Best of the cheap pickups

[TmcB]

Take it from me, the upgrade king; it's not worth it.
The money is way better spent going towards a guitar you actually like than upgrading it beyond belief.
Choose carefully what you want to upgrade, and how. I endorse upgrading epi dots because they turn into great guitars if you've started with a nice one.

As for pickups, I'd recommend the Kent Armstrongs. They are a decent step up from the stock epis for not much coin.
Actually, I'm all about upgrading pickups to really good ones, purely because when you're sick of the gat, you can take them out and put them in a better guitar to make that sound even better. So maybe that means getting the gold together to get some SD's, Rio Grandes, or even Bareknuckles. Gotta weigh it up with the fact that some of those pickup sets would cost you over half the price of the guitar tho

I'm like this;
Go hardcore on pickups, because they're transferable and can make great guitars sound even better; worth your coin.
Wiring doesn't cost too much to upgrade and it'll get the best from your gat.
The rest (like tuners, bridge, tailpiece) are not worth the money unless you REALLY want to improve tuning/playability. I would not recommend upgrading these in a guitar you don't really like that much.

[jeremyb]

You'll never make the money back you spend on upgrades on a cheap guitar, like Tony says put it towards a really nice gat instead

[TMG 03]

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.

+1

Cheap pickups are a waste on money. It costs more to put them in than they are worth. Get some SD pickups any time.

[danrawkz]

The thing with Duncan Designed is they're wound to the same specs as the Seymour Duncan models and sound extremely similar to the models they're based on. They're just produced in Korea (I think) to keep production costs low.

I honestly believe the Duncan Designed HB-105 actives are better sounding than Seymour Duncan Blackouts and HB-102 are pretty close to their JB/Jazz counterparts having AB'd them and owned guitars with each, I can see why Schecter for one load half their guitars with the Duncan Designed variants.

Rockfield is another brand I really like too, at $170 imported a set for every model they're really cheap. I can't wait until my Jackson is sorted and my Mafia's are installed into it.


Ibanez V7/V8 get an honourable mention from me too, although there's better stuff out there, they're very nice sounding stock pickups IMHO, despite all the people who trash them

[ash]

The thing with Duncan Designed is they're wound to the same specs as the Seymour Duncan models and sound extremely similar to the models they're based on. They're just produced in Korea (I think) to keep production costs low.

Same fundamental specs, for sure - number of turns, wire gauge, magnet type. But there are at least ten other parameters that define the details and then there are things like the crappy baseplate material and the copper shielding the DDs use that SDs don't.

In my experience Duncan Design and Kent Armstrong do a fair enough job of nailing the basic character of a given design, but back to back it's pretty obvious that clarity, depth and dynamics aren't there. With some sounds those things don't matter so much, but mostly they do.

[danrawkz]

The thing with Duncan Designed is they're wound to the same specs as the Seymour Duncan models and sound extremely similar to the models they're based on. They're just produced in Korea (I think) to keep production costs low.

Same fundamental specs, for sure - number of turns, wire gauge, magnet type. But there are at least ten other parameters that define the details and then there are things like the crappy baseplate material and the copper shielding the DDs use that SDs don't.

In my experience Duncan Design and Kent Armstrong do a fair enough job of nailing the basic character of a given design, but back to back it's pretty obvious that clarity, depth and dynamics aren't there. With some sounds those things don't matter so much, but mostly they do.

Yeah I definitely agree that they do not sound the 'same' but in some ways I actually prefer the DD pickups. To me they HB-102 and HB-105's were more 'alive' sounding than their 'real' SD variants. I thought the DD's had more mids and treble presence on both occasions in comparison, cheaper components or not

[slash-ed]

The thing with Duncan Designed is they're wound to the same specs as the Seymour Duncan models and sound extremely similar to the models they're based on. They're just produced in Korea (I think) to keep production costs low.

I honestly believe the Duncan Designed HB-105 actives are better sounding than Seymour Duncan Blackouts and HB-102 are pretty close to their JB/Jazz counterparts having AB'd them and owned guitars with each, I can see why Schecter for one load half their guitars with the Duncan Designed variants.

Rockfield is another brand I really like too, at $170 imported a set for every model they're really cheap. I can't wait until my Jackson is sorted and my Mafia's are installed into it.


Ibanez V7/V8 get an honourable mention from me too, although there's better stuff out there, they're very nice sounding stock pickups IMHO, despite all the people who trash them

I think I would prefer V7/V8 to DD or Mafias... But that's just me.

[slash-ed]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 059936.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 059935.htm

Speaking of DDs...

[rocklander]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 059936.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 059935.htm

Speaking of DDs...

b00bie link tease

[matman]

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.

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

Speaking of tremontis http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =269166069

[head_strong]

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.

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

Speaking of tremontis http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =269166069

haha, it was me who brought these, cheers man

[slash-ed]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 059936.htm
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Music-instrume ... 059935.htm

Speaking of DDs...

b00bie link tease

Sorry boss, I'll hit you up with NSFW DD post once I'm not at W.

[matman]

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.

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

Speaking of tremontis http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =269166069

haha, it was me who brought these, cheers man

lol - the anonymity of the forum strikes again!! I guess I just assumed that I'd met all the forum members from the Tron already at the last couple of Gearfests! Hope they do the trick for you bro

[Aquila Rossa]

DiMarzios are cheap enough anyway, so considering that why not stump up for them rather than saving a few bucks on something budget?
I would however be keen to hear if any of these budget models from low end gats actually sound as good as more expensive ones.
My Nephew's old Epi 100 LP's pups actually sounded pretty good to me. In some ways I liked them better than the super ceramics that were in my Gibson.
My Glyn chucked out the EMG pots and used higher quality larger pots plus heavier wiring that appears to have better shielding, so the EMGs sound really good in my LP, which may be due to all of this. Problem is, I always forget to unplug the lead so the battery drains out as bit.

[hamo]

DiMarzios are cheap enough anyway, so considering that why not stump up for them rather than saving a few bucks on something budget?
I would however be keen to hear if any of these budget models from low end gats actually sound as good as more expensive ones.
My Nephew's old Epi 100 LP's pups actually sounded pretty good to me. In some ways I liked them better than the super ceramics that were in my Gibson.
My Glyn chucked out the EMG pots and used higher quality larger pots plus heavier wiring that appears to have better shielding, so the EMGs sound really good in my LP, which may be due to all of this. Problem is, I always forget to unplug the lead so the battery drains out as bit.

DiMarzios tend to retail for around $170 each. There's quite a big difference between that and getting a set for that much. However, the logic of stumping up for something better is sound.