New SD Pubs in my Ibanez

[CatchDude]

I have an Ibanez SA 160 QMTE, but I grew fed up with the shrill, flat and characterless sound the standard Ibanez pups made (Neck:singlecoil, Centre:singlecoil, Bridge:humbucker), so after some deliberation I dug up my purse and went shopping with mister Seymour Duncan. Here, in short, I'll write down my findings for other people to use in their search for their pickup of choice. Hopefully it'll be of some use. Please forgive me my grammar and spelling, english isn't my first language.

My setup now is as follows:

Neck: SL-59-1 ‘Lil 59 (Single coil sized humbucker)
Centre: SSL-1 Vintage staggered (Single coil)
Bridge: SH-14 custom 5 (humbucker)

I'm using Ernie Ball 'Skinny top heavy bottom' snares (10, 13, 17, 30, 42, 52)

I'm playing over a Marshall JTM-60 2x12" valve-combo.

Using the following switch-settings(5) I got he following sounds:

* Neck-pickup: Rather high gain, sounds FAT, full and dirty! Sounds af if he's made for the lower tones. If you want to go really dirty, for low, slow and dragging bluesrythms, this one in the neck is the one for you! Dirty and fat sounding in the bottom, but the high tones weren't that great first off. Twisting up the 2 highest poles on the pup (under the B and high E snare) resolved that problem. With a little distortion he sounds like a big, bad and angry-growling dog. For me, it was absolutely a good choice to replace the standard ibanez neck-pup with the Lil '59 SC sized-humbucker.

* Neck + Centre pickup together: The fat and powerful punch of the lil '59 + the chrystalclear en pure sound of the SSL-1. A rather nice combination, that humbucker-singlecoil combo. A bit of the old 'best of both worlds' I'd say. I use this setting mostly with blues-rythms and loads of chord-playing. Power from the humbucker and a pure, defined tone of the SC. Lovely!

* Centre: Singlecoil. Pure, enough output for a SC and has a nice *Quack* going there. Very nice, clean and bright sound. Chrystal clear! Sounds like: Strat. Great for playing clean with. With a little distortion or overdrive I usually use one of the other settings because they're usually more appropriate. Use this for that clean strat-sound. I use that rather often so I'm satisfied!

* Centre + bridge: Jazzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. That's the first thought that crosses your mind when you hear it like this when you play it clean. The sound is dificult to describe; rather flattish or 'shy', almost tinnish but then in a good way and yet has no lack of character. The SH-14 makes sure the sound's out there, but the glassy effect from the SSL-1 is quite present. It's hard to explain, but it sounds like your playing over your wah-pedal and the pedal is stuck open at exactly the right spot. Very Mellow! With a little overdrive it sounds like the guitar at the beginning of Dire Straits's "Heavy Fuel"

*Bridge: ROCK & ROLL!!!! Yeah, THIS is that real vintage Rock&Roll sound I was looking for! Full and warm, not a screaming high output torturedevice-pup but controlled power. No heavy distortion from itself but just the right, full, warm and punchy sound. It's got teeth and knows how to bite when necessary. Rather clear, when played clean. With a little overdrive it just begs for Rock&Roll. When it was just fitted I played a little Johnny B. Good to test it and I just got stuck at that litlle rock&roll thingy you play in Am there. I kept repeating it 'cause it sounds so good. I'm at a loss for words to descrive the difference between the Ibanez pup and this one. Fantastic! Also great for blues: A lil' overdrive, play gently and it'll twang-along nicely. For me, this was the right choice! This was exectly what I was looking for. If you're looking for breathtaking loud heavy-metal/crunch etc., look further. This has way to little output for you (As are all aforementioned pups.)

[CatchDude]

Part 2:

All in all I can't believe it's the same guitar I used to have with just different pups. The difference between the Ibanez pups and the SD is so great, it's not just a whole new world of sound I just entered, it's a whole new dimension! The soundquality went up a thousandfold! Initially, I wanted to buy another guitar but I'm postponing that for another year or so. This new setup makes it so very versatile. I'm very, very happy with how it turned out!

[BluesGuyJ]

Thanks for the reviews and it was all well written!