Pickup advice... anderson H3 vs Suhr SSH+

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Dragoneti

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Hello everybody!!

I am again in the market for a new bridge pickup for my us charvel san dimas and i want your advice.

I was using a Tom Anderson H2+ which i liked a lot but i wanted just a little bit more gain from the pickup to make my solos more fluid and effortless with legatos and such. Then I found a H3+ available in the local dealer (no H3 unfortunately) and i gave it a shot.

It has that trademark clarity of anderson pickups (which is unreal I must say) but it a bit too hot and also too smooth & massive in the bass department. A bit overkill for the music that I play which is classic metal, hard rock, 80s hair metal and instrumental shredding.

My main problem is with its rhythm sound as its solo sound makes you think that it plays itself. But for chords it is too bass heavy and smooth.

So I'm looking for a middle ground between h2+ and h3+ with the obvious choice to be a H3 (unfortunately I will have to order one from internet as there is none available here) but searching for one, my eye was caught to a Suhr SSH+ (which is available here) that looks like it would be good for the above application.

Which of the two would be better for my needs? the H3 or the SSH+? I haven't used a Suhr pickup before but I almost have all the humbuckers for Duncan and dimarzio in my possession and some from Bare Knuckle Pickups. To which would it be comparable to?

At the moment I have a crunchlab (installed along with the liquifire which will stay in the guitar as is one of the best neck pickups i have used so far) which has the required power but it lacks in clarity and detail the Andersons had. The rest of my rig consists of a JVM410 and 1960 with greenbacks, an eventide modfactor, a timefactor and a tc hall of fame.

The floyd of my charvel is German made with a floyd upgrades big block and made into fixed bridge with a tremol-no unit.

Thank you all in advance for your aswers!!
 
I'm not a fan of Anderson pups for the same reasons you explained....but to be fair, ive only used the H2+ in an ESP Eclipse. I had an SSH+ in a Les Paul and it was OK. Maybe a little too "clean" sounding for lack of a better word (almost a single coil quality). I hated the Aldrich in that same guitar....too harsh, bright, and stiff. With that being said, the DSH+ was the best sounding pup I ever had in a Charvel.....and I tried about 6-7 in there (including some BKP). I'm expecting delivery of a DSH tomorrow for my HSS strat. I want that DSH+ sound I had in my Charvel, but without the extra output.
 
I was about to ask about the DSH+... so between the SSH+ and the DSH+ for the charvel the DSH+ is better...? I like to have mids in my sound! :)
 
Dragoneti":2m1xt5km said:
I was about to ask about the DSH+... so between the SSH+ and the DSH+ for the charvel the DSH+ is better...? I like to have mids in my sound! :)
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I never tried the SSH+ in the Charvel. Definitely no shortage of mids in the DSH+ though.
 
I would go with the Anderson h3, I think it is just want you want. I first went with an h3 for my strat and found it too hot for my liking and then went with a h2+, which I love. I have another guitar with an h1n- and an h2+.

My only suhr humbuckers experience was with the suhr Aldrich set in my les Paul, which I really like.
 
only gripe I have with the SSH+ is that in my case using a higher gain amp it is too hot and has a buzzy tone artifact that I can hear when recorded which I really don't like. Perhaps not just a good application for that type of playing, in that taming the gain/distortion is something that is needed to get good recorded sound for non high-gain metal styles.
 
Thank you all for your answers!

So the choices are now between H3 and DSH+ as the buzzy and fizzy treble that the SSH+ (as well as the aldrich) appears to have is not to my liking.

Blackba, as you have experience to both H2+ and the H3 what are their main differences? does the H3 has that fluid legato feel that the h2+ lacks and h3+ has in spades? the eq differences with H2+? more bass? more mids? (apart for the obvious output).
 
btw at this moment a have a 1 meg volume pot (no tone pot) in my charvel in the form of a duncan liberator (i have modded one to 1 meg), as the h3+ was definately in need of one!
 
I'd take out the 1 meg volume pot, personally. If you're dead set on having that 1 meg pot, the H3 should do what you want. In reality, there's not a HUGE difference between the H2+ and the H3. The H3 just has a little more output and is a little thicker. Little less midrange compared to the H2+ because of the extra thickness, too.
 
the one meg pot was installed only for the h3+ as it was necessary in order to sound more normal... but it can be replaced just as easily... soldering pickups/pots etc is only difficult the first 200 times... then it becomes... easy... :P :)
 
i have an aldrich bridge humbucker in a super strat (Suhr c1) and i do like it very much. Kind of like a Duncan JB but with more clarity maybe even a tad brighter.
 
Code001":2lzbr7qu said:
I'd take out the 1 meg volume pot, personally. If you're dead set on having that 1 meg pot, the H3 should do what you want. In reality, there's not a HUGE difference between the H2+ and the H3. The H3 just has a little more output and is a little thicker. Little less midrange compared to the H2+ because of the extra thickness, too.
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I agree on the differences between the H2+ and H3. For my needs I like the H2+ as to me it warmer, with more mids and less aggressive. I should mention that I went from a JB to an H3 to an H2+, so I am sure the JB is affecting my judgement as to what I thought about the H3.
 
The thing I'm afraid with the aldrich and ssh+ is that it may be too bright in my charvel (alder body/ maple neck) and JVM/greenback combination. Especially for Aldrich I have read that its pretty harsh in such guitars so I'm steering clear of it. then again i may be wrong but the DSH+ may be suhr's correct answer as far as charvel bridge pickup is concerned.

The thing is that the H3 seems like the obvious choise... hotter than h2+ which I like and is installed in my mahogany strat but wanted to have some more gain for shredding and on the same time not as hot as the h3+ which is pretty extreme (although the thing is that it remains clear which is most impressive for a pickup this hot).

And as far as the JB comment... who hasn't gone through one... most of my guitars came with one... I must have 7 or 8 in here... :P :P
 
To me, the SSH+ or Aldrich both feel so much better than the H3 when playing. Even though the H3 is pretty high output, it actually sounds very 'dry' if that makes sense... Whereas the Suhr SSH+ and Aldrich both have much more of a saturated/juicy kind of tone to them. To me, they both sound hotter than the H3 even though they're probably just on par output-wise.

The SSH+/Aldrich and H3 will all work fine in a Superstrat, but going by the info you gave in your original post.. I would vote the Aldrich for sure.
 
Dragoneti":5u4lm0s2 said:
The thing I'm afraid with the aldrich and ssh+ is that it may be too bright in my charvel (alder body/ maple neck) and JVM/greenback combination. Especially for Aldrich I have read that its pretty harsh in such guitars so I'm steering clear of it. then again i may be wrong but the DSH+ may be suhr's correct answer as far as charvel bridge pickup is concerned.

The thing is that the H3 seems like the obvious choise... hotter than h2+ which I like and is installed in my mahogany strat but wanted to have some more gain for shredding and on the same time not as hot as the h3+ which is pretty extreme (although the thing is that it remains clear which is most impressive for a pickup this hot).

And as far as the JB comment... who hasn't gone through one... most of my guitars came with one... I must have 7 or 8 in here... :P :P
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Take some of the comparisons you're getting of the Aldrich, SSH+, and DSH+ with a grain of salt. If they are compared in different guitars, they can sound very different. But this is true of any pickups. There's actually not a huge difference between them. The Aldrich is a SSH+ that's been slightly overwound. The DSH+ is the SSH+ but with two screw coils instead of one slug and one screw. One can argue that the SSH+ is more "harsh", as it has a bit more sparkle in the highs when compared to the Aldrich. The Aldrich sounds like it has more mids.

If you're sure that you really want something in between the H2+ and the H3+, then the H3 is the best contender. Andersons have a certain hi-fi sound that most people don't consider "familiar" sounding. The Suhrs will get you closer to that.
 
I have a Bkp Holydiver, it was installed in my charvel for about 6 months period but eventually the lack of saturation to the sound made me retire it from my main guitar.

It seems that either choice is going to be good, both Aldrich/ssh+ and the H3 and was afraid a bit from some reviews that state that the suhr is bright in such guitars (and recommended on les pauls) but if the consensus is that they will be good then it probably boils down to which is more available for purchase.
 
Suhr pickups are kinda like refined Duncans, IMO. They have a similar saturation that Duncans have, and they feel similar to those. They're generally a little bit on the brighter side, but I haven't ever heard them actually sound "harsh." They're generally a little more even sounding than Duncans, too. Andersons have a cleaner, hi-fi kinda sound. They're amazing for leads and fairly solid for rhythms. The bass isn't quite as tight as some of the modern pickups out there, but they can get the job done. They're also the best pickups out there when you start splitting and doing series/parallel combinations. My Anderson is actually my #1 at the moment, despite me being a death metal guy. They're just amazing for leads. BTW, if you didn't like that lack of saturation from that BKP, stay away from them completely. They all have that characteristic from what I've tried.
 
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