Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Gunny47

Gunny47

New member
I have a lot of experience with Les Pauls so Ill comment on a set of stock LP pickups and they are the Burstbucker 1 in neck and Burstbucker 2 in bridge. These pickups are the perfect combination of vintage warmth with biting crunch. Good sound quality and clarity. Very crisp attack with the single notes and blastable chords. The Burstbucker Pros sound too muddy and mushy. The '57 Classics sound too clean. The 490/498 sound too trebly and not clear - less that average classic rock tones. The 496/500 sound way too harsh.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

I also dug the tones from the Burstbucker 1/2 set...I also like the 3 in the bridge but couldn't deal with the 2 in the neck. I also like the Tex-Mex pickups that come in a Jimmy Vaughan Strat...all that said I dropped a set of Custom Shop Duncans in my JV Strat and a set of Antiquity's in my R8...massive improvements both times!
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Stock pickups in my rickenbacker, I can go from a very warm bluesy clean by setting them high, or set them low for a super gritty agressive american rock tone, with a near acoustic like clean. And don't let anyone tell you the Hi-Gains are only good for a jangly clean, Haha.... I have no problem going even as heavy as judas priest. (Well rythm, its not hot enough for glenns lead tone...)


Aren't they like a cross between a fender single and a P-90? That's sorta what they sound like.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Best stock pups....................the p-90's in the old (1955-56) Les Paul Special I had. Big ol' fat tone.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Whatever's stock in the old Ibanez SZ series. Not the Duncan Designed they have now.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

I played 59 reissue LP a while ago at guitar center. Whatever pu it had in it sounded pretty good. Probably burstbuckers?

The MIM Strat pickups werent bad actually
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

The Phat Cats in the Hamer Newport. ;)

I'll agree with the ones in the JV strat and I'll add the new SCN Tele pickups in the Am Tele Deluxe.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Gibson's recent "premium" pickups are all good. I had BB's in my R9 and had early production 57's in my old R7. Both sounded pretty darn good. The P90 and A5 in my R4 may actually be better, though. To the point where I probably won't mess with them for a while, especially since i only have one option for the neck and that is the Duncan CS pickup. The Custom Shop pickups in my '54 Strat RI were pretty good, but the guitar was pretty noisy, so I wanted better vintage pickups that were RW/RP and cleaner electronics. The stock bridge in the "52 Tele RI sounds good, but that tone cap on the bridge makes it impossible to tell what it really sounds like other than mud:laugh2: No matter.....itis getting a set of MJ's CS Broadcasters and an RS upgrade anyway:banana: :banana: :banana:
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Christian.....are they shipping the 57 Black Beauty RI with BB 1, 2, 2 setup or 1,1,2?
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

i tried a hohner at a local store, and the stock tesla pups were pretty good
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

jdm61 said:
Christian.....are they shipping the 57 Black Beauty RI with BB 1, 2, 2 setup or 1,1,2?
Click to expand...


Don't know about the R1, but the Historic '68 Worn Black Beauty I played had the BB 1/2 set. I don't know if it was the guitar's natural resonance or if it was the pickups, but that axe sounded fantastic. If I had the cash to buy it I would probably have bought it and maybe even left it stock. :burnout:
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

The 68 Ca used to ship with a BB 2/3 set then they switched it to a BB 1/2 set...as for the triple pup Black Beauty it is a 1/1/2 set.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

I LOVE the G&L pickups in the Legacy (vintage alnicos), Legacy Special (Gotoh ceramic HB blades), S-500 (Leo's MFD single coils), and the Comanche (Leo's HB MFD Z-coils).

I really like the Ibanez Super 58's and their INF1 and INF2 pickups.

I like the Fender Fat 50's Custom Shop, and their Vintage Noiseless.

The Gibson 496R/500T sets in my Les Paul Classics were actually pretty good, through the right amp, and adjusted properly. The Rhythm pickup can do a pretty nice jazz tone.

I hate the 490R/498T set in my LP Supreme--this guitar is getting a set of Seth Lovers pretty quick.

Bill
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

JB in My Jackson SL1
Jazz in My Jackson KE2 (Neck)
59 Classic in My Gibson SG (Neck) - not too thrilled with the 59 classic in the bridge
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

ESP Horizon! Not the cheap on with the duncan designed pickups. I'm talking about the more expensive one with the 59 and JB combo. Yeah, they're seymour pickups but they come standard with the guitar so I guess that makes them stock.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

PRS SE soapbars, I got Duncan Vintage P-90's the day I got the guitar, after trying them, the stock pickups went back in!!! GREAT tone from factory pickups!

BTW, naming brand name pickups (Duncan/Dimarzio, what ever) is probally not what the author wanted to know about. Yes, they are stock but, they are aftermarket pickups!
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

For me, the nicest stock pickups I've ever heard were in a MIJ 1960s Reissue Strat.

Those things sounded beautiful! Bright, full, lots of chime. If id've had £280 Id've bought that guitar off the rack there and then. But I didn't :(
 
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