17 posts
Hey guys, haven't been around in a couple of months but I've got a question and figured y'all would be the group to ask. I have a guitar that I really like but I am wanting to switch away from EMG-HZ's to something a little more clean and bluesy. From what I have looked at so far, it sounds like I need to switch to passive and there are a lot of recommendations for Seymour Duncan p'ups. So my questions are 1) how hard is it to switch from active to passive and 2) what would y'all recommend? I'm looking for something along the lines of an Allman Brothers Classic Rock/Blues sound. Short of swapping out a set of crappy single coils on a Squier strat with a set that Randy gave me, this is a first for me so go gentle on my newb-ness. :)
Homey J! I'm hearing LOTS of recommendations for the 36th Anniversary PAF (DiMarzio). I may be getting a set soon. They supposedly compete with the boutique brands, but much cheaper.
EMG-HZ's are passive in nature. That's why they are cheaper than the EMG 81/85/60's.
As far as pickups go, if you are into Duane, look no further than WCR pickups. They are on the pricier side, but this guy is a Duane Allman nut. Darkbursts will be the flavor you'll want to look at. Jon G has the Crossroads in his Paul. Just amazing pickups. Yet to find anything more harmonic than these things.
Actually after looking I think I have an 81 and 60. This is my guitar:
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/esp-ltd-deluxe-ec-1000-electric-guitar/516629
So I'm between upgrading the pickups on this one or stepping in to something like the Epiphone Tribute Plus.
For those PAF's, can they be split? That is something else I am interested in, I played that Tribute Plus the other day and loved the versatility the coil tapping gave it.
I'll take a look at the WCR's, from what I heard on the sound clips I also like the Fillmore's a lot. Just not sure I'm ready to drop that much money.
Ah, that would require new wiring.
Dimarzios are 4-conductor, so you would be able to split them.
Seriously, the WCR's are just amazing. If price is an issue, get on Gear Page and poke around. Should be able to snag them there for $95-$115 at most (just checked and there are there are some there now). All of them are hand-wound and incredibly toneful.
I've heard more mixed reviews about the Fillmores, but not the Darkbursts. They are definitely more aggressive than the Darkbursts (higher output). The WCR's also get a more expansive sound that just has more ASS (more than FB could handle, LOL)!! WCR's can be split if you go with the 4-conductor option.
I'm a huge fan of BG-pups... They're handmade and handwound in California, the price is right, and you can specify how you want them to sound. The one downside is the wait--8 weeks approximately. But $140 for a set of American made pickups. Crazy.
bg-pups.com
Depends on what size? Is it a strat type or full size pup type. I have been using Duncan Distortions since the mid to late 70's for full sized bukkrs. I have 2 Duncan Little 59'ers in my strat/tele hybrid guitar http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/telecaster/high-output/little_59_for_t/ And I am thinking of putting some Jeff Beck Jr's in my strat clone http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/stratocaster/high-output/jb_jr_sjbj1/
I am very impressed with the Little 59'ers in my homemade strat/tele hybrid so I am thinking of a set of those or the JB Jr's for my Agile Strat Clone or a new strat build from parts.
Plus you can get wiring diagrams for all Duncan pups on their website, it is easy to do. Soldering iron and wiring diagrams and a little study and you are free of Luthiers for pup changes. Easy as pie
Dearthian: — Nov 06, 2012. The WCR's also get a more expansive sound that just has more ASS (more than FB could handle, LOL)!!
I'll tell ya what.....I've had some higher output pick ups and I must tell ya that I am a HUGE fan of lower output pickups. So indeed might be more ass than I can handle. ;)
For what is my experience, I would go for Duncan's.
Full size: JB for the bridge, '59 at neck
Single coil size: JB Jr bridge position, Lil '59 neck
Classic blues/rock tone !
My 0.02... :)
Jeff,
Chris is recommending some killer pickups, but I didn't think you wanted to spend that much. If you do, look at those for sure! If you don't, then the normal DiMarzio and Duncan recommendations will be given. And there is MUCH love for the pickups these guys are suggesting (JBs, etc.) but, I've heard LOTS of buzz lately about the ones I recommended being a boutique type pickup with a regular Dimarzio/Duncan type price.
Really? All the tone aficionados in this thread, and it's the same old Duncans and Dimarzios? Those are way overpriced and too generic to me. Mass-produced, machine-wound pickups should be way cheaper--GFS has the pricing right for those. Again, hand-wound, made in the US, right in California, as custom as it gets, for $140 a set... bg-pups is the real deal.
some reviews:
http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=707534
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/just-pickups/212588-bg-pickups-anyone-useem.html
I started with Dimarzios, went to Duncans and now use Bare Knuckle Pickups.
(So not everyone is staying with the D's! ;) )
Fenderbender — Nov 07, 2012[quote author=Dearthian: The Gear Pimp link=1352241257/0#4 date=1352246224]. The WCR's also get a more expansive sound that just has more ASS (more than FB could handle, LOL)!!
I'll tell ya what.....I've had some higher output pick ups and I must tell ya that I am a HUGE fan of lower output pickups. So indeed might be more ass than I can handle. ;)
Don't mistake expansive sound and more Ass as being high-output. They DO make low output humbuckers that have lots of ASS. ;) The ones I've used are Les Paul like in output...but sound soooo much better.
I do believe Jon G uses a set of Crossroads pickups of WCR's. They are a little more vintage in output.
Dearthian: — Nov 08, 2012[quote author=Fenderbender link=1352241257/0#7 date=1352310516][quote author=Dearthian: The Gear Pimp link=1352241257/0#4 date=1352246224]. The WCR's also get a more expansive sound that just has more ASS (more than FB could handle, LOL)!!
I'll tell ya what.....I've had some higher output pick ups and I must tell ya that I am a HUGE fan of lower output pickups. So indeed might be more ass than I can handle. ;)
Don't mistake expansive sound and more Ass as being high-output. They DO make low output humbuckers that have lots of ASS. ;) The ones I've used are Les Paul like in output...but sound soooo much better.
I do believe Jon G uses a set of Crossroads pickups of WCR's. They are a little more vintage in output.
Yep. I have a crossroads in the neck and a darkburst in the bridge. They are not particularly high output but they have lots of nice crisp bite and I use them mostly in split coil mode. (shameless self promotion to follow: http://youtu.be/aBdRFEgKNTU )
Very cool! What model Epiphone was that? Did you upgrade anything else on the guitar aside from the pickups?
Also curious (probably a dumb question), will the difference in thickness and weight of the guitar body influence the performance of the pickups? Just wondering because my guitar is quite a bit lighter and somewhat thinner than some of the Epiphone Les Paul's I have looked at.
ptelite — Nov 08, 2012Very cool! What model Epiphone was that? Did you upgrade anything else on the guitar aside from the pickups?
Also curious (probably a dumb question), will the difference in thickness and weight of the guitar body influence the performance of the pickups? Just wondering because my guitar is quite a bit lighter and somewhat thinner than some of the Epiphone Les Paul's I have looked at.
It's just a standard Epiphone Les Paul. I had a luthier change the pickups and also install the "Jimmy Page" wiring system for me with all the push/pull pots....there's about 25 different sounds that I can get from the guitar depending on the pushpull coil taps and phase flips etc. It is a very weighty guitar for sure and I suppose the different weight makes a difference, but on the other hand my Fender Tele can sound similar to this and that's as light as a feather so who knows.
So after doing some research and spending way too much time thinking about this over the past couple of days I think I have decided to sell the guitar and start from scratch. I was losing signal in one of the switch positions so I took it in to have it fixed and pulled out my dad's old Squier strat to practice with while it was in the shop and found that I liked playing it more than the LTD and it was much closer to the sound I was looking for. I figure if I sell the guitar and a camera lens I've been meaning to offload, I'll definitely have enough to get in to something that is closer to what I want with a little left over so I'm just going to go play a bunch of guitars until I find the right one. No idea where to start though, there are too many choices.
Thanks for all of the feedback though, I may do another guitar project just for the sake of building something so I'll keep this in mind when I need to shop for pickups.