New pickups for metal
 

Hey,

I have Flame EXG-1 guitar with Gotoh Hot pickups (2 x hambuckers). I would like to change tunning into Standard A to achieve really heavy and powerfull sound for metal. My gotoh doesn't sound good and I need to change it for something better. What would you recommend ?

Maybe some Seymour Duncan Customs. Try some EMG pickups.

Definitely look into active pickups for tuning down that low. Passives really tend to sound their best around E and D.

What exactly do you want to play? We need to know that to give you the best recommendations.

I play kind of opera metal stuff with only one guitar so it has to be more powerfull. Currently I play on Ibanez RG 09 with inf3/4 hambuckers tuned to Drop C. We have few songs around B tone and with Drop C I must play it on 11th treshhold. If I would tune to A then I could play B one octave lower which will do the trick. I am planning to take ma second guitar tune to A and exchange pickups.

My other equipement:
Peavey 6505+ Head
ENGL 4*12 Cabinet
Line 6 POD HD500

Just a regular EMG 81/85 should be great for that.

As other guys have said, look into actives. I personally prefer SD Blackouts to EMGs.

Active pickups, definitely. For tuning that low you need one of three things: a longer scale length; an extra string; or very, very clear pickups. You can't change the scale length ofr add strings, so clear pickups is the way to go and you can't get pickups any clearer than actives.

Try EMG X-series pickups for the most clarity. EMG 60X is the most clear pickup you can get, but it can sound very thin. 60AX and 81X sound more powerful while still being very clear. A regular EMG 81 can work well too. Seymour Duncan Blackouts - regular, not the 'metal' version - are also very clear-sounding.

If you absolutely don't want to use active pickups, for whatever reason, try DiMarzio Evo or Seymour Duncan Full Shred pickups. They're not usually used for heavy, low-down chugging, but they're just about the only passive pickups that have the clarity to make a 25.5" scale guitar tuned to A Standard sound decent.

Guys, thanks for your feedback. I think I will change to active EMG. I just need to read a little bit about models and choose one. Basically I need two hambuckers, one next to bridge for rythm playing and one next to neck for fast solo picking, like Michael Romeo's sound :)

Humbuckers, not 'hambuckers'. 'Hambuckers' sound delicious.

Try an EMG 81X in the bridge and a 60X at the neck, unless the 'X' pickups are too expensive for you in which case try Seymour Duncan Blackouts (model AHB-1) or regular EMG 81 and 60 pickups. All of them are clear enough that you'll be able to tune to A Standard without it getting muddy. Just remember that active pickups don't have such exaggerated mids as passive pickups do and they have a lot more output too, so you'll need to change how you set the EQ on your amp in order to get a good sound from them.

They certainly look it.

EDIT: In retrospect, these are more humburgers.

I laughed a lot harder than I should've

Saved. I laughed so hard. :haha:

Lace Alumitones are also ridiculously clean- one review i saw compared them to actives in that regard. They also have Alumitone Deathbuckers which are supposedly voiced more towards the metal side of things.