Duncans in Basswood

[Rowan]

What would you guys say is your favorite duncan pickup in a basswood body?

[Mr 9finger]

Just about anything by Dimarzio. I've tried just about every duncan setup possible in an basswood RG. Even went as far as blocking the trem to see if it would make a difference. The only one that sounded remotely decent was the PATB-2 Distortion trembucker and even at that it wasn't good enough. In my personal experience, Duncans sound flat and lifeless in Basswood.

[ArtieToo]

I loved the 59/C5 combo that was in my basswood Peavey Tele, and I love the AII Pro's in my basswood Jetking. The Jetking, especially, has a nice warm smooth sound. Very well balanced. Kinda like what an electric guitar is supposed to sound like.

[theodie]

Just about anything by Dimarzio. I've tried just about every duncan setup possible in an basswood RG. Even went as far as blocking the trem to see if it would make a difference. The only one that sounded remotely decent was the PATB-2 Distortion trembucker and even at that it wasn't good enough. In my personal experience, Duncans sound flat and lifeless in Basswood.

+1!!!! And IMO, Dimarzio's sound flat and lifeless in any wood but basswood. With a very few exceptions of course.

[Mephis]

+1!!!! And IMO, Dimarzio's sound flat and lifeless in any wood but basswood. With a very few exceptions of course.

Agreed.

I finally pulled the double whammy out of my carvin after getting tired of having absolutely no lowend response what so ever. Worked great for lower gain mega smooth and syrupy solos but not much else. Also had a really dry brash tone that didn't show up in recording.

Put a seymour duncan black back 13.7k bridge pickup in there and it was smoking.

On my ibanez the stock pickups sounded very good for what they were, but I love trying old dimarzio pickups that aren't popular any more. So I threw a megadrive in the bridge. For the neck I knew I wanted an air norton regardless of my obsession.

Sounds amazing in that ibanez, perfect for the guitar... I'm a firm believer that if it's an ibanez it has to have dimarzios in it. For anything else... Duncans or EMGs.

[Pushpin&Poetry]

Just about anything by Dimarzio. I've tried just about every duncan setup possible in an basswood RG. Even went as far as blocking the trem to see if it would make a difference. The only one that sounded remotely decent was the PATB-2 Distortion trembucker and even at that it wasn't good enough. In my personal experience, Duncans sound flat and lifeless in Basswood.

I'm really curious about this as
I'll be getting something similar to an RG soon.
I'm wondering why this is, as most of the super shred players who use Ibanez always go w/ Dimarzio pickups too.

Why might they sound better as opposed to Duncans?

[Mr 9finger]

I'm really curious about this as
I'll be getting something similar to an RG soon.
I'm wondering why this is, as most of the super shred players who use Ibanez always go w/ Dimarzio pickups too.

Why might they sound better as opposed to Duncans?

IMO I think it's because Dimarzio designs their pickups to cater to the flatter frequency response of basswood. They EQ their pickups to match the tonal properties of that particular type of wood. If you look at the Ibanez lineup, most of the guitars that have mahogany bodies have Duncan Designed or Duncan pickups in them.

[Pierre]

So far I've had real good experiences with the Jazz(b) and the Custom. Other pickups always left me a little cold. I love the FullShred and Distortion by themselves but it's true in basswood there is better usually. And heck my guitars have some pretty darn good basswood. For all I know though with some lighter, less resonant basswood as fitted in most Ibanez today, my favorites won't be as good.

[KeeperOS]

It is my experience that Ibanez's basswood has too little in common with non-ibanez guitars made of basswood. Then again the same applies for Ibanez's Mahogany so...

In any case, the basswood guitar that I have doesn't have duncans in it (at least not yet) but I could totally see a Pearly Gates going in it.

The fact that I read from Framus (the Warwick for guitars and AFAIK the German Duncan dealer) that it performs especially well in basswood strengthens that belief of mine...

[jerryjg]

What would you guys say is your favorite duncan pickup in a basswood body?

I like rails mid/neck pickups in asswood.SCreamin deamon bridge .

[Pete Galati]

I have a Duncan '59 set in a basswood Tele. It's a pretty decent setup all around, but I'm not sure how much of it's because of the pickups. That was always a good guitar no matter what pickups I put in it. That guitar had several different pickup sets, a few different bridges, and a couple different necks, and it's been one of those rare guitars that always sounded good.

It's really just a cheap MIJ Tele from the mid to late '80s though.

[alashredder]

I had a Duncan JB in a basswood bodied guitar, and it sounded pretty flat. From my experiences, I'd have to agree with Dimarzio's sounding the best in basswood bodies.

[Rowan]

Thanks guys, maybe I'll get a dimarzio. The guitar is an LTD m-255 with bolt on maple/rosewood neck. I had a JB in there and it was good, but not great. Good overall sound but a little transparent and thin sounding in the leads. I have another JB at the neck position and that is not going anywhere because it sounds amazing for solos. What are some dimarzios I should be looking at? I play mostly rock genres and modern metal. Maybe a super distortion?

[Mr 9finger]

Thanks guys, maybe I'll get a dimarzio. The guitar is an LTD m-255 with bolt on maple/rosewood neck. I had a JB in there and it was good, but not great. Good overall sound but a little transparent and thin sounding in the leads. I have another JB at the neck position and that is not going anywhere because it sounds amazing for solos. What are some dimarzios I should be looking at? I play mostly rock genres and modern metal. Maybe a super distortion?

If you're looking for a tighter feeling JB w/ a bit better freq. response, try a tone zone in the bridge. If you want a bright high end, articulate mids, and tight base, get an EVO. Keep in mind the EVO is a very unforgiving pickup and if you're sloppy, you won't be able to hide it.

[Rowan]

If you're looking for a tighter feeling JB w/ a bit better freq. response, try a tone zone in the bridge. If you want a bright high end, articulate mids, and tight base, get an EVO. Keep in mind the EVO is a very unforgiving pickup and if you're sloppy, you won't be able to hide it.

I've had a tone zone in another guitar and it was good, but it didnt have as much "mojo" as other pickups, if you can understand that. That guitar was focused, but bright and thin sounding. It was good for cleans but didnt do so well for high gain. The TZ worked pretty well for that guitar but I dont know if it would work for this basswood one. The basswood guitar is much more balanced, but thicker in the lows and low mids. I'm not really worried about the clean tone because I've never really liked cleans from basswood. If I need cleans I can get them from my other guitar. This guitar should be able do distorted tones well, from classic rock to metal.

[alashredder]

I've had a tone zone in another guitar and it was good, but it didnt have as much "mojo" as other pickups, if you can understand that. That guitar was focused, but bright and thin sounding. It was good for cleans but didnt do so well for high gain. The TZ worked pretty well for that guitar but I dont know if it would work for this basswood one. The basswood guitar is much more balanced, but thicker in the lows and low mids. I'm not really worried about the clean tone because I've never really liked cleans from basswood. If I need cleans I can get them from my other guitar. This guitar should be able do distorted tones well, from classic rock to metal.

These pickups I had in Ibanez's with basswood bodies-

Tone zone= Bassy pickup but the high's sound too rounded and thin.

Evo=Great tight bass, transparent in some ways, high gain, great treble, yet sounds a bit thin. I'd like to think this as a PAF PRO on steroids.

Super Distortion=Great crunch and decent bass. High's are decent without sounding too thin.

I've found my true tone..and those are the blackouts!! peace!!!

[TSE]

I just removed a AZ/AN set from a basswood RG of mine and I plan on installing a Custom/59' in there. I sold the DMZs and today I log on to read this. ****it!
Is it true, will the Custom/59' suck in basswood?

And is Ibanez Mahogany less quality than other brands? Is the Mahogany in the RG321 real or is it painted on?

[Mr 9finger]

I just removed a AZ/AN set from a basswood RG of mine and I plan on installing a Custom/59' in there. I sold the DMZs and today I log on to read this. ****it!
Is it true, will the Custom/59' suck in basswood?

And is Ibanez Mahogany less quality than other brands? Is the Mahogany in the RG321 real or is it painted on?

You may like that set in there. May not. Tone is subjective. I can be pretty straight forward in saying that you probably won't like the 59n in any 24 fret guitar. That's just the nature of the beast. It's no big secret that most Ibanez players stick w/ DMZ for a reason. Some like Duncans in them. I like Bill Lawrences in some of them. A lot of people like EMGs in them so I wouldn't hesitate dropping a set of Blackouts in an RG.


The RG321 is either African Mahogany or Sapele. I don't know if I would call it less quality or not but it's definately not painted on(stained). You'd probably have better luck w/ Duncans in the "Mahogany" Ibanez guitars like the 321, SZ, S series, etc...

[TSE]

I thought a 59' might work well in the neck. Before I put DMZs in I had a JB/Jazz set and while I did not like the JB, I liked the Jazz in the neck a lot. It had this kind of clicking sound to it when I pick real fast in the upper registers that sounded kind of cool to me, I guess it was because of the brightness. I did wish it would be a little fuller though. After I installed the AN in the neck the clicking was long gone. I thought maybe the 59' might have a similar sound, but fuller with more output. Keep in mind the "clicking" is not anything bad or annoying, it was a very natural sound of the pick striking the strings and if you can hear that with the gain from a 5150, that's clarity!

[_Guitarzan_]

Basswood...hands down the PATB-3 in the bridge and a PATB-1 in the neck.