What humbucker style pickups do you use and why?

[maggot]

I'm giving humbuckers one last shot because I like the fact that, y'know, they buck hum (I like noiseless singles like DiMarzio Areas just fine), I'm very close to going all P-90 all the time in my Gibson-style guitars. I just can't get used to those weird humbuckler mids!

P90's fuckin rule!

i love P90 tone...the hum pisses me off when playing at volume with a band...so usually use humbuckers. But for home use I pretty much only use my P90 guitars...they just have a richer tone and less compressed

I'm kind of in the opposite camp: I pay a lot of attention to the hum at home (or while recording) and it bothers me, but live, I don't pay a lot of attention to it. There are so many reasons to mute everything between songs, anyway, and when I'm making a ruckus, I don't pay that much attention.

For single-coil guitars, I'm pretty committed to noiseless Dimarzio fake "single coils", Areas and Injectors and the like, but there's not a really great P-90 or hum-sized fake P-90 that's noiseless. Maybe the Lindy Fralin ones that I can't afford. I bet the Railhammers are relatively quiet, with the metal covers.

[maggot]

I got a custom-wound Alnico IV pickup from Buddha Pickups (on Reverb) to use as my bridge pickup. I haven't tried dooming with a band on it yet. He does a good job. It's a low-output hum, but it's punchy and present like a high-output. Has a great Malcolm Young punch on it even tuned to C, and a wiry lead sound. Lots of clarity and plays well with fuzzes because it's not too loud. It may not have a ton of low end for doom, but it has a fairly flat frequency response so you can dial in what you need. Anyway, the dude does a great job and he'll do what you ask for $50 + $6 shipping. I asked for low output, clarity and punch and gave him some specifications and definitely got back what I asked for. I asked for A4 and 9K, but he'll do, say A8 and 15K if that's what you want.

Here's a somewhat out-of-tune (and way quieter and cleaner than usual) cell phone demo I did yesterday. I do crunch first, then clean then amp distortion. The dirty part starts at about 2:30.

I can't get the vid to embed. Here's the link:

https://youtu.be/wEzRcMwgiJ0?t=2m26s

[krlpuretone]

Spent a lot of time and effort trying various combos, since there was a shop upstairs and we had time on snowy days.

Bought a Goldtop reissue that had Timbuckers in, sold the two Timbuckers because they were kind of weak and worth $800. Replaced those with some Wolfetone Marshallhead 2s that I helped to develop; really nails the vintage PAF sound IMO and we actually A/Bd em with some real PAFs.

also have a Les Paul Standard that I replaced the stock pickups (mushy/congested) with zebra Seymour Duncan uncovered 59s, which totally opened up the sustain on the guitar.

Also have a '97 SG with stock Gibby pickups, but rewired the old way which also opened up that guitar. If I were to change those, I'd probably go to Lollars.

[NoLA-Riffft]

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[whiskey_face]

update

got a used black winter for cheap and had dr poop drop it into my flying V tuned to F

it wins. holy fuck dicks.

[legbear]

I'm using a Lace Drop&Gain in the bridge and a Lace Finger Burner in the neck of a 79 Epi Genesis. Very very versatile pup combination. Very full range output lots of volume and clarity. The reason I use these pups is that some home-skillets in bands here can get Lace stuff at cost...

After hearing Dr. Poops custom guitar that has a Lollar PAF in the bridge and a Lollartron in the neck, I kinda think my pups dont sound so good anymore.

[NoLA-Riffft]

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[odontophobia]

I haven't gotten my Mean 90's installed yet. Thinking I might try to make sure that I get some good shielding down, too.

[grindonomicon]

GFS Pickups: Have the overwound Tele bridge in my pinecaster that was pictured a few pages back, killer Tele bridge, esp for the $$. Fatter than a regular tele bridge, still clear. The Brassbottom strat neck pickup is in that guitar too, but they're discontinuing those. Poor build quality / fit, but after some dremeling, I got it put together, and it sounds good. Might swap it out for my spare Fender neck pu though, so not amazing. Also a little thicker than a normal strat neck, but still clear and chimey / quacky.

The regular P-90's are great, but I haven't tried others in the same price range, like UK's Iron Gear version.

They quit making the "Wild Dog", or only had gold left last time I looked, but that was a seriously ass-hauling mini-humbucker. Had a Korean SG that just sound dull with every P-90 I tried, got one of those and dremeled a bit and WOW. Still kind of miss that guitar, but one of my best friend's wanted it for a slide blues guitar. And I have and can find others.

Couple of my friends swear by the rails humbuckers GFS makes - one for bridge guitar pickup, one for a bass replacement / 2nd pickup.

[NoLA-Riffft]

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[HeavyXIII]

Spent a lot of time and effort trying various combos, since there was a shop upstairs and we had time on snowy days.

Bought a Goldtop reissue that had Timbuckers in, sold the two Timbuckers because they were kind of weak and worth $800. Replaced those with some Wolfetone Marshallhead 2s that I helped to develop; really nails the vintage PAF sound IMO and we actually A/Bd em with some real PAFs.

also have a Les Paul Standard that I replaced the stock pickups (mushy/congested) with zebra Seymour Duncan uncovered 59s, which totally opened up the sustain on the guitar.

Also have a '97 SG with stock Gibby pickups, but rewired the old way which also opened up that guitar. If I were to change those, I'd probably go to Lollars.

I think I'll try a rail humbucker in the bridge of my new project guitar. I am too use to high output from my Emgs but don't miss the tone.

Don't lie to yourself. You do. Sometimes. When you're not playing doom.

[NoLA-Riffft]

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[TempusEdaxRerum]

I'm currently using Lace Nitro Hemis in both my neck and bridge, but I intend to switch over to blk/tri.
Which should be checked out if not mentioned before. Pure doom/black metal pickups. With decent demos of them too.

[potatofarmer]

I have an SGJ that has standard 490R/T pickups, but both bobbins are slugs instead of one having screws. I swapped the magnets (and took off the stupid covers) - an alnico 8 in the bridge and an unoriented alnico 5 in the neck. Huge huge improvement; more output and better tonal balance. Bridge is meatier and neck is brighter. Tempted to try an A8 in the neck too.

Anyone try Bill Lawrence Wilde pickups? I have a set of L-200Ts in my bari-tuned tele that are the perfect stacked buckers. Wish I'd tried the 298s though. I also have a pair of L-90s (8H & 6H) in an Epi LP that sound goddamn huge but a little too dark. That's what I get for ordering the hottest wind, but it could be the guitar too. Becky went nuts on me and banned me from their forum so I guess in the future I'll be going with DiMarzio? Anyway, great bass and mids with those. Friggin massive dynamic range too.

[The Mad Titan]

I'm giving humbuckers one last shot because I like the fact that, y'know, they buck hum (I like noiseless singles like DiMarzio Areas just fine), I'm very close to going all P-90 all the time in my Gibson-style guitars. I just can't get used to those weird humbuckler mids!

P90's fuckin rule!

i love P90 tone...the hum pisses me off when playing at volume with a band...so usually use humbuckers. But for home use I pretty much only use my P90 guitars...they just have a richer tone and less compressed

I'm kind of in the opposite camp: I pay a lot of attention to the hum at home (or while recording) and it bothers me, but live, I don't pay a lot of attention to it. There are so many reasons to mute everything between songs, anyway, and when I'm making a ruckus, I don't pay that much attention.

For single-coil guitars, I'm pretty committed to noiseless Dimarzio fake "single coils", Areas and Injectors and the like, but there's not a really great P-90 or hum-sized fake P-90 that's noiseless. Maybe the Lindy Fralin ones that I can't afford. I bet the Railhammers are relatively quiet, with the metal covers.

I want a set of BG Pure 90's for either my Hagstom or SG, haven't really decided yet. They're very reasonably priced, so maybe that would work for you? They're not noiseless, but a good P90 shouldn't be excessively noisy.

I should keep one HB equipped axe in E/Eb I guess, so that would mean the SG would get them. D std + P90 SG + Rangemaster = Iommi for days.

I play through P90's and alnico SC's all the time, and have no issue with excessive noise. When I'm playing there's no issue, and I'm getting deft in my old age with the volume and tone controls so any moments of silence are just that.