What PUPs are you loving?

[Tetsuo]

What is floating everyone's boat? Mainly higher gain pickups I am looking at although I do have a strat and a bluesboy I am going to change up too. what small builds are good? What about the new down tuned voiced pups from Dimarzio or Duncan (i.e. Nazgul). Looking for some things to play with. Love to hear some thoughts.

[Brandenburg]

im a big Iron Gear fan.. I have a Rolling Mills in the neck of my hsh strat.. really diggin the tone.. i have 1 sec of actives, 2 single coils and 2 humbucker models by iron gear..Rolling mills just stands out.. the pig iron sc sounds nice too

http://axetec.co.uk/guitar_parts_uk_032.htm

My absolute favorite pup is my 1979 T TOP pup in my #1 dk-2.. sounds phenomenal IMO.. very creamy and harmonically pleasing to my ears.. I wish i could split it though.. LOL..

i really prefer medium output pups.. some say you cant do metal with 'em.. i say BS

im also liking the fender triplebucker in my stagemaster.. did not think i would and only really bought one just to experiment with..had to do some research and a bit DMM probing/note taking to figure out how to wire it though..

[xenophobe]

I like the oldies but goodies... Super Distortion and EMG 85 are my two favorites... I like the SH-5... and I like the humbucker that Fender puts in their USA Deluxe Strats. I do like the J50BC. The D'Activators are pretty ok too.

[Tetsuo]

Are the Iron Gear A UK company? Never heard of them. Xeno what does that strat hum bucket sound like? Is it PAF like?

[markD]

Pretty basic for me....for humbuckers the SD JB in the bridge works very well with my amp/speaker combo. In the neck I like a '59 or a Jazz. For single coils I seem to be preferring Fender pickups. I have always liked the 57/62, and in my strats I am using the Texas Specials these days.

[Brandenburg]

Are the Iron Gear A UK company? Never heard of them. Xeno what does that strat hum bucket sound like? Is it PAF like?

yep UK company. excellent pups for half the cost of SD.. went to them originally because i wanted something different than a SD,Dimazio or BK.. offering that everyone else was using...i was not disappointed..
out of 6 guitars and 14 possibly pups..6 are iron gear, 1 gibson, 2 PRS,1 fender,1 SD, 1 squire, 2 EMG's.. . if they would have 7 string models i would of snagged them instead of the PRS

[Matt_B]

I take the old EVH route with pickups. Get a good PAF (I like the 36th Anniversary PAFs from Dimarzio) and use EQ and boost to make it behave the way you want it. This gives me a lot more versatility not just on a moment-to-moment but over the long haul as my tastes change.

I use an Axe-FX as my "amp" so I can do pretty much any I want to the tone and volume feeding my signal chain.

[toejam]

My favorites lately are the DiMarzio D Activator 7-string set in my LTD AW-7, and the Duncan Nazgul 8-string in my Carvin DC800. The Nazgul really isn't quite as hot as Duncan's literature makes it out to be, but it does sound great and is pretty clear sounding.

[Brandenburg]

I take the old EVH route with pickups. Get a good PAF (I like the 36th Anniversary PAFs from Dimarzio) and use EQ and boost to make it behave the way you want it. This gives me a lot more versatility not just on a moment-to-moment but over the long haul as my tastes change.

I agree.. even though i dont really use an EQ much to shape my sound and i dont use a boost.. got a 1982 ts-9 that ive been meaning to work on and get working properly for that function.. I just like the lower output as its easier to control for me and just sounds smoother..

probably,the output of the 36th Anniversary PAFs are similar to a ttop.. both use a5 mags.. both are around 7.5k dcr.. not sure on the wire/windings though..

edit> i do have some actives by iron gear called volts, which are the hottest pups ive ever tried.. not overly impressed though as imo.. they are too hot or maby i dont know what the hell im talking about..

[diablomozart]

gravity storms...d.m.

[xenophobe]

Are the Iron Gear A UK company? Never heard of them. Xeno what does that strat hum bucket sound like? Is it PAF like?

Kinda reminded me of the Super Distortion but with a bit more warmth... a little more bottom end and a little more mid, but I haven't side by sided them for probably a year or so. My recollection might be a little off.

[VitaminG]

Dimarzio Dominions. They make my sac tingle. Split nicely too

[Tetsuo]

Dimarzio Dominions. They make my sac tingle. Split nicely too

Interesting because I would like a Morton.


Xeno I asked primarily because I have a deluxe strat I might trade for a h/s/s strat and I honestly thought I would be swapping out the pup. I'm liking what you are saying.

[VitaminG]

I'd love a Morton too. Picked up the Dominions to put in my ash Fusion Plus with the factory 5-way megaswitch. They are a nice sounding pickup and split way better than the J-50/J-80 pair that were in it

[xenophobe]

Xeno I asked primarily because I have a deluxe strat I might trade for a h/s/s strat and I honestly thought I would be swapping out the pup. I'm liking what you are saying.

The eq curve is similar enough to the SD and 85 that I can play it without tweaking my settings much. It's fairly bold, but not really a super high gain pickup. I like it, and I'm a bit picky. I don't like the Invader or Bill Lawrence pickups much either. If that tells you anything.