kevinbower1959 Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Over the years it's been my pleasure to be on here, I've read numerous posts when you guys have changed pickups, and ranted about how great the improvement has been. Now - as someone who has used the same combination for 25 years, that should tell you more than a little about my meat-and-potatoes-don't-fix-it-cos-it-ain't-broke mentality. Your pickup posts were usually greeted with a wry smile - because I never believed that a few coils of wire and a magnet could really make that much difference. A coupla months ago, I had the honour of meeting Michael Amott - he was at Andy's studio doing some overdubs for Arch Enemy's 'Khaos Legions' album, and apart from being an extraordinarily tasteful and gifted player, he's just the nicest, most ordinary guy you could possibly wish to meet. For those of you who don't know Michael, here he is; We got talking about guitars (surprise ) and after two or three further meetups, he approached me with a big grin and handed me one of his 'Tyrant' signature pickups (made by SD for Dean Guitars, I believe). It just lay in a corner for weeks and weeks - until today, when with a little time on my hands, I slipped effortlessly into 'nothing to lose' mode and popped it into my Standard. The difference is astounding - and for the first time in years, my fingers are now making the sound that's been in my head. I know that phrase will register with a lot of you. So....25 years late, maybe, but as the heading says - NOW I get it
atquinn Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Cool! Always nice when a pickup swap leaves you feeling satisfied. Love to know more about the pickup, but Dean's website is vague other than saying it's a "USA Dean DMT Amott Signature Bridge Pickup". I'd be surprised if it was made by Duncan; it seems like manufacturers always advertise it if they are using Duncan pickups, whether they are customized or not. The same does not seem to be true for manufacturers using custom Dimarios though.-Austin
zenmindbeginner Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Great news about the pup swap Kevin! It looks like a custom shop version of the Invader... the cap screws are a dead giveaway. The Invader and the custom line are from two different families... the Custom line is a medium gain hot rodded PAF design (all the family shares the same wind but uses different magnets) and the Invader, Distortion and JB are all in the high gain hot rodded PAF designs... the JB uses an A5, the Distortion a Ceramic bar and the Invader trades the flat head screw and slug polepieces for button head socket cap screws... it looks like they're the alloy steel variety instead of the black oxide that they normally come with. 17K or 18K? It's MOLTO EXPLOSIVO which is perfect for a dude who is MUCHO METAL! Your live sound is going to go up yet another notch. Brutal metal with medium gain pickups is like tying one hand behind your back. The pickup gift is the shit because you can't get them without buying one of his top of the line signature guitars. SCORE!!!!!
zorrow Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 I am a big fan of Michael Amott's tone. He gets a very dramatic, expressive voice on his leads, while his rhythmic tone remains punchy and full of attack. I guess then you can't go wrong with one of his signature pups. Actually, I was thinking about getting a pair of them not so long ago, so your post is reactivating my GAS. Should I thank you now, Kev?
kevinbower1959 Posted August 25, 2011 Author Posted August 25, 2011 I am a big fan of Michael Amott's tone. He gets a very dramatic, expressive voice on his leads, while his rhythmic tone remains punchy and full of attack. I guess then you can't go wrong with one of his signature pups. Actually, I was thinking about getting a pair of them not so long ago, so your post is reactivating my GAS. Should I thank you now, Kev? Mr.M, you crack me up. I don't even know if you can buy these things. But you're right, and I think he's the closest modern player to Michael Schenker I've yet to hear - I think it's his vibrato which does it for me. As an aside, MS is MA's all-time hero. he was telling me about how he jumped on a plane and flew to the Phillipines because he'd heard that one of Michael Schenker's original 50-watt Marshall heads was for sale there. It was, and he bought it. It's nice to know that even guitar heroes have guitar heroes
MCChris Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Cool! Always nice when a pickup swap leaves you feeling satisfied.I finally got around to installing (or rather, having BadgerDave install) the Custom Custom you sold me in the bridge position of my Mirage. While I'm not an unconditional hater of the JB (and liked it just fine in the Studio I used to own) the CC is FAR superior in the Mirage.
bubs_42 Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Cool! Always nice when a pickup swap leaves you feeling satisfied.I finally got around to installing (or rather, having BadgerDave install) the Custom Custom you sold me in the bridge position of my Mirage. While I'm not an unconditional hater of the JB (and liked it just fine in the Studio I used to own) the CC is FAR superior in the Mirage. I had a CC but never had a chance to try it before I moved it. Its on my short list as well. I have a set of Slash Alnico II that I think would kill in a Mirage.
zorrow Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 DMD Amott signature pups are available, yes. This is the model: http://www.deanguitars.com/dmt_tyrant.php.They can be purchased on eBay, for example: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-DMT-MICHAEL-AM...#ht_3593wt_1344.And yes, there's no modern player closer to Schenker than Michael Amott. That's exactly why I'm such a big fan of him: because Michael Schenker also is one of my biggest inspirations.
gorch Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Very nice story of a dedicated professional being deadly tied to the never-change-a-running-system strategy finally coming to new life. You never stop to learn. Congrats Kev. Keep us posted about your first life experiences with the new pup. Cheers!
Ted Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Congrats Kev on your new Sonic weapon!!! Plus, I definitely see the MS influence and that is a very, very good thing in my book!
kevinbower1959 Posted August 26, 2011 Author Posted August 26, 2011 Keep us posted about your first life experiences with the new pup.Cheers!Hotfooted it over to the studio last night and ran everything up at full bore through the full 3-head/6-cab stage rig. It's absolutely tremendous - a little brighter in the presence region than the Duncan SH5, but the low end really slams. It's almost like having a subliminal bass player in the room with you. The two biggest overall gains for me are the warmer mids which are voiced so, so nicely for rock lead tones, plus the fact that it seems exceptionally well potted which helps with feedback control.I really like it.
RobB Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 Hotfooted it over to the studio last night and ran everything up at full bore through the full 3-head/6-cab stage rig. It's absolutely tremendous - a little brighter in the presence region than the Duncan SH5, but the low end really slams. It's almost like having a subliminal bass player in the room with you. The two biggest overall gains for me are the warmer mids which are voiced so, so nicely for rock lead tones, plus the fact that it seems exceptionally well potted which helps with feedback control. I really like it. Firstly, t'anx for the link to the Arch Enemy vid. That guy has a good tone and really has a handle on the fine art of "restraint." Much confidence in his playing that is really appealing. Interested to hear your findings once you wind up your rig with HELL proper. In the 80's it was all about the smiley-curve, sucked mids for metal. Took a while for folks (myself included) to figger out that guitars should push the mids and let the bassist cover the low end. Looking back, "...And Justice..." could have been a great White Stripes record! Jaymz gobbled up all the lows. BTW, when are you gigging on the West Coast (NoCal)?
zorrow Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 My DMT Tyrant pup is on the way -your fault, Kev!
Scottcrud Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 I'd really like to know the sonic difference if any between the Tyrant and the Invader ( which I think is a horrible pickup)
kevinbower1959 Posted August 26, 2011 Author Posted August 26, 2011 smiley-curve, sucked mids for metal. BTW, when are you gigging on the West Coast (NoCal)? That is something we consciously avoided, buth during recording and playing live - and you're 100% right - the gits are there for the mids. One of the main reasons why so much modern metal IMHO sounds the way it does is that young players are still dialling up a smiley on their amps. They then drop-tune down to C or even lower, and all of the sudden the low end on the guitar is fighting for the same frequency space as the mids on the bass guitar. It just messes everything up. We've adopted a very trad approach, standard E tuning throughout, and if we've needed something extreme to happen, I've done it on the keyboards. It works. US and Canadian dates next year if all goes to plan. Will keep you posted. Free show entry for all HFCers I'd really like to know the sonic difference if any between the Tyrant and the Invader ( which I think is a horrible pickup) I don't know, Scott. My guess is that the Invader is all about maxing gain at the expense of everything else - but the Tyrant is really not much louder than the SH5 it replaced and has a beautiful tone (to my ears, anyway). As a serious tone chaser, I also don't believe Mr.Amott would have put his name to anything which sucked - and this pup certainly doesn't.
atquinn Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 ...US and Canadian dates next year if all goes to plan. Will keep you posted. Free show entry for all HFCers ... Looking forward to it! -Austin
Morris Davis Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 US and Canadian dates next year if all goes to plan. Will keep you posted. Free show entry for all HFCers Well that's awesome! BTW, in the event you decide to do more cork-sniffing with pickups, talk to Jim Wagner at WCR. Everyone I've met who has his pickups swear by them ... and I agree. For what it's worth, I think Bonamassa uses WCRs. People here also talk highly of "Gregwinds" but I have not had the opportunity to play them yet.
zenmindbeginner Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 The Invader is a Duncan Distortion but with definitely much more metal.Avenged Sevenfold uses them... Tom DeLonge too. It's really just a JB with THREE ceramic magnets and cap screws. People that hate the JB definitely hate the Invader. The Invader has a lower peak and focuses it's midrange in the lower midrange instead of the JBs high mids. They're really just a powerful and clear sounding pickup (oxymoron?) for guys who tune down and have tons of gain. It's really a midfest with LOTS of attack,
BCR Greg Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 I used to take the outer two magnets of of Invaders, install regular poles and use them in my hard rock guitars. THAT sounded pretty good.
Scottcrud Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 Well stock, with a lot of amp gain, the Invader sounds like a low-end-mid, butt plug.
zenmindbeginner Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 Well stock, with a lot of amp gain, the Invader sounds like a low-end-mid, butt plug.It's not the buttplug... It's what you do with it.
Scottcrud Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 I'll just stick to my Manlius Customs. I had the EMG's, Rio Grandes, Gibsons, Duncans, Dimarzio's,WCR's, Bare Knuckles, MPC's, Adder Plus' WB's, and my Manlius is better than them all. But, Kev, that's great that you found a new pickup, it's always cool when they sound good.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.