Hot neck pickups... who likes them? Favorites?

[eclecticsynergy]

I was about to post that I don't have any experience with powerful neck pickups.
But while that's true for things like the JB or the Super D, I've liked some others that are - for me - fairly beefy.

I've had very good results with the Demon in neck position, and the Air Norton is super fat & smooth at the neck.
Breed neck is another really good one. Duncan Distortion neck is pretty great too.
All of those have enough juice to be qualify as hotter-than-vintage bridge pickups.

EDIT: I also had a DiMarzio Super II in a Kramer back in the 80s. Great as a neck pickup; quite bright as a bridge.

[Dave Locher]

I just took a Maxon Super 70 bridge out of my Strat. This morning, I ordered a H pickguard to try out as a neck pickup in my green Tele, Dimarzio SD in the bridge. I love a hot neck pickup.

I had a Super 70 in the neck of an Ibanez years ago with a Super D in the bridge. I liked it. The Super 70 gives great sustain but is bright & thin enough to still sound "necky." I think it will work well in your Tele

[alex1fly]

Besides the JB I guess the 8 string I had for a brief period had a Fishman Fluence Modern in the neck and it was HOT. It had the chime of a neck pickup, but didn't have any of the juicy expressiveness that neck pickups usually have. The JB and FFM both sounded good, but were compressed in feel. I just don't really like that in a neck spot. I do have a PAF Pro ready for install in the neck spot of an SG, but that's more medium output than hot.

Back to the OP, sounds like you just want a little more beef - or better balance between neck and bridge. You could get that by getting a medium output pickup in there, swapping a bigger magnet into your existing pickup, or raising the neck pickup closer to the strings and lowering the bridge pickup a hair. Or if your guitar has independent volume knobs, just compensate there for the difference in output.

[Rex_Rocker]

Does the PAF Pro count? It's always seemed like a hot neck pickup to me regardless of its 8k-ish impedance, and Dimarzio rates its output similar to many neck pickups in the 10k-13k impedance range. As always, impedance is not output.

I didn't find it to be very high output. I always keep one around because it's my favorite low output bridge pickup, but I wouldn't say it's miles above an actual PAF-type in terms of output. JME.

Interesting I found about it is that it's actually a tiny bit hotter than an actual PAF-type because it has a slightly oversized Alnico 5 magnet.

In the neck position, anything from the JB and up in the bridge position overpowered it, IME.

[DonP]

I've never been a fan of 7-8K-ish underwound neck pickups in my guitars. They always seem weak and scooped, no matter the magnet. They're fine on their own, but whenever I switch to a good, beefy, hot bridge pickup, they all fall apart for me. It's probably just me, though, since many people seem to make those kind of combos work!

But I'm sure there are others who like beefy, smooth, overwound neck pickups to go with their high-gain bridge monsters! I've not tried many, TBH, since they're not all that common, but I have really liked the Duncan Distortion Neck and the Black Winter Neck. I've also tried the JB in the neck, but I wasn't a fan. That one goes a bit too far in the opposite direction for my taste. The EMG 60 is also cool, but that's a bit in a different world altogether.

So I wonder, what else is out there? What do you guys like? What overwound neck pickups are cool? And how do you like underwound neck pickups with strong magnets (like the Super 2 or the Invader Neck)?

Cheers!

I put a De-Activator X neck in the neck of my Charvel ProMod to match the X2N that it came with used. I didn't expect to like it looking at the tone chart and power but I am really happy with it. Same with the X2N - I thought I wouldn't like that either but instead I bought 2 more.

In another ProMod I have a Screamin Demon in the neck to go with a JB2 I put in the bridge.

Both of these guitars kick ass.

[solspirit]

Well, I play in a jazzy blues band, so I need the dynamics for that.

Well, I consider jazz and jazzy blues to be ambient, what has been classified as ambient music in the last several decades just seems like noise to me.

[Demanic]

I have two hot neck pickups in both of my Ibanez. The RG has an A4SH-6n and the V a D-Activator.
The A4 gives the SH-6n more of a mid feel, while still being very powerful. The D-Activator is loud but quite crisp and clear.

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[Aceman]

I like a JB or a Super Distortion in the neck.

[maug2122]

I love my 1970's Bill Lawrence L-250 pickups on 22 fret S, S, H configured Super Strats, kind of like a Dimarzio YJM (HS4 ) with a PAF sweetness to it. Roll the volume knob down to 6 1/2 or 7 sounds really good with an acoustic simulation or Sitar simulator.
Sounds great when going full distortion, defined , no Mudd.

On 24 fret S, S, H guitars get the Dragon Fire Duo Rail, very similar to the BL L-250.

On H, S, H Super Strats, I prefer the Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell, Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon or Pearly Gates. They sound amazing with harmonizers, acoustic / sitar simulators .

A recent great discovery, the Dragonfire Modbucker, kind of like a Screamin' Demon with a slight upper mid and bass kick to it, at 11.06k ohms.

[Demanic]

I might like a JB in the neck of a Tele that had a hot rail in the bridge.

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[Rex_Rocker]

I was hugely disappointed when I had a JB in the neck of my PRS SE. I had a Black Winter in the bridge, and I got the JB thinking it would balance. Not only did the EQ was super dark, but the output was still not enough to match the Winter the way I'd like it.

I'm super picky when it comes to balancing the output of the pickups, TBH. Perhaps a bit too much.

[Demanic]

I prefer a volume drop when I switch to the neck spot. And having two different output pickups works well in a 2T2V setup. Even 2V1T. You can get some very useful tones in the middle position.

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[Rex_Rocker]

I prefer a volume drop when I switch to the neck spot. And having two different output pickups works well in a 2T2V setup. Even 2V1T. You can get some very useful tones in the middle position.

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I guess my obsession comes from years of using EMG's where the neck pickup is usually around the same level as the bridge pickup.

[Rex_Rocker]

How do you guys think the Evolution neck compares to the Black Winter and Distortion neck? The specs are pretty similar.

[Securb]

Just put the Maxon Super 70 bridge in the neck of my Tele. I had to take the neck off to rout for a humbucker. I was surprised the MIM body did not have the humbucker rout.