What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

[BWOTW]

In my experience, really hot pickups (JB, Invader, Custom, 500T, Super Distortion...) tend to be very full bodied (as compared to more moderate options) and big on bass. Is there any pickup with massive output that's really, really bright? In other words, that doesn't have a lot of bass to it? Something icepicky but with giant output... Does it exist?

 

[vinnie1971]

What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

DiMarzio Super 2. Originally designed to be a super shrill neck pickup to go with the super distortion. Don't let the 8.5k DCR fool you, there's a double size ceramic magnet in there so they are kicking out some serious inductance for such a moderate DCR. In the bridge I bet they are ice pick.

But brighter still, early Maxon super 80 pickups in DiMarzio format are extremely shrill. Same kind of DCR, possibly slightly thicker ceramic magnet, 12 x 14 mm M5 metric hex poles - all upper mids and treble - especially in the bridge.

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[Silence Kid]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Maybe not bass-less, but many hotter pickups (such as the Duncan Distortion or even JB, on occasion) have been described as bright in balance.

 

[esandes]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Try higher resistance pots for more brightness. I have a brobucker at 1 meg...very bright. I have an A2P with 250k pots, not bright.

 

[EAProwlerB]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Is there a way to measure pickup I.Q.?

 

[dystrust]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Maybe not bass-less, but many hotter pickups (such as the Duncan Distortion or even JB, on occasion) have been described as bright in balance.

In addition to the Distortion & JB, the DiMarzio Evolution is also quite bright for its output level.

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[chadd]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Try higher resistance pots for more brightness.

Bingo, an higher resistance pot will make any pickup brighter

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Yah, the Super II fits the bill. I used to have a Kramer with two of those and they're very bright indeed. The highs really dominate, especially in the bridge position.

Put it this way: neck tone on that Kramer sounded brighter than the bridge T-top on my Les Paul. Of course the aluminum neck with resin fingerboard probably helped...

 

[elelpe]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Bill Lawrence USA L500XL. It has more edginess than Wilde L500XL and Dimebucker. And try it without tone control.

 

[Masta' C]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Duncan's own SH-6n Distortion "Neck" model is bright and packs a punch...It was originally a bridge pickup!

The DiMarzio Super 2 and Evolution (original) are good ones that have been mentioned above.

I also agree with the Dimebucker/Lawrence pickups...hot, punchy, bright and clear.

 

[daenius]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Schecter Super Rock
Tom Anderson H3
Suhr SSH+
Dimarzio Air Norton if installed in Bridge

 

[mjsmanahan35]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Jackson DK2 Pro Series 6 strings
Seymour Duncan JB Bridge Passive pickups

https://youtu.be/1ve4t_PxWrA
https://youtu.be/Oruf42vYWrM

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[BWOTW]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Thanks guys! The Super II, Evolutions, Distortion necks... they sound like they'd fit the bill. Time to do some research!

This is the use I'm planning for them. It is very, very freaky, but I think I'm into something

This is a partcaster I've just built. The bridge pickup is a DiMarzio Air Norton that kicks ass. What you can't see are a neck and middle humbuckers under the pickguard. They're both MIJ PAF copies that read about 7,7k. They're all wired to a 520k volume pot, no-load tone pot and a Strat 5-way. They sound incredible, they even quack a lot on the notched positions, without splitting anything. I'll record a quick video if I have the chance.

The issue, obviously, is output. The neck and middle, being that far from the strings, sound cleaner and don't balance well with the bridge. I'ts not a bad sound, but ideally I'd prefer a closer output if possible. When people does this kind of stealth-Esquires, they use overwound pickups (like Texas Specials) and a regular tele bridge. So I'm leaning towards using hot humbuckers, but I need them clear and bright and without too much bass, or they will sound like nothing but mud on those positions. I actually have some experience with the Super II and I remember it being a fantastic neck pickup, I'm really leaning towards it (but it's weird, it's not available new on the EU retailers anymore...)

 

[Securb]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Bingo, an higher resistance pot will make any pickup brighter

I have a 1 meg on my Dimebucker. It still has great mids and it is easy to dial in the bass but the leads and highs cut like a laser.

 

[Mincer]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

The Full Shred, while not super hot, is incredibly bright. You can get brighter (and hotter) with active pickups, though...whn you boost the right frequencies.

 

[BWOTW]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Here's what I meant about the neck and middle output being an issue... I'm thinking of dropping Super 2's or a Distortions on there...

 

[JOLLY]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

I played a guitar once with a Dimarzio X2N. It was hotter than hell and rather icepicky.

 

[Demanic]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Let me add the Dimarzio D-Activator and the Lace Deathbucker to the list.

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[MkIII Renegade]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

Evolution
Full Shred

 

[EDX]

Re: What's the hottest BRIGHT pickup you know of?

passive there's no hotter pickup than the Dimebucker with so much high end, the BLUSA L500XL is just after it, as while it might have some more high end the Dimebucker is hotter, thne we have the Wilde L500XL as it is just as stupid hot as the BLUSA L500XL but it has less high end and a bit more mids to get a flat tone

the Dimebucker however can't be described as lacking bass, but it has so much high end that on an anhemic guitar it will sound plinky and ultra thin as it will over accentuate that high end

BTW the Dimebucker is way hotter than any other pickup mentioned in the thread so far