Switching pickups on 3 guitars! Need opinions!

[CraigJohnsJr]

Hey guys! Looking for new pickups for a few guitars I'm going to convert for more of a rock/pop punk tone. I need something really clear for chords, good with moderate gain, and the neck tone to have that really full, cool bluesy tone. I'm playing through an Axe-Fx but using the Orange and the Marshall JCM 800 simulations. I've played Juggs and Blackhawks, but I don't know much about the less metal pickups. I've heard good things about the Rebel Yell, Riff Raff, Cold Sweat, Black Dog, etc...

- ESP Eclipse (full thickness) - mahogany body and neck, ebony fretboard. It's not really that dark. Pretty balanced, I think. I have Juggernauts in it now, but they're not working well for this.

- Gibson SG Special Faded - Open to either humbuckers or HBS P90's.

- Telecaster - ash, maple neck - Single coils.

Thoughts?

Reference (not in tone, but in style): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKRd5-Obmq4

[CraigJohnsJr]

I sent in an email and got this response:

- ESP Eclipse: Cold Sweats
- Gibson SG: HBS Supermassive's
- Telecaster: Cobra T bridge / Piledriver neck

[Dave Sloven]

Those all sound like good suggestions.

Personally I always feel that SGs can cope well with a bit more oomph in the bridge and you could consider a Stockholm/Supermassive combo there

Cold Sweat will most likely do the trick in that Eclipse

[Telerocker]

Rebel Yells in the Eclipse could be a very good solution.

Telecaster: Piledriver-set or if you want a more vintagetone with mids and balls, I would for sure inspect the Blackguard 50's.

Gibson SG: if you want an open sound, I would say Mules or RiffRaffs, or a HB-sized Nantucket-set. More oomph means less open and detailed, then you will end up with pickups like Supermassives, Stockholms, Rebel Yells and Cold Sweats.

[CraigJohnsJr]

Agh! Right when I thought I had it figured out...

How do the Rebel Yells compare to the Cold Sweats?

I'm definitely a fan of "oomph", but I want to be able to hear everything clearly, as this style of music has a lot of fast chordy parts. To be honest, I have no experience with any of those pickups, (Stockholm, Supermassive, Mules, Riff Raffs,) so any clarification on why one would be better than the other would be super helpful!

Here's what his email read regarding the Tele set:
"I am a huge fan of the Cobra strat coils, my personal favourite from the range, and the Cobra T for the tele bridge is similar in feel. It is still a true single coil and you get the snappy cleans, but when you really crank them up then thy do deliver at high gain for clarity, precision and attack, whereas the more vintage models can fall behind in these areas. If you want the tele guitar to keep up with the humbucker guitars then I recommend the Cobra T with a  Piledriver neck."

I heard that the Blackguard 50's would be perfect for this, but that was pretty convincing!

[Telerocker]

The RY's close the gap between vintage and contemporary. They sound a tad more vintage than say Cold Sweats.
The CS-bridge is ceramic, The RY has alnico V magnets.
The voicing is different. The RY has strong (upper)mids and not so much bass. For a big lump of mahogany that could be a good thing.
The CS provides quite some bass and topend. The mids are there, but it seems more scooped than the RY.  Both have great neckpickups. The CS-neck has liquid solotone.
Both are capable of doing metal, but are not specifically aimed at metalplayers.

I have recommended some medium- and some lower output pickups because I think they might fit the guitar. And: in my experience a not too hot pickup works good and keeps more dynamics and clarity on units like Axe-FX.

I have no experience with the Cobra T. I just don't like high output pickups in a tele. Maybe others can comment on that.

Choice is also about preference. If you're used having pickups hitting the preamp hard and savour the compression they cause, vintage output pickups might be the wrong choice. I went from higher output to medium- and loweroutput. I like the way lower/medium output pickups interact with highgainamps.

If my English is rubbish, sorry, just woke up after a latenight gig.

[CraigJohnsJr]

Ah, that makes sense. So the Rebel Yell might actually be better for the Eclipse then, if it has more mids. The guitar seems sort of scooped naturally, so I wouldn't want to put scooped pickups in there! I want to keep that really full, bluesy Les Paul neck tone. If the Rebel Yell can deliver in that aspect, then I'm sold!

I've been reading, and for the Tele, I think I'll go with the Flat 50's. I'm not really after a metal tone, so I don't think the Cobra/Piledriver would fit here. The Flat 50's seem to be perfect.

Now, for the SG, I've read a lot of different things and I'm honestly not sure where to go! I like the idea of a HBS P90, just to have something different, but I'm also totally cool with a humbucker.

[Telerocker]

Ah, that makes sense. So the Rebel Yell might actually be better for the Eclipse then, if it has more mids. The guitar seems sort of scooped naturally, so I wouldn't want to put scooped pickups in there! I want to keep that really full, bluesy Les Paul neck tone. If the Rebel Yell can deliver in that aspect, then I'm sold!

I've been reading, and for the Tele, I think I'll go with the Flat 50's. I'm not really after a metal tone, so I don't think the Cobra/Piledriver would fit here. The Flat 50's seem to be perfect.

Now, for the SG, I've read a lot of different things and I'm honestly not sure where to go! I like the idea of a HBS P90, just to have something different, but I'm also totally cool with a humbucker.

If the ESP is scooped, the RY will definitely add mids, but is not a very bassy pickup. Btw, the RY is very sensitive for the right height, so tweaking is important (always with scatterwound pickups, but the RY is extra sensitive). The neckpickup is great for rock, blues and heavier styles. Ask forummember DarkBlueMurder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmMdlWhwdt8

[CraigJohnsJr]

Well the ESP has a good amount of bass as it is, so I think I'll be set with the RY set! Thanks for the help, I feel really good about this!

As far as the SG, I'm pretty lost here. I'm looking for something that can give me a gritty, raw yet balanced sound when riffing, but can still play clean-ish parts, and a bluesy tone in the neck pickup. Cold Sweats sound great, but if they're scooped, then idk. Supermassive's sound like a cool option too, but everyone's saying you need high or low output and I think these are in the middle.

Here's a reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txJhnTwzDtE

What do you guys think?

[Telerocker]

Well the ESP has a good amount of bass as it is, so I think I'll be set with the RY set! Thanks for the help, I feel really good about this!

As far as the SG, I'm pretty lost here. I'm looking for something that can give me a gritty, raw yet balanced sound when riffing, but can still play clean-ish parts, and a bluesy tone in the neck pickup. Cold Sweats sound great, but if they're scooped, then idk. Supermassive's sound like a cool option too, but everyone's saying you need high or low output and I think these are in the middle.

Here's a reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txJhnTwzDtE

What do you guys think?

Maybe Nantuckets are a good option here, especially for the neck. The bridge is oldschool P90: gritty, barking, raw, but cleans up decent.

[Dave Sloven]

A scooped pickup in an SG is generally a good thing, because they tend to be middy guitars.  I have a Cold Sweat set in my SG Standard.  The only set I would consider changing that for would be a Miracle Man (B) / Holy Diver (N) combo.  I had an A-Bomb in there before and it was way to middy for it.

The thing is though, as fussy as SGs seem to be with humbuckers pretty much any P-90 works well in them.  That's why I suspect you got that suggestion. I have the following BKPs in my SGs:

SG Junior: Stockholm (bridge only)
SG Standard: Cold Sweats
SG Special: Warpigs (alnico bridge option)

[Alfi27]

If you're using an Axe FX you can just dial up or down the input level to compensate for lower or higher output pickups. Nantuckets are great pickups, my favorite BKPs without doubt! More than enough power, and really raw and in your face tone. In the middle position the cleans are great with a certain singlecoil quality, put both pickups solo'd are not very traditional singlecoil ish. I would say 80% humbucker and 20% singlecoil. I'd recommend them, or a set of Mules for the SG

[CraigJohnsJr]

Thanks for the suggestion, Agent Orange! I've been trying to decide between Cold Sweats and Supermassives, but why would you switch to the MM/HD combo? How do you think it'd compare?

[Dave Sloven]

Well, I tend to prefer a brighter neck pickup, and I hear that the HD is brighter than the CS neck.

Also I have read that the HD and MM bridge pickups have a similar basic tone, so a HD neck should match well tonally with a MM bridge.

With regard to the MM vs the CS bridge, I feel that I could go higher output and a bit darker in this particular SG.  It's a very bright instrument, which may seem strange to people who think mahogany = dark, but when you have a thin guitar that is extremely resonant different frequencies tend to be emphasised

I would never go for a MM set on a Gibson as I think the neck is too high output for the bridge in a Gibson, especially an SG.  They tend to suffer from the problem of the neck overpowering the bridge when the outputs are close

[CraigJohnsJr]

Ah, okay. So you think the HD neck would be brighter, and the MM bridge would be higher output and darker? That makes sense, considering the SG's strong upper mids. It's hard to guess, because the Cold Sweats seem perfect with the mid-scoop, but I also hear they're bright, which might not be the best thing either. I'd also be afraid that the MM would be too high output for what I'm playing though. I'm not really playing metal on it, mostly alternative rock/pop punk. Hm...