Low, low output, high quality humbuckers

[ejkennedy]

Just picked up a PRS 24 and having grown accustomed to strats and teles these past 5 years of my playing, the pups are just pushing to hard. Who's making full sounding humbuckers that are lower output than your typical CRUNCH humbuggy. Thanks guys.

 

[nerdbot]

Check out Wilde (Bill Lawrence), as his humbuckers have a very balanced sound and are offered in low output versions. I had a 500L, which was on the hotter side of things, but it was still very articulate. I can only imagine how nice the lowest output version of the 500 or 90 would be.

 

[stinkfoot]

If you look through various pickup makers' catalogs, most of those in the "vintage output" section should work fine. The Dimarzio Air Classics I find balance quite well with singles (I have them in the bridge position on two of my guitars, with Virtual Vintage 54 Pro singles in neck/mid positions), both output-wise and tonally.

 

[GreenTea]

Yummy...my type of thread! All of the below bad boy 'low, low output, high quality humbuckers' are stellar examples and currently installed in my planks:
--RS Fralin PAF set
--otpg (these are a few years old and probably not as easy to find these days, but great examples nevertheless)
--Doyle's Tru Clones
--Electric City RD 59 Low Wind Hybrid (kind of a mix here with a low wind neck and an 8.2 bridge)
To my ears they all have different character and retain that vocal, airy character you might be looking for. Can't go wrong with any of these

 

[dysorexia]

A bit pricey but I love my bareknuckle mules. Gets that warren Haynes, David Grissom and derek trucks tones.

 

[thecornman]

Dimarzio Humbucker From Hell! Don't be fooled by the name these are not high output pickups at all. They almost have more of the single coil feel to them then a standard Humbucker. The Dimarzio Bluesbucker is another good choice if you like the P-90 sound in a humbucker size. A great combo is the Bluesbucker in the bridge with the Humbucker From Hell in the neck.

 

[Dexter.Sinister]

The cu24 has pups on the hot side, but even they can be used without being "crunchy" by reducing your volume at the guitar or anywhere else upstream of your amp. That is one of the charms of humbuggies...working the volume gives one a range of outputs with enough grunt on top to allow one to shed an OD or boost pedal.

 

[leblanc74]

Bring down the height of the pickups.... all the way down, flush with the bracket

 

[burritobreath]

Bring down the height of the pickups.... all the way down, flush with the bracket

I do this, but then raise the pole pieces a bit. Seems to brighten it up. I've got a Lollar imperial at the bridge and a Fralin Twangbucker (now called the Twangmaster) at the neck. With the Lollar in parallel mode, it's kind of Strat'ish in the middle position.

 

[chankgeez]

If you don't necessarily need humbuckers, how 'bout humbucker-sized single coils?

 

[Tzirfigu]

After trying the sd59 and the gibson57, the vintage lab 61 hd are resulta amazing. Live the hype for sure.

 

[Footbutt]

SD Pearly Gates?
i like mine in the Jaguar i play...

 

[mizzlfoshizzl]

All available as calibrated sets for bridge & neck, in order of price:

DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAF
Bare Knuckle "The Mule"
Lollar [any]
Harmonic Design

 

[meterman]

nature of the beast, give yourself some time to get used to and appreciate the differences...

 

[ejkennedy]

nature of the beast, give yourself some time to get used to and appreciate the differences...

Yeah man. I've had LPs and high gain rigs in the past. Ha. I'm over it. I'm probably gonna get the Bareknuckles. Always liked their pups. Anyone using Antiquities in a lower gain rig?

 

[shoepedals]

I have a set of really cool Humbuckers in my Jaguar HH by Travis Morris. I had him make them to spec for me. They use A5 pole pieces and are wound with one coil using 41ga wire and the other using 42ga to a total of around 6k and 6.5k. The cool thing about them is they sound more or less like single coils (maybe more towards the p90 sound a bit) and are super dynamic and open. You can hear everything on that guitar.
Another nice thing about them is that since the coils are different sizes you can flip them around in the guitar and get two different sounds out of each. I prefer the slightly warmer and more "complex" sounding orientation of larger coils facing outwards. Beautiful cleans.

 

[slopeshoulder]

Get low wind humbuckers, then set them LOW in the mounting ring. Also, stagger the coils.

 

[Bucksears]

Could get TV Jones Classics in a humbucker mount.

 

[jimihendrix1117]

Tom Anderson pickups. H1 might do you good.

 

[e-flat]

It's been a few years since I've owned a HB equipped guitar, but I loved the WCR Crossroads in my SG Standard. 500K pots, 50s wiring, and I'd set the treble side of the PU higher than the bass side ... Just sort of dialed them in by ear. The bridge would jangle & even get a touch of Tele twang if I wanted. Really great pickups, nice open mids.