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This time around on my cheap pickup endeavors I decided to do something a little different than what I would normally go for. I wanted a set of pickups that would just sound nasty for my SH550. Something that had a lot of snarl and sound really crunchy. I also wanted a different type of look. Not retro but different. Ladies and gents my goal was reached. I ended up going with Guitar Fetish Dream 180's. They are supposedly a mix between a standard paf humbucker, a p 90 and those retro toaster looking pickups that to my ear always have a great overdriven tone. These pickups ran me $60 for the pair. So I wasnt as much of a cheap wad as the last time but still was under the price of one pickup of the big boys for a full set. Cool thing is they come with mounting rings. Those proved useless as the width of the rings wouldnt match with the holes on my guitar. So again lets get to the pickups
Fit & Finish
Again in this category these score a 10 IMHO. They are supposedly made in the artec factory overseas just like the dragonfire pickups I reviewed recently so this wasnt a huge surprise. Very nice chrome plating that was flawless. Each pickup has 12 adjustable pole piece screws going through a very solid brass back plate. They were also engraved with the GFS logo. 5 wire lead for coil tapping which was a bonus as they didnt mention that on the site. They both came in very nice little boxes with full easy to read wiring instructions. They definitely had the look of more expensive units.
Sound
These pickups are marketed as a mutt of various designs. Claiming to have a vintage type sound. Im not sure of that as I dont play anything vintage. What I can say is these things have alot of crunch. Very Very articulate. Even more so than the DF pickups I reviewed before. They are also dead quiet. I didnt need my noise gate even at the highest volume and gain settings. They have enormous amounts of harmonics and truly do sound nasty but in a good way.
The neck humbucker is on the bright side. I however like my neck pickups bright. If you however are a fan of that seamless fluid like tone from either pickup these are ones you would definitely want to avoid. They have a lot of attitude and if you play sloppy, you will hear it. Even though Im a metal player Im finding that I like a pickup that isnt super hot. I want to be able to hear the notes and let my pedals and amp take care of the distortion. I dont know what the Ω rating is. They are hot, but not so hot that they lose definition at all. If your looking for a pickup that just really has a whole lot of crunch factor and want to hear your pick attack then these are for you.
The bridge pickup should have been named the super crunch. I just cant get over how much bite this thing has. Playing bluesy licks in a style that uses a lot of pinch harmonics is a real treat as they are so easily attainable and again just have an attitude and snarl. The really cool thing is even with that much bite and presence they aren't thin sounding. They have abundant upper mids and the lower mids seem to be subdued. They have a good midrange presence without sounding honky. They do not have earth shattering low end but have enough for most styles. This of course leaves you room to play with on your amps settings.
Now I will be honest. IMHO these pickups arent the best for splitting. When running in split mode with any pickup Im looking for it to sound like a single coil. 90% of the time Im let down when trying to achieve this. When split, both pickups lose some of their bite and there is a volume drop. But the tone really stays the same. Its almost as if you rolled the volume down without a treble bleed attached. Some may find this useful but for me I like to pull up on that tone knob and be in a whole different ball park and have something new going on which just doesnt happen with these pickups.
Overall opinion.
Again Im a super satisfied customer with my cheap pickup quest. Im not about to start buying import guitars as it took alot for me to even open myself up to the idea of buying imported pickups but I am truly amazed at what ive been buying lately. I used to buy the expensive stuff. Duncans, Dimarzio, Lace, emg ETC. and was always let down for the most part. I have a set of emg's and dimarzios in two of my other guitar right now and am seriously considering dumping them to "downgrade". I will also fess up though that I havent tried them all. Ive never played on bareknuckles, fralins or lollars and i hear they are excellent. All I knew was that the most ive ever spent on pickups was $300 for the set and didnt want to pay that anymore and certainly didnt want to go higher. So for a poor boy like me to be able to pay less than a 1/4 of that and be twice as happy ... well lets just say its a breath of fresh air and I couldnt be happier. So to close this out all I can say is dont be afraid to try new things. Let your ears choose what is best for you and your instruments. Ive been finding that while I would never say duncans or other brands sound bad, I will say they just arent MY sound. If you can get over the fact that these are made overseas then you might just be surprised at what you can get for your money. We sometimes forget how many times that even when we do buy an american product how much of those components that make up that product came from the east. I dont think they have come as far with the woodworking skills but they make a damn fine pickup. So with that I still will stand by my oath to never pay for high end pickups again.
Fit & Finish
Again in this category these score a 10 IMHO. They are supposedly made in the artec factory overseas just like the dragonfire pickups I reviewed recently so this wasnt a huge surprise. Very nice chrome plating that was flawless. Each pickup has 12 adjustable pole piece screws going through a very solid brass back plate. They were also engraved with the GFS logo. 5 wire lead for coil tapping which was a bonus as they didnt mention that on the site. They both came in very nice little boxes with full easy to read wiring instructions. They definitely had the look of more expensive units.
Sound
These pickups are marketed as a mutt of various designs. Claiming to have a vintage type sound. Im not sure of that as I dont play anything vintage. What I can say is these things have alot of crunch. Very Very articulate. Even more so than the DF pickups I reviewed before. They are also dead quiet. I didnt need my noise gate even at the highest volume and gain settings. They have enormous amounts of harmonics and truly do sound nasty but in a good way.
The neck humbucker is on the bright side. I however like my neck pickups bright. If you however are a fan of that seamless fluid like tone from either pickup these are ones you would definitely want to avoid. They have a lot of attitude and if you play sloppy, you will hear it. Even though Im a metal player Im finding that I like a pickup that isnt super hot. I want to be able to hear the notes and let my pedals and amp take care of the distortion. I dont know what the Ω rating is. They are hot, but not so hot that they lose definition at all. If your looking for a pickup that just really has a whole lot of crunch factor and want to hear your pick attack then these are for you.
The bridge pickup should have been named the super crunch. I just cant get over how much bite this thing has. Playing bluesy licks in a style that uses a lot of pinch harmonics is a real treat as they are so easily attainable and again just have an attitude and snarl. The really cool thing is even with that much bite and presence they aren't thin sounding. They have abundant upper mids and the lower mids seem to be subdued. They have a good midrange presence without sounding honky. They do not have earth shattering low end but have enough for most styles. This of course leaves you room to play with on your amps settings.
Now I will be honest. IMHO these pickups arent the best for splitting. When running in split mode with any pickup Im looking for it to sound like a single coil. 90% of the time Im let down when trying to achieve this. When split, both pickups lose some of their bite and there is a volume drop. But the tone really stays the same. Its almost as if you rolled the volume down without a treble bleed attached. Some may find this useful but for me I like to pull up on that tone knob and be in a whole different ball park and have something new going on which just doesnt happen with these pickups.
Overall opinion.
Again Im a super satisfied customer with my cheap pickup quest. Im not about to start buying import guitars as it took alot for me to even open myself up to the idea of buying imported pickups but I am truly amazed at what ive been buying lately. I used to buy the expensive stuff. Duncans, Dimarzio, Lace, emg ETC. and was always let down for the most part. I have a set of emg's and dimarzios in two of my other guitar right now and am seriously considering dumping them to "downgrade". I will also fess up though that I havent tried them all. Ive never played on bareknuckles, fralins or lollars and i hear they are excellent. All I knew was that the most ive ever spent on pickups was $300 for the set and didnt want to pay that anymore and certainly didnt want to go higher. So for a poor boy like me to be able to pay less than a 1/4 of that and be twice as happy ... well lets just say its a breath of fresh air and I couldnt be happier. So to close this out all I can say is dont be afraid to try new things. Let your ears choose what is best for you and your instruments. Ive been finding that while I would never say duncans or other brands sound bad, I will say they just arent MY sound. If you can get over the fact that these are made overseas then you might just be surprised at what you can get for your money. We sometimes forget how many times that even when we do buy an american product how much of those components that make up that product came from the east. I dont think they have come as far with the woodworking skills but they make a damn fine pickup. So with that I still will stand by my oath to never pay for high end pickups again.
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