Replacement pickups (or other tonal tactic?) in cheap guitar (Ibanez RG370 in fact)

Ajoten

AKA as bad workman looking for new tools

I have such an RG, which comes with these Infinity pickups. I love the guitar but don't like the sound - thing is, I tend to play clean rather than fuzzed up, and they sound pretty thin and uninspiring.

Well, I say "they". It could just be me of course. 

If I was after a richer, warmer clean sound, how far down the road would new pickups get me compared to other changes I could make (amp is a 30W Electar tube) ? I was debating about some h/bucker size P90s, or even getting those funny mount adapters for single coils for a Fendery tone. 

Of course because buying gear is FUN I might swap out the pickups wotevr, even if they aren't the weak link, in which case what do you recommend?

Andrew.

Funkfingers

Which year is your example? More specifically, which vibrato bridge does it have?

Ibanez is associated with DiMarzio. The Bluesbucker in the neck position should simulate the P90 sound on its own and still make a Stratty sound when coil split and combined with the centre pickup. 

Veganic

I think they are probably the same as my artcore AS53 semi-hollow. Whatever their faults I wouldn't say they were thin, uninspiring maybe. 

What do you mean by clean (some gain, absolutely no gain)? 
What kinda music do you play?
Do you use any effects?
Do you need to bend notes (are different strings an option)?
Have you tried adjusting the pickup height?
Does the guitar have much sustain or is the tremolo sucking the life out of it?
Do you need a tremolo?
Do you have access to any other guitars to do a comparison?
Can you post a sound clip?

Sorry for all the questions but it is difficult to know what it might be without hearing.  Maybe someone with a  RG370 will be along in a minute but in the meantime I'd say it is probably not the pickups but I have been wrong before.

I will say that I prefer single coils for most non-jazzy cleans. What you need is a Telecaster

Funkfingers

Veganic said:

I'd say it is probably not the pickups but I have been wrong before.

Ibanez INF pickups are notoriously low budget DiMarzio lookalikes. They are not tonally sophisticated.

Ajoten

Veganic said:

...  What you need is a Telecaster

EVERYBODY needs a Telecaster. I'd have one if I could find a neck I liked. I'm trying to play things along the lines of jazz/prog/post rock, and I know the RG isn't really the best tool for the job, but it has this fantastic after-market D profile neck that no other electric guitar I've played comes close to. 

The problem is I'm really a bassist and hence have a sketchy grasp of working with tech - I just want to plug in and play without any further thought. So currently no gain or effects (not that I'm opposed to), no bends so yes, diff strings an idea, not sure how the trem affects tone but I never use it anyway, not faffed with pickup height but will.

Have had a cheap semi and cheap hollow body in the past and they sounded sweet and fat with no 3rd party involvement, as it were. Perhaps I am expecting too much of the instrument?

Maynehead

Before ripping them out try adjusting their height first if you haven’t already.

With the strings pressed down at the last fret, there should be about 2mm of space between the top of the pole pieces and the bottom of the string. If there’s too much space it may result in a thin sounding pickup.

Veganic

Funkfingers said:

Veganic said:

I'd say it is probably not the pickups but I have been wrong before.

Ibanez INF pickups are notoriously low budget DiMarzio lookalikes. They are not tonally sophisticated.

So you think they are "thin"?

Ajoten

Ah, on investigation I think it might be an older model, meaning they're Powersound not Infinity pickups. If that makes any difference.