Product: Ibanez Powersound II
Price Paid: NZ $45
Submitted
03/02/2005
at
12:55pm
by
Anonymous
Features
:
Pickup features: Humbucking Pickup
Impedence or other specs: Unknown
Instrument
:
Model of guitar or bass: San Dosa Flying V copy
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock unknown pickups
Other pickups on guitar: Stock pickup from this guitar in neck
Artists using this pickup: Probably just me!
You musical style(s): Emo-indie rock.
Reason for pickup change: The existing pickup was not hot enough, sounded grainy and weak, no dynamics and response to pick attack. Just didn't have enough mid and treble punch, more suited for classic rock than the higher-gain stuff I play. Sounded crap for clean as well.
Sound
:
No Opinion
Perceived output level: I'd probably peg it at hotter than standard, on a scale of 1-10, 1 being no gain and 10 being insanely overdriven, it probably cranks in around 7.
Tone: Slightly above average bass, medium mids, higher treble. Overall, mostly balanced, but the highs come out just a little more than anything else, which suits what I wanted.
Sonic evaluation: Flying V -> JCM2000 DSL 100 & 1960av quad. No effects bar tuner pedal and channel switch. Sounds a billion times better than the stock pickup!
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Great for what I play. Would be good for anything like old or nu-metal, grunge, hard rock, emo, indie, anything with a bit of gain required. Pretty tight pickup with a high output for a cheap price.
Overall Rating
:
8
Comments: From my understanding, these are the standard humbuckers in the majority of the midrange Ibanez series guitars that come out of Korea. Having said that, they are incredibly good value for money. I compared it to a Seymour Duncan Super Distortion in a friend's Epiphone SG, and it sounded only slightly less tight on the gain that the SD. The clean was much better though still still not as good as the '57 classics on my SG, which are slightly cooler, but have more definition and way less feedback. This pickup doesn't whine, but it does feedback, though it's more controllalbe than a lot of cheap humbuckers. Overall, you can't go that far wrong with one of these if on a budget. It has improved the tone of my V immensely and I would say it is easily on par with an Epiphone V now rather than cheaper copies.
