Cheap pups that suprise with great sound!

[gemini8026]

Just a thread to discuss some of your favourite "cheaper pups" that sound suprisingly good.

I start this because I I must admit I am very suprised. I picked up an Ibanez RG321 recently to replace my SL2H I sold to fund my schooling. Anyhow, it's a Mahogony body with the Ibanez Infinity 3 and 4 pickups.

I must admit, Im really impressed. This combination sounds wonderful in my rig. The cleans on single coil mode are excellent (on an acoutic simulator astonishingly clean) and they have plenty of bite in high gain application with more then enough squeal.

When I bought the guitar, the guy told me it had Dimarzio's in it, but when I received it it was the stock infinities. I was miffed, but now I dont really care, as the sound is great!

Share any other tales of cheap pups that you love! (2 of these inf's sell for 20$ on Ebay, while 2 Duncans or Dimarzio's are usually 100$+)

[Speiro]

I'll probably start a riot now but I have Mighty Mite Motherbuckers in 3 of my guitars now and really like them.

[mm2002]

You guys obviously don't understand the difference between good pickups and bad pickups. The rule of thumb is, the more expensive it is the better the pickup is. The cheaper it is the crappier. You can't go by your ears, you have to look at the price tag and brand name.






:ROTF:

[jgcable]

You guys obviously don't understand the difference between good pickups and bad pickups. The rule of thumb is, the more expensive it is the better the pickup is. The cheaper it is the crappier. You can't go by your ears, you have to look at the price tag and brand name.






:ROTF:

Mark.......THE VOICE OF REASON......
I agree a zillion %.
Let me also add an INDUSTRY SECRET.
I might get into a ton of trouble because of what I am about to reveal.
Hold on kiddies because this one is gonna blow the pickup industry wide open!!!!

Here is how to insure that you get the best sounding pickups you ever heard. GUARANTEED!!!!!

Walk into a local GC and ask for a Dimarzio or a Duncan. They usually sell for around $99.00 for the good ones. Offer the sales person $150.00 for it. Make sure you offer at least $50.00 more than the sale price. $200.00 will even make it better. $300.00... and you will have a boutique pickup and tone NIRVANA. Remember kiddies... you get what you pay for.

Let me tell you a TRUE story. NO BS...

I am a Duracell and Eveready Battery dealer at my job.
Duracell makes 2 types of alkaline batteries. Coppertops and Procells.
Eveready makes 2 types of alkaline batteries. Energizers and generic.
The Duracell coppertops and the Eveready Energizers are 3 times the price of their generic versions. Thank goodness that most people don't know that they come off of the EXACT SAME ASSEMBLY LINE!!! The only difference is the graphics and packaging on the batteries. I gotta believe that the big pickup manufacturers do the same thing.

Now.. back to the topic.

I think that Ibanez V pickups sound great. Duncan Performers are nice pickups and I have had several EMG HZ's that sounded fine to my ears.

[CharvelRocker]

Kramer Quad-rail pickups are awesome.

[straycat]

I like the GFS selection.

[fett]

That's why I have a jillion guitars. It blows my mind on how some many "no name" pups sound so good and varied. It's just fun to hear the difference. I will say this, however, the pups do put you in the mood to play whatever strikes your fancy.

[toejam]

Kramer Quad-rail pickups are awesome.

I dig them, too! The old passive EMG Selects were pretty good as well; though, a little on the bassy side.

[straycat]

The EMG selects sound killer in a maple bodied guitar no shit.
I have a 1980 Aria PROII L.P.copy with original brass coverd pickups and it kills.Huge fat tone.

[rjohnstone]

I played a Stagg Les Paul copy with no name pups in it and I thought they were great.
It was a cheap $199 copy (bolt-on neck), but that thing had great action and frikkin tone for miles.

[gemini8026]

Kramer Quad - Rails. I found them heavy and muddy.

That was my issue. HEAVY bass. I had issues dialing out the mud perfectly!

[Newc]

There's an import Charvel Star out there (white with lightning bolt, reverse head) that has some of the best pickups I've heard. No idea who made them, but I'd like to find out

Also, I had a Jackson JX10 - SLS-shaped with 3 Hot-Rails-type DDs. Those actually sounded nice for a $200 Made In India job.

[quakana]

I like the GFS selection.

+1 I have played them before and they are pretty good

[hippietim]

I had some GFS Gretsch clone pickups that were very good.

But don't kid yourself too much about cheap pickups fellas. Most of them really sound like absolute canned ass. If you want to say they sound "good for the money", then sure they're fantastic.

I think it also matters what you plug in to. A great guitar with expensive pickups is not going to sound much better than a cheap guitar with crap pickups when you plug it into a cheap solid state amp or a Boogie Rectifier with the gain dimed.

It's true of some expensive gear as well. Like when I had a Vetta - I know that the guitar/pickups I was using mattered less to the sound than it would with a traditional amplifier. A Strat still sounded like a Strat but the difference between two Strats was less noticeable with that amp.

[Alvin_Wilson]

I like the GFS selection.

+2. I have used the Lil' Killer in the neck and middle positions of a DK2. Great pickups. I haven't tried their humbuckers, but I'm going to order a Crunchy PAF from them.

Alvin