What Pickups Do You Have and What are your Favorites?

Piing said:
Anyone using the King Tone Switch? It seems it can nicely reshape the nuances of the Single Coils (kind of what I am already doing with the EMG SPC and EXG, but passive and with other flavors)

I am tempted with GAS, but I think to myself: you lazy cow, you could do all that with some surgical EQ at the Axe-FX 😅
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It seems like one of those things that is useful to figure out your favorite treble bleed settings but after that would be better off just making a fixed version of that and installing it to the guitar..

I find that for guitars, more options is often not better.

One thing I do recommend is if you have a humbucker guitar with a tone knob that is not getting a lot of use, try a bass cut on it instead. It requires just one capacitor and can be a good tool for tightening up the sound. On single coils it's less useful as those don't usually have too much low end in the first place.
 
laxu said:
It seems like one of those things that is useful to figure out your favorite treble bleed settings but after that would be better off just making a fixed version of that and installing it to the guitar..

I find that for guitars, more options is often not better.

One thing I do recommend is if you have a humbucker guitar with a tone knob that is not getting a lot of use, try a bass cut on it instead. It requires just one capacitor and can be a good tool for tightening up the sound. On single coils it's less useful as those don't usually have too much low end in the first place.
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The one thing I would recommend over anything like this is you get a volume pot a bit over the core value ( 550ka 280ka )with a taper that suits your playing ( log audio for gain and vintage custom for clean) and a decent high voltage PIO cap and start using your volume and tone controls .
 
I've got Bare Knuckle Black Dogs in my LP (it came with them), stock pickups in my Strat (I forget what they are, but I like them), and Seymour D Antiquity mini humbuckers in my SG Special.

My favourites are the BKs, for sure. They just sound perfect and have a great mix of bite and warmth, as well as big but tight bottom end for a PAF. They also have an addictive mid-hump I really like and is the "sound of rock" to me. They are pretty versatile and can sound total Angus, with a bit of Steve Clark, but can also be sweet and Dickie Betts-ish if you roll the tone and volume down. LP is a 2011 R9 and had these in it when I bought it used.

I don't really love mini humbuckers in general, but the SDs are the best I've played, for sure. That guitar is a 74 SG Special that was my dad's and is the guitar on which I started learning. The SDs are a huge improvement over the stock Gibson Norlin pickups, which I grew to really dislike.

The Strat pickups are quite low output and sound pretty "authentic" and vintage-y, to me, but I'm not a true Strat player and haven't played a lot of them, or tried different pickups. They can be a bit harsh and you need to watch your tone knobs. I do like these pickups better than a set of Lollars I had on a different Strat. This Strat is a 2016 Wildwood "Thin Skin" 59.
 
mavrick102000 said:
I only have 2 guitars these days so a bit more limited than about 20 years ago.

I've typically preferred more PAF style pickups, even for heavier tones. Typically in the SD Seth Lover, or Gibson 57 line.

On my Suhr Standard Custom I have SSH configuration with the SSV in the bridge which is PAF output and ML60's for the single coils.

On my LP GoldTop it came with Duncan custom shop antiquities they sounded good, but with modelers and "FRFR" they go microphonic real fast, so I switched out to Suhr SSV Neck and SSH (Medium Output) in the bridge. It's been a nice change without going high output on the bridge.
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Love the Seth Lovers. :love
 
Eagle said:
A great paf can do almost anything. Modern amps and pedals can get as much gain as you would ever want so I don’t need high output one trick pony pickups.
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Low output. Besides the P90ish flavor, that is another reason why I love the Bluesbucker DP160, which has a low output.

I've found a review on Reverb that nails my experience it

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Now I have a dilemma: at my J.Custom RG8570CST I have installed a Gravity Storm Neck DP252 replacing the Tone Zone DP155, but I do prefer the Bluesbucker at my old RG550LTD.

I don't know if the Basswood vs Mahogany is part of the equation, but I find that the tones are nicer and richer at the Basswood RG550LTD with Bluesbucker. Lowering the volume at the Gravity Storm doesn't bring the nuances of the Bluesbucker.

Maybe I will try the Bluesbucker at the J.Custom, to compare.

My Bluesbucker is white, though. :facepalm 😅
20220909_160806a.jpg


It's been many years since I played with a PAF. Anyone has compared a PAF with the Bluesbucker?
 
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My guitars are 95% stock on the Pups

Tele - twisted teles, love em
Strat - V-Mod IIs, love em
SG - stock soap bar p90s, love em
LP - This is the only one I've changed up. Have a tendency to dislike stock LP bridge pickups. Really disliked the BB pro in the bridge, it now has an SD Pegasus. Neck is still the stock bb pro
 
TheTrueZoltan! said:
The D Activator rules. Definitely my favorite passive pickup! I always wonder why it isn‘t more popular, IMHO it‘s one of the most balanced and pleasing sounding pickups for high gain.
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I've been off the DActivator train for some time as I have been in Strat land. But my Ibby V with the DActivator is great :satan
 
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