Pickup Opinions

[szulc]

I have tried DiMarzios, Gibson PAFs, Semour Duncan Custom, Pearly Gates, Trembucker and JB , aso Strat Vintage Staggered and
Quarter pounders, Lace Sensors, EMGs, Acto Dyne and RioGrande.

Depending on what I am after my preferences are (in this order) The rio grande texas barbeque, the JB, the pearly gates, custom, the Acto Dynes sound good clean, the EMG is good for direct into my vs880 since it is a low impedence output. All of the dimarzios seem to have a particular annoying upper midrange peak that I don't like, now I do have a FRED which I have not yet tried.

Over all the RioGrande and Duncan stuff gets it for me, I do wish I had the riogrande with the coils split so I could phase it and tap it.

I like the ActoDyne as a single coil replacement because it is very quiet but the humbucker version is kind of sterile.

[EricV]

Nice topic...

I am pretty much using DiMarzios exclusively. For distorted lead & rhythm, the higain stuff, I love the DiMarzio Tone Zone or Double Whammy ( the latter is some kind of an ancestor of the Tone Zone and The Breed ).
Those are the high-octane pickups. Both do have that wah-in-mid-position-like sound and boosted mid and bass. Kicks the amp a bit, and when playing with a clean sound, you can get a nice, gritty sound.

( James, in case you wanna try that FRED... it too has a midrange- boost... )

When it comes to music where I need a lot of clean sounds, or moderate lead sounds etc., I use my old strat, which is equipped with:
- A Duncan Distortion in the bridge
- A Duncan Antiquity singlecoil in the middle- and in the neck-position.
The Antiquitys do hum a bit, but they have a nice, glassy single coil sound. The sound engineers I usually work with love that guitar.
BTW, "Dreamer" was recorded with that guitar, and the sounded was quite appropiate for the sound I had in my mind. Some people who listened to the tune think it´s an acoustic guitar...

I used to use a Valley Arts Strat with an EMG 85 and two SAs. I didn´t think those sounded too sterile. That combination sounded good, especially when I used a lot of rack-stuff.
But for some reason, I prefer the passive pickups I mentioned above.
My Tele is loaded with two Lindy Fralin vintage-style pickups, which really bring out the nice sound of that guitar.

So I kinda have guitars for different styles of sound / music. And although I always loved to turn it up and use one of those HOT humbuckers ( like the Double Whammy ), I learned to appreciate the sound of single-coils, especially when it comes to nice, warm clean-sounds.
Eric