Pickup's-So many good ones out there. Whats in your Axe's?

[V-Type]

Well I like to change pickups in almost every guitar Ive had. My first pickup swap was when I puchased a MIJ Strat in 79. The stockers were noisey and bland. I went with a Dimarzio Strat set that had the Super PAF hum and two matching Dimarzio single coils. What an improvement and from that day on I learned that AVG guitars with Great electronic can sound very much like a Pro instrument.
Next was in 85 when I bought A Gibson LP Custom new from a Ma and Pa store for a Whopping $1100 and it came with the option of the Stocker Gibsons or Dimarzio Super Distortions installed free.
Apparently Gibson was offering this deal for some reason and boy Im glad I went with the Super D's. They were very articulate yet rolled off to play Clean and Blues just so sweet.
Since then Ive been buying Low $$$ guitars and putting upgraded p'ups and hardware if needed. And honestly the tones I get from my cheapies easily hangs with the high dollar guitars allready loaded with Excellent Electronics. They may not feel the same otr look the same but Tonally they are Toe to Toe.
These days I have:
Epiphone Les Paul Custom- Seymour Duncan Sh-11 Custom Custom/Alnico Pro II set
Prs SE Santana - Gibson 498T/490R set
Schecter Gryphon - Seymour Duncan JB/Jazz set
Jackson DXMG - EMG HZ3's(These are going soon as they dont have a lot of range too them IMO)
Fender Jaguar - Fender Stockers(Noisey but originals from 65 so they are staying)

Whats pickups you guys sporting?

[senor_penguin]

You've sure gone through alot of guitars lol. I am going to install my bill lawrence's in my les paul soon. The duncan distortion in peavey is kick ass :w:

[floydmoline]

my LP has a ducan designed 103 in the neck, i didn't put it there someone before me did, it's supposedly the cheap variety of the SH-6, but i don't know i'm not a duncan fan really, typically i prefer the pick ups that come stock on guitars, i've swapped pick-ups in guitars before, and ended up spending money on aftermarket pick-ups that sounded worse than the cheap assed stock pups, i like the sound of the epiphone stocker in the bridge, but the ducan in the bridge don't sound bad, just not what i care for sound wise, but it's not enough to make me want to replace it, maybe some day when i am rich or win the lotto, i'll get some gibson classic 57s to put in it, but i don't think the cost Vs tonal improvement justifies it right now

[Monster]

i like Seymour Duncan.. i find they give me the sound i need.... some guitars i leave the stock pups in.. only on a few will i change pups..other wise if you change the pups in every guitar i own they would all almost sound the same... the reason i liek have a few guitars is to have a different range of sound from thin to think...

[jackal]

The only guitar i didn't change pickups in is my Shecter Omen.. in my Aria ZZ i have PRS treble and bass pick-ups and in my PRS Tremonti i put in Gibson Classic '57's

[senor_penguin]

^ what pickups are in the shecter?

[floydmoline]

my guess would be ducan designed buckers

[senor_penguin]

hmmmm.....I've tried the "ducan designeds" before, not impressed :no:

[jackal]

No acctually there not those duncan design, there acctually Shecter disortion puckups

[floydmoline]

cool, haven't heard those, call me ignorant but i didn't even know schecter made their own lol... thought they just used other companies in their guitars...... live one more day learn something new :-D

[MrSandMan]

I don't like duncan designs- Horrrible pickup imo-

I'll take EMGs HZ or even stock epi Les Paul pups over the D-designs.

[V-Type]

I don't like duncan designs- Horrrible pickup imo-

I'll take EMGs HZ or even stock epi Les Paul pups over the D-designs.

The Duncan Designed can be Hit or Miss. But now and then you run across a DD that is above the norm. My Jackson DK2 had the DD 102 which is their JB equivalent. That pickup sounded dead on to the JB's IVe had and currently have. It had a little less Ice pickyness also.
The thing sounded good in every guitar I tried it in. It currently is the bridge hum of my Crappy Magnum LP and it has Never sounded better.
Also changing mags in pickups isnt hard and can do wonders for tone and clarity as well as output. Im currently putting Alnico V bars in a old Pyramid pickup and expect much better results than stock when done.
Lots of Awesome info on p'ups and modding them on the Seymour Duncan forum.

[indytruckboy]

I use EMGs. 81/85/60/707
Wanna try the new coil tappers.
A lot of my Gibsons retain their factory stuff.

[jackal]

I have to take my Gibson 57's out and "Pot" them, a little to much feedback out of them..

[Monster]

the DD in my Dk2 sound awesome and sound nice... but as v-type said they are hit or miss..

[floydmoline]

i have a duncan design in my les paul a 105 i believe (i didn't out it there) it don't sound bad as far a pickups go, its clear, my only problems with it are it has a lil too much output for me, and it's a bit on the trebley side for a neck pup, it's the on duncan designed pup i have experience with

[Brian Krashpad]

All my guitars are stock.

Gibson Les Paul Studio Double Cutaway (US 1997) : Gibson 490/498

Hamer P-90 Special (US 1996) : Seymour Duncan P-90's

Gibson Les Paul Classic (US 1999): Gibson 496/500

Fender American Vintage '52 Telecaster Reissue (US 1987): Fender American Vintage single coils

Fender Tex-Mex Tele Special (MX 1997): Tex-Mex Humbucker (neck) and single (bridge)

Ovation Breadwinner (solidbody elec., US ~1973): Ovation torroidal single coils

Rickenbacker 620 (US 1991): Rickenbacker High-Gain singles

De Armond Jet Star (KOR 2000): US DeArmond Gold Tone humbuckers

Fender Duo-Sonic (US 1960): Fender singles

Fender Squier Precision Bass (JPN c.1987): stock split humbucker

Fender Standard Jazz Bass (MX c.1993): Fender singles

Saga/Unknown "Parts" Telecaster (1990's): stock single coil in bridge (unknown brand), Seymour Duncan mini-humbucker in neck

Fernandes Ravelle Deluxe (CHI 2003) : Seymour Duncan Jazz/JB

Agile P-90 Valkyrie SG (KOR 2003): stock no-name P-90's

Peavey T-60 (US 1980): stock Peavey toastertop humbuckers

Gretsch Electromatic Special Jet (CHI 2005): DeArmond 2K singles

Peavey Predator (Strat) (USA 1992): stock Peavey ceramic singles

Schecter Tempest Special (KOR c. 2005): Duncan Design P-90's

Brownsville Choirboy (KOR c. 200x?): stock toastertop alnico singles

Daisy Rock Retro-H (IND c. 2007): stock mini-humbuckers

[Servant]

Paul with Burstbucker 2's
G&L Legacy- Proprietary with an old-school Duncan Rails in the bridge - very similar in spec to the Vintage Rails
Matsumoko Vantage VS-600 - Proprietary with coil tap

Soon to own an Ibanez with EMG 81/85 set for teh brootalz!! er, not really. I just want an active set and it's a cheap guitar. :smilez:

[characterzero]

I like the Seymour Duncan sound. Right now I'm actually using stock Duncan Designed pickups, but I like the tone I'm getting with them.

One of my friends has EMGs, and frankly I'm not a fan. Of course, I'm not all that partial to the Br00talz or whathaveyou, but they just really lack rich tone.

[Brian Krashpad]

I like the Seymour Duncan sound. Right now I'm actually using stock Duncan Designed pickups, but I like the tone I'm getting with them.

One of my friends has EMGs, and frankly I'm not a fan. Of course, I'm not all that partial to the Br00talz or whathaveyou, but they just really lack rich tone.


EMG's...

eww.

Not for Krashpad.

[floydmoline]

yeah i'm not really a big fan of EMG myself, but the selects have 1 positive thing going for them...... 20 dollar humbucker (select)

i now have experience with seymour duncan, and dimarzio pups

seymour duncan i can say are not as bad as i first thought, it was just the one pick-up i didn't care for.

and dimarzio make a killer humbucker, but their single coils really lack something

my list:
1. Gibson
2. DiMarzio
3. Golden Age
4. Seymour Duncan
5. Epiphone

[ninja636]

EMG's :thumbdown:
I use Rockfields, the Fat Ass is an awesome p'up!!! :2thumbups:

[floydmoline]

aren't rockfield what BC Rich used a few years ago in the post class-axe era, before bernie took it back over and started using in-house pick-ups?

[ninja636]

http://rockfieldpickups.com/

Actually, they still use them now in some of their "high end" guitars. The SWC's are awesome as well, the esp/ltd EC500 that was stolen from me had these in it. I ripped out the emg's the first day.

[Brian Krashpad]

I guess I should add I now have a pair of GFS (GuitarFetish) P-90 pickups in a highly-modded Bullet Strat as well.

They sound fine to me. Then again, I think humbuckers tend to have the greatest chance for getting a cruddy pickup, compared to P-90's and other singles. I have 4 sets of P-90's spanning the range of available pickups (in what would generally be considered descending order: Seymour Duncan, arguable tie for second at Duncan Designed/GFS, ending with ceramic-magnet no-name stock pickups in my Agile SG knockoff), and they all sound good.

Apparently, it's really difficult to f*ck up a P-90.

[floydmoline]

nice on the rockfields, my BCR had dimarzios.... which is now in the neck spot on my les paul, the duncan designed had to go, the irony of it is, the ducan designed pup was a HB103N e.g. the SH-6 knock off..... and the impedance is LOWER than the stock epiphone pup, the epi is ironicly higher than the the dimarzio even. the dimarzio is clean and crisp i dig it, i am thining of grabbing up a PAF classic or a FRED now, they are realatively cheap now with everyone lushing over the seymour duncans

i now have that duncan designed HB103N, if anyone is looking for one, i'd gladly trade it for almost anything LOL

>>Apparently, it's really difficult to f*ck up a P-90.<<

bet ya i could lol, so you like those GFS P-90s then? i am going to be aquiring a epi SG special here shortly, and i was toying with the idea of sticking a pair of P-90s on it so i had a single coil guitar..... i'd rather have a squire telecaster lol but alas no one ever gets rid of those for cheap..... i find i like single coils for clean stuff, they have a more lively tone, where as can't beat a bucker for distortion, they really do lack depth clean, but i suppose if you like warm clean tones they do alright

[Brian Krashpad]

>>Apparently, it's really difficult to f*ck up a P-90.<<

bet ya i could lol, so you like those GFS P-90s then? i am going to be aquiring a epi SG special here shortly, and i was toying with the idea of sticking a pair of P-90s on it so i had a single coil guitar..... i'd rather have a squire telecaster lol but alas no one ever gets rid of those for cheap..... i find i like single coils for clean stuff, they have a more lively tone, where as can't beat a bucker for distortion, they really do lack depth clean, but i suppose if you like warm clean tones they do alright


Yeah, I have yet to be able to play the P-90 Strat with a band, which for me is the true test, but I like the GFS P-90's fine. I believe their HB-size P-90 is called the "Mean 90." People over at H-C seem to like it.

[floydmoline]

yeah it's too bad because i like the look of a regular P-90 on an SG, not sure if the routing is as wide (bridge to neck) as a bucker, i believe they are longer (side to side), to try to re-rout the guitar to accept regular P-90s, though once you route for a P-90 you have a big ole hole in the guitar lol

[Brian Krashpad]

yeah it's too bad because i like the look of a regular P-90 on an SG, not sure if the routing is as wide (bridge to neck) as a bucker, i believe they are longer (side to side), to try to re-rout the guitar to accept regular P-90s, though once you route for a P-90 you have a big ole hole in the guitar lol


Yes, I'm pretty sure a HB is wider than a P-90, but not as long, so it is necessary to rout to put regular-size P-90's in a humbucker slot. However, if you have a "large guard" SG that shouldn't be a big deal since the area immediately surrounding either type pup will be covered by a pickguard.

[Brian Krashpad]

the DD in my Dk2 sound awesome and sound nice... but as v-type said they are hit or miss..


I've seen this about the DD HB's. Opinions all over the place, it may just be that they're inconsistent. Oddly, the DD P-90's seem to get consistently good reviews, those are the ones in my Schecter Tempest Special and the Squier Tele Custom II.

[floydmoline]

i have only heard 2 duncan designed pups, and neither of them was impressive, the one i own isn't bad but the epiphone stock pick-up was better IMO, and one was in someone elses guitar, if it were mine, i would have chucked out the window....... it squealed uncontollably microphonic feedback, and was potted in wax.

the SG i am dealing with is a modern era special e.g. no pickguard, but i want to trick it out if i get it, get it a 2nd set of volume / tone knobs, and a pick guard, so i'd be a bolt-on G-200 lol

[Brian Krashpad]

the SG i am dealing with is a modern era special e.g. no pickguard, but i want to trick it out if i get it, get it a 2nd set of volume / tone knobs, and a pick guard, so i'd be a bolt-on G-200 lol


That'd be a ton of work to upgrade a guitar that's at the bottom of the Epi food chain to begin with and whose worth will be forever impeded by the bolt-on neck.

Why not just get a G400 to begin with? I found one 4 or 5 years ago for $175 in a pawn. They already have dual controls, all you would have to do is switch out pickups if you wanted to.

[floydmoline]

because i have it, i don't need to buy a new one, i traded a BOSS BF-3 flanger for it...... besides, bolt on necks don't really make a diff, it just like me an maple ply tops, bolt on Vs set neck don't make much difference, not as much as everyone makes it sound like , it just the IDEA of a set neck that people get off on, like me, solid maple top, maple ply top, they really aren't going to sound different, it's just the IDEA of it being a maple ply top.

long story short i already have it, and future value means nothing to me or i'd not even mess with epiphones at all, but i have it i might as well make it useful to me.

[MatrixClaw]

My Ibanez has a Tone Zone in the bridge and a PAF Pro in the neck (which I absolutely LOVE).

My Faded SG has an EMG 81 in the bridge and 85 in the neck.

My Strat has a Tone Zone S in the bridge, HS-2 in the middle and YJM in the neck.

My '61 SG has a JB in the bridge and '59 in the neck.

[Brian Krashpad]

My Ibanez has a Tone Zone in the bridge and a PAF Pro in the neck (which I absolutely LOVE).

My Faded SG has an EMG 81 in the bridge and 85 in the neck.

My Strat has a Tone Zone S in the bridge, HS-2 in the middle and YJM in the neck.

My '61 SG has a JB in the bridge and '59 in the neck.


Tone Zones and EMG's; you must be bringing the hard rock/metal! :2thumbups:

I'm personally more in the range of what your SG is packing.

[MrSandMan]

I don't mind most stock pickups. My Agile AL-3100 pups are good. The pups in my old Epi Standard (now floyd has it) were fine.

on a side note, I do like Seymour Duncans.

[Brian Krashpad]

I don't mind most stock pickups. My Agile AL-3100 pups are good. The pups in my old Epi Standard (now floyd has it) were fine.

on a side note, I do like Seymour Duncans.


I have yet to yank pups out of a single guitar I have, and I have a few.

A couple of them are partscasters that were modded beofre I got them, but I didn't change them from how I acquired them.

I think I may not be as picky as some folks. Or maybe it's just laziness. ;)

[MrSandMan]

My grandfather always told me... "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" I think there is a ring of truth to that.

[Brian Krashpad]

My grandfather always told me... "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" I think there is a ring of truth to that.


Haha, I keep telling myself that's me, rather than it being laziness.

But so far I've only had one guitar with pickups I never really bonded with, some P-100 "stacked HB's" in a Les Paul Special I had. They weren't "bad," but they sure were not P-90's. Even though I'm not handy, I have done a few simple soldering tasks over the years, so I probably could've found some P-90's and dropped them in. Instead I just kept it around stock until a great deal on something more expensive came around. Fortunately the rhythm guitarist in my band had a woody for that black LP Special (it did look cool), so I sold it to him for what I paid for it, and used that dosh to get a great guitar I have no intention of modding (LP Classic).

So in my case, it probably is just laziness. :winkx:

[MatrixClaw]

Tone Zones and EMG's; you must be bringing the hard rock/metal! :2thumbups:
Haha, of course!

I do play lots of bluesy stuff as well though, which is where the SG with the Duncans and Strat come in :winkx: