Re: Which pickups have been used by the most diverse range of recording artists?
In my experience, there's a chimey crispness that only single-coils possess, though sound more thin and light the more this is pronounced. On the other hand, there's some robust mamma-jamma that only humbuckers really have, unless of course you count stacked or humbucker-sized singles. Through the use of software modeling via a Focusrite interface, more often than not, there is no difference whatsoever once I've made a sound selection. No matter what guitar I use and which pickup configuration, they sound the same. So of course, this is going to be true, to some degree anyway, when using pedals and preamps. I would also argue that the more pedals you use, the more "away" from your guitar's original sound you're headed. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does distort(no pun) the lines somewhat when it comes to original sound.
As much as I praise and glorify Johnson, he does have in his arsenal a myriad of pedals. So what's the OE sound?
Apples to oranges...