Recommend a Bridge Humbucker for more bass...

Ronnie_Snow

Member
I would like some recommendations for a Bridge Humbucker in an SG that can provide more bass...

The guitar is just super thin sounding to the point that it needs more low end...

Currently a Slash 2.0 doesn't provide enough. It's warm but there's no chug.
A 59/Custom was straight up harsh and much much worse...

What options do I have before I sell the guitar...
 
You tried the usual stuff first like adjusting bass-side pickup height and adjusting amp / pedal EQ?

If you're after chug, Nazgul will do it even though it's mid-forward and not super-bassy. Custom might be your pickup if you must have extra bass and you want chugging tightness.
 
Considering the Slash pickups (both versions) are loaded with AlNiCo II magnets I would expect a general softness to them. As for the '59/Custom Hybrid with the factory A5, it's going to definitely be more midrange-focused with a brighter top end (at least that's my experience with it).

If you want some chug... What kind of chug are you looking for? Are we thinking Judas Priest? Metallica? Pantera? Cannibal Corpse? Meshuggah?
 
The C5 has pretty round bass for a bridge pickup. Invader has mega bass, but noone wants an Invader.

Swapping to a double thick alnico magnet such as A2 or A5 will significantly increase the bass and round out any bridge humbucker.
 
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Currently a Slash 2.0 doesn't provide enough. It's warm but there's no chug.
A 59/Custom was straight up harsh and much much worse...

What options do I have before I sell the guitar...
I've deleted my previous answer in this topic since I had not read your initial post above attentively and was recommending a 59/Custom.

At first glance, I don't see how a 59/Custom could be "straight up harsh": its stronger coil closer to the neck should give more bass and its inductance is 1.5 times higher than with a P.A.F. clone, focusing the sound in the high mids...

I start to wonder if it's not this focus in the high mids that your rig and ears translate as "thin" sounding. It would explain what happened with the Gibson AY which is supposedly nothing else than a 57 Classic + with an A2 bar.

Anyway: I've shared a few solutions based on external components (parallel resistors and/or capacitors) in your other topic on the AY. Fellow members have evoked higher gain humbuckers whose twice higher inductance should effectively give enough chug.

Now and for the record, a trick to try with any 4-conductors humbucker is to wire it "inside-out": swap the start and finish of each coil. It will change the electrical relationship between coils while keeping the humbucking process and in some cases, the related comb filtering helps to match the resonance of a moody guitar.

Below is the raw electrically induced response on a linear scale of a 4-cond. humbucker normally wired then connected "inside-out', as an example. Standard wiring has more high freq content than "inside-out" wiring in a range that a guitar amp and cab still translates as "presence"... I think (not sure) that the pickup involved was a 59/Custom, precisely.

4 cond HB std vs rev wiring.webp
 
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