What pickups shall I buy?

Updated
Jonnybee
Hey guys, New to the site but not to LTD's. I own an EC-50, standard setup & an MH-250 which is also standard. I am looking to change the 301 pickups on th mh-250. Having previously owned a Jackson, I find the MH doesn't scream the harmonics as well as the Jackson did. What pickup combo do people suggest? I have been told to look at the DiMarzio's. I play mainly metal and rock. This is the first time I have ever looked at changing pickups so don't know a great deal about them. All input welcome.
hollowcrown

emgzzz

Jonnybee

What combo though? 81/81, 81/85? I have no idea what these combo's sound like together!

BlowitUp

I'm going to get destroyed for this but I highly dislike teh emgzzz...Don't get me wrong, if you're going to play JUST Metal or butt metal crap emgs are #1. But if you want to play other genres too... there's not enough versatility in the 81/85, 81/81, or 81/60 IMO... ( I have not tried any emg models past 2005) at one point in time I had all my guitars switched out to the various 9v emg products, then I compared just stock gibson or stock prs hfs vintage to the emgs and I will never go back, they now (except for my kh-2) all have various passive humbuckers.
Honestly, if you ever decide to play an open chord, no matter what your settings are, its going to sound like butthole on EMG, you tell an EMG pickup to do more than 3 strings at once and so much clarity is just lost. With just basic high end passive humbuckers, you will be able to play so many more styles, blues, jazz, rock and even metal well if you set your amp up right. That's just where I stand, I hated being pigeonholed into only being able to play Metal. Also, the passive high end ones are cheaper...

SixFlames

No EMGs.

DiMarzio.

Curt Daddy

EMG's will do.

i'd say dimarzio X2N/Air Norton neck

Xaladar

Or, a third option, Seymour Duncan blackouts.

fretdude

What Blowitup said times 1000! EMG's are a versatile guitarist's scourge.

Curt Daddy

What Blowitup said times 1000! EMG's are a versatile guitarist's scourge.

not exactly...

if you ask me an 81tw/sa/sa set would be great for versatility.

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Curt Daddy

well, I had that set up(minus the 81tw it was just 81 bridge then the rest was the same) plus I had the EMG EXG control. talk about versatile. of course I had this all dropped into a squier, an alder bodied squier at least. :lol so it didn't really sound bad, but if you dropped it into a better guitar, it would sound better.

and no, for this guitar, i'm suggesting he look into dimarzio's.

possibly Evo2's....

garyjfoster

i would go with either an 81/85 emg or a seymour duncan distortion or the dave mustaine signature

carbons2k

What about wsome bareknuckles? be different. Ive heard they are really good. Everyone does emgzzz

andrei

i also have the invader/59 combo in a guitar and they do sound great.
the invader compensates for the lack of bottom end of the cheap wood.

but for me, i just like overall emg's better.
for crunch and clarity, and they're also realy quiet.

in the end, it's just a matter of oppinion, that's why i've suggested a torough research before making a decision.

fretdude

EMG's tend to produce too much "woof" in the studio. By that I mean the level constantly goes high on the board and needs tweaking, where passives generally keep an even keel. They do sound good for live gigs. I think active pickups really excel on bass guitars where you want to cut through and be heard.

MV-CTM

he's not talking about the "presence" knob on an amp dude

Jonnybee

Thanks guys, great info. Cheers.
I am going to shop around and try out some different guitars with different combo's. Knowing me, it will be a case of 'fuck it', and I will end up buying a new guitar!

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