Your favorite pickup combo and why?

Rexgtr

Rexgtr

Experienced
I've just discovered what many already knew.
Jazz neck
Custom Custom bridge.

I have a '79 Gibson LPC, the T Tops are nice but the bridge pup doesn't have enough gain IMO.
I tried my Godin LGXT last night Jazz/Custom Seymour Duncan's and that's it right there!

I've read that the Jazz was modelled after the T Top neck pup so I'm going to install a SD Custom Custom SH-11 in my Les Paul.
Stoked! :D
 
Dimarzio Super Distortion & PAF Pro. I have those in my Jackson Soloist. I love the ''chewy'' feel & sound of the SD in the bridge. The PAF is a great match. Great for 70's - 80's rock & hair metal.
 
Suhrfer, does the Super Distortion have good cleans?

I had at least 4 Super Distortion pups years ago and sold them, wish I kept them.
 
Rotti, I just read about the process of making the Bare Knuckle Steve Steven's signature pup Rebel Yell, Steve said it sounds just like a SD JB.
Don't know how accurate that is.
 
Recently put in BKP Rebel Yell’s in my Les Paul and love them. Especially the neck pickup is spectacular. Before the BKP I had first the stock burst bucker Pro’s and then a set of Suhr Doug Aldrich’s in there and found the neck pickup to be too muddy with both of them. Not so with the BKP. Love them.

I’ve just also last week changed pickups in my Suhr Strat and got a BKP Crawler with series/parallel switching and DiMarzio Area 58 for the neck and 67 for the middle. Very early days yet but seems like an improvement over the SSV and V60’s that was in there before. The V60’s and Area 58/67 are close:ish in sound but the fact that the Area’s are noise cancelling makes up for a lot in my book. I don’t think that the BKP Crawler was as much of an improvement over the Suhr SSV’s as the Rebel Yells was over the Doug Aldrich ones, and I still prefer it. Played a gig the day I got my Suhr back last Saturday and a couple of guitar playing friends both said they preferred the sound of my Suhr over my Les Paul. I used the Suhr for more pop songs and the Les Paul for more heavier rock songs and they are both strat guys, although one of them was singing praises of the sound of my Les Paul from a previous gig. Not a definitive result and playing my Les Paul feels like coming home every day I pick it up :). Looking to get a Les Paul Axcess for the improved playability and would consider moving the Rebell Yell’s to that one and making my current Les Paul more old school with BKP The Mule….

I have a Maton BB1200 Semi-Hollow with Suhr SSV’s in there and they work great in that guitar so not looking at changing. If I where I’d be looking at some BKP’s or possibly trying out Lollars from the comments above.

So yeah, Bare Knuckle Pickups all the way, at least for now.
 
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Rexx said:
Suhrfer, does the Super Distortion have good cleans?

I had at least 4 Super Distortion pups years ago and sold them, wish I kept them.
Click to expand...
Not the ideal pickup for cleans. If I want a cleaner pickup I have a Suhr C2 with a Suhr SSV bridge pickup. :encouragement:
 
Thanks, good to know. Cleans are important, I can't deal with slight clipping when it should be no clipping. Guess I'll stick with what I know is pleasing to my ears.
T Top neck and Custom bridge! :)
 
just had a Lollar Chicago Steel for Strat pickup installed (bridge) on my black Top Strat.
I'm lovin it.

based on the tone in this video:
 
That's a hard one! For strats, Zexcoil Vintage single 5+ in neck, Vintage single 5 in the middle, Juicybucker in bridge. For my '58 Danny, that stock, drastically underwound low output single pup! NOTHING like it! For many, many guitars: P-90s. Lollar made the P-90 in my St. Blues '61 south, and it's my favorite P-90 of all. I really need to check out more of their pups - for my next strat project. I friggin LOVE p-90s - kinda best of SC/HB worlds together (been bitching at Zexcoil to model them for a Zex P-90).. For any SG/LP, Gibson '57 Classic (4 conductor) in neck, '57 Classic + (4 conductor) in bridge. These are Alnico 2's, I believe, and they are sweet and saturated. I actually REALLY liked the 'classic' Epiphone Alnico V's that came with my SG. Really creamy.
 
For Humbuckers -- I really like the stock pickups that came with my favorite Gibson Guitars

CS 58RI Les Paul Cloud 9 (Burstbuckers)
CS 336 (57 Classics)

I have tried many pickup combinations (many already named here) and I always go back to those two for my Gibbys.

The Single coil pickups that I am really digging these days are the Dimarzio Area '61 pickups.

I have two of these on my James Tyler Burning Water 2k in the neck and middle positions and they sound incredible.

Love this guitar

IMG_0890_zps0dbabf10.jpg
 
Rexx said:
Rotti, I just read about the process of making the Bare Knuckle Steve Steven's signature pup Rebel Yell, Steve said it sounds just like a SD JB.
Don't know how accurate that is.
Click to expand...

I don't exactly agree. I think the character is very similar, but RYs clean up much better and are more articulate... better note seperation.

Per Tim, the RYs are specially voiced nail bombs with all the output and a bit more of a vintage feel & more versatility.
 
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EMG SA & EMG SPC Mid Booster (on a American Deluxe Strato)

Because it gives me that instant Gilmour tone, and many other things…
 
I think the pickup sets I've been happiest with are: DiMarzio Steve's Special (B) and Air Norton (N) - the old Ibanez Petrucci model combo. I have them in my old RG750. It's very clean and versatile. The Steve's Special has a nice scoop in the mids and works both for chunking as well as that Straty, spanky tone. The Air Norton sounds tubey (for lack of a better descriptor) and is very responsive to pick attack. Even as a full humbucker, it has a lot of character.

In my Strat I have the Virtual Vintage set. They are the Stratiest sounding pickups I've ever heard. Take that iconic single-coil Strat tone and exaggerate it. This set is ridiculously responsive to pick attack and expressive. It might not be the most versatile set, but if you want a hyper-Strat tone, this is the set for you.

I sold my Ibanez Prestige RG2027XVV (to a member of this forum) and it had a PAF Pro 7 in the bridge that Steve Blucher was kind enough to provide me. He said I was one of three people on the planet to have one - Mr. Satriani being one of the others. This pickup was the only pickup I liked in the bridge position in that guitar (and it was the fourth!).

All that said, I'm really happy with the stock Cepheus pickups in my Agile 9-string. They're very balanced and have a good amount of personality. And I'm able to do the pinch harmonics for the first time since my teens with them!
 
EMG's 81 + 85. loved them ever since i put them in 7yrs ago. I was changing pickup all the time and all had pro's and con's but for my style, EMG's are a great all around pickup. Very clear with heavy distortion, i can hear every note even with drop tuning and a nice clean sound too. Every thing else sound wrong.
 
With EMGs I like them but do to forgetfulness and sometimes drinking. I forget to unplug them and the battery drains.
One pro for passives.
I do like the EMG 89, it's an 85 humbucker and an SA single coil in one, like it in the bridge position. Just have a push/pull pot to switch.
 
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