Best Country/Blues/Clean Rock Humbucker

[Sqwerl]

Getting my mind set to put a set of HB 's on a Tele copy. Need opinions on an all around set . I dont care for a lot of distortion , and dont want them to hot . Was thinking of a set of WCR Filmores or Goodwoods, but man they are a bit pricey, tho probly worth the price. TY for any help ..Sqwerl

 

[eggman]

SD 59's

Sqwerl,

Try SD 59's. They're basically an old fashioned PAF, but new. They sound delightfully vintage in my ES-335. Gibson's 57's are pricey and more trebly, but very good p/u's. Good luck.

Eggman

 

[BB]

Getting my mind set to put a set of HB 's on a Tele copy. Need opinions on an all around set . I dont care for a lot of distortion , and dont want them to hot . Was thinking of a set of WCR Filmores or Goodwoods, but man they are a bit pricey, tho probly worth the price. TY for any help ..Sqwerl

Check out the Virtual Vintage PAF's or Classic PAF's by Dimarzio. Excellent sounding pickups.

Duncan Seth Lovers and Antiquities are wonderful.

Lower cost options that ahve great tone are Kent Armstrong 12 Pole. I was shocked at how good these are. Stew Mac Golden Age humbuckers are alos very good sounding, cost effective pickups.

For a real treat, ( and not much more money than a set of Duncans or Dimarzios ) shoot and email to Jon Moore at rhonjon@sympatico.ca The pickups he wound for me are spectacular.

 

[OaklandA]

SD 59's

Pound for pound, overall the best humbucker around IMO.


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[Roe]

I'd recommend a tvclassic or magnatron

 

[JTM45blues]

Duncan Antiquity, end of story. Fantastic woody sounding cleans, nice hollow mid range too.

 

[bo]

I'm another fan of the Duncan Seth Lover.

 

[Brick]

Another vote for SD Seth Lovers.

 

[AJ Love]

I'm crazy bout the Lollar Imperial Humbucker

 

[BB]

Getting my mind set to put a set of HB 's on a Tele copy. Need opinions on an all around set . I dont care for a lot of distortion , and dont want them to hot . Was thinking of a set of WCR Filmores or Goodwoods, but man they are a bit pricey, tho probly worth the price. TY for any help ..Sqwerl

Check out the Virtual Vintage PAF's or Classic PAF's by Dimarzio. Excellent sounding pickups.

Duncan Seth Lovers and Antiquities are wonderful.

Lower cost options that ahve great tone are Kent Armstrong 12 Pole. I was shocked at how good these are. Stew Mac Golden Age humbuckers are alos very good sounding, cost effective pickups.

For a real treat, ( and not much more money than a set of Duncans or Dimarzios ) shoot and email to Jon Moore at rhonjon@sympatico.ca The pickups he wound for me are spectacular.

Confused yet???? As you can see, lot's of opinions and great recommendations.

As AJ Love say's, the Lollar Imperial is fantastic. As others said, 59's, antiquities, Seths, TV Jones, etc are all good. If you don't want hot, the Fillmores and Goodwoods amy not be the best choice. While not high gain pups, they are hotter than Seths, Antiquites, or other PAF styles. Out of the many humbuckers I've tried, I was least impressed with the Goodwood. It's a great pickup and I wanted to like it, but the others I mentioned worked much better for my situation.

Tone is so subjective. Suffice to say, you would probably be happy with any of the above offerings. Heck, even the low cost GFS pups sound very good.

What sort of budget did you have in mind for replacment pickups?

 

[AJ Love]

The Lollar Imperial Humbucker in the neck position of a Tele is capable of such beautiful full blues tones... I had one in a very nice Am Series Tele that took that guitar into a whole other dimension, then I found an even better (for me) Tele in the Fender American Ash (8502) and put the Lollar Imperial in there and was just blown away all over again by how great it sounds. Big full beautiful tones

Jason Lollar is a genius who is very generous with his time. I read an interview with him in Tone-Quest magazine where he said that he was never really into the sound of Humbuckers because the sound was too compressed for his liking, he said he prefers P-90's (everybody raves about his P-90's, I'll have to try one sometime) and Tele bridge pickups.

When I spoke with him on the phone I mentioned that interview to him and said that I loved his Imperial Humbucker and that alot of people rave about them, and I asked if his relative dislike of Humbuckers had led to him spending a bunch of extra time in designing the Imperial. He was very humble but informative and said that he did indeed spend alot of extra design time with the Imperial trying to find something that sounded good but wasn't as compressed sounding as most Humbuckers. I'd say he more than succeeded

 

[Sqwerl]

Price range

I'd like to stay around 150$ for a pair, and yes I'm confused. The pups in this guitar now are Duncan designed HB 102 . The gig I played week before last ,I fooled around with amp settings for 3 sets before realizing, hey this dont sound to bad. Our steel player said the same thing. I was using a Laney 80 watt SS Acoustic/Electric amp, running the Acoustic side , Guitar , cord , amp. Bass about 5 , mids at 3 or 4 , and treble at 7 , and lots of reverb,gain at 2 or 3 , most mids pulled out of the EQ. I'm fairly happy with it now, but when it comes to guitars happy dont last in many cases.

 

[NZ_Sam]

Kent Armstrong Filtertrons

I recently got one of these for neck of a squier tele custom (standard size humbucker).

Very good price (especially for here in NZ) and I'm really impressed with the sound. Lovely sweet highs and very clean sounding. I'm not sure how it would go at the bridge but at the neck it is giving me a very nice country sound.

 

[BB]

Re: Kent Armstrong Filtertrons

I recently got one of these for neck of a squier tele custom (standard size humbucker).

Very good price (especially for here in NZ) and I'm really impressed with the sound. Lovely sweet highs and very clean sounding. I'm not sure how it would go at the bridge but at the neck it is giving me a very nice country sound.

I'll agree 100%! I was very, very pleased ( and surprised ) at how good this pickup sounded in the neck of a tele.....and how good it sounded with various overdrive pedals.

I "ll assume the bridge pup would sounds good also...but who knows! IMO, this pickup sounds better than many that go for twice the price.

 

[BB]

Re: Price range

I'd like to stay around 150$ for a pair, and yes I'm confused. The pups in this guitar now are Duncan designed HB 102 . The gig I played week before last ,I fooled around with amp settings for 3 sets before realizing, hey this dont sound to bad. Our steel player said the same thing. I was using a Laney 80 watt SS Acoustic/Electric amp, running the Acoustic side , Guitar , cord , amp. Bass about 5 , mids at 3 or 4 , and treble at 7 , and lots of reverb,gain at 2 or 3 , most mids pulled out of the EQ. I'm fairly happy with it now, but when it comes to guitars happy dont last in many cases.

For $150 a pair, you have some nice options available. However, if you are happy with the sounds you are now getting, don't change anything for the time being.

The only time I've used Duncan Designed pups is testing out a few guitars in store. So I really don't have a feel for their sound or build quality.

If and when it does come time for a change, I would highly recommend the Dimarzio Virtual Vintage PAF's. New, you would have some money left over and if you can find a set used, well.....you're money ahead. These are some seriously toneful pickups.

 

[AJ Love]

The pickups that come stock in the American Series HS and HH Telecasters are pretty impressive, I must say... not on the level of Lollars (imho) but impressive... not sure if they are available aftermarket though