What are your favorite stock pickups?

[MkIII Renegade]

It seems that everyone loves to kick stockers to the curb almost without thinking, but there are certain ones I love and feel no need to replace. I am not counting actives (because let's be honest, they tend to have "their" sound regardless of the guitar they are in) or branded Duncans or others such as the JB, '59, etc., that are common in medium to very expensive guitars. I am definitely not of the opinion that every guitar needs aftermarket pickups (and don't get me started on roughcast or cagefree or cornfed magnet swaps) :drill:.

I am a major fan of these:

Jackson J50M - Came in the top Soloists during the last glory days before the Great Grunge Disaster of '92. Their take on a Distortion style pickup to raise their game a bit. This is a seriously SCORCHING but lean and mean pickup.

Jackson J50BC - More of a warmed up PAF, came in Soloists and top line Charvels. Can be a little chubby on the bottom depending on your setup, but EQ adjustment will take care of it, and the lead tone is stellar. An LA Sunset Strip sound pours out of this one almost as naturally as from the JB.

Jackson J200 stacked single - Nothing fancy, but it does its thing quite well driven or clean and with no hum.

Gibson 500T/496R - Comes in certain Les Pauls, Vs and Explorers. I tend to like a nickel covered PAF style pickup at the neck for Gibsons, but the the 496 pairs well with the 500, which is very stout by Gibson standards. Not as versatile as some Gibson combos, but this is ended as a hotrod set anyway....

IBZ/USA - F2/F3/F4 as seen in the top line RG Series in the early '90s. I believe these are actually DiMarzios in sheep's clothing, but regardless, they work!

I'm not that familiar with stock PRS pickups, but surely some of their stockers must be more than decent? The Dragons for example come in some extremely expensive guitars, so I'd be shocked if they are junk.

 

[daenius]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

Jacksons and Charvels come stock with JBs these days, so hah, never need to pickup swap on those! XD

But yeah as far as manufacturer pickups go:

PRS: 408!!!!!!!!! MAGICAL pickup! Very uniue sounding, warm and fat, but never muddy and very clear sounding. Ridiculous amounts of harmonic overtones. Tried the Dragons and other stuff before and they were good too but this 408 really kicks their pickup game up to the next level.

Tom Anderson: All their pickups are damn good. I have the SA series, SF series, and HN series, and they are quite uniquely voiced. SA series give you that perfect 80s hair band clean channel sound. SF series are noiseless and high output single coil stacks that still preserve the vintage singe coil chime, think SSL-1 meets Quarter Pound. HN series are like JBs but with neodymium magnets AND they are actually 2 single coils glued together with a magnet jammed inbetween, so kinda like JB meets StagMag?

Suhr: SSV, Aldrich, ML Standards, V54s. SSV vintage PAF with great harmonics and an interesting growl to it. Aldrich... I don't know why Suhr doesn't just put this monster in every guitar they sell instead of the SSH+. It's a 10% overwound SSH+, but that 10% overwound just brought out so much extra harmonic content, and really tames that fizziness that I didn't like about the SSH+. ML Standard is a GREAT sounding single coil, very smokey, very clear, very good. V54 is another great one, extra smooth and sweet highs, plenty of chime and twang without the brittleness.

Ibanez: V8 and V7! Just kidding... Tried to like them, tweaked my amp all over, still ended up swapping them out =(

Fender American Standard circa 2008 stock single coils: Just kidding... They sound ok, but really thin and rather noisy. Swapped them for some Dimarzio Areas.

Gibson: Burstbucker 1 2 3! I like all 3 of them! Now they have rather loose bass response but the mids and highs are VERY sweet, great for lead work. For chunkier rhythm I have to mess with the amp a bit but nothing I can't fix either, definitely worth a few knob tweaks to get that great fat smooth Les Paul tone that everyone loves. Sounds a whole lot like Gary Moore and Slash, not so much like the more vintage Les Pauls, but I don't mind.

Schecter Japan: SuperRock II and SuperRock III humbuckers! They look like Tom Andersons, they were made by Tom Anderson up until like 2012, and they are basically the original humbucker design that Tom Anderson used at Schecter back in the 80s. The concept is like a StagMag: 2 single coils glued together, but then it also magnet jammed in between and around the pickup. The pole pieces are 1/4" HUGE, and the magnets inside are ceramic. They look like they're going to melt your face. Results? Yup, they sound as mean as they look! I'm totally in love with these actually, because they are high output and provide plenty of warmth and mids without overcompressing the mids. The frequency response is very wide, you'll get a lot more lows and highs than a standard humbucker. I THINK Schecter started selling these in the US now too with their USA custom shop.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

I've heard nothing but praise about the Suhr Aldrich. May have to try that in my next project!

 

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

I actually thought the Schecter SuperChargers in the Banshee Elites are pretty good sounding. I'd still probably swap them, because it's what I do, but I don't know that I would have to.

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

500/496. They don't need to be changed out, only if you are nit-picking for something particular.

Fender Nocasters are quite alright as well. I got through several years of gigs with those in a Highway 1 Ash Tele.

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

Gibson 500T/496R - They were fantastic in the Faded V I used to have. Non-stop rock, metal, and blues.

Kramer Focus 1000 and 8000 bass - I've read that these were Schaller pickups. Whatever their origin, they couldn't have been better suited to those instruments. What would I have done, as far as changing pickups? Put in a popular name brand pickup and hope it sounded exactly the same?

 

[AlexR]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

T-tops or shaws from the 70's and 80's. Technically my guitars from this era didn't come with the stock ones still in, but I've since bought them to bring both back to what they would have been from the factory with no regrets.

 

[jeremy]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

I'd never change the pafs out of my '59 lp or pups out of my '62 strat or '53 tele or '64 firebird but everything else is fair game

 

[Little Pigbacon]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

'59 what?

 

[Boogie Bill]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

I'm good with most stock pickups.

I like the Ibanez Super '58. My Ghostrider GR-520s use (I think) the Infinity 1 and 2. Been very happy with these too.

I like the Gibson Burstbuckers 1 & 2 and 3. Don't care for the A5 versions. I also like the '57 Classics, and Classic Plus, in certain guitars. Both of these sets are flawed, but very, very usable.

And I am really good with most of the stock G&L pickups. The CLF-100 set is very close to the Duncan SSL-2s, great for vintage stuff. Love the Comanche Z-Coils. Love the S-500 MFD single coils. Love the Gotoh Blades in the Legacy Specials.

Bill

 

[KNUCKLHEAD]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

Gibby PAF's ( older

 

[Juanhanglo]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

carvin h22s. they sound great in anything I put them in

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

Ibanez Super 58s... Sweet pickups! Other Ibby pickups, not so much. Not impressed with the V7/V8 that were in my RG or the ACH1/ACH2 that were in my AS83, but the Super 58s in my AR325 will definitely be staying right where they are.

Here's the surprise addition for the day... Epiphone P90T/P90R in my cheap-ass LP Special I P-90 ($99 new last year). Bought this guitar on impulse because it felt good assuming I'd be changing virtually everything out, but the stock P-90s in this thing are powerful and expressive... and they're staying! (Did have to change out the bridge and tuners though, I mean c'mon... what did you expect?)

 

[Aceman]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

Gibson - 500T would never be switched by me. Really really dig the BB 1/2's, and P-90's

Dean - The DMT's a great all around pickups.

I *might* leave any pickup that is stock. I might change *any* stock pickup depending on the sound/feel/use I want for a guitar.

 

[Thundermtn]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

B.C. Rich BDSM

They lack touch sensitivity but I can make these sound great, for metal only though.

You guys are kidding yourselves on the 496r. I had a few of them in different Gibson's, one lasted 17 years, never could get it to sound good. I have tons of stock import pups that destroy it. It's trash.

 

[Mincer]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

I have a 1982 'The Strat' with all stock pickups..the bridge one is called an X-1, which is hotter, but not by today's standards. I really like the way these sound in this guitar, so no reason to ever change. Every other guitar I have has Duncans, though.

 

[MkIII Renegade]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

B.C. Rich BDSM

They lack touch sensitivity but I can make these sound great, for metal only though.

You guys are kidding yourselves on the 496r. I had a few of them in different Gibson's, one lasted 17 years, never could get it to sound good. I have tons of stock import pups that destroy it. It's trash.

I once had a Gibson V with 500T and a nickel covered PAF style taken from a '80s LP that sounded great. I did it in no small part due to the custom look, although I much preferred the sound to the JB and Dirty Fingers(?) that someone had in it before. I never owned the 496, but I played it in a few guitars and don't remember it being trash at all. Although to be fair, that was many years ago and only based on a few minutes at the local guitar store...

 

[Jacew]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

I'm good with most stock pickups.

I like the Ibanez Super '58. My Ghostrider GR-520s use (I think) the Infinity 1 and 2. Been very happy with these too.

I like the Gibson Burstbuckers 1 & 2 and 3. Don't care for the A5 versions. I also like the '57 Classics, and Classic Plus, in certain guitars. Both of these sets are flawed, but very, very usable.

And I am really good with most of the stock G&L pickups. The CLF-100 set is very close to the Duncan SSL-2s, great for vintage stuff. Love the Comanche Z-Coils. Love the S-500 MFD single coils. Love the Gotoh Blades in the Legacy Specials.

Bill

Never actually played them, but the sound those Comanche Z-coils have seem perfect everytime I've heard them.

 

[gregory]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

Gibson - 500T would never be switched by me.

A great pickup run in parallel to be switched to series to make your amp go to 11!

I need my OD but it's all the way over there. No worries I got it covered.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: What are your favorite stock pickups?

I don't consider any guitar so bad that it deserves their stock p'ups.

I don't like most stock Duncans either. The only ones I've used stock without having a burning desire of change something right away is the Seth Lover set and the APH1 set.

Now, with almost ten years of experience and literally hundreds of moddings and mag-swaps under my belt, I wouldn't use any Duncan p'up without a magnet of my choice.

HTH,