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lintycreep

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Hey guys, help me select some pickups for my beater Peavey Wolfgang. I picked this up a couple months ago and love the neck, but hate the pickups. I mostly play punk/alternative rock.
 
If you are looking for primo, you can't do better than Motor City Pickups..I own their "Solution" pickups and while they are VERY hot, they are quite tuneful as well...Simply put, the best pickups out there to my ear...

To come down closer to Earth in price, I LOVE Lollar pickups of any variety....I use the Imperials and some P90s and they are beautiful sounding pickups...

For base range, I'd say save up 'til you can buy one of the above....FWIW, also really like Bare Knuckle Pickups...

Hope that helps...
 
linty,

Pickups are hard to pick for someone else, except yourself (IMO). I have pups that I use, and when people suggest that I try other pups I usually scoff at the idea.

Once in a while I'm surprised.

I like Bill Lawrence's 500L and 500XL's in the Bridge on most of my Strat style guitars. Bill has a humbucking single coil style pup called an L45 that I absolutely love in the neck.

I also like some Duncans.

I don't like the Burst Buckers in my LP (and some people think those are great)

My friend has an ebay store and he sell's Giovanni pups. Some of them are pretty kewl too. I thought you might like those, and they are really well priced, but he doesn't have any listed atm. I'll ask him the next time I speak to him. That might be Monday or so though.

Certain pups I usually dislike in general, are Dimarzio and Lindy Fralin pup's to name a few.

MarcoR has some nice sounding pups in one of his guitars, but I forget what they are (He probably knows the ones I'm referring to, maybe he'll chime in)

Maybe this is helpful, I don't know.

The wood in the guitar, the strings, your fingers, the preamps/amps you're using, the songs you're playing, all play a part in what pups will sound good for "you". It's a tough call. I could say "Use these pups or else!" but.... might not work for you, and who knows if you'd like them.

Good Luck!
 
My first Gtr had a Bill Lawrence 500L with a mini switch to go single coil. Later had another 500L installed in the neck, which is kind of the wrong place, but it sounds great, and going in between with single is very cool.

A newer couple I really like are the Dimarzio Crunch Lab and Dimarzio D Sonic. Crunch lab is a bit louder, but I found the bridge sounded WAY better with the rail pointing toward the neck pickup.

Also if you need a humbucker the size of a single coil, the Dimarzio Billy Corgan is great.

I had the crunch lab installed using the 4 cables to give parralel and series options - major upgrade for variety.
 
As a general rule, I've followed my favorite guitarists motto. Jon Schaffer from Iced Earth said his secret to crushing metal tone was high gain amp, low output pickup. Low gain amp, high output pickup.

Top favorite pickups are the PRS SC245, bridge and neck, and the PRS HFS and Vintage pickups. I put the Dimarzio Breed, which I love, and a Seymour Duncan Full Shred in my Ash Soloist, and it sounds pretty killer too. Both pickups are very midsy with a medium output.

I recently picked up a USA Tremonti and while I love the guitar, the bridge pickup is waaaaay too hot for me. I'm switching it out for a Dragon II here in the near future.

Can't go wrong with PRS pickups, in my opinion. But as a bona fide PRS fan boy, take my words with a grain of salt I suppose. But think about this, out of aaaaall the major players in the game, in terms of strictly guitar and bass manufacturers, there's only three I can think of where people actually go outta there way to buy just their pickups. Fender, Gibson, and Paul Reed Smith. Ya don't hear people bragging about their new stock Ibanez Infinity pickup they just got, or their Dean bridge pickup that they scoured 25 music shops for. That's gotta be something.

Right?
 
I think you'd be best to search the Seymour Duncan Forum. Just google 'Duncan Peavey Wolfgang' or the like and dive into the SD Forum hits. Folks are very active there & shoot straight. Have no problems recommending other brands, magnet swaps, etc. I did a quick search and found tons of hits on that forum.

That being said, I've not tried too many pups other than Duncan's, just because I always start there, and almost always find just what I'm looking for tone wise. And in the end, as far as buckers are concerned, no one could go wrong with a Duncan Custom in the bridge (with an A5 or A8 mag), and a 59 or Phat Cat in the neck. And, I've become a HUGE fan of Wide Range Humbuckers. Love the Mojotones in my tele...

Tons of choices here. Good luck!
 
Some pickups just work in some guitars and some don't. It's almost luck to get a good combination. I've had good and bad experiences with about every major brand.

suphuckers said:
MarcoR has some nice sounding pups in one of his guitars, but I forget what they are (He probably knows the ones I'm referring to, maybe he'll chime in)
Those are the Afwayu by Motor City Pickups. I've tried countless different pups in that strat in the 20 plus years I've owned it and the Afwayu compliments the guitar perfectly.

Mattfig said:
If you are looking for primo, you can't do better than Motor City Pickups..I own their "Solution" pickups and while they are VERY hot, they are quite tuneful as well...Simply put, the best pickups out there to my ear...

I love Wade's work and also have Angle Dusts (discontinued) in my 7 string. What I notice the most is how much depth is in the tone; I hate saying 3D but that's the best description.

Full disclosure, Motor City Pickups are fantastic but ordering, and waiting for them (maybe 2 to 3 months) is quite painful. If you make the commitment, tell Wade as much as you can about what you want out of the pickup, the guitar, your equipment and the types of styles you play. He can the suggest the best options for what you're looking for. Then you have to be very patient waiting for them and communication won't be good. Sending him emails for updates pisses him off and will just add weeks to your wait.
:evil:
 
Thanks guys. I really appreciate all the input. I realize it's difficult guessing what pickups would sound good in a random guitar. I just don't know much about pickups. I guess I've been lucky until now with the stock ones I've had. I think I'll shoot Wade an email and see what he recommends. I can deal with the wait time... I think :D Thanks!!!
 
Hi,

I have experimented about as much as anyone who can't do their own soldering on pickups! lol

I found PAFs are basically like chocolate ice cream. You got your basic, and then hundreds of tiny variations; finding your fave variant is going to be down to trying them all. Fortunately, they put 3 band para-shelf type eqs in amps so you can get close with almost anything.

The only "rule" I have found for my head, is that a lighter weight guitar gets closer to the "tone" I want with a higher impedance pkup.

I have also found that my favorite "tone" comes from Alnico 2, on a steady diet of British and American heavy metal. I find Alnico 5 too "nasal" in most windings, but have played A5 pickup guitars that do distortion quite well.

Lastly, I have found that even/uneven winding makes a difference too. Evenly wound bobbins produce what seems to be "smoother" distortion and a little more midrange, and unevenly wound pickups have a bit of grit and rasp to the dist., but a wonderful scoop that suits "cleaner" tones.

I am not familiar enough with your style of music to know what the major progenitors use to give you a baseline, but hopefully these descriptions of my perception of the "texture" will give you something to go on.

Good luck!
 
Agree with Sup - the Bill Lawrence L500 is good I like the hot one the L500XL - great cut and some real balls!

Also find actives good these days - tend more towards the Seymour Duncan AHB 1 in the bridge and the EMG 60 in the neck - like that pairing a lot!

Sounds mean distorted and has great clarity clean, but it does hit the front of the amp hard so you need one with a good clean head room. Works great with my JF superclean, not so great with my Twox :)

Other passives that I find good are the Seymour Duncan Distortion - that works in most guitars too I find!

Interested in trying more BKP's recently got a Luxxtone with Aftermaths in it - find them a touch harsh when distorted, but I hear good things about the painkillers and the war pig - both of which I'm going to try soon!
 
There are several factors here

1. Price you are willing to pay (no point in anyone here listing off primo pickups if you are only willing to pay for stock Duncans/DiMarzios)

2. What exactly do you want from the pickups tonewise

Personally I like Lollar, Fralin, Duncan/Antiquities, and Bareknuckle (for acoustics I love LR Baggs new Lyric system).

I play mostly rock n roll, alternative, indie, folk, blues, classic rock, country, etc. So my type of tone lends more toward the vintage end of the spectrum and I have guitars with P90, PAF style humbuckers, filter trons, DeArmond/Dynasonic, strat singles, tele singles, mini humbuckers, etc.

Having an idea of what your guitar sounds like acoustically and with the stock pickups will help you determine what your new "ideal" pickup should sound like and can give others a good frame of reference when making suggestions. For example if the guitar is really bright and you want to mellow that out we can suggest a particular type of pickup that can help with that.

Honestly while pickups do make a difference it is important to keep in mind it isn't always going to be a night and day difference like the amp you use, etc. And in some guitars some pickups can work wonders while others just don't fit. Throw in personal/subjective opinion and that's why there are soo many options available.

If this is your first forray into swapping pickups check places like Reverb, Ebay, etc if you are comfortable with buying used there are lots of great deals on used pickups that way you aren't shelling out more than you'll get if you decide to flip em later as you test the waters.

Off the regular old shelf though there are a lot of good options depending on the guitar and what you want from DiMarzio and Duncan that won't break the bank.

If it were me just making a general suggestion for good all around humbuckers I'd cast my votes for Lollar Imperials or Fralin's Pure PAF set. I also highly suggest Lollar's Single Coil for Humbucker they are similar to a Duncan Phat Cat (P90 in a humbucker shell) but these bad boys sound killer. The great thing about P90's is they sound great clean and they take dirt exceptionally well so they sound good in just about any application.
 
Old guitar tech I used to work with was a huge Bill Lawrence fan, love those pickups. Used to have an 85 Explorer with three of them Killer tones bridge through neck. Now my main choices are older Seymour Duncan JB, the newer versions seem a little harsh? The other main one is the Dimarzio Tone Zone a lot like a vintage Duncan JB with livelier mids and highs. Those are both in the bridge. For neck I recently put in a Lollar P-90 and cannot express how gorgeous the tone is. Clean, dirty doesn't matter, I like it more than the Duncan Jazz I have in my Les Paul neck spot. With that said I recently cobbled together a squire strat to 62 spec with Fender 62 pickups and all I can say is WOW. I never had a single coil guitar with so much character and variety(volume knob) of tones. Stock fender reissues. Who knew?
 
I ended up going with the Motor City Pickup's Detroiters and they sound awesome. I've been pretty happy with the stock pickups on most of my guitars, but the Peavey's sucked bad. I'm not even sure if they were stock. Got them installed, put in push/pull for coil split and it has become my favorite guitar.

Contrary to some of the things I've read about Wade, he was quick to answer my initial question and the pickups arrived a few weeks later. Of course, I didn't dare email him for a status on my order :lol:
 
You guys should check out Cream T Pickups "Billy F Gibbons Banger Series" (http://www.creamtpickups.co.uk)
They make awsome pickups. I read about them and talked to the guy(Thomas) and was convinced.

Ordered a set and installed them in my Custom SG. Fantastic responsive and warm sounding. I will change out the pickups on my favourite guitars with the bangers or the new blonde bangers.
 
There are two pickups that found to be universal for almost all type of rock: seymour sh4 and my new fav is emg 57 (although I hate 81 and 85). They are balanced and can sound properly in guitars made by from basswood through ash to mahagony etc.
please consider the amp u use as well. For example for a dual recto not preferable to use an invader (which is bass heavy) as you will get muddy sound. For marshall use blanced pickup to let the strong mids of wolgang to cut through. Especially on seymour page you find the sonic balance of each pickup, so easy to choose.
 
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