Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Talk about your Burstbuckers and Seymour Duncans....

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griff
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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by griff »

Great thread topic!
Running Pearly Gates in my strat. Had a blend pot installed so it can blend with the neck pickup. Was a great move. I use it as a kind of tone control. Removes a lot of shrill high end.
Thinking of a new bridge PU, and its hard to decide what to get. So many options!

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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by KNNZ »

Huge fan of P90s here, Fralins and Lollar low winds
Humbuckers - Lollar Imperials and El Rayos

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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by Danger Mouse »

Aquila Rossa wrote:But the pup that really stood out was on an old Aria Pro that got stolen. It was the single coil neck pup. The push pull pot did something to it that was just really sweet. Added thickness. Not sure what the pot was doing tbh, because I was not so clued up on tech back then. That was a great guitar.
Possibly a passive boost circuit, I have a Charvel from the same era that has one. Does the tone thickening you describe, but it's exactly the opposite of what I need for the sort of music I play, so I don't use it. I assume it was an attempt to get attention from the active pick-up/EMG fans, as back then a set of EMGs were definitely not cheap.

I am a man of simple tastes, if it's not EMGs, then I can't go past the Seymour Duncan Distortion. I've A:B'd one with a similar guitar that had BKP VHII's in it, nothing in it at all.
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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by willow13 »

clearly I am the odd one out because I don't even really think about it much :rofl:
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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by calling card »

Oddity here too, I accept whatever the thing came with for better or worse.
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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by null_pointer »

Really liked the Manilus Quiet Goats (P90s with very low noise) - slightly lower output but all the toan. The Klein Epic series Tele pups are great too, especially the broadcaster bridge.
However I own neither set at the moment, and am very happy with what is in my guitars currently...

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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by sizzlingbadger »

Whole lotta hum-buckers, Gibson P90's and Bill Lawrence keystone single coils are my favourites.
Tube amp and guitar tones straight from 1958… amazing how believable the sounds were back then, even without the modellers...

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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by Reg18 »

Spent way too much time changing pickups and experimenting.
No real conclusions either, I've had some cheap pickups that Sounded great and I've had some Seymour Duncan's and Dimarzios I didn't care for much, I've also had the exact opposite as well! Changing the Pot value can yield a much bigger difference than just giving up on a set of pickups and hoping a different brand will cure the shrill high end or muddy low end etc.
The metal type in the pickup cover can make a massive difference also! I think often the cheaper pickups get it wrong by using a cheap metal for the pickup cover and over winding assuming everyone will want a hotter sounding pickup but often just ends up being a muddy hot mess!
And then there is magnet types and the variations are endless!
I guess you would hope the higher end stuff takes all that into consideration and experiments to get all the combinations right.

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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by TmcB »

Single coil wrote:Dimarzio paf 36 is probably my favourite in a les paul. Super distortion good too, but desert island etc it'd be the 36.

50+ guitars and none of them have had p90s so can't comment.

Looking forward to pissing around with my tele even more; thinking hot rail this time. Just can't gel with the tele singles. Everyone else can make them sound good though. :lol:
If you want Tele noiseless pups that are in the P90 territory grab a Dimarzio Area T Hot bridge, and Area T neck - they have the prettiness of a single with the output and lows of a humbucker.
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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by philly »

Kinman Broadcasters!!!!
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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by druz15 »

most of my guitars have upgraded pickups in them, from Bareknuckles, to Fender Custom shop tele pickups to Dimarzio 36th Anniversary Masters.

By the far the absolute best pickup upgrade, and most notable improvement in tone, was upgrading my White Falcon to have TV Jones Classic + Classic + pickups.
To be fair this was also a change from Dynasonic to "humbucking" style, but still hands down a massive improvement.
Every other pickup swap has been "oh yep that definitely sounds better" but nothing has ever blown me away as much as the TVs
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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by godgrinder »

Reg18 wrote:I guess you would hope the higher end stuff takes all that into consideration and experiments to get all the combinations right.
I read that BKP wound their covered pickups differently to uncovered ones. Although I generally hear people saying the covered ones are more "wimpy".

It's still your own responsibility to pick something that's suitable for your guitar/tuning/amp combination though.
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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by mrmofo »

how close pick ups are to the strings makes a huge difference imo
JB
Paf Pro
super 2
super 3
all get a vote
SSL1/2 get a vote too

as well as all mentioned so far
There are still some that think the neck PU is moved to accommodate the extra frets which only proves they cannot detect the difference in length of each.

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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by NippleWrestler »

I get most of mine custom made to specs I've found work the bst for me and my style over the years:

Bridge:

A8/16k wind. Or A5/15k wind. Symmetrical winds.

Neck:

A2/8k wind. Asymmetrically wound.

I've got 6 sets to these recipes, they all sound awesome. Mostly handmade by a guy in Howick.

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Re: Wot pickups is goodera than wot others is?

Post by Molly »

godgrinder wrote:
Reg18 wrote:I guess you would hope the higher end stuff takes all that into consideration and experiments to get all the combinations right.
I read that BKP wound their covered pickups differently to uncovered ones. Although I generally hear people saying the covered ones are more "wimpy".

It's still your own responsibility to pick something that's suitable for your guitar/tuning/amp combination though.
It's interesting you would say that. Just yesterday I stood in my freezing cold garage for half an hour removing the cover from a bridge position BK Mule and fitting it to a Les Paul (in the process removing a DiMarzio Airbucker for no reason other than that the plastic looked cheap). I'd previously matched the neck position BK Mule with a BK Riff Raff in the bridge as it seemed better balanced than the Mule/Mule set. Long story short, I'd ended up with a spare bridge Mule.

Got to say, removing the cover was a definite improvement for me. It's paired with a SD Alinco II in the neck. Wanted the LP to be a bit more aggressive than my '58 335 and it's definitely that (even though it's not that high an output pickup).

My Mrs never comments on my guitar sound but yesterday just casually said: "That sounds good". I'd just found an overdrive setting in the Katana that I liked and was playing the Les Paul.

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