Best of the cheap pickups

[hamo]

I noticed on TM that some dude's selling some pups from an entry level ESP LTD M50. That got me wondering: "would those be any better than the shitters in my Epiphone?"

So in your experience or by reputation, which are the best of the cheaper pups? Epi, PRS SE, ESP LTD etc, or any cheap aftermarkets?

[alanp]

On a semi-related note... how good are the "Duncan Designed" pickups that come with the more high-end Squiers? Both of mine have got them.

[Ears]

alanp, judge your p-ups by how they sound to you, not on their price tag, label or what you are told about them.
.

[Basket Case]

I tried a Greg Bennett Samick once (the SG shaped one) which had "Duncan Designed" pickups in and thought they were pretty reasonable.

[alanp]

alanp, judge your p-ups by how they sound to you, not on their price tag, label or what you are told about them.
.

Yeah, I do just that, but...

It's fun to hear other people's opinions, you know? I like to add to what I know already, and if my ego gets propped up a bit then that's a bonus

[IkeKrull]

I had duncan designed HB-103s in my schecter, replaced them with (funnily enough) even cheaper toneriders.

Actually i was happy with the stock pickups, thought i'd just try the tonerider P-90 in the neck position, and liked it so much i got the hot bridge 'generator' pickup as well. The HB-103s weren't bad pickups at all - but obviously neither of them was a P-90, and the tonerider generator definitely has more bite, output and clarity than the bridge HB-103.Its not night and day though - Could have left the HB-103 in the bridge and been happy.

Some people just won't be satisfied unless they have a brand-name 'real thing' set of pickups, so if thats an issue, might as well just wait till a deal comes up on some real seymour duncan/dimarzio/emgs or whatever, rather than trying to go for a 'small step up'.

Personally, i'm not enough of a tone-snob to be swapping pickups in and out every second week chasing some sonic holy grail, but definitely don't regret going P-90 in the neck position.

[slash-ed]

I noticed on TM that some dude's selling some pups from an entry level ESP LTD M50. That got me wondering: "would those be any better than the shitters in my Epiphone?"

So in your experience or by reputation, which are the best of the cheaper pups? Epi, PRS SE, ESP LTD etc, or any cheap aftermarkets?

Hamo, they'll probably be higher output than your stock Epiphone pickups but they probably won't suck much less..

Try Kent Armstrong / SKY pickups, they're a bit characterless compared to Dimarzios or SDs, but I had a couple, and the KA Distortion really worked quite well. High output and clear, if not very unique. Funch has my old guitar with the KAs in it, not sure if he still has them or if he'd be keen on selling them off.

[hamo]

Thanks guys. TBH I'm not seriously considering going to the effort of swapping my stock Epis for anything that's not going to be a decent step up. I was really just interested in whether any of the stock or aftermarket cheapies were surprisingly good for what they are.

I've been steadily souring on the idea of upgrading the Epi pups, it just seems less and less worth it for a guitar I'm slowly going cold on.

[Vorbis]

I've got a LTD MH50...soon to be for sale. The pickups have some serious grunt, not great for clean tones...but very Metal

[mop]

The pickups in the tremonti were better allrounders compared to the ones in my viper 50. The bridge pup in the viper was pretty hot, as vorbis said good for metal/rock but not much else, the neck pup was shite from memory.

[hamo]

I seem to remember being able to get better pinch harmonics from the Tremonti than from the Epi Zakk Wylde's EMG HZs

[slash-ed]

I've been steadily souring on the idea of upgrading the Epi pups, it just seems less and less worth it for a guitar I'm slowly going cold on.

This.

You need to sell that guitar and get something killer.

[hamo]

I've been steadily souring on the idea of upgrading the Epi pups, it just seems less and less worth it for a guitar I'm slowly going cold on.

This.

You need to sell that guitar and get something killer.

Best case scenario: I get robbed.

[ash]

I used to think the second-tier aftermarket pickups had their uses, but after having done some back-to-back tests I reckon its a false economy to skimp. I'd recommend getting one really good bridge pickup rather than get a mediocre set.

Polishing a turd is at best going to get you a shiny turd, but probably just a smelly rag.

If it's a guitar you're over or plan to sell, a half-arse upgrade is wasted money.

[sgt mukuzi]

Polishing a turd is at best going to get you a shiny turd, but probably just a smelly rag.

sig`d