Members hellion_213 Posted January 7, 2015 Members Share Posted January 7, 2015 I'll also add, what you have the guitar plugged into is the other 50% of the equation. Pickups have an impedance. Impedance deals with an AC waveform being produced and when they match an amp well you get maximum efficiency and frequency response. Matching pickups to an amp can be more difficult then many suspect. Most pickups will sound OK on most amps, but to get the best response possible, you really have to take the amp into consideration. Luckily sites like Seymour do give you some idea to the impedance and the frequency response curves of their pickups. If you have one of their pickups, then look up its responses, then you have some baseline to work from choosing a different pickup. Problem is with a different amp or speakers all that can change drastically so many times you are buying blind in hopes the tone may be better then what you had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted January 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 NO!......just NO. The problems with humbuckers is there's too much you can do wrong, from baseplate material, upwards. I've always found you get exactly what you pay for with buckers I think so too. For whatever reason, there are just not that many budget buckers out there like Strat pickups for example. There are some offerings on Ebay with chrome covers but they just look cheaply made and there's no sound sample video either. I'm not saying it's impossible to make good buckers at a reasonable price, but like you say probably not that profitable to do so. I mean I had a Korean made Hamer with Duncan Designed which I thought sounded as good as the real deal (I had a US Hamer with Seymour Duncans at the same time). But I hear that it's pretty hit or miss with the Duncan Designed - some seem to love em, others hate em. There's also this Carlo Robelli 335 copy I picked up recently that has extraordinarily good pickups in it - and I don't think these things went for over $350 new back around 2000 when Sam Ash was carrying them. I've posted this before, but here's a vid with this old Southern Rock Icon (Travis Wammack) rocking out with his Carlo Robelli (all stock but the bigsby): Tons of his recent videos on Youtube with this guitar (stock pickups). Word is that he tours the Robelli because his Gibson 335 is too heavy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted January 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Doesn't look they do humbuckers though - Wylde I mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members soundcreation Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 I'll pay more (whenever possible) to avoid 3rd world manufacturing by people who...for them....are just making widgets. I think the majority of the time...whether it's guitars or amps or pickups or whatever....I'll get a superior product by doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BeanoBoy Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 I'll pay more (whenever possible) to avoid 3rd world manufacturing by people who...for them....are just making widgets. I think the majority of the time...whether it's guitars or amps or pickups or whatever....I'll get a superior product by doing that. I agree, although there are a lot of Americans making budget custom wound pickups, it's not just 3rd world. Pickup tonality is SO subjective, however, for me, the WCRs and Wolfetones I've bought were TOTALLY worth their price tags. I've tried budget ( won't name them, folks get insulted) I've had DiMarzio, Seymour Duncan even Gibson Burtstbuckers. For my style/ears the "boutique" stuff inspires me far more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MorganB Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 I am finding that cheap H pickups that used to suck (sound flat and lack harmonics) are now built much better. The Duncan Designed are so close to Duncans that with a little amp EQ they sound about the same and that used to not be the case. The stock BC Rich BDSM pickups are much better and are now 4 wire. The Dean import Rail humbuckers are so good I have bought guitars just to get them (The best rail PUP I have heard). The stock DBZ's are better too, so while it used to be no brainer to swap pickups, unless you are going for the higher end Dimarzio, Gibson, Duncans et. $80 + it makes little difference. I still would always prefer a Gibson Burst Bucker Pro or Dimarzio Megadrive if the guitar deserves and needs it, in a 99. guitar a DD will do it justice. no automatic swaps anymore. The import pickups are getting more American and the American guitars are getting more import (CNC) ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted January 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Yeah, pretty much my stance concerning aftermarket humbuckers anyway. I actually feel pretty much the same way about amplifiers as well - I just don't trust the Chinese or Indo stuff not to crap out even like the new Mustangs which I'd probably have otherwise. I've got six amps and five of them are US made - incl. two practice amps (the third is Chinese built). As far as saving the world though, I'm just not rich enough to stay out of Walmart or avoid a nice budget pedal for example (love the BBE stuff). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted January 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Love to try them but hey I got no complaint with the Seymours and truthfully at that price point I think the difference would be negligible, for me anyways. I guess I just can't justify spending that much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted January 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 I am finding that cheap H pickups that used to suck (sound flat and lack harmonics) are now built much better. The Duncan Designed are so close to Duncans that with a little amp EQ they sound about the same and that used to not be the case. The stock BC Rich BDSM pickups are much better and are now 4 wire. The Dean import Rail humbuckers are so good I have bought guitars just to get them (The best rail PUP I have heard). The stock DBZ's are better too, so while it used to be no brainer to swap pickups, unless you are going for the higher end Dimarzio, Gibson, Duncans et. $80 + it makes little difference. I still would always prefer a Gibson Burst Bucker Pro or Dimarzio Megadrive if the guitar deserves and needs it, in a 99. guitar a DD will do it justice. no automatic swaps anymore. The import pickups are getting more American and the American guitars are getting more import (CNC) ;-) I agree with your assessment of the pickups coming with cheap guitars these days. Not a big fan of a lot of the cheap ceramics found on budget Strats however (some of the ceramic humbuckers as well). I think you're right though, if you want a decent pickup at a real bargain price, those newer Duncan Designed ones are the way to go. Don't think they are available as replacement parts though so you have to find somebody parting them out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BeanoBoy Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 If the Duncans work for you, no need to look further. Like I said, pickup tonality is VERY subjective. I REALLY wanted to like a cheaper pickup ( who doesn't want to save money! ), bought a couple, but in the end, I wasted my money. Too bad we can't demo pickups in some fashion, might save us all a lot of time and expense. I have 3 sets of WCRs and a set of Wolfetones that just knock it out of the park for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted January 8, 2015 Author Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Yeah, WKRG in Cincinnati was saying in another thread that you have to match the pickup to the amp regarding frequency response and what not. Wish manufacturers would come up with a list of buckers that sound good with a particular amp. Otherwise it's just guesswork I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pine Apple Slim Posted January 8, 2015 Members Share Posted January 8, 2015 Strat and tele sized L45S an L48TL have them in a parts tele and love them. Sound like SCs and perform like HBs.They also do the L90s and L500s which are HB sized. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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