|
Peter's Favorite Guitar & Bass Pickups
06/10/03
What guitar do you own? Did you buy it off the rack? Ibanez, Fender, Gibson, it doesn't matter but most stock pickups suck. Yeah you heard me, they suck.
Now if you like the sound of your guitar, you can stop reading now but if you think it could be better, read on!
Avoid at all costs:
The worst: EMG Select. These are bland, cheap pickups.
Even the cheap Duncan Designed pickups laugh at them. Most stock Fender, Gibson, Ibanez, Schecter, etc pickups are weak. You only get the good stuff when you get the expensive models and believe me, they'll brag about their pickups then! Any stock pickups that are (insert manufacturer name here) guitars suck. They might be made by a well known company but rest assured, they're crap. They are made of the lowest grade materials as fast and cheap as possible. Don't think that just because you buy a guitar that costs over a grand that you're necessarily getting good pickups. Remember, if you're getting good pickups, the companies will remind you of the fact!
The best: I love Seymour Duncan.
Not only is he a super nice guy with a heart of gold but he makes the best pickups that you can buy. He also offers a trade in guarantee which states you can mail yours in for a different pickup if you don't like it. Sweet!
Humbucker Pickups
Seymour Duncan JB: The JB is one of the classic bridge humbucker pickups. It
sounds great, cleans up nice when you back off the volume and it has enough power to scream. This is as heavy as you should go as far as power. Anything more tends to
compress too much and if you're playing through a high-gain setup, it's just overkill. You can't go wrong with this one.
Seymour Duncan Jazz: This is one humbucker that rules in the neck position. When I
was given this one, I was so impressed. Most neck pickups sound muddy and indistinct. The Jazz model is so articulate that every note can be heard. When I split it, it sounds
nice and crisp making it great for funk rhythms. My favorite neck humbucker, ever!
Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II: This is my favorite bridge humbucker. It has such a classic sound. Every note is defined but it's low gain enough that it has great character
and a bell like tone. When I split it, it sounds like a nice single coil pickup, but as a humbucker I can still get it to scream. Everything else I try ends up sounding muddy or
with too much midrange. This one rules!
Other Seymour Duncan: Pearly Gates, and the Custom Custom are great alternatives. They both have a vintage sound with a bit more output. Try them out. Another one
worth mentioning is the Screamin' Demon. Ignore the fact that George Lynch helped design this pickup. It's actually really good. The best way to find out what you like is to
try everything!
Single Coil Pickups (Strat sized)
Seymour Duncan Alnico Pro II: These are sweet sounding pickups. Very nice. Vintage sounding but very articulate. You can't go wrong here.
Seymour Duncan Duckbuckers: I'm one of the few people who actually LOVE this pickup. It sounds clean and clear and is great for funk. It's a parallel humbucker that
doesn't look too funky. It sounds like a great single coil but without the hum.
Other Seymour Duncan: Seymour Duncan puts out a lot of alternatives to the standard single coil pickups. If you don't want to take a router to your strat, you can get
humbuckers that fit in a single coil slot, like the JB Jr. or Little 59. All of these work well and are a good compromise to a larger full sized humbucker.
DiMarzio Virtual Vintage: These pickups are great. They maintain the single coil sound and look but without the 60-cycle hum. They really nailed these and if you want
something other than Seymour Duncan, check these out, you won't be disappointed. DiMarzio is also a great company.
Bass Pickups
Seymour Duncan Basslines: Seymour offers a replacement pickup for any bass out there. The easiest way to improve your crappy bass tone is to change your pickups.
Bartolini: Without a doubt, the best bass pickups out there. I have one in my 6 string.
It rules. I rule. It's articulate and gives me the piano like tone. Very clear and you can hear the highs and lows perfectly. If you want vintage tone, just put some crap-ass
pickups in line with your bass and amp. Or just dial off all the highs. If your into vintage tone, buy a p-bass and call it a day. If you want clear, beautiful, detailed tone, buy
Bartolini!
What I Use
My favorite black Strat: A Seymour Duncan Duckbucker in the neck and an Alnico
Pro II humbucker in the bridge. This one covers just about all of the bases. The Duckbucker & Alnico Pro II are both fairly low gain pickups that work well together.
The middle pickup is the crap stock Strat pickup. I play funk, rock, R&B with this one.
My Steinberger: (Click here to read a review of the new guitars) I have a Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck and right now a Duncan Distortion in the bridge. This guitar
screams! It looks like the guitar will break when I play it but it rocks and rocks hard. This combo works for everything from metal to jazz.
My bass looks like this but has 6 strings. More strings = more sexy!
My Curbow 6-String Bass: Why a Bartolini of course. This bass crushes heads and leaves ears bleeding. What did you say? I can't hear anything anymore. But the
pickups sounds awesome and attracts more women than a pocketfull of hundreds. "Why Peter, is that a Bartolini in your bass or are you just happy to see me?"
My Yamaha Pacifica: A beautiful guitar with a nice vintage tone thanks to it's stock single coil pickups and a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge. Rock on you dirty hippies.
The Wilkinson Trem is great too. Thanks Trev!
Buy this stuff now! Go to Musician's Friend and find all the pickups mentioned. Don't go through the arduous menu. Just use the search box. After you upgrade your guitar, go to the message board and share your findings! Sound better with new pickups now!
|
