Recently picked one up and I found the pickups to be a little muddy and lacking clarity. I swapped out the stock strings with some fresh D'Addario's and lowered the pickups and found them to sound noticeably better. While not as nice as the Seymour Duncan's sound, it's worth giving it a shot first. A tube screamer also helps this guitar jump out in a mix.
Sounds a lot better with the new pickups! I have Duncans in most of my guitars. The latest pickup I put in was the '78 Trembucker which rocks! I bet you would love that pickup too.
I have a beat up Iceman I bought used for 175$, it has EMGs in it from the previous owner, it needed a setup, so I parked it for probably 3yrs under my bed. I pulled it out and put a setup on it in a weird tuning that I was using at the time. It became one of my favorite guitars to play.😉👍
Sounds super with those duncans! Jumping the video back and forth, you can really hear the difference. I’m hearing that crispness around 7k-10k pop out. Rock on!
Nice! I recently upgraded a Les Paul Junior copy for my granddaughter. Installed a Planet Tone '57 Classic, and all new CTS pots and a bumblebee capacitor. Also used vintage style wiring. I went way overboard, but the result was worth it. thanks for showing this. you really help folks overcome their fear of working on their own stuff.
Sounds great! You're lucky that your PS60 was great out of the box. I got a black one delivered and it was awful. It was the worst quality guitar I've ever unboxed. Ridiculous high action at the nut, crooked bolt-on neck (neck pocket full of sawdust), file marks on parts of the fretboard, paint bleed in parts of the binding, a depression in the binding near the nut (suspect they burned through it while polishing) and quite a few finish flaws. If it wasn't a present from my wife, I would have sent it back. The store gave a decent partial refund. I replaced the pickups with a chrome covered set of Artist Bullbuckers, gave it a setup etc. Fortunately it's a much better instrument now, and looks really cool. One of my students uses it for lessons. It's the one she always wants to play.
I picked up an "open box" unit from Adorama that arrived in a condition very similar to yours...discolored binding, tons of sanding and tooling marks all over the fretboard, one spot near the neck joint where they sanded right through the finish during final polishing, and the pieces of wood that made up the body had horrible seams that were clearly visible under the finish. That one had a 2023 build date. Sent it back and bought a "new" one from Butler Music with a 2024 build date and it was near perfect out of the box! Very playable, clean finish, smooth dark fretboard, consistent binding etc. It's now my favorite guitar!
oh yeah!!! never heard a bad duncan man. Pretty sure thats a alnico pro in neck. i hv the set in an epi custom lp. Slash tone for days. On a side note, know you dnt like emgs but i aquired a se custom 22 with the marty friedman emg set that are passive. HOLY COW!!! THESE THINGS SMOKE!!! Pretty sure its emgs take on a jb/jazz set as thats what he used to use.
The new ones are definitely louder,and sound better…My very first guitar was an Ibanez Iceman..it was a bolt on,gun metal gray metallic…In the mid 90’s I got one of the PS120’s signed by Paul Stanley,but I ended up selling it..I wish I could have that one back..I have always loved the Iceman body shape..Very cool guitars..
Im in the same KISS mode, just got the urge to deep dive one of my favorite bands of yesteryear all over again...... and have the itch to pickup an Iceman!
Those pickups don't sound that bad IMO. But don't blame you for goin to duncans. I bought an epiphone LP off ebay 4 years ago, paid 300 for it, and put some dimebag duncans in it. Changed the pots out and tuners too, and that thing shreds now 🤘🤘
in my PS60-ssl, i changed the plastic Nut to a Bone Nut, and the Sound is much improved now. Next i will swap out the Bridge Pickup to a SeymourDuncan sh-14
The Duncans sound so much better it's not even a contest. I love JBs. The Alnico 2 Pro is a great neck pup as well. Amazing tone! I put a JB/Jazz combo in a $200 Schecter Deluxe last year, and it made it sound like a million bucks. I've come to love this combo more than the old DiMarzio Super Distortion/PAF combo.
The stock Ibanez pickups sounded okay, but you're right, a little muddy. Those Seymour Duncan's sound amazing! Really woke that guitar up! I have a Kramer with those in it by Zebras. Excellent video, and a really rad, good looking axe. Thanks for sharing
Sounds great Marty! I have had my guy change out stuff on some of my guitars to make them "different" and try new things; fun experience and leads to diversity among the guitars!
Nice! I need to do the same! I play in a kiss tribute band, have this one and the black one! I also have the PS-10 from 95! It sounds incredible, play it mostly!
I bought a set from irongear from uk. The set was 70 bucks i believe. I put them in my Harley benton fusion ii telecaster. It was literally night and day. Seriously great pickups. Its the set where the neck pickup of the set is called blues engine i believe. You guys really need to check them out!!!!!! The same difference in this video.
I have this guitar in the standard black and I am looking to do the Seymour Duncan SH-14 Custom 5 in the bridge and the SH-1N 59' in the neck. I'm going to follow this video when installing the pickups. It sounds so much better with Seymours than the stock pickups. I feel it's not a Paul Stanley until the Seymours are installed.
Nice iceman Marty, always did like the looks of that guitar. Thats a major difference, that sounds waaay better, Duncans sound so good. Im getting ready to put a JB in the bridge position on my guitar, just need to figure out something in the two single coil middle and single coil bridge that will go good with it. Any suggestions? Great video Marty, thanks man 🤘
I’ve been wondering what had become of that silver sparkle PS60. I’m used to the sound of the Seymour Duncan Custom 5 that comes in the PS10 (and PS 120) as well as the Ibanez V7 and V8 pickups from the mid-90s version. The JB sounds good, too. If you ever change them out again, try the Custom 5; I think you’ll like it as well. I would love to see more Kiss/Paul Stanley-related content going forward. If you’re taking requests, that is. Rock on
Hey thanks for subbing man. Thanks for the compliment. It's pretty basic honestly, for RU-vid I use my Fractal AX8. I have a few patches I use but mostly rely on the Friedman BE patch and Friedman IR's. The fractal records great running direct. I run a stereo delay and reverb that I add in my DAW. I use pro tools 11 since I own it outright with no fees. So my FX are done in pro tools since I can add more or less in mix down if preferred. Hope this helps!
@@aidancrayon1263 Thanks for your reply, good to know that its still stock and that it does hold up well enough without rushing to replace it. Appreciate it
I have an older Iceman with the Ibanez locking trem , cool guitar. I also scored a new EVH Wolfgang, autographed by Wolfgang Van Halen from 105.7 the X pay 4 play auction for The Children's Miracle Network, one of the highlights of my guitar collection.
