The best guitar Pick-ups?

[Heinrich Kollner]

I'm playing a Ibanez XPT700 that had EMG's in It and It always out preformed my friend's guitar sounds, Until recently I got me DiMarzio pick-ups!!! the tone is amazing, it doesn't matter what fuc....up chord you play it still sound right!

[Face]

Originally Posted by Heinrich Kollner

I'm playing a Ibanez XPT700 that had EMG's in It and It always out preformed my friend's guitar sounds, Until recently I got me DiMarzio pick-ups!!! the tone is amazing, it doesn't matter what fuc....up chord you play it still sound right!

This could be a heated discussion...... Im not a active pickup kind of guy myself but I have heard some narly ass tones with em.

[Heinrich Kollner]

yeah me 2 but if normal passive pick-ups out preform active pick-ups your gonna go for the passive!

i HATE changing batteries though!
It happened to me allot! When we where busy having a good old band prac the battery some time died on me at the worst possible times!

[lolgreg]

The word "best" really doesn't work for guitar pickups. It's really all about your style of music, what you're looking for and your ear really. "Favorite" is a much better term, but if you must say best I would go with "Seymour Duncan Black Backs" which are pickups you've probably never heard of, as they are custom pickups that are under several different patents and hard to come by (edroman.com carries them). The sounds you can achieve with these pickups are amazing. I have them installed in my Parker Fly Deluxe and they literally annihilated the Dimarzio's that were in there (I happen to dislike Dimarzio to great extents and not because of any brand-name bullshit either). I have had two guitars that came stock with Dimarzio's (Parker Fly Deluxe and Ibanez Joe Satriani model. I swapped out the pickups and the guitars sounded entirely different. The honky mids disappeared, the sustain grew in numbers, the pickups peformed better in their respective positions (bridge had a far better palm muting response, the bite was much more pronounced, but not piercing... the neck was more buttery and had much more posterity. Overall they made both instruments sound wonderful. I've played guitars with active pickups and I really believe they rob an instruments of its tone and leave it with that generic "EMG chugga chugga metalcore" timbre. They sound great for one thing and perform well, but if you want versatility, no way. I actually have a Dean Playmate (yes, the CHEAPEST, 100 DOLLAR INTRO LEVEL ONE) and I have a PAF from a 1960's Les Paul that was given to me in the neck and an original JB from Seymour wired with a 250k volume pot (500k's are usually standard in humbucker equipped guitars, but I'm a fan of a slightly less bright tone in the case of these pups; it just works. The guitar sounds freaking amazing. I don't know how. It plays so well, intonates well and just freaking wails. I use it more than any other guitar for this very reason. You run this thing through any amplifier and it just has this power about it. It's gotta be the pickups. I strongly encourage you to try out some Duncan's in a similar guitar to the one you have, you'll probably like them a lot the Jazz neck and JB bridge set is VERY popular as well as the '59 and Dimebucker pair (which I have in my Ibanez Joe Satriani Model).

I hear great things about Fralin pickups and Lace, but I've tried and loved Duncans, so what can I say.

-Greg

[Heinrich Kollner]

Ive actually played with seymour duncan's but cant afford it at this time! but I Lliked the sound alot but it doesnt suit my metal needs! hehe!
I have not played with the black backs/

[Face]

my burstbucker pros arent too shabby, I get a great mid range/high range with it...Not too great for the new age chuga chuga thou. awesome for standard hard rock and classic rock.

[musicopro]

fast track 2, semyor duncan alnico 2, and super distortion see you

[Xplora]

Seymour Duncan Full Shred. Flat out amazing tones for metal, but its tinny enough to do cleans well. It is ALL in the mids, and the amp can't do it alone.

[Matt]

I've had a shit ton of pickups in various guitars over the years (from Super distortions, EMG actives, cheap single coils, etc). Some have been really great...other have been pretty bad. One thing I know after trying a lot of pickups is that I really don't like hot/pushed pickups. The really hot one's have tons of mids that can't be dialed out and they don't clean up as well when you roll the volume back on the guitar, due to the extra signal hitting the front of the amp.

I prefer lower output pickups and just cranking the amp and/or using a pedal to get whatever else you need.

I won't call these the best since that's such a subjective term...but here are a few that I like.

-Gibson patent # and T-Top pickups-the two pickups that follwed the ever mystical PAF's. I have a 65 ES-335 that has Patent #'s and they're killer. T-tops can be found pretty cheap on ebay and are a great alternative to expensive PAF Clones.

-The stock pickups in my PRS DGT...they're based on a set of PAF's in David Grissoms '59 335. They're very open when cranked up and sweet when you roll the volume down for cleaner stuff.

-Fralin Blues Special Tele Bridge Pickups-I've had one of these in the bridge of my tele for about 5 years. Tele sound without the icepick through the ears highs that cheap tele pickups have.

-Matt

[Xplora]

That's a big reason I love the Full Shred... super hot tone, without the superhot signal. I've done the EMG thing too, only good if you want to sound like every other band with an EMG!