What “lower grade” pickup have you had a good experience with?

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Bowtomecha

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I went to guitar center and finally tried an Ibanez Jem Jr. I always stayed away from them because I didn’t want a lightweight version of a signature model to be disappointed in. But I got on real well with the quantum pickups in it. They weren’t sterile sounding as I assumed they would be. They were fast responding and articulate without being low rent and scratchy sounding. They weren't overly hot and had decent string separation. It was similar to how I’ve felt about the cheaper Mexican strats that fender makes. I expected shrill and soulless pickups and was instead pleasantly surprised with something that felt good to play.
 
Positive experience with some Duncan designed, Artec, GFS, and even super cheap Chinese PU's... Hit or miss in the lower range of the lower grade but some are absolutely up to the task.

I remember a few no-name MIC humbuckers built with a surprising attention to details: bridge units were F-spaced and thin slices of foam were under their magnets to prevent squealing... Now these models had been described as hosting A2 and were in fact loaded with ceramic, on oxydized brass baseplates.
They had also bad yellow metal covers, non transparent at all magnetically and killing the tone. It's probably the most frequent flaw in such inexpensive products.

Reason why I often mod them. One of the HB's aforementioned received vintage correct NS baseplate / AlNiCo magnet / keeper bar (initially absent) / screw poles (too short in the stock version) / cover...

SIDE note - even the worst products can be recycled as dummy coils / chokes / inductors. They do a pretty good job as parts of Q filters / VariTones and similar circuits... ;-)
 
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Some of the Artec offerings are VERY good in my opinion. The Ibanez Quantum series pickups sound good, and not just in Ibanez guitars. And the Gretsch Broadtron units installed in many of the latest Gretsch guitars sound great in my opinion - even for rock (not so much for jazz). I used some recently in a Tele, and the client loved the sound.
 
like the Frog I have had a hit and miss relationship with random Asian Pickups
the ones that came in my recent Vietnamese builds are good sounding pickups

with the neck humbuckers vary wildly in specs

the Fleour and MaxCheer/Saphue on Amazon
the Artec and Wilkerson

super budget offerings are a bit dodgy
but like the Frog said
I can change the magnet or base plate if tweaking is needed
but most times they sound just fine in whatever configuration they come in

wax potting is something I always feel they need
if nothing else, to warm and drain the over potted ones
 
Bootstrap pickups are very highly regarded and very cheap. $50 for a set of strat pickups hand wound by the owner in the USA is very hard to beat. I've got their Tele Pretzel set.

Generally price doesn't play into the quality of a pickup as much as you would think anymore. If you don't like a warm middy PAF it doesn't matter how much you pay for the brand name on it, you're not going to like it.
 
The import pickups that came in my Hagstrom Viking were quite good sounding. They reminded me of Gibson 490's. The sound was quite even, and balanced from low to high. No shrill icepick highs, no woofy lows, and just the right amount of upper mid kerrang. They sounded nice clean, and sounded punchy and articulate with higher gain.
 
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Are hyperion pickups to be considered "lower grade"? Assuming they are such pickups, well, I have a really good experience with them. The bridge humbucker is right in between a JB and a perpetual burn, hotter than the latter and not compressed like the former
 
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The Fleor dual rail single coil-sized humbuckers I put in the Kitty guitar have been absolutely fantastic. I even played that guitar through my Metal Zone and that's just fun as hell.

Not bad for a $30(US) set of pickups.
 
Oh, I also liked the GFS RedActive I had once. Kinda like a rattier/dirtier-sounding EMG, but in a good way.

I've heard GFS pickups in general do well.
 
Honestly, I think the Duncan Designed were (are? are they still being made..? ) great pickups. Like, those X series import Jacksons you could get in the early 2000s with Duncan Designs were SMOKING guitars for the price. I'd gig with one any day easily. I think the Distortion Clone, JB Clone, and Invader clones all sound pretty good.

Not quite as good as the duncan designeds but I like the stock ibanez pickups on both my Ibanez guitars. The V7-V1-V8 set isn't nearly as bad as its reputation if you happen to google it. They are not amazing but far from the worst set of pickups, they could definitely get you by for a long time. I'm always a fan of A5 bridge / Ceramic neck combos.

I have the LoZ-3s in another Ibanez guitar. Those kinda-active 3v humbuckers with the active tone switch instead of a tone pot. They are good enough to gig and record with for sure, not a fan of the little treble cut switch though. I kept them in it for almost 10 years before finally swapping them to EMGs
 
I quite like the cheap ceramic bar single coils that came with my Godin. They sound great clean and dirty.
 
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