favorite humbuckers for Bright sounding guitars?

  • Thread starter Thread starter veji
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veji
veji
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I'm currently on the hunt for a nice bridge/neck pickup for my Maple body guitar.
Looking for something to add meat/balls to a bright/icepicky/thin sounding guitar to a nice meaty/thick les paul(john sykes)
any suggestions?
 
Cheap: ToneZone bridge, GFS A2 Pro neck

Expensive: BKP NailBomb bridge, Mississippi Queen neck.
 
Try the Air Norton. I've got it in my Fender Custom shop set neck super strat, which is very bright, and it sounds great. Added lots of meat to the guitar.
 
MCP Black Iron...like several others have mentioned, you probably want to look at a pup with an Alnico 2 mag.
 
I had the same problem, absolutely hated the HFS/Vintage Bass in my PRS CU24. I always thought of my CU24 as a bright guitar and almost got rid of it for that reason. It was too shrill and trebly with loss of clarity (too hot) when playing high gain stuff. I ended up with a WCR Godwood/Darkburst set and couldn't be happier with it. Now, If I wanted a lower cost humbucker (WCR set is $350) I would have pulled the trigger on the SD 59.
 
I initially read past the Sykes part :doh: . The Detroiter may not or may not have the right voicing, but it will definitely add some meat & thickness. The MCP Nasty Nasty may be a better choice since it has similar fatness to the Detroiter, but with a little more tightness & heat. Both of those pickups have a killer sweet high end; no shrillness at all.

Like Bronco mentioned, the MCP Black Iron may also be a good choice. It will thicken up the lows & low mids, but it does have a high mid spike that may be a bit too much for a guitar that's seriously bright & icepicky. I had one in a guitar that acoustically was on the brighter side with a lot of bite. And while it thickened up the low mids nicely, the top end was too intense. I replaced it with Nasty Nasty & was much happier. It wasn't as thick in the lower registers as the Black Iron, but thick enough & had the smoother top end that guitar needed.
 
-Duncan Custom Custom. When I tried a Tone Zone, yea it added thunderous bass, but didn't fix the ice pick problem.
-EMG 85
 
I have the same issue... tone zone prob wouldn't do it. I have an Air Zone which is a little more vintage-ish and less gain than a tonezone and it helps mute the thin brightness a bit but isn't the ticket. I am going to be trying a JB with alnico II in it as I seriously think an A2 magnet is the ticket for brighter guitars. Apparently duncan Invaders can be good too but they look like shit... (pure aesthetics at play)
 
BKP Holy Diver, BKP Warpig, Dimarzio Tone Zone, Duncan Alnico II Pro...all different but all have a nice high end to them.
 
Duncan Custom Custom is you want smooth buttery top end and smooth mids.

ToneZone if you want thicker and fatter sounding low end/low mids but still with the pronounced upper midrange 'awww' sound.
 
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