Still haven't found the right bridge pickup for SG

[_tom_]

My SG seems to be really picky about bridge pickups. The sound always seems a bit "choked" and dead, with notes not ringing out as much as they should. I thought it might just be a dodgy guitar/bit of wood but it actually sounds great and resonant unplugged and with good sustain. The neck pickups always sound good and don't seem to suffer from this problem. So far I've tried:

Pig 90 (tapped and regular) - not bad but still a bit lacklustre and surprisingly weak sounding for its output
Duncan Custom Custom - far too dull and soft for this guitar, made it quite muddy
Gibson 498t stock pickup - ok but a bit grainy sounding and still suffers from the same problem
Mule - probably the best so far but still sounds weak without a boost

I had a MQ neck pickup in which was great, probably the best neck pickup I've tried. Considered the bridge one but the tapped Pig 90 was a bit disappointing and the full power wasn't great either. I'm actually considering a stupidly high output Dimarzio D-Activator or something less transparent than Bareknuckles. I play pretty standard rock music but tend to go for a more modern/gainy tone than something like Highway To Hell. The tone on Every Time I Die's The Big Dirty is kind of what I aspire to!

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm still not sure about a Riff Raff as I can't see it being loads different from the Mule other than a bit brighter/more aggressive sounding?

[TheyCallMeVolume]

I think the RR would be perfect if you're having a problem with "choke." I wouldn't be too concerned with it being a vintage style pickup, should do the job extremely well.

[darrenw5094]

BKP pots might help unchoke the tone. Gibson use 300k pots in their SG's.

[CanadianMetalhead]

I agree with darren. Maybe even going as far as getting 1 meg pots. I use 1 megs for my VHii's and its a blast with my basswood guitar.

As for pickups maybe looking into a blackdog if you liked how the mule sounded but want higher output and don't mind a mid boost.

[ericsabbath]

the vhII sounds quite powerful for a paf
just installed the set in my MIJ hurricane les paul copy

I was selling a mule set to some friend yesterday, but still waiting for payment, so I might try the mules in the same guitar for a fair comparison and remove them later

[Twinfan]

Riff Raff is my default choice for an SG as they always sound good.  Bright and crunchy but not necessarily "modern", which is probably a negative for you.

What about something like a Cold Sweat?

[_tom_]

BKP pots might help unchoke the tone. Gibson use 300k pots in their SG's.

I've rewired it with 500k CTS pots in the Gibson 50s style wiring :)

Dave, I think I considered the CS before actually and I'd completely forgot about it!

[Alex]

I'd say go even further with the Miracle Man. It worked great in my SG.
I think the CS and MM aren't that far from each other, tonally, but the MM has the power push the SG needs.

[_tom_]

Yeah I was thinking the MM as well. Might give Tim an email and see what he reckons. I'm finding the Mule sounds great for open chords and stuff but it lacks push for single note riffs, leads etc.

[gwEm]

something free would be to try the neck MQ in the bridge position - they aren't wound so different. It will give you an idea of how something lower output would sound.

[hunter]

Yeah I was thinking the MM as well. Might give Tim an email and see what he reckons. I'm finding the Mule sounds great for open chords and stuff but it lacks push for single note riffs, leads etc.

I prefer pickups with good lower gain crunch and string separation. You can always run a boost to make them thick. In my experience, there is no perfect compromise. So I'd rather have a more crunchy pickup, fattening up a sound is easy, but trying to thin out a thick sounding guitar won't work.

[BigB]

I'm quite happy with my ABomb bridge, but I didn't try as much pups as you did on my SG and I can't tell if it would solve your problem. The RR was fine too but I wanted something thicker and a bit more on the modern side on this guitar.

[_tom_]

Well I raised the bridge Mule and its polepieces loads and its actually sounding a lot better. Forgot how much that actually affected the sound! Still tempted to try something more "pushy" though, if a MM or CS comes up cheap 2nd hand I'll give one a go.

[ericsabbath]

the vhII close to the strings puts out some really deep and heavy single notes

[Telerocker]

the vhII close to the strings puts out some really deep and heavy single notes

My experience too.