[Soopahmahn]

Everybody's favorite topic... and yes, I've read 11-bajillion threads (approximately) at ss.org about these things. Sounds like they should have been named the Blaze Abortion model.

Anyway, I'm tired of the New7 in my RG7620 bridge - too muddy/scoopy/round to keep pace with the 8-string Blackouts in my poplar guitar. The neck pickup is fine, fairly articulate and warm. I'm trying to avoid converting the guitar to actives - this thing doesn't need to sound exactly like my other ERG, I just want it to be a good backup guitar at gigs, so I need some more mid-range aggression and clarity.

A BKP Miracle Man or Painkiller bridge have been recommended by Zimbloth and Tim @ BKP, and I've got my eye open for a used one.

Easier/cheaper is a DiMarzio.

Thoughts: Blaze (still too scoopy?), Blaze Custom, Evo7 (too shrieky?), D-Activator 7. Some people seem to recommend Blaze Necks in the bridge position.

Let the magnet-sniffing begin!

 

[1]

I loved the D-Activators in my 1527.

 

[ohio_eric]

The Evo7 in Leon's old RG7620 was awesome sounding. It works really well in that guitar.

 

[Max]

Wirelessly posted (Hivemind: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7E18 Safari/528.16)

Evo 7s don't scream nearly as much as originals. Fantastic pickup, chunky as he'll

 

[Soopahmahn]

Evo 7s don't scream nearly as much as originals. Fantastic pickup, chunky as he'll

I had heard that.

Since DiMarzio is amazing and doesn't have any reference clips like SD pissed or even any clips at all of the D-Activator, does anyone know how the Evo7 would compare to it? Evo7 is spec'ed with slightly less overall output, but their magic 3-band EQ tone bars pissed show more TOAN in the midrange and bass.

I think those are definitely my top choices.

EDIT: Chris, with what did you replace the D-Activators in your 1527?

 

[Stitch]

EDIT: Chris, with what did you replace the D-Activators in your 1527?

Like he'll fucking know. :lol: Ask Drew.

 

[Max]

I had heard that.

Since DiMarzio is amazing and doesn't have any reference clips like SD pissed or even any clips at all of the D-Activator, does anyone know how the Evo7 would compare to it? Evo7 is spec'ed with slightly less overall output, but their magic 3-band EQ tone bars pissed show more TOAN in the midrange and bass.

I think those are definitely my top choices.

EDIT: Chris, with what did you replace the D-Activators in your 1527?

Seymour Duncans reference clips are a fucking joke. Theyre laughable. Really. I, working at a guitar store, would be better off without them being there, so that when customers with no idea come in, instead of saying NO THATS THE CLIP I WANTED, and then come in insisting on a refund i wont give them two weeks later, they would LISTEN when i say "this is your best shot at the sound youre describing", and be satisfied 95% of the time

Really. their clips are awful. Frank, if you hear this, the Idea is great, and the clips themselves, are not. Fix it. PWEASE.

The Dactivators are shitbox almost actives that are compressed and always make your tone sound 30% to the right of mediocrely acceptable, no matter what you do with it. If you need COMPRESSORZ in your loop, theyre great. If you wanna do anything dynamic at all, not so much. The evo, while still hot and compressed, has some actual dynamics to it, and is a much better all around pickup. If youre just playing super heavey crunchs metal all the time though, go dactivator. they WILL make your sound more consistant, just like an emg will

 

[1]

EDIT: Chris, with what did you replace the D-Activators in your 1527?

Nothing - I traded away the 1527 with them in there, and only because I have the 2027 now and never really played the 1527 anymore. The D-A's are awesome imo, and as you can see, Max feels differently.

And fuck you, Stitch. Drew just deals with my bridges. :lol:

 

[Soopahmahn]

Max, I don't mind them... they're not great but the SD clips did help me settle on a Duncan Distortion in my Les Paul vs. the JB. They do sound really freaking brittle though, lots of upper-midrange and no bass so... I definitely see where you're coming from. DiMarzio's solution isn't bad in that they pick sound clips that give the "representative" sound, even if they're clips of varying quality and are largely studio-processed (yes, a Dragonforce clip is very instructive of what a given pickup sounds like!).

Color poll: Black guitar is black and so is neck pup and all hardware.

White bridge w/black poles (tuxedo pup!)

Yellow bridge w/black poles (fr00t pup!)

Green bridge with black poles (Type O Negative pup!)

 

[Naren]

I liked my Blaze Customs, especially the Blaze Custom neck. I had to replace them because they had rusted away over time in the Japanese humidity. I replaced them with Blackouts which I like even more. Buuuut, you said you don't want actives.

So, for passives, the DiMarzio PAFs in my new RG8527 sound awesome. :wub: If I remember correctly, the old K7s also had PAFs in them too.

 

[Soopahmahn]

I didn't realize there was a Blaze Custom neck model...? I want something hotter than PAF 7's in this guitar, but in a future mahogany guitar I will be considering them.

Ooh Banjomikez has white and yellow sets of Evo bridge/Blaze neck for grabs... I am already pretty happy with the New7 neck but I could get matching fr00t or tuxedo pups...

 

[Reverend 7 Strings of Hate]

Ya know, every time i pick up a fiddle with dimarzios' in them, they just cant keep up with the other fiddles i play with BKP's in them.

 

[Soopahmahn]

Ya know, every time i pick up a fiddle with dimarzios' in them, they just cant keep up with the other fiddles i play with BKP's in them.

I just feel dumb putting $260 of new pickups in a guitar I bought for $450.

 

[Reverend 7 Strings of Hate]

I just feel dumb putting $260 of new pickups in a guitar I bought for $450.

I could see that, but you can get them used for a bit cheaper. I just sold a painkiller for 95 and a cold sweat for 80, so you can find them used fairly easely for a good price.

Regaurdless, to me at least tone>*

Also, i thought you were going to replace the bridge pup and not the neck? 1 used bridge bkp is gonna be less than 100 bucks

 

[Soopahmahn]

The matched set gave me GAS :lol:

It is true that I can score a BKP used for roughly the same price. What would your basswood advice be, similar to Evo7? Cold Sweat? Miracle Man? Other?

 

[Ken]

Well, I just did this, so I'll share my experience. I didn't know what I wanted, and one can get recommendations all day long but you never really know. Here's how it breaks down:

Part 1. There's already a current production Basswood 7 string that someone I like endorses and uses. No, not the Universe. It's Petrucci's EBMM. He uses the DiMarzio CrunchLab and LiquiFire combo, so I figure "Why not?" and ordered them.

Part 2. I had a project I needed to get done. My friend Ryan is making his own movie and need "mindless shred" over a backing track, so he asks me to do it? Mindless shred?! Guilty as charged, I suppose. :lol: So, I worked out some harmonies, recorded the New7 parts, changed pickups, then recorded the Crunchlab and LiquiFire parts.

I didn't take any pictures, but I did do this:

Not sorry about the noise or sloppy playing. It is what it is. olong:

Impressions? Well, I would've kept the New7 neck pickup (LiquiFire isn't bad, just not enough improvement to warrant the purchase), but I'm glad I changed the bridge.

 

[Soopahmahn]

Part 1. There's already a current production Basswood 7 string that someone I like endorses and uses. No, not the Universe. It's Petrucci's EBMM. He uses the DiMarzio CrunchLab and LiquiFire combo, so I figure "Why not?" and ordered them.

Part 2. I had a project I needed to get done. My friend Ryan is making his own movie and need "mindless shred" over a backing track, so he asks me to do it? Mindless shred?! Guilty as charged, I suppose. :lol: So, I worked out some harmonies, recorded the New7 parts, changed pickups, then recorded the Crunchlab and LiquiFire parts.

I didn't take any pictures, but I did do this...

Excellent post! Who is this Petrucci noob? :lol:

You know, like I hinted at in the OP, we can magnet sniff all day but I just need to grab something with a character more like what I know I need. Though I'm not ordering a Crunch Lab, and I don't have a burning desire to sound like Steve Vai, I'm ordering an Evo 7.