Originally Posted by: renWell, if your amp has a pile of presets you might be OK. I had a micro cube once, and it had a rectifier kind of tone - wasn't amazing but it worked.

What happens if you play totally clean? Like the intro to under the bridge. Is everything nice and clear and defined? If it is, your pickups are fine and you need to look to your amp and/or effects. I'm sure the pickups could stand to be upgraded, but they might not be the priority...

On cost, I hear good things about the digitech rp80 for instance, which at $80 I would think is about the same ballpark as new pickups?

Oh, and welcome to GT... :D

Hmmm, thanks. I'll have to see what other amps I have access too, but I don't have access to my guitar until tomorrow (Traveling) I'm pretty sure if I have the settings right it will be clean, I'll have to check that out. I looked at the rp80 on musicians friend and it seems it gets pretty good reviews, and it has alot of effects and a nice tuner (which I need!) So I may check that out if my pickups seem to be doing fine. Some of the effects seem a bit un-needed though, I have most of the effects on my amp but I may want them If I upgrade to a better amp without them, a distortion pedal would be my first priority then. Have you heard good things about GFS pickups? If my pickups aren't working as they could I my pickup a loudmouth at the bridge and a bigmouth at the neck for a lot of metal versatility.