Pickups that gives a run for your money part 1

Every now and then, I enjoy surfing the net looking for cheaper alternative replacements to the higher end parts. One of such parts are the pickups of the electric guitar. Let's admit it. Not everyone is able to afford Dimarzios, Seymour duncans or Bareknukles for all our guitars. Precisely for such reasons, I look for alternative pickups choices.

One such instance which i come across is Dragonfire pickups. I've recently gotten myself a pair of these for $29.90 and installed them in my Frankenstien. These pickups are definitely by far better than the stock pickups that come with the newer Ibanez models. Even compared to the older Ibanez V series, this pickup probably surpass in terms of tone.

The pickup doesn't go muddy when gain levels are cranked up high while the pickup remained highly define with responsive pick attack. These pickups also gives a hot, fat and creamy kind of tone without the harshness while leaning more towards on the bass side of the curve. The best part about these pickups is it comes with 5 wire allowing you to split the pickups giving you the option of single coil tone. This is a huge advantage compared to cheap or most stock pickups. For more information regarding the pickups, please click here.

My only qualms about these are that they lean too much on the bassy side to my liking. However, for people looking to replace their crappy stock pickups, these pickups are highly recommended. As a matter of fact, these pickups are even comparable to their higher priced counterparts of other brands such as Dimarzio and Seymour Duncans.

These pickups are made in Korea by Artec. Artec has been producing pickups for cheaper and lower end guitars for a long while and has since broke into the pickup market with their own line of pickups, going by the name of Artec Giovanni. Artec has also produced custom spec pickups for companies such as Guitarheads and Guitar Fetish.

A day of setting up my cheapo recording gear

So I decided that if I were to write a blog about guitar, I should be able to provide means to allow people to hear the sound samples. So I got around in buying the cheapest mic I can afford now, which is an omnidirectional dynamic mic and hook in straight to my EEmu external sound card. It ain't the best setup out there but still gets the job done for now till i can afford an USB condenser mic.





EEmu external sound card

My Omnidirectional dynamic mic

To test my new recording setup, I've tried recording something. I've played this with my Frankenstein, which are equipped with Dragonfire screamers. It is played directly to my Marshall mini stack with max gain and max Reverb, with EQ set at flat. Pardon my bad playing and slightly out of tune guitar (which I conveniently forget to tune while recording), none the less it gives a rough idea on the recording quality and the sound of the Dragonfire Screamer Neck pick up.

Psuedo baroque by Adrian Goh

Dragonfire screamers

I've finally got around to swapping out my stock Ibanez V1 and V2 pickups to try the Dragonfire screamers. On first try, they are actually pretty decent pickups for it's price.

These pick ups were tested out with a Marshall Mini Stack using only Amp distortion with max gain, all EQ set at flat. I put them into my Frankenstein and it seems to handle the Mahogany body pretty well. Starting with the neck pickup, which is to me my most important pickup of all position, even at max gain, the pickups still retains the clarity I need when doing fast runs. The pickups also has a thick and fat bottom end spectrum that doesn't mud out even at max gain. The pickup also has a very nice after tone to it, responding well to picking. Most important of all, it has that warmth to it, making it very pleasant to the ear.

The bridge pick up, even though at the bright side, has a lot of crunch and bite to it. Again, it doesn't mud out with max gain while retaining that clarity when doing rhythm work. Similar to the Dimarzio Evolutions that I so love, overwound at 16.9k it also has tons of harmonic overtones, making pinch harmonics really easy. If you are a fan of Steve Vai or Joe Satriani's Squeeling, these pick ups are really easy for that kind of stuff.

All and all, these pickups are really hot. Lots of dynamics. Another plus point of these pickups is, the pick ups come in 5 connectors and you can choose to coil split the pickup if you want to.

I've also did a unfair comparison to the Dimarzio Evolutions, which are fitted in my RG550, a basswood guitar. Even comparing to a Mid Bass dominant wood with Mid bass overdose pick ups, the Dragonfire Screamers are a tad too bassy and less clear compared to the Evolutions. However, at the price that they are going for, they are worth every cent. I would definitely recommend it to anyone out there who wishes to swap out that crap stock pickup for something nicer to the ear.

Dragonfire Pick ups

I was surfing around the net looking for decent pickups without a hefty price tag on them. I came across these pick ups on ebay known as Dragonfire pick ups. I haven't actually tried them myself but I've just ordered a set in. I'll drop them in my newly revamped guitar and test them for myself.

These pick ups are supposedly made by Artec in Korea. Same as GFS pick ups. They have several other models which includes Dimarzio X2N and EMG 81/85 clones. For players who are looking for a budget higher end sounding pick ups, these pick ups might just be for you.