Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

[Mephis]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

EMG: 81,89,60,85.
DiMarzio: Double Whammy, MegaDrive, AirNorton.
Rio Grande: Tele muy grande bridge and Tallboy neck.

When I want something that has a more natural flavor and isn't colored as much, I go to seymour duncan. When I want something that's got an "accent" I look elsewhere.

That said, my main player is loaded with SDs and my favorite pickups are SDs.

I can't say those pickups are better. They're just better for the tone I'm going for than what's comparable from SD.

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

I have a lot of guitars and hardly any of them have stock pickups. From Dimarzio, I have one guitar with a Breed neck, and I like it. But then it means I have to have a Dimarzio in the bridge or else it doesn't match visually. Although I'm liking the Screamin Demon in the neck position lately. I have another 24 fret guitar with a Super Distortion bridge and Super 2 neck. There's just something about that dual-ceramic setup that is so cold and crispy (but in a good way) when you use the pickups together, especially in single coil with the inside coils being close together.

I have a couple guitars with Bartolinis that I'll never replace. They're just "right" for certain things. I have a couple guitars with G&L Magnetic Field Design pickups too. There's no Seymour Duncan to replace ASAT pickups or the Z-Coil in the Comanche. I have an old APC middle single coil that I like, too.

I have a 25" scale mahogany guitar with a couple PRS pickups that I like too. I had a Rio Grande BBQ that seemed to be a sound you can't get from Seymour Duncan, but honestly I couldn't stay married to it no matter which guitar it was in.

I also have a T-top in the neck position that I will never swap.

 

[iron_iguana]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

Happy with these:

Gibson P-90's and 57's
Dimarzio Super distortion and PAF Pro

 

[uOpt]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

Humbucker-wise I mostly moved on to Boutique pickups with A2 and/or calibrated magnets. However, the Duncan Custom Shop is at the top there, too. The only thing I like as well is my WCR and to a lesser extend the Lollars.

The DiMarzio YJM and HS-3 I like and I don't think SD has an equivalent.

I really want to try the Lace Holy Grail Strat pickups. I don't like hum but I must have "real" sound vintage class Strat pickups.

 

[austin]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

...From Dimarzio, I have one guitar with a Breed neck, and I like it. But then it means I have to have a Dimarzio in the bridge or else it doesn't match visually...

It feels good to know I'm not the only one that thinks like that :lol:

Anyway, right now I have 5 guitars. 3 have Duncan humbuckers (although I'm going to try out a set of Vintage Vibe humbucker-sized P90's in one of those), 1 has Dimarzio noiseless soapbars (the bridge one was designed with Terry McInturff), and one has Suhr humbuckers. If I had to, I'd be satisfied with Duncans for most things, but it's nice to try other pickups out. I like Suhr humbuckers quite a bit. They have a different thing going on from Duncans that's nice, but I wouldn't say they're better, just different.

-Austin

 

[B2D]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

I've tried about 10 different models of Duncan and Dimarzio pickups each, and I have to say that I tend to like Dimarzios a little bit better, by and large. Both are great brands, though.

 

[cheezemaster]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

I have the Gibson '57 Classic Plus in one of my Les Pauls (bridge) and it rocks.

 

[drew_half_empty]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

TV Jones

yeah i'm on a gretsch kick so I'm biased but seriously, those things have some mojo. Everyone should own at least one guitar with them, the dynamics and note separation on them are incredible, you can hear every note in a chord.

I have some GHS's goin into the jet I just got, people at the gretsch pages like em quite a bit so I figured I'd give them a try before springing for tv's, they were $80 for the pair & I could move them pretty easily if need be, but i'll be sure to let everyone know how i like em

 

[SAguitar]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

I've got quite a stable of guitars, and many of the humbuckers are Seymours. But I also like Gibson's '57 Classics, and BurstBucker Pros in the right guitar.

For single coils, my favorite Strats and Teles all have pups by Chris Kinman.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

I love my dimarzio air norton set. its for me, awesome.

but I also dig my motherbucker set. its the air norton on steroids. man, those pickups with 1 meg ohm pots, thats (50%) of my tone. the other 50%, is the bareknuckle painkiller.

but the full 100%, is a special pickup I designed and tweaked with wizzard pickups, UK. with one capacitor, I can change the complete voicing of that pup. It can go with that pup (tonally) from the punchy, scorching, piercing sound of lets say, michael schenker and CC Deville, to the smooth tone of zakk wylde (he uses a LOT of gain to make it not-so smooth), slash, the darkness, etc etc. and that has nothing to do with output, just the voicing.

oh, and did I mention its almost .7 Volts of sheer output?

 

[Mononoaware]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

Dunno about "better," but "equally good" might be more accurate. There are several DiMarzios that I love that aren't duplicated in the Duncan lineup: the Fred, VHPAF hot, and the Evo 2.

Frankly, I feel lucky to be a gearhead at this time in history. Between the internet and the wide range of bargain-to-boutique gear out there, I think we're living in a Golden Age of sorts, and having several companies making fantastic yet affordable pickups is a big part of that.

 

[super rad stuff]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

Frankly, I feel lucky to be a gearhead at this time in history. Between the internet and the wide range of bargain-to-botique gear out there, I think we're living in a Golden Age of sorts, and having several companies making fantastic yet affordable pickups is a big part of that.

definitely true on all accounts

 

[Karmadog777]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

I recently de-Seymourized one on my guitars with a D-sonic and a Air Norton and Im really diggin the D-Sonic

 

[formula73]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

I have a Dean with a pair of WCR Fillmores and they are nice and bitey. I also dig the X2N/Super D combo for ridiculous power and a kinda "oooooooooooh" neck tone. The (don't laugh) Dean Baker Act is also a really good, high power rock type pickup. I've got one in a Gibson V90 tuned to C and it's still really tight.

 

[Mephis]

Re: Any pickups better for you than Seymour Duncans, if any

TV Jones

yeah i'm on a gretsch kick so I'm biased but seriously, those things have some mojo. Everyone should own at least one guitar with them, the dynamics and note separation on them are incredible, you can hear every note in a chord.

I have some GHS's goin into the jet I just got, people at the gretsch pages like em quite a bit so I figured I'd give them a try before springing for tv's, they were $80 for the pair & I could move them pretty easily if need be, but i'll be sure to let everyone know how i like em

I wish I wouldn't have got a powertron when I tried em.

Should have grabbed one of the classics of a magnatron. The powertron was muddy and had a really nasal tone.