High output pickups - recommendations?

[Crazybayman]

In upgrading a Standard 24 SE, I'm looking for something high output for metal, but can handle rock, classic rock and blues, and still sound decent clean.

Any recommendations?

 

[bodia]

If you want to stick with PRS, then I would say the \m/ pickups are great. Other options would be Suhr Aldrich. Great pickups for a great price. Bareknuckles makes great pickups that would fit your needs. Kinda pricey, though. If you want custom wound, check out Zhangbuckers. Cool pickups. Great guy to deal with. He winds them all himself. Might take a couple of months.

 

[Crazybayman]

If you want to stick with PRS, then I would say the \m/ pickups are great. Other options would be Suhr Aldrich. Great pickups for a great price. Bareknuckles makes great pickups that would fit your needs. Kinda pricey, though. If you want custom wound, check out Zhangbuckers. Cool pickups. Great guy to deal with. He winds them all himself. Might take a couple of months.

Cool. Thanks. I'll check all those out.

My first thought was to find a set of second hand US made HFS and VB. Any thoughts on those?

 

[BCnSTL]

I have the \m/ pickups - I think they're *too* hot. I'm probably going to swap them out for HFS/VB or 59/09 - maybe.

 

[bodia]

Cool. Thanks. I'll check all those out.

My first thought was to find a set of second hand US made HFS and VB. Any thoughts on those?

Lots of people like them, and lots of people don't. Some find the HFS to be a little harsh. The VB is good. I like the HFS because it works well for hard rock/metal. I'm sure they can be had at a good rate. Worth checking out, for sure.

 

[toothace]

I have a CE with the HFS/VB combo. Covers all the bases you are looking to hit on.

Edit: How you "flavor" them with pedals/amp will aid in your tonal quest.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Another vote for \m/ pickups, Dragon 1s are incredible if you can find them, or Bare Knuckles (they have a ton of options)

 

[pauloqs]

+1 For Bare Knuckles. I'm a sucker for their pickups. They also have very good samples for you to compare them and the people in their customer service knows their stuff. I haven't tried many of the PRS higher output pickups, but I'm super happy with all the USA made pickups I've tried thus far and some of their made in Asia as well. With that said, if I were to swap pickups on any of my guitars Bare Knuckles would be among my top choices.

 

[HANGAR18]

Once upon a time I had only Epiphone/Shecter guitars and very affordable solid state amps. It was then that I was always looking for hotter pickups.

But now that I have very robust tube amps, I find myself looking for lower output pickups (like the PRS 57/08's) to preserve tone and let the amp do all the heavy lifting when trying to get huge distortion.

If I had it all to do all over again, to make the transition from the minor league to the major league, I would get one of the newer PRS SE Custom 24's and a used Mesa Rectoverb 25 combo amp. (If you can't afford the Mesa try a used PRS Sonzera combo.) IMHO That will give you the widest possible range of functionality and tone at the lowest possible price.

 

[merciful-evans]

Never found high outputs that sounded good clean. To my ears anyway. Maybe there is such an animal, but it aint crossed my sights yet.

 

[Bowtiefanatc]

Never found high outputs that sounded good clean. To my ears anyway. Maybe there is such an animal, but it aint crossed my sights yet.

I love the Dragon 1's clean and \m/ is surprisingly articulate while still being quite hot.

 

[alantig]

Another \m/ fan here. Have a set in my PS - very versatile.

 

[AP515]

My first thought was to find a set of second hand US made HFS and VB. Any thoughts on those?

I'm in the HFS fan club. I don't find it harsh at all, but I'm not afraid to turn that little knob that affects tone...

 

[Andrew Paul]

I just stuck a pair of Lindy Fralin high output hum-buckers in one of my custom 24s and they sound awesome.

 

[Beery Swine]

Seymour Duncan distortion bridge and jazz neck, maybe alnico II pro neck. The SH-6 is depressingly overlooked in metal and rock, let alone in clean and classic rock.
I think the JB is the most overrated pickup by far. Weak mids, overly trebly, no low end, FEH! SH-6b and SH-2n, or APH-1n all the way for versatility. The full shred is great for uber low-end metal and is still tight and fast, but the cleans end up sounding a bit dull.

 

[Ovibos]

Not crazy high output, but the Duncan Alpha / Omega set in my Holcomb is modern metal incarnate.

 

[Crazybayman]

Thanks all for the suggestions. Much appreciated! I scored a set up HFS / VB for a decent price.

 

[Deli6505]

I have a \m/ in the bridge of my DGT and it sounds awesome and although this sounds like a no-brainer, I recently installed US Tremonti pickups in my Tremonti Custom SE and those are the hottest pickups this side of actives that I've ever heard. They also sound great on clean too.

 

[BCnSTL]

If have 57/08 / Nearfields in my SAS Studio - and \m/ PuPs in my Cu24 Floyd. The 57/08 sounds *fantastic* - the \m/ 's are too hot, lack dynamics and clarity (like most high output humbuckers in my experience). I'm swapping them out for 59/09s and putting the \m/s on e-Bay. I hope the 59/09s aren't too hot. I would have ordered 57/08s but why have 2 guitars with the same pickups?

 

[SteelHorse]

I have a DWCE24 with MojoTone Tomahawk’s and they are hot. Very hot, but are not muddy at all to me. I find with volume and tone down to 7 the pickups give you a classic rock sound.