Schecter Brimstone Humbucker Set

The Brimstone humbuckers are some of the most powerful sounding pickups that Schecter makes. At about 19k, the bridge is clearly the hottest wind on their menu.

Full disclosure: The interest in the Brimstone comes from another pickup altogether. The Seymour Duncan Custom Shop El Diablo set. I’m seeing the El Diablo in Dan Donegan‘s (Disturbed) Washburn and Schecter guitars. More recently, the change is made to the Brimstone set on the signature model guitar. When asking Schecter about the timeline of that switch, I’m told about 10 years ago. There is really no verification I can find to support that. Perhaps they thought I’m referring to when the beginning of the relationship with Schecter.

Still, I’m curious about what might get the artist to swap over. Once sourcing some Brimstone pickups, I’m off and running!

Installation

This is a 6-string set going in to a fairly neutral-sounding guitar. The guitar has standard tuning with 10-46 strings, Bourns 500k pots, and Switchcraft switches and output jack. Each pickup has series/parallel switching. During installation, I hit the friction points with some Lizard Spit Slick Nutz.

A groovy feature is that the Brimstone comes with 4-con lead wire. Of course, that really opens up the adaptability of the options. Additionally, it’s in the super convenient category of having a very familiar color coding. Black = hot. Green + bare = ground. Red + white = split or parallel optons. Isn’t it nice when things don’t go off the reservation? HaHa!

Bridge

Out of the gate, the bridge Brimstone has focus and cut. I can easily hear that this pickup will handle lower tunings very well. The super-hot 19k winding yields sensitivity and sustain. If you like squeals and harmonics, this is for you. LOL! Here is the thing with a really overwound pickup that has loads of clarity. There is an interesting paradox of how it can just as easily reveal or conceal shortcomings. Something like that can really prompt you to up your game, which is not a bad thing. HaHa!

Neck

The neck position Brimstone is a different beast. It brings a little more beef to the table. And while the low end can be deep, it’s thankfully under control. Some players might want the stronger refinement in the lows that the bridge counterpart has. However, going with a slight voicing counterpoint can serve up greater versatility.

If you are really in to neck position playing for solos, I think you will dig it. At about 11k, it lands in the more modern or contemporary selection of neck humbucker options. It also maintains a good range to work within for clean amp settings.

Demo

Here is an official Schecter shootout of the Brimstone, up against their Apocalypse and San Andreas models. First, all three are going in a mix. Then later with guitar only. The Brimstone is the 2nd in each run-through.

And here is a dedicated example from Schecter’s SoundCloud:

For more examples of the Brimstone, check out Disturbed’s Evolution (2018). Donegan has the Brimstone set in videos for the Immortalized (2015) album. But 2015 Dan Donegan Ultra model still has the El Diablo in promo materials, so there’s not telling on that one.

Specs

The Brimstone set is going to be good for progressive rock, progressive metal, thrash, hardcore, classic rock, extreme metal, hard rock, djent, punk, nu-metal, 80s metal, and shred. You can buy them direct from the Schecter website.

For reference, this Schecter Brimstone pickup set evaluation was conducted with a Fractal Axe-Fx II XL+ featuring Celestion Impluse Responses and Fractal MFC-101 MIDI Foot Controller.  Real cabs in use are Marshall 1960B, Mojotone British, and Peavey 6505 cabs loaded with Celestion Classic Series Vintage 30s and Classic Series G12M Greenbacks.

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