Would Brown Sugars be a bad idea?

[Deadlock]

Hi everyone!

I am close to buying new pickups for my telecaster, but I'm stuck at the final decision. I'm torn between Brown Sugar and The Boss pickups. From the clips, I am really tempted to pick the Brown Sugar pickups, with The Boss being my second choice. My telecaster is alder with all-maple neck, and I fear the Brown Sugars might be too bright in my guitar.    If not the Brown Sugars, which of the tele pickups would bring a similar feel?   These "rock voiced" pickups with a lot going on in the high end are usually my favorite pickups, if that is any help :)

Thanks  :D

[Telerocker]

Out of those two the Boss would be the safer bet in terms of brightness. You might also want to consider the BG52 and BG50. Those Blackguards sounds amazing and full and are a perfect match for a maple neck tele. By the way, on a tele the toneknob is a great tool, use it!

[BigB]

You might also want to consider the BG52 and BG50. Those Blackguards sounds amazing and full and are a perfect match for a maple neck tele. By the way, on a tele the toneknob is a great tool, use it!

This. Don't be fooled by the "vintage" label, these baby just *rock*. Period.

[gwEm]

The Brown Sugar is an awesome pickup. How are you trying to sound? What's the rest of your gear.

The Brown Sugar is more open sounding (less saturated) than The Boss. It is brighter and has more twang, but not overly so.

The BG series is another option, for sure. But if you like the clips of The Boss and Brown Sugar then you won't go wrong with either.

[Deadlock]

Thanks for the answers guys! Some time ago I was recommended the BGs, and was actually originally considering a BG50 set or 50 bridge with 52 neck.  I find it hard to compare some pickups by only the BKP clips, as the genres they are demoed in are so different. Some genres they use for demos seem to express the character of the pickups better than others. I should probably go through the Players section of the forums and dig up some tele clips to get a good feeling of the different ones.

As to what sound I'm looking for, it's hard to tell. I will probably know when I hear it, but for now I'm still discovering. I'm sorry I have to be so difficult  :D

[gwEm]

for what its worth, I use a Blackguard 52 for cleans and rock, and reach for my Boss for hard rock and heavy metal.

[miguelbatalha]

Sorry to Hijack the thread but what pickups (from the modern ones) would get me close to a John 5 Tele sound (Not just Rob Zombie sound, he is very versatile.)

[Deadlock]

for what its worth, I use a Blackguard 52 for cleans and rock, and reach for my Boss for hard rock and heavy metal.

Interesting!  As you have the 52 set, how would you describe the neck tone? I often read it has this 'strat-like' quality to it, I'm not exactly sure what that even means, hehe  :D

[gwEm]

In fact my BG52 is paired with an Irish Tour neck. I haven't tried the neck model BG52.

Generally, maybe due to the dimensions of the coil, the tele neck tone is often a bit disappointing.. Especially when the strat neck tone is one of the all time classic tones. So 'strat like quality' is certainly a good thing anyway :)

[Telerocker]

In fact my BG52 is paired with an Irish Tour neck. I haven't tried the neck model BG52.

Generally, maybe due to the dimensions of the coil, the tele neck tone is often a bit disappointing.. Especially when the strat neck tone is one of the all time classic tones. So 'strat like quality' is certainly a good thing anyway :)

The BG52-neckpu gets close to a strat-neckpickup, and sounds pretty good but somehow there's not this ultraringing vibe a good strat with a good neckpickup has. And yeah, the IT-neckpickup is fantastic.