Pickups I should like but don't

[dave74]

I've found that certain pickups are prone to love or hate based on which dirt pedal and amp you are using even moreso than whatever wood that the guitar is made from.
...now having said that, a lot of guitars sound good with all sorts of pickups and some guitars sound like crap until you finally...finally get the right pickups in it.

I love the Distortion. Also like the 500t, and worship the ahb3s!
I also like the X2N a lot!

Love/Hate the Dimebucker, alt8, invader depending on what guitar they're in.

Also no love for the custom. Or the 490 and 498...just bleh.


You're not doing anything wrong, freqs are freqs. Everyone likes something different.

I'll save myself much typing and basically agree with all this.

I'll throw in the C-pig with the always love in any guitar I've tried it in. IMO it sits somewhere in-between the distortion and black winter with it's own spin.
The Nazgul I put in with the "guitar-picky" models along with the Super3. Can be love or hate.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I've found that certain pickups are prone to love or hate based on which dirt pedal and amp you are using even moreso than whatever wood that the guitar is made from.

I agree. I think the X2N would sound killer through one of thoes VS's Chuck was using that were super bright and had very little low-end. Also, his guitar was alder with a maple neck through and an ebony board, wasn't it?

But yeah. Everyone likes something diferent. I didn't think the X2N was bad. I just wasn't expecting it to be as dark and bassy as is it was. But I can definitely see its uses. I still keep it around. Just not the pickup I'd throw in a Les Pau for my own stuff, personally. But that's kinda what this thread is about. Not about stating "yeah, the X2N sucks". More like "yeah, on paper, the X2N would seem to be like it would be something I'd like, but I didn't" I just expanded on it on why I didn't.

 

[dave74]

In a guitar with a big thumpy low-end the X2N can be overkill IME. I like them in my basswood prestige models which have a somewhat light and soft low-end.
The Dimebucker I like in the exact same prestige models. Those guitars have naturally softened highs which go well with that bright dimebucker top.

Invader I like in guitars that are bright and crisp with somewhat scooped mids. The basswood prestiges are exactly opposite of a good Invader guitar IMO.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I guess to add to the debate, I'm not one of those guys so extreme that thinks a guitar's wood doesn't make a difference, but I've never come across a guitar where a Black Winter or an EMG 81 didn't sound at the very least usable. Or at least, to my liking, I should say.

Then again, I tend to gravitate a certain range of acoustical properties that if a guitar doesn't meet, it's not worth keeping for me. For example, my Squier Esquire is way brighter and spankier acoustically than my Gibson Les Paul. But if it had like no low-end or mid growl at all either, I certainlly wouldn't even consider keeping it.

But still, for me, you can have the brightest guitar acoustically in the world, and then drop in an Invader, and then have the darkest guitar in the world, and then drop in a Dimebucker, and the Dimebucker guitar would still come out way brighter when plugged in, IME.

Admittedly, though, I tend to like a certain guitar sound, and that's it. If I want variation, I'd just stick to different takes on the same kind of overall recipee. But I just don't have the patience to dial in a sound I like for a guitar with hight output beefy humbuckers, and the plug-in a stock Strat, and find it sounds unusable unless I SERIOUSLY rebuild the sound around it. At that time, I just lost all motivation to play the Strat, because I know as soon as I plug the other guitar in, it's going to sound terrible for the settings I used for the Strat.

 

[dave74]

I like the 81 best in guitars that are naturally chunkier in the lows and mids. More often than not I've found maple or maple/walnut laminate necks going into or through mahogany bodies/wings really works well for the 81. I like both rosewood and ebony for the boards with the 81. Doesn't matter.

Never have liked the 81 in the basswood prestige models. Tried to like it but it always is too weak in the lows for my taste, and the already filtered highs of the 81's preamp do not benifit from the basswood's tendency to soften the treble.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I've never owned any basswood guitar other than my RG570, but it wasn't too bad. But each guitar is different, you're right.

 

[JB6464]

My latest pickup love is the Phat Cat P90 in the neck and a JB in the bridge.

 

[Mincer]

For me, it is very guitar-specific. I tend to go for a sound, then find the right pickup to get that no matter what guitar I am using. Sometimes it is the same pickup, sometimes it is different, but the sound I am going for, no matter what guitar, is the same.

 

[DonP]

I've been experimenting and think I've found the right amplification to go with these pickups. For now I'm just using a POD Go, but I think I could dial in the right tones with tube amps and maybe pedals if needed. The tones I'm dialing in are always heavier stuff, Savatage, Metallica, etc. But I've found tones that I like with these pickups.

If I had to say what I was doing wrong before, it was trying to use these pickups with not enough amp distortion and gain.

 

[Artie]

My latest pickup love is the Phat Cat P90 in the neck and a JB in the bridge.

Sounds sweet.

 

[Pipewrench13]

I'm on the verge on getting the Phat Cat, for my LP, but just seen the p Rails.

 

[DonP]

For some odd reason, I've never had an issue with the Duncan Designed HB103 set. Maybe it's the guitar they are in (Jackson KE3)?

 

[misterwhizzy]

Some pickups don’t mesh with the user.

I’ve seen rave reviews of Phat Cats. Mine have been in a box for over a decade.

I had never understood what people meant when they say their sound was "boxy." Now I think I get it.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I'm on the verge on getting the Phat Cat, for my LP, but just seen the p Rails.

I have tried both. I still have a P-Rails around. I like the Phat Cat much better. At least in the neck position.

The P Rails is fine, but it's such an eyesore. Honestly, it's the ugliest-looking pickup I have ever seen in person, LOL. I mean, it looks OK if you have the P-Rails set in the guitar. But in a guitar with other pickups in it, it just looks very off. Plus honestly, I think the only like actually good sound in it is the P90 coil. The humbucker sound is mega dark and borderline muddy. The rail sound is super anemic and it's the inner coil, which I always feel sounds worse when you split the coils. At least in the neck.

But the Phat Cat sounds fantastic. I personally don't think it's nearly as dark as everyone who complains about it claims it it. I really like what A2 does for neck pickups. Plus it's a single coil, how can it be dark? LOL.