Irongear Hammerhead

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.