Dimarzio crunch lab & liquifire?

[Chiliphil1]

Hey guys. I think I have finally decided to give up on the pickups in my s2 cu24. I have had the guitar for a few months now and have had a constant battle with these things and I think I am ready to give up. I have nothing but mud and grief now. I did some recording tonight for my band's new single and couldn't even use the guitar because it sounded like goop! When I play live I hate the sound of the guitar too! I gave it a fair chance, re set all my EQ knobs on my amp and I just cannot get this guitar to sound good. I also found out tonight that they make a ton of noise, even when not playing they hissed like crazy unless the volume was ALL the way down.

I have been looking around and of course there are a million pickup options but these seemed to stand out to me. I like Petrucci and his tone, of course I am not playing a recto and I couldn't even be considered 28 leagues under him as far as playing goes BUT I still like the tone!

I have used a bunch of stuff and have not really found anything I like a lot. The duncan hot rod set was OK, EMG's don't seem to do it for me and I think that the best I have had, tone wise were the velvet bricks in my 82 Gibson. I am as picky as you will ever see when it comes to my sound and I am almost never satisfied. I have wasted thousands over the years on gear that just didn't do it for me. So, I ask here in hopes for either a thumbs up on these or another recommendation.

I play hard rock for the most part, not really metal but not Led Zep either.. I would say we are somewhere in the Megadeth range, give or take a bit. I play rhythm and am really looking for a nice tight and focused sound with lots O' bottom end. I do some lead but not a ton so I don't really need screamers but I want a tight a NON MUDDY bottom end!

As far as my rig goes I use a line6

POD xt live through a PA power amp into a 1960AV. I generally use a 5150 sim or a triple recto sim, and I use a plexi model for my cleans. Hopefully someone can help me out here, really don't want to waist more coin!

Thank you in advance.

 

[goat-n-gitter]

No offense, but you'd be better served by investing in a tube head. I have a POD XT and it's OK for noodling or scratch recordings, but it buries the character of every guitar I play through it in mush. Get a good amp and you can hear what your pickups sound like. Just my opinion.

Tom

 

[mezzio]

No offense, but you'd be better served by investing in a tube head. I have a POD XT and it's OK for noodling or scratch recordings, but it buries the character of every guitar I play through it in mush. Get a good amp and you can hear what your pickups sound like. Just my opinion.

Tom

This...

Or even a hybrid. I noticed a world of difference going from the Mustang modeler I was using to the Orange Micro Terror, which can be had for probably the same cost as new pickups (or cheaper if you install the pickups yourself).

 

[Chiliphil1]

I would be inclined to agree with you BUT I did play it through a couple of "good" tube amps, it's the guitar. I had a DSL100 that it sounded bad with, I have a video of that posted on this forum, I played through an orange. I was recording though a DSL15H and it sounded bad no matter what. My POD set up is fine, it sounds great with just about any other guitar. Everyone always jumps on the POD but trust me, that's not it. This guitar is mud, has no definition, and it just sounds "farty". I can't really describe it but it's just bad. I have read many other s2 owners say the same thing.

I appreciate your advice but I have verified through many different tests that the guitar is the issue.

 

[phacorrea]

I`ve got this pickup set in my SE Custom 24 and it sounds awesome. The bottom end is very tight and you can get very good hard rock/metal sounds. The note definition is very nice as well. With the coils split in the middle position you get some glassy tones that are beautiful. Hope i could help you.

 

[markintime]

I got one of the new SE 30th Anniversary Custom 24's that I got the dealer to put 59/09's in it, and changed the strings to a set if 10's. I asked him to set it up nut-wise and intonation as well, and I am most happy to report that it is just great. I did not like the stock zebra pups even though I understand that they were improved over previous versions, but I had it done anyway. And the cost was much less than a new S2 model. Plus he let me in on a quilt maple top that was never displayed on their web site. This one is a definite keeper. It's what an SE CU24 should be.

 

[Chiliphil1]

I`ve got this pickup set in my SE Custom 24 and it sounds awesome. The bottom end is very tight and you can get very good hard rock/metal sounds. The note definition is very nice as well. With the coils split in the middle position you get some glassy tones that are beautiful. Hope i could help you.

Yes, that sounds like exactly what I am looking for! I want to be able to play a chord and hear the notes, not a blob of sound. I think I am going with these for sure, as soon as I get the coin!