IronGear Hammerhead

Ceramic magnet, four-conductor wiring with hex head polepieces. Most folks can look at this pickup and identify what "name brand" it's visually similar to. (Seymour Duncan makes it and it starts with an "I")

I'm an SG player, and for a couple of years I've had an $80 Silvertone SG knockoff lying around that I pulled out at live shows in case of emergency (got it back when I owned only one "real" SG). The Silvertone was never a particularly nice guitar, but since it was just a backup I've been modifying it on the side to make it more useful to me (the resell value is pretty much nothing anyway, right?). Irongear's pickups have been handy for some of my other mod jobs for customers, so I bought this one for myself and installed it in the bridge position, replacing the stock silver-covers that came with the guitar.

The sound produced from this pickup, even on the little SG knockoff, is surprisingly useful! (Big surprise from this type of model, they tend to be one-trick ponies.) High-output for sure, but like the other Irongear models I've tried, very nicely quiet when there's no picking going on - not quite as silent as some others (due to the high output?), but still very nice. The clean tone is usable, but it wasn't reeeeeeeally made for that. No mud from this pickup - while it's definitely heavy on the low end, you don't get a lot of mush coming out of it during fast chording. It responds very well to the the "mid" level on the amplifier (in my case, a Mesa Triple Rec with the band, a tiny Crate practice amp at home) and by tweaking this part of the EQ you can get a number of solid tone types out of it. The high end is strong and gutsy, although it's just a little limited - not quite as shrill as you might expect. I don't think that's a bad thing, but it might surprise people used to pickups that are a little messier sounding. Like Irongear's other offerings, I've also noticed that it's a tad unforgiving - while it responds extremely well to all picking styles, it won't hide your mistakes in harmonics - you have to be playing very deliberately with this pickup. Scratch its back and it'll scratch yours. Bottom line is, it's a serious, solid performer for half the price of the overhyped competition, very suitable for both live and studio work.

(I noticed one other thing in the tinkering process. With at least one other Irongear model I've tried, I had to install a bigger capacitor on the tone control to get the full range of sound out of it - not a big job, took about five minutes and cost less than a dollar. In the case of the Hammerhead, I actually got a better, rawer sound by cutting the tone control OUT of the circuit. I'm not going to suggest this is THE thing to do when installing this pickup, as its a matter of personal taste and how much you use the tone control in general, but it was worth mentioning.)

This pickup, according to the description on the back of the box, is marketed for "extreme metal" types, and while I play hardcore punk instead of metal, it does the job very well. It's an excellent choice for rhythm guitar players due to its strong core tone and versatility on the mids - and the very affordable price might make it my top recommended pickup for chord players of high-gain styles. Players who only exist to pick out lead parts, however, may be split in their opinion - while it's got a strong, visceral lead tone, it does lack the "hissy" treble end that some people like. I won't say "its not a pickup for lead players" - that's not the case. It just might not please EVERYBODY in that respect. At the low price, you can afford to try it out. (And I only run it in the standard setup. It's four-conductor, so I'd wager you could get the lead sound you want by giving it the proper switchable option if the base tone doesn't grab you.)

I don't know if everyone is this way, but I do tend to sort the guitars I own into "studio" and "show" categories - some I own only get used in recording, and some are more suitable for the live shows, just depending on the tone and quietness. This pickup is pretty balanced between both needs. I might give it slightly higher marks for recording, but that's a reeeeally slight difference. Its "deliberate" nature, without sounding "choked", makes it good for amp control on a stage while still being very friendly to digital recording. I'm keeping it around and that's all there is to it.

And, not to beat a dead horse, but it's half the price of the competition's equivalents, and I dare say more versatile as well.

This is the birdge position Irongear Hammerhead.

Resistance = 15k
Inductance = 9.6 H
Magnet = Ceramic
Conductors = Four
Hex Head Polepieces

I put this pickup in the bridge position of an ESP Ltd EC-1000, replacing the Seymour Duncan JB that was already there. The other pickup on the guitar is a Seymour Duncan 59 which i think i will also replace with an Irongear.

Soundwise it is definitely more what i am after than the JB was. I prefer the ??26 Hammerhead pickup to the ??50+ JB which in itself is pretty impressive. The hammerhead has a lot more low end thump and bass but seemingly quite a bit less treble and high mids, considering the quite harsh nature of the JBs high end frequencies this is not a bad thing although i bet the JB cuts through the mix better for lead work? i will have to test that.

Note definiton on the irongear hammerhead is so much better than the seymour duncan JB. This was perhaps most surprising of all. The irongear sounds more organic without brittle highs and muddy lows like the JB tends to have. For modern metal and thrashy stuff the hammerhead beats the jb for me although output seems pretty equal. harmonics may be easier to get on the jb although the jb is known for being harmonically very rich.

Compared to emg actives i think the irongear hammerhead compares very favourably aswell. the emgs have more output and a little more punch but the tone on the hammerhead is sweeter and warmer whilst still being 'metal'.

the clean sound of the hammerhead isn't great but its not really been made for cleans. they aint bad but not great.

I think this pickup is fantastic for thrashy stuff, it is easy to get a master of puppets type tone from it aswell. I am actually using for scandinavian metal like ensiferum, early children of bodom and similar stuff. its great.

All in all i am very pleased with the Irongear hammerhead. I am certain that Irongear pickups are at least as good as the most popular brands like Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio and i have owned just about every passive duncan capable of metal and the dimarzio x2n and breed. I have also owned a bill lawrence usa and swineshead venom and warthog in the past but the irongear is well on par with all of them and for at least half the price.

will they be as good as bareknuckle and other high end hand made pickups? probably not, but even if irongear were ??40+ they would still represent great value.

give them a try is all i can say, i see no reason to change this pickup for a very long time.