Ibanez V8

alnico-5 humbucker

i got these stock with a rare guitar i bought used in a shop. its an rg570cttb. it looks the same as an rg570 but in 1995 they made the ct version that is the 570 with an alder body like the jems just my rg also has quilted maple top. gold hardware too with the ibanez lo pro edge so quite a top of the line guitar these pickups came in. that year this was the best not signature guitar out there and many thought even with these pickups that many never heard the pro's using to most peoples ears it sounded equivilent to ibanezes best. i have only been playing for a month but my teacher has the jem 7v and all and gave my guitar a test drive also comparing it to his jem 7v and it sounded just as there were small in audible differences. in cetain situations mine or his jem equally showed minor advantages. his jem had the paf pro's and we couldnt tell any noticable advantage on those pickups compared to these. we played them through his 200 watt marshall amp. my teacher has played pro for most of his life so he new what he was doing and now teaches for a living. my v8 is in the bridge position of my guitar and sounds great there. its positioned there stock but for some reason many other 570's non ct versions seem to have the v8 in the neck. my guitar has the v7 in the neck and an s1 in the middle.

when i split the s1 with either of the humbuckers it really sounds like a stratocaster with a lot of extra special umph and tone that strats never seem capable of having. yet you play a steve vai song sounds more like a jem too. just playing on the v7 sounds more like satch's guitar and the v8 on its own has a twang that really works on clean for blues and country but on dirty disapears yet allowing this pickup to get unusually dirty fast compared to most pickups but not uncomfortably as i imagine it must have a lot of output then. great pickup. i give this a 9 as i cant imagine it sounding better. but if money was not an object and i took some time to experiment with a bunch of dimarzio's or seymour duncans i probably could find a pickup that might have a little advantage i would appreciate. but price wise theres not much better and to get something this good stock. you would have to be crazy to get rid of. one thing because there so powerful and have a lot of characterized tone on this guitar cheap amps that are weak at producing a clean high like line 6 and many other cheap amps make it sound horrible. only cheap amps that sound decent are laney, fenders, and marshalls and anything better then those of course just sounds good. many reviewers here dont have good enough amps aparently to know. changing them out will be a waist of just energy.

if my pickups were stolen from my guitar i might buy them but i might take the advantage of experimenting as maybe its just the construction of my guitar. but i dont know who would just steal the pickups. if they stole my guitar i would probably go mad as you cant buy this guitar again. its too rare to find. i have only been playing for a month and i am getting good. but my teacher has been playing for 43 years 30 of them as a profession touring. and most of this is his words. well i personally love it vesatility. on clean it comes near sounds of an acoustic with more fidelity thanks to the thin electric guitar strings. so great for blues yet its as good if not better on dirty for rock, metal and the rest. also putting a little gain on clean works good for sprucing up a country song with unique amplified country twangy sound on the v8. i am very satisfied with this pickup as it will be years until i can ever learn how to take full advantage of this as my teacher showed me its capable of more then i can imagine.

This is a humbucking passive pickup by the makers of EMG.

The pickup came stock with my Ibanez RG3EXFM1. The V8 is in the neck position, the V7 is in the bridge. I'm replacing both the V8 and V7, even though the V7 has pretty okay tone and everything thing else but I want more. No famous artists that I know of use this. I want to change the pickup because of it's awful sound.

The output level is very dull, and low, so low that it makes me always use my V7 because the V8 just makes me uninspired to play a pickup that sounds like this. I play on a Roland Cube 30x, I use an ISP Decimator for a noise gate, and a Boss ML-2 Metal Core pedal for distortion. The tone lacks definition, any form of bite imaginable. It sounds muddy, unbalanced and cloudy or dull. Sure I play metal and I'm looking for a lot of bite, but this pickups doesn't just lack bite, it lacks tone! Even if I tried to play (which I have) a calm style of music, something like Kansas, Boston, Lynard Skynard, or the Allman Brothers, this pickups would not be suited for that either because of it scarce tone output. It's a terrible match for my style, the V7 though is a lot better. This pickup is unsuitable in any position in my opinion. If you try to play acoustic tones with this pickup, it will sound like their is a towel or something blocking your speaker.

I think this pickup would be good for blues though. But even blues requieres tone.

I already ordered a Seymour Duncan Invader (for the bridge) and a Seymour Duncan Full Shred (for the neck) which are excellent pickups. Great for metal, grunge, rock, anything that needs gain. Nobody would have the chance to steal it because I'm already going to sell them on Ebay. I've been playing for 8 1/2 years and counting. I have 3 guitars total, the two other guitars with passive Seymour Duncans. I love nothing about the bland muddy sound coming from the pickup. I hate it for the garbage tone. I wish it had better bass, better treble, a higher tone output, and at least some bite! I think the Invader can get a lot closer to a good metal tone, or anything besides blues. Sure Ibanez doesn't really make blues guitars, that's not what they're known for, but this pickups says otherwise.

My final say, if you play blues, and ABSOLUTELY nothing else, get this pickup, and put it in a very expensive guitar, in the bridge, so it'll sound decent. Otherwise, get anything else.

i had this pick up in my mahogany RG 520 qs for about 7 years as it came stock, and i just got around to replacing it(i have other guitars).
i have an all tube marshall half stack that i play thru.
when i first got this guitar- it was just fine- i played thru a pedalboard and a crappy solid state 1x12, and these pick ups are actually just fine for this type of thing as they dont have much output. this pick up actually sounded better than the EMGs i used to have in another guitar thru that set up because the EMGs were too hot.
the past few years i've progressed to playing thru my half stack only and discovering what good tone is all about and this V8 just sounded weak, and lifeless thru my half stack, and yes- kind of muddy-but not so much muddy as just plain weak, and kind of thin. the best thing i ever did for this guitar was replace it with a dimarzio mo'joe. i have other guitars for metal- this one's my 'general purpose' lol.
the V7 actually doesnt sound too bad in the neck, and im not sure im going to replace it just yet.

this pick up isnt the worst at all, but far from outstanding.
its actually good for pedal boards and crate amps and stuff that noobs use so i give it a 6 here.

When I read the reviews on this pup the thing that comes to mind is, "are most of these reviewers tone death?" I have had 5 Ibanez guitars with this pup. All but one sounded very good. That one was an RG470. It did sound muddy and too bassy with that guitar. Thats because that was a cheap Ibanez and not a real one. The other 4 were RG 570's and a RG 1570 prestige. With the 570 and prestige models this pickup does not deserve any of those bad reviews. If you use a good amp, READ "Marshall Tube amp", the v8 is the shit. The guy who had a Mesa said it sounded muddy, well, a Mesa does sound muddy! Anybody who thinks they could put a Dimarzio evolution, tonezone, or paf pro in and be blown away are just fooling themselves. I have tried everyone of those pickups in my RG. The tonezone adds nothing but just a little more bass and treble, but then lacks the ability to clean up. The paf pro sounds similar but lacks tone and some output. The evolution sounds very similar and does add a teeny weeny bit more clarity on the high end. An improvement over the V8 would be the evolution but is that little bit worth the price? The "V" in V8 stands for "vintage" this is a vintage sounding pickup. It is not supposed to have huge amounts of gain so you can cover up your mistakes. It lets the guitar player use his hands to make a good tone and is designed to work with a real amp and player. If you play thru a rolland cube 30 and are complaining about this pickup you are missinformed, you need to play thru a real amp first then decide. That's like putting a lawn mower engine in a ferrari and complaining how it doesn't have the power I need. There is nothing worse then reading reviews here on harmony central that come from tards that don't know how to play nor know anything about guitar tone. If you have only been playing for a few years please do not leave reviews, you are stil a tard. Go practice some more!

Humbucker, Passive

Came in a 2003 R1570 Japanese Ibanez
Bridge Position, Other pick-ups are S1 Middle and V7 Neck

High output. Tone is pretty well balanced, can get quite a lot of bass out of it without gettin muddy.Play mostly hard Rock with a bit of Metal. I love this pick-up, have 7 electric guitars and a love this pickup the most. I have Seymor Duncans, Fenders and Gibsons and this pickup just suits me perfectly. Distorted, it has so much bite but doesn't sound boring like my SH-13 Dimbucker. Clean it can be a bit too-bright up in the high end when strumming chords but I usually just switch to the middle S1 when doing this.

Playing for 8 years, my rig is a Boss Gt8 with an Effects loop into a boss ME-33 which is all running into a 40w Fender Deluxe amp running 6L6's with 4ohms into a Mesa Boogie Road King quad-Box. This amp has been custom tuned and biased which improved it greatly. I use ME-33 for distortion, I love this pick-up and would definatly get it again. I can understand why some people wouldn'd like it, but for the metal-zone style distrotion it just rocks.

Bridge position humbucker. 16.9K. Stock on a 92 RG550.

Replaced a Duncan Designed HB103B, (WORST p/u on the planet!) in the bridge position on a 01 Korean Hamer Archtop.

Neck is a V7, and the sound is great! Brought this guitar to life.

Hot, without being super hot. I am so in the minority here, but I think that this pickup is incredible! Bright, without being brittle. Presence, without the boominess of hotter pickups.

On thing of note here" The height of the pickup is EXTREMELY important! If it's too hight, you'll lose the dynamics. Too low, it'll become boomy. You have to spend a few minute experimenting.

I love the V series from Ibanez. It's well suited for every type of music, but you'll have to make adjustments till it's right.

Humbucking pickup
specs covered in other reviews.

Came with my RG1550
Bridge position
Replaced it with a Bill Lawrence L-100
V7, S1
I hope that nobody is using this sh*t
I changed it only because it has little to no balls.

Output is very mediocre, the tone lacks definition and bite. Really weak and muddy sounding pickup.

I've played it through my 1992 Mesa DC-5 and some other amps and on every amp it totally lacked power, crunch and definition.

Tone is mud. period. You can get some satisfactory sounds using the clean channel, but when I crank my Mesa, it just blanks out.

I play many different styles from blues to rock to metal.

This pickup is below average in any position.

I think that no one would even consider stealing it, but if someone did, I wouldn't care, because it would just motivate me to get something better.

I've been playing for almost 4 years now, besides the RG1500 I own a Mesa DC-5, a Gibson Les Paul Custom ['2000 model] a schecter acoustic, and since I started playing I've owned a sh*tload of other gear, which I sold in order to upgrade to better stuff.

I hate the pickup's tone, it's just not good enough for my Mesa XD

Of course I am still searching my ass off for THAT sound, but I think I am slowly getting close to it. I am a big fan of Zakk Wylde, so basically the tone I seek is that "LP plugged into a powerful tube amp" tone. :)

humbucking and passive as im sure you know

came in the bridge of my rg 1570 which seems to be were most people are finding it.

okay you obviously know that by the other reviews that this is not a good pickup. it is incredibly muddy and has no definition. muddy on low and harsh on high.

this pickup was almost unusable until i did one thing, LOWER IT!, it loses its muddiness(most of it) and regains some tone and definition. once i did that i realized.. it ant that good anyways. lol. it still is a very mediocre pup. i suggest just lowering it so its usable till u can replace it. i highly suggest replacing it but u will need no modivation to do so. i now have a large dilemma of which pickup to buy. duncans can get more tone with metal and hard rock(although dimarzio can two, just not the same tone) and dimarzio are better for heavey metal and instramental stuff like vai and satch. i play both so im kinda stuck:(

Humbucker, passive. Specs are kinda hard to find

Its on an Ibanez 1570. Its not mine but I really hate its sound. It is in the bridge position with the other stock pickups. I know the guitarist of six feet under is using the 7string version of this pickup (thats why he sounds shitty)

It has a medium output level, maybe kinda high but the tone qualities of this pickup are so poor that the output is hardly projected. It has been used with a tone blaster and a framus cobra. It made the cobra sound shitty, can you imagine that???? The eq-ing of the pickup is pretty hard to be defined and thats cause the pickup sounds so ompressed and so muddy with no definition at all. This is probably no match for any kind of music, (maybe psyco-styled music will tolerate with its sound!!!!)

If it was destroyed i would buy the same and destroy it all over again. The only thing I like about it is that it makes any other pickup sound pretty good compared to it. As I said it was a stock pickup but anyone considering to replace it should really check the Evo2 from dimarzio.

HSH -Ibanez
HH -Jackson
HSS -Hamer

8K neck 16K bridge

Mod: (1) ( adj. pole piece) tonezone coil + (V8 coil) ****Amazing***
and (2) use the other coils left over for your next Humbucker.

When I say Stock V7 & V8 coils are really good. It's
because I know what's wrong with them.

the S1 pickup or middle single coil magnetic field will upset any
guitar humbuck pickup.Just take it out and split coil your hummers.

The V7 has a ceramic magnet which I have now put in the V8.

The orginal V8 only sounds like shhhhh*t because the alnico magnet in it is Shhhh*t and muddy fart sounds come through on low notes especially.

Put a new Alnico V or Ceramic... then everything sounds
better than some Dimarzio pups.

===
you can adjust the sound you want on most pickups by adjusting
the pole pieces relative to the other coil.
(1/8) of a turn CW or CCW can make a difference on clarity, tone and harmonics coming off each string.

Some complain of the cardbordish sound...adj the pole peices my friend
or drop the DC of one coil withn a resistor.

The V7 & V8 coils have an almost 3D echo quality that very faintly comes through.

adj pole peices slightly 1mm below (other coil poles) for more santana
blues smooth. or slightly 1mm above for sharper piercing sound.
Too low or too high the fretted note will sound fuzzy.


Pickup height: Have atleast 4mm from high E string and 6mm from Low E
====
WHAT I HAVE NOW...YOU CAN@T BUY ANYWHERE>>>ANYWHERE !!!!

I like the open wha-wha rounded warm bright sound of the tone zone
The tone zone lacks some harmonic power and sounds like the footloose soundtrack or some ZZ Top tracks.

The V8 has good harmonic power and string clarity with a slight echo quality.

So I combined the coils and got the open wha-wha rounded warm bright sound with extra growl of the tone zone, amazing harmonic power and string clarity with slight echo 3D big sound when playing chords.

Better than some Dimarzios, Bill Lawrence, Seymour and bare knuckle

I have kept the V7 as is with Alnico 8 magnet and adjusted the pole pieces.

The Bridge has the 1 coil of the ToneZone combined with the 1 adj-coil of the V8 and Ceramic magnet.


The other guitar has the other coil combination left over with Alnico 5 magnet and I can not decide which one is better.

-I would make my own TZ-V8
-playing 20 years now - know what is - is
- already explained

I HAVE NOW GOT MY SOUNNNNNNND. - took 20 years