Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

I've played the Burstbuckers, and those were real nice stock pickups.

Of stock pickups I've owned, the Gibson 490/498 set are by far the best stock pickups, but strangely enough, not when installed in LP. Those pickups shine in an alder or ash body.

OTOH, the worst stock pickups ever award goes to BC Rich for the BSDM pickups. What were they thinking? A super high output (~18k) ceramic mag, extremely bright pickup in a maple neck through with en ebony board? Yuck.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

The SD P90s in the Hamer Monaco III.

As far as non-Duncans, several of the Peavey pickups I've heard are pretty good. I really love the sound of a bridge single coil from a Predator in the neck position.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

The mini humbuckers in my 1974 Gibson SG Special sound awesome! Too bad they sqeal pretty fast when using a lot of gain but they give me the ultimate vintage sound!

The pickups that came standard in my Epi LP Custom are pretty good too tough no match for Duncans.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Singles:
Fender SRV sig - Texas Specials Stock
Whatever comes stock in the Eric Johnson Strat

Humbuckers:
Ernie Ball Music Man EVH/Axis - Custom DiMarzios Stock
Whatever comes stock in a Les Paul Custom

EDIT: Gotta add the new 2006 MIM Tele stock pickups. They scream, clean or dirty.
 
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Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Unlike most people on this forum I actually like Gibson stock pups for the most part and generally prefer them..pends on the individual axe tho.

BB1/2 by far are the best..but I also like the 498/490 (as long as they are not in a Paula and something like a firebird or SG standard), the 500T (nice middle ground between a DiMarzio SuperD & Duncan Custom), 57 Classics, and the BB pros (especially the neck BB pro). I'm too fond of the 496R in a Paula at all, but have not spent much time with one in a non paula. Love the ceramic minis they are putting in Deluxes.

Stock Korean pups in my Dean are not too bad..they are voiced similar to a DiMarzio SuperD/PAF though not quite as crunchy(b)/smooth(n) and a little bit muddier/less articulate overall.

I don't think the stock pups (delta tones or whatever) in the MIA standard strats are bad either...bridge is a little weak/thin, but neck & middle are decent.

But a BB1/2 set is tough to beat for an A2 PAF AFAIC...GREAT pups..very honky,alot of complexity to the mids in a good piece of wood, and has good bite without being harsh or overbearing like the BB pro, or a Pearly Gates.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

The stock pickups that came in my 52 RI Tele were great. I would say the best, though, were the pickups that came stock in my EBMM Albert Lee guitar. They were APS-2's with metal plates under the bridge and neck pickups.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

I liked the Burstbuckers in my buddy's Les Paul Plain top. I thought they were the best sounding pickups I'd heard from Gibson since the early 60's.

I know they were alnico 2 Burstbuckers, and to me that guitar soudned more like a real late 50's Les Paul than any new Les Paul I've played.

But that said, we did a shootout with his Les Paul with the Burstbuckers, my Les Paul with Tom Holmes alnico 2 HB's, and two of my Hamer's: one with Seth Lover neck and Custom Custom and the other one with Lindy Fralin 7.5K neck and 9.5K bridge.

As great as Rondo's Les Paul and my other two guitars sounded, the winner was the Hamer with Seth Lover neck and Custom Custom bridge. It just sounded so good!
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Whenever anyone talks about BB combos, it's always 1&2 or 2&3.

Maybe I'm alone in the Burstbucker universe but I liked the BB1 & BB3 combo the best, whether Alnico 2 or 5.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

I've got a Suhr Classic w/ two V60LP's and a DSV humbucker that are awesome.

Greg
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

The Dearmond Goldtone humbuckers that came on my dearmond starfire. VERY cool p'ups :fing2:
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

krankguitarist said:
The Dearmond Goldtone humbuckers that came on my dearmond starfire. VERY cool p'ups :fing2:

Yeah, I love my Dearmond M-72. USA Dearmond pickups are like a cross between Gibson and Gretsch.

I also like almost every pickup PRS has ever made.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Barring guitars that already come with Duncans, EMGs or Similar:

Easily the San Dimas /Early Ontario USA Jackson Pickups, most notably the J-50 and J-90 series and the J100XL and J200 Single coils....
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Dean Time Capsules (I believe they're Dimarzio Super Distortions)
EBMM Axis (custom Dimarzios, closest thing is an Air Norton in the neck and an Air Zone/Tone Zone in the bridge)
PRS pickups tend to be really good too
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

The only stock pickups I ever really liked were from a Godin LG or some other $600 Godin. Might have been P90-style. Really sweet and bluesy.

I liked the 490/498 combo on exactly one guitar I've ever played...it was some kind of Gibson SG Custom. Those things sound so different in different guitars...really dark on my LP Studio, bright and middy on my buddy's LP DC.

Texas Specials are okay...haven't plugged in a Gibby off the wall in years, so I can't speak for their tone, although I had a nice sounding Epi LP in my hands a few months back.

Of course, I really like the JB/59 in Schecters and EMG HZ's sounded pretty decent to me as well.

Cheap Ibanez, Epi, and Fender/Squier pickups are the worst.
 
Re: Best Stock Pickups You Experienced

Early to mid 70s Ibanez Custom Agent.

A bit thinner than a Gibson, but VERY sharp articulate - most cutting, biting, articulate humbuckers I've played. It makes them incredible for country.

Nothing your fingers do goes unnoticed.

Edit: They may be early Super 58s, I'm not sure.
 
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