What PUPs are you loving?

[Twitch]

I've got the slash set in one of my lps. Love em. They have so much clarity and articulation. They're not by any means hi output though, so I tend to not play that guitar through my blackstar. The blackstar is a little weak when it comes to its own gain.

[Tetsuo]

I have never played a Blackstar but I thought they were pretty high gain?

[Twitch]

I have the little ht5. It's medium gain by today's standards. The slash set just doesn't drive the preamp hard enough. A jb will though. With the jb or any other hi output pickup it's pretty gainy.

[Tetsuo]

Interesting. The slash are V's right?


I ordered the Iron Gear Rolling Mill overwound bridge set. Under $90 shipped for the set... How can I not try them at least.

[Twitch]

V's as in alnico? If that's what you mean then they are IIs.

[toejam]

I had an Alnico II Pro in the neck of a Brian Moore and it did sound pretty sweet. I don't know why they made Slash a signature set when they're the exact same thing.

[Tetsuo]

Yeah I have a set of II's and they are damn clear.

Why do they make the slash stuff? Same as most artist signatures. What is the Hetfield set? Zakk's set. Zakk's Mxr stuff etc... Put the name on it and it will sell. The household names anyway.

[toejam]

Yeah, that's true. Some people are just willing to pay more for a signature set even when they can just get the original individual version cheaper.

[Tetsuo]

With the Zakk MXR stuff used it goes for cheaper than what the normal Mxr does.

[Nightbat]

I had an Alnico II Pro in the neck of a Brian Moore and it did sound pretty sweet. I don't know why they made Slash a signature set when they're the exact same thing.

FWIW, the Alnico II slash is said to be wound a little hotter than the regulars

[toejam]

FWIW, the Alnico II slash is said to be wound a little hotter than the regulars

Really? That's interesting. I thought it had the same exact specs as the regular.

[Nightbat]

Really? That's interesting. I thought it had the same exact specs as the regular.

Don't know the real world specs, SD's site puts the Slash bridge at 8.9 DC and the regular A2 bridge at 8.8
though I would sincerely doubt SD being so fraudulent and losing credibility (and be taken to court) to just change the sticker on the box
But from what I understand, the A2 Slash came to be because Slash loved the normal ones except for the output

[AdRock]

I had been using the SD Distortion set on my guitars and was happy with them. I like the bite they have. However, I loaned a buddy 2 of my guitars. 1 had the distortion set in it and the other had the jb/jazz hot rod set in it. The difference between the 2 guitars was pretty substantial. The distortion set sounded thin and high endy. The hot rod set had a little less bite, but a lot more bottom end. The hotrod set sat in the mix so much better. Ive switched to the hotrod set in all my guitars since then.

[lepard]

The 3 best sounding pickups I have used in over 200 guitars:

1. Original vintage Dean DiMarzio Super Distortions(they are different)
2. Seymour Duncan Parallel Axis Distortion, probably the best non-active pickup you can buy today(and I HATE all other Seymour Duncan pickups)
3. Bill Lawrence L500(not the XL500 that Dimebag used). Hot but better balanced and not as shrill sounding as the XL500.

A good, well balanced, high output passive pickup will always have something extra, more life, than any active pickup. I do like EMG's and never rip them out of guitars that come with them. They are just missing a little something.

Other "pretty darn good" pickups
1. EMG81/85
2. DiMarzio D-Activator
3. Gibson 498T/500T

Pickups that SUCK !

1. Seymour Duncan JB, the worlds most overated piece of shit pickup. Lifeless, inconsistent, and horribly balanced. The JB's made over the past 20 years share absolutely nothing in common with the JB's made in the 80's that actually sounded pretty good.
2. DiMarzio X2N, shrill, over the top gain EQ'd way too "trebely".
3. Seymour Duncan Invader, another poorly EQ'd pickup with too much bass.
4. Anything with the words "Duncan Design". They all sound like an even worse JB.

[Radiohead]

Difficult question, as I really believe the body wood, mass, neck, scale length, bridge, nut and obviously the amp all combine to create the tone. I have had several guitars now, that where dead and lifeless however became my favorite guitars by changing out the pickups. Having said that, here are my top pick ups as they sound great in almost any guitar IMO.

Suhr Aldrich Set
Dimarzio 30th anniversary
EVH Frankenstein Bridge
EVH Wolfgang Set
Evolution Neck
JB/59 Set