All these pickups you mention I’d consider fairly high to very high output and to me sacrifice dynamics in the picking hand in some ways even more so than using low output pickups with a good boost, but both ultimately end up in a similar place in compressing dynamics. I mostly play low output vintage pickups without a boost and also play with an aggressive right hand. Some pickups I use are as low as 4k, but DC isn’t everything and some of them sound like how most 9-10k pickups would sound in power. I also like the Lundgren M6’s a lot for something more modern because they’re high output, but still decently dynamic for what they are
I think it’s a a balancing act of how much work the player is putting in vs the pickup. You don’t need to put as much in with higher output pickups or boosting. Put in too much with the combo of pickup/gain & playing technique and it’s overkill, sounds bad, but you don’t put in enough then of course it sounds to weak or lacking balls. Sorta like balancing the right gain levels of mics when recording I think. I admittedly sometimes get carried away and go too far in both cases (recording and the pickup scenario)
I do use less gain on the amp than most which for me, makes a nice balance currently.
A good pickup cleans up well when you roll the volume down. The sledgehammer is louder than the others with a c8 magnet. The warpig is next. The duncan black winter is insanely dynamic and I use that guitar the most. But it really doesn't matter I pick the same through everything. Hard and percussive, with a cleaner amp setting not very saturated or gainy. And with these pickups, plus the way I set my amps you HAVE to play hard or it sounds weak and doesn't punch.
If you picked up my guitar and plugged into my Amps you might think they need a boost. Most would. Low and behold, give me the guitar, suddenly it sounds tight and chunky as shit with that pick attack overtone surrounding it on thrash or whatever we're playing.
I think it has alot to do with the amps gain levels. Every one of these pickups will produce a weak or strong tone depending on how you pick the strings through my amps, because of how I dial the amp.
I'm 100% always straight into anything and over the years this is just what I've found for myself to give me dynamics. And even dynamics might be different to some guys. To me it's about constant pressure applied to the picking hand. Heavy handed with less gain always sounds best to me. Long as it's not a sloppy heavy hand.
The pickup actually does little to add gain. Mostly adds slight volume and picks up the 68g strings I use better than a weak pickup wants to. When you get into stuff like the "power dozer" pickups... it's getting unmusical and I probably would not like having to balance that. Might as well boost at that point and sacrifice the dynamics. I feel like lead players like that shit better.
So many combinations but also why alot of amps get wrongfully labeled "loose" or "tubby". It's the players making it do that, not the amp and I'll stand by that conviction every time.
