Always interested in hearing a Suhr Pickup breakdown.
I also have a Marshallhead I have yet to
install in a guitar. I need some crappy tones to be plagued by so I can get busy.
Here's my best shot:
For humbuckers:
Thornbuckers are a good modern PAF. Underwound A5 neck and overwound A4 bridge. The neck has the clarity and juicy response of an early PAF and the bridge has got a little more heat and a little smoother high end to avoid the excess brightness that sometimes happens. Works really well with single coils too. Plus model has just a little more output good for playing with gain.
SSV's are pretty close sounding, a little more output on the neck which gives a little fuller lows and the bridge has A5 so again a little more highs and lows compared to the TB. These would be good in thinner body or bolt on guitars that need a little more push. SSV+ is overwound and has more upper midrange push, I wasn't as much of a fan but it wasn't night and day from other bridge options.
Woodbucker is a medium output A2 bridge pickup (haven't used the neck), uses 43ga wire instead of 42ga so there's more turns for more resistance, more output than PAF, but not overwound so it's not overly compressed like super hot pickups. I'll need more time with it but it seems similar to the Duncan Custom Custom, which isn't surprising as Andy is a huge EVH guy. It's got good dynamics and is a little warmer, fatter, and has more push.
SSH I only used briefly and I can't recall the tone much. I think it's very similar to the Woodbucker but with an A5 magnet, so guessing it's a tiny bit hotter with fuller lows and a little more attack. I haven't used the SSH+ yet.
Aldrich is a really hot pickup, basically an overwound SSH+ and SSV set. I found it to be overly hot and compressed almost like running my guitar through an overdrive pedal that you can't turn off. Now they would clean up better than a lot of hot pickups, but I've never been a fan of really hot pickups especially in the neck position where it gets really muddy. I got them cheap and let them go for cheap quickly.
For single coils:
V63's are a really good all around Strat pickup, just a classic 60's Strat tone. V60LP roll off the high end a bit and have an overwound bridge and I am using those in my Strat, really good if you don't like bright thin Strats or if you want to mix singles in an HSS guitar. ML's are overwound with a little more midrange push, I didn't like them in my Strat but in my Ibanez it works well with a Thornbucker+ bridge.
For Teles, the Classic T set has a hotter bridge with the high end rolled off a bit, which is really good for rock. It's not anything like a humbucker but it's not the super bright vintage twang thing. The neck pickup is on the warmer side but not bad. I'd be curious to try the Asato neck pickup which seems more like a Strat style.
