What are the hottest pickups out now?

I am curious what peoples opinions are on the best sounding pickups, both humbuckers, or single coil. Ones that are good for both heavy distortion, and crystal clean sound? :D

EMG Active's

Bridge/neck

81/60
81/85
81/89
85/60
85/89
85/85


81/60 my personal favorite.

granted the 81 isn't to outstaning clean but thats why there's a neck position and the 60 is sweet when put there. :cool:

Thanks for the info.

Does any one second the motion?

I prefer the 81 as well, for metal stuff. But it really depends on what style music you play too.

Dimarzio Evolution neck and bridge - very high output, work well for Steve Vai among others. Also Dimarzio Air Norton or Paf Pro combined with Tone Zone at the bridge gives a great overall tone. I have a set EMG 81 and an 85 on my Prestige, they do work well for lead but without a huge rig it's hard to define a unique personal tone with active pups. I had a set of Evolutions in a previous Ibanez and they were excellent. My current Jem has a set of Dimarzio Breeds, very nice and very unique - unlike any other pickpups I have played along with Evolutions, these are my favourite pickups for lead.
The best heavy crunch pickups I have used are in my EBMM Petrucci - they are custom Dimarzio's but you can get a pretty precise approximation of available combos on petrucci.net if you like that particular tone. Knowing the type of music you like, I would probably recommend Evolutions.

I don't like active pickups... I think they take all the personality out of your tone... I'm with Superhuman - The DiMarzio PAF Pro's, PAF Joe's and PAF Fred's are excellent and very versatile - great clean and distorted.

I play JEMs and JSs... If you've only got one guitar, I'd go with a PAF combination - the PAF Joe in the neck and PAF Fred in the bridge are the best combo in my opinion...

On single coils, I've got Duncan Hotrails in my Tele - they're pretty nice... And Lindy Frailin 'Vintage Hot' in my strat...

Is there a way to test drive different pickups before buying without having to search out a rig thats allready set up, or having to tear down my axes, and then re-string just to samlpe before deciding? I know that may sound like a stupid question, but I just thought of an idea for sampling different pickups by buying an old cheep guitar, and then cutting out a notch along the top side pickup insert so that I can slide in, and out different test models without having to re-string every time before buying :eek:

But you'd still have to solder them in! :eek: can't see a guitar shop being happy with that! ;)

If you're looking for a balanced pickup that gets a good clean sound and good distorted sound.... stay away from active pickups.... period. Stay away from pickups with ceramic magnets.... period. Go for something in a passive pickup... with an AlNiCo magnet.... they make hot pickups in Alnico magnets... the JB/59 set is very popular... there are literally hundreds of pickups out there... But my advice is to stay away from ceramic magnets and active pickups if you want a balanced pickup

i find low power pups let your guitars tone come through more....my epi with '59's is very toneful...if you want crunch filled metal get emg's... if you want good classic distortion get some and great cleans get reissues of classic pups, and turn it up!!!

If you have a bridge single coil and want to have a kick-ass hot metal sound, put in the Seymour Duncan Hot Rails. They really make any strat more versitile by adding that humbucker crunch while retaining the natural strat bliss from the other pickups on the guitar.

I have a Dimebucker in the bridge of my LP and it is over the top really on output as far as passive pups go. It's almost too much. You won't be able to use it for clean tones at all. Which is why I put an Invader (neck style) in the neck. It has half the out put of the regular Invader and is especially smooth on the leads and the cleans are sparkling. Not too bad a set for a metalhead.

I use a DiMarzio SCHB at the neck and a DiMarzio Dual Sound at the bridge of one of my SBG1000s. The other one has a PAF Pro at the neck and a Tone Zone at the bridge. Both are very versatile combinations. The SCHB was discontinued in the mid-80s, but the PAF Pro is very similar. The Dual Sound is a 4-wire version of the original Super Distortion - the pioneer aftermarket humbucker, and probably the most-recorded pickup in music history. The Tone Zone has more edge, brings out more harmonics, and leaves nowhere to hide if your chops are lacking, but it's the best there is when you've got something to say.

I have a pair of 1966 Yamaha SG-2 single-coil guitars, but the pups are original stock, and they're going to stay that way. Some things are just right, first time 'round. :D

Theres nothing I like better than getting into the zone, and touching off some killer harmonics between notes, or getting your pick just right between the thumb, and pointer, and firing off some simultaneous pinch harmonics. Any pickup that helps clarify, and really bring out the harmonics is the one for me.
That is a subject I would like to hear more about, {Killer Harmonics} :D

I know exactly what you mean, every time you pull one it sounds awesome! Unfortunately I got standard ibanez pickups with barely any sustain plus I have trouble pulling P.H.'s sometimes, they don't sound pure

Originally Posted by: axemaster911...That is a subject I would like to hear more about, {Killer Harmonics} :D

Check out the evolutions.... or just go play a JEM (not the mirror, it's got breeds) - you'll get the idea...

Originally Posted by: renCheck out the evolutions.... or just go play a JEM (not the mirror, it's got breeds) - you'll get the idea...

Yea dude, I was telling superhuman a while back that the Jem was going to be my next new weapon when the cash flow is right. If there is a tool out there better than the Jem I would love to hear about it???? :cool:

Originally Posted by: axemaster911Yea dude, I was telling superhuman a while back that the Jem was going to be my next new weapon when the cash flow is right. If there is a tool out there better than the Jem I would love to hear about it???? :cool:

A Stratocaster...

A JEM has too much nonsense...

6 strings... 3 singles... 5 switch positions... 2 tone knobs... a volume knob.... that's all I need.

But I'm one of those young-yet-mature blues players...... haha.

"To each his own"

I've owned a strat, I like the Jem. I would like it better if the price was lower. :D

If massive output is what you want, save your batteries and get DiMarzio X2-N pickups. A nice bonus is that they actually sound pretty good with the guitar volume controls rolled down enough to clean them up.