Worst pickups you have ever owned?

Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

Gibson's 490R/490T set: bright and flavorless, like tepid pudding
Whatever Epiphone pickups were in my Steinberger ZT3 stock: see above, but worse
Dimarzio Steve Morse set: He makes them sound so good, but I can't
JB: again, others do great with them, but I seem to not be able to make them sound right to my ears.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

allbutromeo said:
This-and there's not a close second. Powersounds were by far the worst pickup is ever had in a guitar
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Yep. If a pickup sounds flat but clear, or lively but undefined, then I can make it work or me. Powersounds are lifeless, muddy, compressed, and just all-around bad. They're "okay" for straight up modern hard rock in small venues and that's the best they could do.

Seriously, I had more use for Squier single coils.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

I'm not counting cheap stock PU's in imported guitars. The expectations are low with those. The worst high-quality I've ever had are Gibson '57 Classics. I've had a few come in guitars I bought, and they've been consistently lousy.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

Lindgren said:
Ibanez Inf is a good exemple of a horrible pickup but i have owned several other lemons.


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I had Inf pickups in a guitar. They were not good at all. I swapped them out for V7/V8 because I had a set I got a good price on and they weren't that good either.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

allbutromeo said:
This-and there's not a close second. Powersounds were by far the worst pickup is ever had in a guitar
Click to expand...

The powersounds pickups sounded about the same as the INFs to me. I thought they were... I can't even explain.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

Dimarzio Area Strat set. Read great things. Spent a fortune to buy them new..

They did have vintage Strat tone...vintage squier ceramic tone.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

Ibanez INF and V7/V8 are by far the worst stock pickups I've ever played.

It's to be expected that stock pickups in cheap imports don't do much, but Ibanez was putting them in not-cheap guitars. It boggles my mind how Ibanez would consistently push the envelope in terms of tech like locking trems and neck reinforcement rods, but seemingly leave pickups virtually undeveloped or seemingly just as placeholders.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

I've liked all the replacement-grade pickups I've had in guitars. It's the stockers that have garnered harsh criticism on this front. For every Kramer Focus 1000 or 8000 that had great pickups, there are half a dozen that came equipped with rock-bottom ****. Some standouts:

- Powersound HSH set in my Ibanez RG270DX. They made every amp sound like my brother's little Quantum that I played through when I started.

- Covered alnico humbucker set that came in my 2004 MIK Epiphone LP Custom. The classic wax bricks are currently at the bottom of a landfill in Hell.

- The stock J pickups in my five-string Squier P-bass V were four-string pickups under black plastic covers. How do you take that seriously?

- And the stock single-coils in the Squier Mini blew wide-open ass all day long.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

stratguy23 said:
Ibanez INF and V7/V8 are by far the worst stock pickups I've ever played.

It's to be expected that stock pickups in cheap imports don't do much, but Ibanez was putting them in not-cheap guitars. It boggles my mind how Ibanez would consistently push the envelope in terms of tech like locking trems and neck reinforcement rods, but seemingly leave pickups virtually undeveloped or seemingly just as placeholders.
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That never bothered me. I've always bought Ibanez guitars with plans for specific replacement pickups from SD, DiMarzio, or EMG.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

darthphineas said:
"Worst" is a highly speculative approach when it comes to things like this and might not always be applicable.

One person might think a certain sound is horrid while another might think it's perfect.
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agreed in that it is very much a personal thing. ; I think it would be cool if folks would put why you didnt like the pickups. That would help others to know whether it may or may not work for them. ALSO, some folks take things so literally that they may avoid what could be their perfect pickup, because they read a couple of people dont like it. Especially if talking about our host's pickups on his site.. wink wink...

For example, (NOT calling you out BRO!!!, just using this example cuz I have personal experience with this pickup!) One poster said he didnt care for the C5. I have used several c5s and often they didnt work in that particular guitar. I changed the magnets to A8s and LOVE THEM!! Its prolly little secret around here that Im a big Custom 8 fan!! However, I put a C5 in my Squier Strat and it is perfect.. So, depends on the guitar.

I agree with others that the stock pickups in the 80s Charvel model series were VERY bland! The guitars were amazing!! But pups were bland.. I am a fan of the mid boost tho!


I havent tried a Crunch lab, but have heard so much positive hype.. suprised to hear the dislike.. But again, different strokes...
I had a Dimarzio PAF once. Very weak..

Also had an EMG select single coil that was given to me.. I soon understood why it was given to me... haha.. Very dull and lifeless.

Also, have has stock Ibanez, old Kramer and stock squier pickups that were aweful.. noisey and lifeless

One other thing... Unless the guitar comes stock with Duncans or a quality brand pickup, I nearly always swap em. Sometimes even to a diff model if I want something diff from that axe.. However, my Michael Kelly Patriot Custom still has its stock neck pup.. It sounds DANG good! (bridge is now a rio BBQ)

And, believe it or not... A couple of the recent Epi LPs Ive gotten have come with pups that sound pretty good. I changed them, but was really suprised by how good they were..
 
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Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

stratguy23 said:
Ibanez INF and V7/V8 are by far the worst stock pickups I've ever played.

It's to be expected that stock pickups in cheap imports don't do much, but Ibanez was putting them in not-cheap guitars. It boggles my mind how Ibanez would consistently push the envelope in terms of tech like locking trems and neck reinforcement rods, but seemingly leave pickups virtually undeveloped or seemingly just as placeholders.
Click to expand...
They know you're gonna buy DiMarzios afterwards anyways.

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Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

BloodRose said:
And, believe it or not... A couple of the recent Epi LPs Ive gotten have come with pups that sound pretty good. I changed them, but was really suprised by how good they were..
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If they have the Probuckers, those are very decent PAFs. In fact I've bought some as aftermarket replacements, with my only gripe about them being that the baseplate height adjustment screws need to be metric, so you can't use normal Duncan/Gibson/etc. screws with them.

As for *how* INF and V7/V8 are bad, it was just one of those things where you can immediately taste that the milk has spoiled, the turd cannot be polished, etc. No life, no nuance, no anything that made me think that it would be good for *anything*.

Interestingly, the newer Ibanez Quantum pickups are very decent. Sort of faceless hot ceramic deals, but they get the job done and don't automatically call for yanking like INF/V7/V8, or, say, ESP stock pickups.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

It feels like beating a dead horse at this point, but Ibanez INF2, INFS1, INFS2 are terrible beyond belief. I can tolerate the INF3 and 4 though.
 
Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

stratguy23 said:
If they have the Probuckers, those are very decent PAFs. In fact I've bought some as aftermarket replacements, with my only gripe about them being that the baseplate height adjustment screws need to be metric, so you can't use normal Duncan/Gibson/etc. screws with them.

As for *how* INF and V7/V8 are bad, it was just one of those things where you can immediately taste that the milk has spoiled, the turd cannot be polished, etc. No life, no nuance, no anything that made me think that it would be good for *anything*.

Interestingly, the newer Ibanez Quantum pickups are very decent. Sort of faceless hot ceramic deals, but they get the job done and don't automatically call for yanking like INF/V7/V8, or, say, ESP stock pickups.
Click to expand...

I feel like the Ibanez pickups have gotten it ruff but the ESP's are the same in my opinion. I have 2 sets laying around in my house and they worked well in a squire I play around with for fun, so did the V7/V8s and the INFs actually didn't sound as muddy and kind of cleaned up but I got a pair of GFS pups to put in it and they had a lot of treble but seemed to lack mids like non other. But I put them in the guitar I ripped the INFs out of and they were way better. But the ESP stock pickups usually lack in clarity and sound muffled/muddy.


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Re: Worst pickups you have ever owned?

blueman335 said:
I'm not counting cheap stock PU's in imported guitars. The expectations are low with those. The worst high-quality I've ever had are Gibson '57 Classics. I've had a few come in guitars I bought, and they've been consistently lousy.
Click to expand...

I bought a 57 Classic in the trading post here (I think it's a +). Didn't work out for me (so far anyway) so it's in the storage bin. I don't think it's a terrible pickup, I would just describe it as boring. Yet, they have lots of fans.
 
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