What brand of pickups do you have/prefer?

[Gear_Junky]

Single coil strat pickups for blues! No one will ever deny SRV's tone.

allright, maybe i will pick on this. what about all the blues players that like/liked the ES-335 and variations and les pauls or maybe even strats with humbuckers? Without dissing SRV, he is no founder of blues and while his tone is allright, it's not the alpha and omega of tones. It's really a matter of taste. Mine tells me that I'm not that crazy about SRV. But that's ok, we all have different tastes, we don't have to deny anything.

while it's true that some people just genuinely prefer single-coils, there are also some who've never tried really good humbuckers. a good humbucker sounds different, but will have nice pleasant cleans as well as thicker overdrive.

some of these people don't realize that the stock MIM or even MIA single-coils that came in their standard strat are nothing like what their hero plays. Most of these famous guitarists collect vintage guitars and they also usually tend to modify their guitars. On record they often play something else than what you see in the video. So a current production fender (unless it's a particular model with specified pickups) will offer a very generic version of the tone you think you want.

I got nothing against single-coils or strats, but some of use want versatility. a good after-market humbucker can often be coil-split (with a push-pull knob switch) and used as either single-coil or humbucker. best of both worlds.

 

[pohaku]

For humbucker equipped guitars (which is what I have), I like the SD Antiquity pups. Changed out the stock pups in my 83 LP for them. A decided improvement IMHO. Choice of pups, of course, is like a lot of other things in audio -- it's all in the ear of the beholder.

 

[TMatt142]

Brand wise...Dimarzio humbucker, the type is either an Evo or D-Sonic in the bridge position and an Air Norton in the neck FTW. I have played a guitar with "Bare Knuckle" pickups and I'd have to say, if I had the money for them, I'd buy em in a second.

 

[antichef]

No favorites. I tend to like Gibson pickups. I've had the PAFs before.

Currently, I've got Gibson 57 Classic humbuckers - very nice sounding; Gibson P-94s (really big single coil - the humbucker-sized P-90) - love them, but they're too hot with the volume all the way up on the guitar; one guitar (Charvel Surfcaster) with lipstick pickups - very low output, and nice sounding, but a little too thin to use for everything; the Rio Grande Pickups Texas/BBQ combo humbuckers - very nice sounding as well; EMG 81/85 and an EMG single coil - had these put on an Ibanez RG550 that I couldn't get to sound right. They did the trick, but I think I like good passive pickups better.

I once had a Seymour Duncan Invader - that was just way too hot. My son has a Seymour Duncan "Screamin' Demon" now, and it sounds nice and full, and gets surprisingly good clean tones.

 

[WhiteStrat]

Brand wise...Dimarzio humbucker, the type is either an Evo or D-Sonic in the bridge position and an Air Norton in the neck FTW. I have played a guitar with "Bare Knuckle" pickups and I'd have to say, if I had the money for them, I'd buy em in a second.

I've got a guit with Evo's in both the bridge and neck position. I love 'em. I'm building a new guitar (one humbucker in the bridge--that'll be the only pup) and I've ordered an Evo 2 for that one. We'll see...

 

[joeym]

along the line of this thread......
if you had an Epiphone Les Paul Standard with Alnico PU's, is it sensible to change them with EMG 81/85? (sort of like the Zakk Wylde model?)

 

[antichef]

along the line of this thread......
if you had an Epiphone Les Paul Standard with Alnico PU's, is it sensible to change them with EMG 81/85? (sort of like the Zakk Wylde model?)

My Ibanez sounded really bad with the stock pickups, and then with every pickup I tried on it -- I slowly came to realize that it was a bad-sounding (but very nice playing) guitar, irrespective of the pickups I had in it. Then I put in the EMGs -- they seemed to replace the guitar sound in a way that the passive pickups (including the SD Invader) didn't, and it finally all worked. If you like the sound of your Epi, then I wouldn't feel compelled to use EMGs - if you really like the sound of EMGs (which will, in my experience/opinion, replace the sound of your guitar to an extent), then maybe.

 

[joeym]

My Ibanez sounded really bad with the stock pickups, and then with every pickup I tried on it -- I slowly came to realize that it was a bad-sounding (but very nice playing) guitar, irrespective of the pickups I had in it. Then I put in the EMGs -- they seemed to replace the guitar sound in a way that the passive pickups (including the SD Invader) didn't, and it finally all worked. If you like the sound of your Epi, then I wouldn't feel compelled to use EMGs - if you really like the sound of EMGs (which will, in my experience/opinion, replace the sound of your guitar to an extent), then maybe.

Thanx Chef!
I should be getting my EPI sometime this week. I'll have to try it out and see. I've got the EMGs lying around so I can always use them for another guitar if I like the EPI PU's.

Cheers
Joe