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hey whats up this is my first post here. ok i have an ibanez rg320dxqm and i replaced the stock pickup in the bridge with an invader and its been giving me problems. i play through a crate bluevoodoo 120h with the bv 200 watt cab and its a really sharp sounding amp but with this new pickup i cant tell what notes im playing, its just unclear and really peircing, i usually drop tune to B and i cant hear the chords i play, its just like a wall of sound that causes ears to bleed ...i usually try and go for a full warm tone that still has a lot of bite, usually play downtuned heavy metal stuff ...soo basicly im just trying to figure out if maybe its my pickup or my amp, i cant seem to get the EQ right with the distortion and im quite close to chucking my guitar out the window... thanks for reading and i really would appreciate any help anyone can give me ......rock on!

Hails and welcome to the FORUM BOARD.
well, i have no experi9ence with invader
but maybe JB FROM HELL OR BLOODSWORDS WILL CLEAR THINGS up for yah here
****ing hails!

How high do you have the pickup set? Play around with the height first, and see what that does.

thanks for the welcome ...the hieght? hmm if i had to guess, from the screws (seeing as how they are ginormous) i would have to say prolly less then a quarter inch, i actually had been adjusting it up and down to try and find the right tone but when i went down too far i lost all cruch and it sounded flat and muddy and then too close it was just too sharp, so i just took a break after 2 hours of that and left the pickup where it was... but if you have any recommendations as to how far it should (from the screws i mean) be from the strings i would really appreciate it, thanks .....rock on again!


Originally Posted by crestfallen386hey whats up this is my first post here. ok i have an ibanez rg320dxqm and i replaced the stock pickup in the bridge with an invader and its been giving me problems. i play through a crate bluevoodoo 120h with the bv 200 watt cab and its a really sharp sounding amp but with this new pickup i cant tell what notes im playing, its just unclear and really peircing, i usually drop tune to B and i cant hear the chords i play, its just like a wall of sound that causes ears to bleed ...i usually try and go for a full warm tone that still has a lot of bite, usually play downtuned heavy metal stuff ...soo basicly im just trying to figure out if maybe its my pickup or my amp, i cant seem to get the EQ right with the distortion and im quite close to chucking my guitar out the window... thanks for reading and i really would appreciate any help anyone can give me ......rock on!

That is what the Invader does in a dropped tuned guitar. Thats the same experience I had with one in C#. I would get a pickup that is really defined and focused and has more treble and mid than bass. I would get a full Shred, a Scremin Demon, or maybe a JB. The full Shred would be my first choice.

First, try lowering the pickup very low to see if that helps.

I'd go for a Dime, seeing as you're tunned down to B.

The Dime is really going to stay tight and focused under the low tunnings and high gain.

They Dime will work also!!! I forgot that one

It's not as popular as you would think...I wonder why it's so underratted?


Originally Posted by jimmyIt's not as popular as you would think...I wonder why it's so underratted?

I think the same thing about my Bill Lawrence XL-500. Its a similar designed pickup.

Great pickups never get the hype they deserve.

i tried lowering it and the same thing pretty much happened, lost all cruch and it just sounded thin... seymour duncan has a return policy right? lol well i kind of thought about the full shred and the dime but then i realised i dont really do that many solos, i mean i solo but its not the focus of the songs i write...my friend actually just told me he was gonna get me a set of EMGs for a graduation present, 60 in the neck and 81 in the bridge, he can install them himself which is cool...i kinda do wanna try active pickups but what do you guys think? should i swap the invader for a full shred or a dime? or just put it in my hollowbody and put the EMGs in my main? i use my hollowbody for lighter stuff in standard tuning ...hmm or maybe i can put it in my alder body ibanez...im not sure, im open to any suggestions thanks! ......rock on!

The full shred and the dime will be a great choice!!! Flip a coin!!! BTW, they will do rythyms great also!!!

Put it in the alder guitar. I've liked the Invader in everything, but LOVED it in alder. If somebody is gonna buy them for you, hell yeah get the EMGs! You may wanna consider the 85 for the bridge. It's a bit thicker sounding than the 81, but still does pretty much everything the 81 will.

The Dimebucker is a TREMENDOUS pickup. I highly recommend it, as well.

It might be wired wrong. Alder guitar's with an invader just rock! I had a similiar problem when I got mine installed. Except mine was weak and it was not dirty at all.(My Metal zone dist up to 10 barely gave any gain!)

So I went back to where they installed it, and told them to check if it was wired right. It wasn't! Once it was wired right, it sounded amazing. Low tuned stuff with an invader is what the invader is best at!

wow all this input really is very helpful, thanks a lot you guys... well i think im gonna put the EMGs in my main( im gonna research the 85, my friend actually suggested that too), i'am also going to save up for the dimebucker and put it in one of my guitars (kind of regret selling my bc rich now lol) i wanna put the invader in my alder body ibanez but the only problem is i went online to check and make sure it was alder and i found that one site will say alder and one will say agathis ...got me a bit confused so i kept looking and got the same results ...its somewhat of a beginner guitar, its an ibanez grx 40 (must be about 6 years old now and im still buying ibanez...i love ibanez) if anyone knows for sure what type of body it is i would be very thankful ...

ps. i had the same problem with my metal zone actually lol, it could have been wired wrong ...my friend installed it :P lol but i think im gonna put the EMGs in there anyway and make sure he does it right

It's probably agathis. I don't have any agathis guitars, but it's a pine that I've heard is similar tonally to agathis.

If I were you, check if it's wired correctly by taking it to a professional person, preferably a guitar store. The invader is a real great pickup and it's easily the best SD pickup to play downtuned stuff. I use my for hard rock/pop punk and it does the job well! Okay, so check out the wiring(which is hopefully wrong) and set it up properly. It should rock your socks!

thanks for the advice, i'm gonna take it into the music store tomorrow and ask the guy to check it out for me, hopefully he wont charge me for just checking it... a small side question, has anyone ever had any experience with a crate blue voodoo head (bv120) and the matching cab? just curious

I've played it once and i didn't really like it--then again, I don't really like 6L6.

But if it works for you, then it works.