i play a Gibson gothic sg and i am looking to get new pick-ups. the sound i am looking for is a happy medium between atmospheric, crisp cleans and heavy distortion at times that doesn't get muddy. i have been looking at the Harmonic Design Z-90's. however i have read that most people don't like the sound when they have both brige and neck Z-90's installed. any input or any ideas? thanks.

Hmmm, not sure I would recommend the Z90s right off the bat, have you ever played P90 pickups? Z90s are essentially souped up P90s in a humbucker size, I would try some regular P90s and see if that's the sound you're after. I love P90s for certain things but don't know about real heavy rock.....

What are some of the artists whose tone you admire and would like to use as a starting point? What kind of amp do you use?

These questions will help to narrow it down a bit, there are so many options....my first reaction though would be some good humbuckers, slightly hotter than PAF-types but not the super-hot shredder kind....Duncan has a very wide range of pickups that should accommodate what you're looking for, and soundclips too....

i play my gibson through a Marshall 30th anniversary 6100 head and matching cabinet. it has tons of power and if you take some time to find it, the clean channel sounds amazing. i use about 5 pedals (compressor, delay, phaser, chorus and reverb) and i use both the heavily distorted and clean channels.

i playe da friends guitar two weeks ago that had matching z-90's installed and it sounded incredible. however he was playing out of a fender twin with no distortion and they were installed in a rickenbacker, so i have no idea what my set-up would sound like.

Maybe you can play his guitar through your amp and effects? If you like the Z90s go for it, I just meant that they are a somewhat specialized and unusual pickup. I've heard nothing but great things about them though

Hi Meterman, I get to help you this time! I can highly reccommend the Tom Holmes Humbucker but my best ever find has been the Joe Barden Duel Tone Humbucker, it is his standard Humbucker but can be tapped and split and it sounds amazing in both modes. Powerful, even, very responsive to the guitar volume (backing off on high gain settings produces the sweetest lead sounds, and just has a nice musical big round sound. When -tapped it is basically his single coil and my mate who is a dedicated strat/tele player swears by them. It is however not the prettiest looking pickup! The Tom Holmes is on par but I personaly prefer the Barden. Good look.