Friedman Pickups: Classic + vs Triple D

[mbugbee]

I have an old Epi Les Paul Custom with a JB in the bridge that I'm looking to swap out. The JB in that guitar seems to have an undefined bottom end that I'd like to address. I'm a big Jerry Cantrell fan and have been curious about the Motor City Pickups 2nd Degree Black Belt pickup he uses in his Les Pauls but have been put off by stories of actually trying to get one from MCP. I was listening to Tone Talk and heard Dave mention his Classic + ended up sounding a lot like the 2nd Degree Black Belt which led me to finding the Michael Nielsen Youtube video where swaps out pickups in his Custom and ultimately landed on the Triple D.

Has anyone used either of these in a Les Paul that could comment on them?

 

[Badonkey Kong]

Dang. The Triple D sounded pretty awesome there, especially liked the Blue Murder riffing at the end. I might need to try one of those in on of my Ibanez 540's...

Sorry i have nothing else to add.

 

[Jarick]

I had two different Friedman Classic / Classic+ sets. They are medium-low output PAF's with alnico 5 magnets, mid/high 7k neck and low 8k bridge I think. A really good all around rock pickup but honestly nothing really special sounding.

I think for AIC stuff the Triple D would be a good try, if it really is a little bit of a cleaner sounding version of a JB.

 

[Eagle]

If you want clarity and more output look at almost anything from Bare Knuckle .

 

[Jarick]

I'd love to try more Bare Knuckle pickups but the prices have gotten ridiculous. $250 for a single humbucker or $450-500 for a pair is nuts.

That's where the Friedman might be worth a look...prices are still $130-150 for a single pickup which isn't bad for a slightly boutique brand. You can sometimes find them used for a pretty sweet deal.

I also like Suhr pickups because it's a good compromise for quality and price. I have an SSH which is between PAF and JB in one guitar and it's a nice hotter pickup without the midrange push.

 

[Dimiguitar]

I've had the classic plus on the bridge. Eventually took it out/sold it, after spending quite a bit of trying trying to make the experience of playing through it better.

For me, the pickup had this weird congested feel to it, even being relatively low gain. I went back to a JB in that guitar. Yes, it's not the most defined pickup at the low end, but it does feel considerably better to me.

All that said, I like the Duncan distortion even more.