New Pickups...

What are some good, but cheap, pickups? I'm looking for ones that can play anything, and ones that can play metal. Right now I'm running some ibanez pickups that were "Designed" by emg....They're still the crappy ibanez ones. (basically they need to play rock, metal, blues, and some softer stuff.)

EMG's are way too expensive for me, so anything but those are good.

People I would like to sound like:
Metal:
Killswitch Engage!!!!! (Closest I can get without Emg's...Although there sound comes from there Mesa Boogies)
Metallica
Pantera
MachineHead
lots of other stuff...
Other(if possible with new pickups):
Ratm
nirvana
Red hot Chili Peppers
Bullet for my valentine
Jimi Hendrix
Lots of other stuff...

The Fake "EMG's" on my guitar are passive...

Here's my guitar btw, in the white finish.
http://www.guitarcenter.com/shop/product/buy_ibanez_re2ex1_electric_guitar?full_sku=103382115

Sorry if I'm off base, but have you got effects covered?

That kind of variety of tone is not only about pickups. You need a decent clean channel on your amp, some sort of distortion pedal (or another channel on your amp, or both!) and all sorts of other bits if you want to get close.

Some of these guys spend more on their rigs than I'll earn in a lifetime. I have guitars with stock Ibanez pickups (a radius & RG770DX) and they sound fine. I reckon you'd be better off spending the time and money on a multi effects unit if you don't have one... they're available at all sorts of price points and give good 'bang for buck'.

If you have got one, spend more time messing with it, I think it'll pay off...

Hmmm, I guess that got me thinking a bit....I don't really have the money for a multi-effect processor. My amp comes with a billion effects and I already have a jimi hendrix signature wah, and a digital delay pedal. I might look into a distortion pedal soon if you insist, my amps distortion is more then enough though.

Right now i have a cube 30, its just for practicing because I don't have a band atm. I have access to alot of amps because my uncle plays in a band and he has alot!

Well, if your amp has a pile of presets you might be OK. I had a micro cube once, and it had a rectifier kind of tone - wasn't amazing but it worked.

What happens if you play totally clean? Like the intro to under the bridge. Is everything nice and clear and defined? If it is, your pickups are fine and you need to look to your amp and/or effects. I'm sure the pickups could stand to be upgraded, but they might not be the priority...

On cost, I hear good things about the digitech rp80 for instance, which at $80 I would think is about the same ballpark as new pickups?

Oh, and welcome to GT... :D

Originally Posted by: renWell, if your amp has a pile of presets you might be OK. I had a micro cube once, and it had a rectifier kind of tone - wasn't amazing but it worked.

What happens if you play totally clean? Like the intro to under the bridge. Is everything nice and clear and defined? If it is, your pickups are fine and you need to look to your amp and/or effects. I'm sure the pickups could stand to be upgraded, but they might not be the priority...

On cost, I hear good things about the digitech rp80 for instance, which at $80 I would think is about the same ballpark as new pickups?

Oh, and welcome to GT... :D

Hmmm, thanks. I'll have to see what other amps I have access too, but I don't have access to my guitar until tomorrow (Traveling) I'm pretty sure if I have the settings right it will be clean, I'll have to check that out. I looked at the rp80 on musicians friend and it seems it gets pretty good reviews, and it has alot of effects and a nice tuner (which I need!) So I may check that out if my pickups seem to be doing fine. Some of the effects seem a bit un-needed though, I have most of the effects on my amp but I may want them If I upgrade to a better amp without them, a distortion pedal would be my first priority then. Have you heard good things about GFS pickups? If my pickups aren't working as they could I my pickup a loudmouth at the bridge and a bigmouth at the neck for a lot of metal versatility.

Seymour and Duncan JB in the bridge.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Seymour-Duncan-SH4-JB-Humbucker-Pickup?sku=300035

Is that the jb your talking about? If so what makes it so special?

Originally Posted by: infamous16Have you heard good things about GFS pickups?

I've never heard of GFS pickups, but then that's a whole area of things I know very little about. Most of my guitars are Ibanez, and have DiMarzio pickups.. and some have been fitted with them after market because I now know I like their sound. If it is pickup related your best bet is to play as many super-strat type guitars as you can, and when you find one you like find out what pickups it has in it - way better than user reviews etc... and better than soundclips...

I do try a variety of guitars when I'm out at guitar center....A Jackson with Emg-hz's where my favorite. And this little vox amp I played was my favorite. I played the jackson on a big crate (I think) and the vox with a les paul standard. Do you think the vox sounded good because of the les paul, or just because its a vox. And do you think the emg's on the jackson sounded good because of the crate, or because of the emg's?

I wish I could bring in my amp to stores like that, to see how it sounds with the amp I have. I guess I could move the guitar over to the amp (they have the same one over there) but I haven't really thought of that until now.

The Seymour Duncan JB/'59 set has been considered the most versatile traditional humbucking set by many players for a very long time... They get great crunch and bite from the JB... and the '59 gives you great classic tones for nice cleans and nice heavy thick tones. You can get everything from a solid blues/clean, blues/dirty to a nice heavy metal tone out of them with a few pedals here and there. Being passive pickups, it makes them a lot easier to transplant into a passively wired guitar. If you're a beginner... I recommend this set of pickups because you'll undoubtedly find that your taste in music will take many shapes as you delve deeper into the guitar... A set of high output pickups are only going to carry you into so many realms of tone... pretty much limiting you to distorted tones... The JB/59 will carry you through just about all the realms of tone and then some. Giving you longevity and versatility. You'll find that you can get great clean tones just as easy as great distorted tones.....

After rereading that... you'd think Seymour Duncan paid me to write that........ but unfortunately they did not.

Originally Posted by: elklanderccSeymour and Duncan JB in the bridge.

those sound great in my "Les and Paul" guitar :rolleyes:

thanks ...I'll be here all week. :p

Sounds like jb's will be my number one choice if i find out i need a new one. Thanks for everything, i probably would have made a very stupid decission without all of you.

You can get any tone you want from Dimarzio Evolutions through a good amp or fx unit - very hot pickups, ultra clear and tight. These pups will force you to play very cleanly as all mistakes become very apparant!

why do I need the "f space" version? I guess I never really looked into that.

Originally Posted by: infamous16why do I need the "f space" version? I guess I never really looked into that.

'cos the 'f spaced' version is designed for your bridge, and the resulting string spacing...

hmmm, so will a non-f space fit, or not? Or will It just not sound right?