kramer pacer mahogany body with marshall. which pickups?

[garbeaj]

Allen, I may be thinking of Hair Metal under certain other terms, but I came up in Hair metal bands, and bands like , Ozzy,Ratt, Motley Crue, Dokken, Great White,Poison, towards the end of that era, bands like G'n'R, White Lion, Skid Row entered in. I liked the tone that many of these bands got, and most of them was using Seymour Duncan JB or Distortion models. Maybe a Duncan custom here or there (Queensryche) or a Dimarzio Super Distortion. Robbin Crosby (rip) and Jake E. Lee used a Allen Holdsworth pu, which was a JB with two sets of adjustable pole pieces, which enhanced the high end and punch a bit more. The JB was in more guitars of that era than any other, from Hair Metal to thrash.

I'm just going from his original post and this one where he specified bands...

Thanks again guys.
Ok I love (Eddie's) tone maybe more his style. Really great pinch harmonics and tapped harmonics.
Anything 80s hair metal which can squeal like banshie if I really want it to. As long as the harmonics are there I'm probably getting the right tone.
The band's sounds I like are as follows;
Van Halen, obviously
Europe, think the songs superstitious and rock the night.
Def leopard, pour some sugar on me etc
Steel panthers lead tone is amazing too!

[Tone Slinger]

Yeah, those bands are polar opposite, concerning pu's.

The 'Final Countdown ' album by Europe (Rock The Night) is John Norum(AWESOME soloist) using single coils (stock late '70's strat) with a Les Paul on a couple tracks.Kee Marcello played on the next album. He used JB's.

Def Leppard was Steve Clark using either stock Gibson Pu's or Duncan '59's. Phil was using Jackson guitars, with possibly Jackson pu's ?

Ed used strong AND weak pu's at different era's.

So, yeah, it seems that maybe there is ALOT of variables going on with the tones mentioned. I'd say a good amp and speakers would play a bigger role in him liking a particular guitar or pu.

[stef]

Norum was using a couple of DiMarzio HS-3 pickups on The Final Countdown (white strat, rosewood board big headstock), jcm800 (2204 or 2205)..he also used a JB in an ash bodied strat on solo albums into a stock lead plexi, dim'ed. Mark Cameron posted those clips here...

[fhn_lopes]

If you want hair metal you will need a Tube screamer kinda boost to use with a plexi... Maybe a JCM800 would do it straight on with the right pups and speakers... lots of variation here, try and find which one you like.

The Crawler is a 15k pup, it recals a PAF but it has more than just more output... I think it's fuller in the upper midrange and has a softer high end.. just compare the storm monday (which is a true recreation of the early PAFs) or the Mule (later model PAF) and you'll see the difference... Those clips were made in a SLP1959 without any boost...

Tha Holidver is sick, a friend uses one in his studio LP and it KILLS! It nails early Alice in Chains tones in spades in his 2204 and 4x12 with blackbacks... I love the palm mute it gives, punchy and tight but very clear....

[Tone Slinger]

Oh, so Norum did the Malmsteen thing with the Hs-3's. Still, pretty weak single coils (stacked). I loved Norums playing on Europe's 'Wings Of Tommorow' & 'The Final Countdown'. Joey Tempest was going for the 'Bon Jovi' Hair Metal stud thing, but the songs had great hooks and melodies. I saw Norum with Don Dokken ('Up From The Ashes' tour) and he (and Billy White) was excellent.

I have always liked Duncan pu's, and think they have a pu representative of most any sound/type/wind etc.

The JB has to be one of the all time best pu's imo. I need to get another, 'cause this t- spaced 'Custom Custom' I got is absolutly amazing sounding. I think the JB would be great in my Hard Ash strat with floyd.

[garbeaj]

Of course if you really want to be hair metal, just get Boss OD-1 and be done with it.

[fhn_lopes]

Yes, you'll need a boost soon or later for a versatile setup... I like the SD-1 or the MXR dist + better than the OD-1.... Mater of taste it is

[stef]

Oh, so Norum did the Malmsteen thing with the Hs-3's. Still, pretty weak single coils (stacked). I loved Norums playing on Europe's 'Wings Of Tommorow' & 'The Final Countdown'.

As a matter of fact these HS-3 pickups are weaker (less output and gain, volume etc..) than regular true single coils (around 6K), I think these are close to start pickups from the late 60's, around 5K
don't ask me how Mr Dimarzio did it - they are something like 23 - 24K but so weak, clear, transparent and completely silent - the best "single coil" for the neck position IMO

if I'm not mistaken the rig for this tour (1986) was: 70's strat (HS-3 neck and bridge), boss OD-1 - jcm800 50watt top - marshall cab (probably T75's)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEgTEbxaiOA[/youtube]

[stef]

check this out! I was never able to make my JB perform likethis recording, but haven't tried it in ash with a floyd...
some say that old JB's were different sounding than new ones... Half Way Home sounds like Norum is a badass!

None of this was new or strange to me...it was very simple....alot of guys I knew did this stuff. But this is the stuff that I was into and doing in 82 for friends and bands I worked for.... BUT Eds playin.....thats the big thing...this stuff is just the iceing on the cake

Mark do you know of any recordings of people you worked with so we can compare?

This might be the closest on recording that I can find.....its an ---old JB pickup--fl--ph90--EP--to the amp..but no slaving.....just turned up to stupid volumes on this song......also a 57mic and 25watt greenbacks in an old Marshall cab that Jose wired up....LA2A---EMT Plate Rev..every thing is 1 or 2 takes....fx are all live...not added.............

This song might sound familiar

Check out......Half Way Home....

This is the only place I could find that you can hear it online.......

http://musparade.com/album/John+Norum/A ... estination" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mrjones2004x]

Thanks for all your help guys.

I've decided to keep my Jackson dk2m as my 80s metal guitar with its super distortion and paf pro.

My Kramer pacer will be just for vh and either get

Evh Frankenstein humbucker or bkp vhii.

The evh pup is cheaper but from the USA. The bkp is from UK but quite a bit more pricey.

Reading quite a few reviews people say the evh pup is amazing. Most have it in an ash or alder bodied guitar tho. A few mahogany body reviews say its still great tho.