HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

[Rich_S]

I'm looking at a Schecter PT as my humbucker-equipped 2nd Guitar (behind my #1 Nashville Tele). I see it comes with the Duncan-designed HB102 set, about which SD's site sez, "The HB-102 was modeled after Seymour's favorite humbucker combination, the USA-made SH-4 JB™ bridge and SH-2n Jazz Model™ neck set."

I'm looking for a classic rock kind of sound: players whose humbucker sounds I like include Jimmy Page, Angus Young, Paul Kossoff, Rick Neilsen. I think if I were starting from scratch, a 59 set would be my first pick, followed by some combination of either JB or Custom bridge with 59 or Jazz neck.

I'm trying to figure out whether I should plan on spending the $$$ to replace the pickups in this axe. Since the stock pickups supposedly resemble at least one of my likely choices, I might be able to leave well enough alone.

So, does anyone have any experience comparing these "Designed" PUs to their full-blooded cousins?

 

[jeremy]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

my suggestion is to leave the stock ones in there for awhile and see how ya feel about them. if nothing else youll know if the jb/jm combo will work for ya or if ya might need a change.

its always good to get too know your stuff before you go crazy swapping things around

 

[Rich_S]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

Agreed. I'm just looking ahead. If the consensus is that the HB102 set is "pretty good" or better, I'll try 'em for a while. If everyone here says, "NO! They suck!", then I need to leave some extra $$$ in my budget for some Duncans. :wink:

 

[Toejam]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

See how they sound to you. To me, Duncan Designed pups don't sound all that bad... but they don't sound all that similar to the pups they're supposed to be modeled after either. Plus, I think they seem to be weaker in output than the real deal. I took the Duncan Designed H/S set out of my Schecter 007 Elite 7-string and replaced the bridge with a real Duncan Custom 7 and DiMarzio Blaze single and couldn't be happier... definitely more power and better tone that I was looking for. That being said, I think the Duncan Designed stacked P-90s sound excellent in my LTD Eclipse and don't need to be changed.

 

[DonP]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

I have an H102B in my DK-2. I bought a real JB and put it into my Aria tigerstriped. They seemed close enough for me that I sold the JB.

 

[tfb1990]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

young uses gibson 57 classics, but i honestly dont know what would sound the most like that, maybe a 59 or a JB, but to get his sound youd need to back off of the gain to some extent

 

[Johtosotku]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

I changed my HB102B to a real JB some years back. I found that the switch was exactly what I had needed all along, I had bought all weird stuff trying to improve my tone but I found that the pickup switch had been all that I needed all along. It made my guitar become alive. However, this is many years ago, I was otherwise young (and foolish?) and not as knowledgable as now, so my opinion could wary a bit these days from the earlier one if the situation reappeared. But, all in all, I'd propably go for it.

 

[kjrocks]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

I've had them in a guitar and they still sound awesome. Dont worry about it,you can alway swap them out later,but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

I had them in a guitar (they were very nice) and asked Evan the same question. You have to remember that the specs for the Duncan Designed pickup line is the same as the U.S. made pickups but the materials are different.

 

[D-EJ915]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

It's weird, my 7-string 102s sound way better than the JB combo in the schecter blackjack C1 I played a bit ago, it just sounded thin and pathetic, I don't know what it was but my H207 whipped its ass.

I guess the pickups really do sound different, although I'm not a fan of the C1, it just feels weird to me.

 

[mtldad66]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

Use them...just put a set I bought off of craigslist dirt cheap into a charvel ds-3....nice sound for the money...bright and punchy...no complaints lol...ps... the wiring is backwards compared to a jb...black is ground and green is hot....

 

[LtKojak]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

the specs for the Duncan Designed pickup line is the same as the U.S.

This is simply NOT true.

 

[firebirdguy72]

Re: HB102's vs. the Real Thing?

Use them...just put a set I bought off of craigslist dirt cheap into a charvel ds-3....nice sound for the money...bright and punchy...no complaints lol...ps... the wiring is backwards compared to a jb...black is ground and green is hot....

The OP is 10 years old... I think he's probably made a decision by now