounded distortion is possible in any of the 5 positions (full neck, coil tap neck, full neck+full bridge in parallel link, coil tap bridge and full bridge). These are simply my tone reference for fretted guitars.

My rig is: Mesa-Boogie Triaxis, Roland GP100 for FX, Mesa Boogie 2:50 Power amp, 2x 112 home made cabs loaded with Celestions Vintage Century speackers. My night rig excludes power amp and cabs and goes from triaxis record out to my Audio interface. On both systems, the tone of the Blaze Neck+Custom set is super consistent, rich and thick.

However, that Air Norton7+EVO7 set on a basswood guitar is spot on... go figure...

My two cents, hope to have helped...

re read my post please.

 

[Not The Same as Yours]

EVO on neck?... ok, sorry, misread it... though... feels wierd, isn't it too strong/hot for a neck pickup?

 

[Whammy]

Hey man,

Before you buy anything else new try this...

Stick the Blackhawk neck into the bridge position.
I've tested this out myself. This isn't the same as using an Alnico V bridge.

Compared to the current bridge you have the output will be lowered and that squashy feeling that the bridge has will be gone. A lot more picking dynamics come through.
I can't full remember the differences in the bass levels though

It's worth a shot.

Apart from that the only pickup I can think that may suit what you are looking for is the LiquiFire 7 in the bridge position. My only concern would be it's output level.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Cheers for all the replies dude!

EVO 7 neck, no question in my mind.


tight bass... lots of mids... I am REALLY leaning on telling you to get Tone Zone 7 or Breed 7 in the bridge!

I have a Blaze Custom Bridge in the neck of my RG1527 and its very clear and saturated so I might try out an Evo. Neck pickups are never to much trouble for me. They just need to match the bridge.

Bridge pickup is the harder one because most 7s tend to overcompensate for the low B making the higher strings thin or harsh. Then on the other hand the top 6 strings are clear and defined but the low B will be muddy.

Not a fan of the ToneZone, to much bass.

My two cents, hope to have helped...

Cheers! Will check out how the Blaze Custom in my Rg1527 sounds with the latest Axe-fx firmware.

This sounds like exactly the dilemma I'm facing with my upcoming Daemoness build - same woods, pretty similar goal tone - definitely with you on the Per Nilsson. Is a BKP Nailbomb something that would be close to this on the bridge?

Awesome! I really liked the Alnico Nailbomb in my 6 string Schecter. Definitely the clearest pickup I've ever played. It was a little fuzzy on the low E but this might have been the pots and 24.75 scale. Very crunchy/aggresive pickup with a lot of presence.

I have a Nazgul and Sentient installed in an Ibanez S7420fmtt which is a mahogany body and i dont find either pickup harsh at all. i'm. The tone is bright but punchy with chunky lows. If your after an Unearth type tone why not try blackouts or the new passive sized emg pickups? I can nail their sound with my pittbull and my EMG or Blackout equipped guitars.

The Pegasus appeals to me more than the Nazgul so good to know they aren't harsh. I don't want to swap out the electronics for actives and I'm not that big a fan of them. The sound awesome when run through an actual rig but they don't sound/feel right through my Axe-fx. I found a very good deal on a new set of SDs so I might give them a try.

Hey man,

Before you buy anything else new try this...

Stick the Blackhawk neck into the bridge position.
I've tested this out myself. This isn't the same as using an Alnico V bridge.

Compared to the current bridge you have the output will be lowered and that squashy feeling that the bridge has will be gone. A lot more picking dynamics come through.
I can't full remember the differences in the bass levels though

It's worth a shot.

Apart from that the only pickup I can think that may suit what you are looking for is the LiquiFire 7 in the bridge position. My only concern would be it's output level.

Hey dude! Will try give that a shot if I can. Its the aggressive character of the Black Hawks that I'm not getting along with. I tend to prefer smoother pickups.

 

[Scott Olson]

Wall of text but try to skim through it, Cheers!


I've been looking at the Seymour Duncan Pegasus & Sentient set. For riffing they sound like what I'm looking for but I've heard they are very harsh in the highs. I use the bridge for soloing a lot(think Per Nilson) so they might not be what I'm looking for.

Hey there Drawnacol, I don't think you'd find the Pegasus/Sentient harsh in mahogany. The Pegasus is great for soloing, very articulate.

 

[DaPsyCho]

Buz McGrath uses EMG 707s... try that

 

[bob123]

EVO on neck?... ok, sorry, misread it... though... feels wierd, isn't it too strong/hot for a neck pickup?

Actually no, its very articulate and "open" sounding. Its a little bit less "mid" happy, but on a mahogany 7 string guitar, that translates into a VERY clear tone. I freaking hate evo's in the bridge haha xD I COMPLETELY agree with your sentiments on the evo bridge pup haha


If the tone zone is too bassy, my only dimarzio suggestion would be the crunchlab.

From there if you're not into that kinda thing, I'd explore BKP

 

[HanShock]

Black Hawks doesn't have much bass,man,just get rid of it first.
Sentient in bridge is great for J-custom 7,if you like you can try Lundgren M7.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

Cheers again for all the recommendations dudes! I decided to go for a Pegasus/Sentient set since I got a really good price on them. Will post back how they sound soon.

Hey there Drawnacol, I don't think you'd find the Pegasus/Sentient harsh in mahogany. The Pegasus is great for soloing, very articulate.

Cool, the specs and description of that set are actually very similar to the Holy Diver/Emerald combo I use in my other 7.

Buz McGrath uses EMG 707s... try that

707s are a weird kind of pickup. They are really dependant on your rig. When I had them in my Hellraiser they sounded nothing like what the guitar sounded unplugged. I think they sound great when run through a tube amp properly mic'd.

 

[Whammy]

Cheers again for all the recommendations dudes! I decided to go for a Pegasus/Sentient set since I got a really good price on them. Will post back how they sound soon.

Awesome, curious to know how these sound and how they hold up against the previous ones you've tried

 

[BenEllerGuitars]

Have you tried the D Activator NECK model in the bridge? It sounds insane in mahogany! Incredible tight, tighter than an Aftermath. But not overly gain or compressed either. Its a beast.

 

[Mike]

Have you tried the D Activator NECK model in the bridge? It sounds insane in mahogany! Incredible tight, tighter than an Aftermath. But not overly gain or compressed either. Its a beast.

yup that ^ I have it and love it.