[paulnguyen123]

"Hello everyone!"

"I have a Schecter C-1 SGR metal guitar.  It has Diamond Plus factory
humbuckers
at the bridge and the neck.  It uses a three way selector."

"Which pair of Dimarzio's should I go with as replacements that will work well
together?"

"My friend went with Dimarzio Tone Zone (Bridge) and Dimarzio Air Norton (Neck)
as a pair on his Ibanez.  They're a little on the bright site.  I like a heavy
metal sound."

"Which other Dimarzio pairs would you recommend for a heavy metal sound?"

"Which pair of Seymour Duncan's would you recommend as replacements for a heavy
metal sound?"

"Thanks in advance!"

[buddroyce]

It depends on what kind of tone you want. The first thing on my mind would be the Dominion set or the D-Activator set.

[paulnguyen123]

It depends on what kind of tone you want. The first thing on my mind would be the Dominion set or the D-Activator set.

I'd like a 90s Metal Metallica kind of sound

[gtrjunior]

Unless I’m mistaken they used EMG pickups.

[buddroyce]

You want the D-Activators.

[DarthPhineas]

It depends on what kind of tone you want. The first thing on my mind would be the Dominion set or the D-Activator set.

I'd like a 90s Metal Metallica kind of sound

EMG

[SkyMonkey]

The other posters are probably right that the definitive pickup for the sound you are after is an EMG set. Probably 81/81. If your body cavity can accommodate the space needed for the 9V battery needed, they are reportedly very easy to install using the quick connect wiring and pots that come with each pickup. You will need to solder the pickups to the selector switch.

If you are unwilling to go active then I can recommend the Dimarzio X2N (DP102) in the bridge paired with a D Activator-X neck (DP221).

These will certainly look the part in a C-1 SGR.
Sound wise, the X2N is the most powerful Dimarzio humbucker available (Output 510) with a fairly flat EQ rating (T:6.5, M:6.5, B:5.5). This may be brighter than you are looking for, but the lower powered D Activator-X neck (Output 300) is EQ'd a bit darker (T:4.5, M:5.5, B:6.5).
I have used this set in a guitar I made, based on a Charvel Model 4, for a number of years and is my go to guitar for the thrash sound you appear to be after.
They are not for the faint hearted but I do think they can clean up OK with a bit of tweeking.
I have them setup with push pulls for coil splits and series/parallel, which works very well with low gain and clean for bluesy sounds. Not so noticeable with higher gain.
This set will help push a valve amp when using the high gain channel, but I cannot vouch for the results for solid state amps. When played through my Focusrite Saffire interface this guitar has to be adjusted down at the input by 2 notches on the dial to avoid clipping, when compared to my Ibanez (Dimarzio/IBZ's).

[corypheus]

Hi,

Never met someone that played a Tone Zone and thought "bright", curious.

At any rate, at the very early, 'tallica actually used Invaders (not very known, I think), then they switched to 81/60 set (Hetfield) and 81/81 set (Hammett). If that's the sound you're looking for, then I have to repeat the fine gentlemen before me on getting an EMGs.

Indeed, if you don't wanna hassle with the batteries etc D-Activators have that "active" stiff feel to them, they're also incredibly tight, just like an 81.

As for which Duncans, well Blackouts are Duncan's take on the active pickups, with some fiddling (dialing out some mids, they have aplenty compared to your typical 81), you can get a very similar sound. I also liked Dave Mustaine Livewires for trash when I tried them out in my buddy's guitar, which is like a JB on steroids.

As for the X2N, I wouldn't personally go there if you like the sound of the EMGs, X2N have a very specific sound which is unlike the active pickups (or most passive pickups, for that matter), and it's either a love-it-or-hate-it.

Lastly, if you're after those tones, you probably wanna use far less gain then you might think you would need, and to tighten the sound up even further, use an OD pedal set to boost (without drive).

HTH,
Cory