Humbucker Recommendations

[Krylee]

Hi all,

I’d love to know what other players are using to help me with my pickup search!

I’m in a band that can be best described as Pop Rock, but maybe on the heavier side of that at the most (think recent Foo Fighters, some Pop Punk leanings, heavy palm muting at times, ample gain). Our frontperson’s vocal timbre is very mid-focused for the most part.

Currently, I’m using a Gibson SG Standard for standard tuning and a Fender Chris Shiflett Sig. Tele for Eb. Both guitars have a Distortion bridge pickup currently, with their factory neck pickups (490R for the SG, Fender’s proprietary model for the CS Tele). I use these primarily through a Rockerverb 50 MkIII and DSL100, sometimes AC30’s and JCM800 or similar.

I’d like to move away from the high output ceramic pickups and let the amps do more of the work without sacrificing a ton of low end tightness (some is fine as is the nature of more vintage output/voicing sometimes) and articulation. Having played several vintage guitars and modern reissues/custom shop examples lately, I am back in love with PAF and adjacent sounds. I’m just wondering what everyone is using for Rock (no blues, no twang) when they want a clear, “alive” sound without all the front end compression of a high output pickup.

I hope I’ve explained all of this well enough!

Thanks!

 

[zionstrat]

Okay, here's a very different one that I've been using to fit your criteria...

It's a Rail hammer hyper vintage, made by the people who make Reverend guitars. It's the primary PAF I'm recommending for bridges when you need tight bass but want to keep an open top end.

It looks different because it is... The rails on the bass side encourage tightness... The oversized slugs on the treble side keep the high end from getting brittle.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Railhammer/Hyper-Vintage-Humbucker-Pickup-Neck-Chrome-1385392679976.gc?cntry=us&source=4WWMWXGP&gad_sour​

 

[jeremy]

i have a set and do like them a lot. they dont sound like a paf, but that can be a good thing

 

[zionstrat]

Glad to hear that Jeremy! I thought I was the only one on the forum that had gone down the HV bunny trail

Would love to know how you would describe their sound...

 

[Mincer]

Welcome to the forum!

I dig the 59/Custom Hybrid in the bridge, and the Alnico II Pro in the neck for these tones. The Hybrid is a little hotter than a PAF, but not so much that it compresses the signal. The Alnico II Pro sounds great clean or distorted with a buttery, liquid sound that is very touch-sensitive.

 

[nienturi]

Hi all,

I’d love to know what other players are using to help me with my pickup search!

I’m in a band that can be best described as Pop Rock, but maybe on the heavier side of that at the most (think recent Foo Fighters, some Pop Punk leanings, heavy palm muting at times, ample gain). Our frontperson’s vocal timbre is very mid-focused for the most part.

Currently, I’m using a Gibson SG Standard for standard tuning and a Fender Chris Shiflett Sig. Tele for Eb. Both guitars have a Distortion bridge pickup currently, with their factory neck pickups (490R for the SG, Fender’s proprietary model for the CS Tele). I use these primarily through a Rockerverb 50 MkIII and DSL100, sometimes AC30’s and JCM800 or similar.

I’d like to move away from the high output ceramic pickups and let the amps do more of the work without sacrificing a ton of low end tightness (some is fine as is the nature of more vintage output/voicing sometimes) and articulation. Having played several vintage guitars and modern reissues/custom shop examples lately, I am back in love with PAF and adjacent sounds. I’m just wondering what everyone is using for Rock (no blues, no twang) when they want a clear, “alive” sound without all the front end compression of a high output pickup.

I hope I’ve explained all of this well enough!

Thanks!

PATB-3 or Brobucker
https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/parallel-axis-blue-saraceno
https://www.tonejourney.com/post/seymour-duncan-parallel-axis-trembucker-3-patb-3-review
https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/...the-boundaries-with-parallel-axis-trembuckers

https://customshop.seymourduncan.com/brobucker/

 

[misterwhizzy]

Less output than the Distortion while retaining bass tightness and adding a PAF voicing? This is the formula for the Duncan Custom SH-5.