Pickup advice for Gibson SG

[Dvr]

Hi there,

I’m looking to replace the stock pickups in my SG Standard (to play with a 1965 Princeton Reverb and a Dual Rectifier). I’ve often heard that finding pickups that fit well with a SG can be quite tricky, so I thought I might ask here for some advice.

I’m looking for a versatile bridge pickup to play blues, classic, hard rock (for example Tool or classic Soundgarden) and even possibly some metal. As for a neck a pickup, I usually play clean but I’d also ideally want something along the same lines as the bridge (where I could pull off a good blues or rock tone). 

Right now, I’m hesitating between, on the one hand, Riff Raff or Mule for the bridge, and on the other, Mule or Stormy Monday for the neck position. But I'm open to new suggestions.

Any advice, recommendations or information would be very much appreciated!

[Dave Sloven]

Choosing pickups for an SG can be quite difficult, but that is mainly when you get into the medium-output contemporary pickups.  As you are not looking for high-output pickups or even medium-output I won't bother recommending those but I will say that the Miracle Man and War Pig are safe bets in the high-output stuff, True Grit in the medium ones.

You should be fine with any of the vintage pickups in terms of compatibility with an SG.  So there it just comes down to which pickup is best for the job.

For what you want I would go with a Riff Raff or Mule in the bridge.

Mule neck pickup is a good all-rounder but you might want to consider the Stormy Monday depending on your taste.  Riff Raff neck if you want a brighter one.  The Old Guard neck might also be a good substitute for a Stormy Monday.

[ericsabbath]

riff raff is my favorite and those are among my all time top 3 bands along with Alice in Chains

the vhII set also sounds pretty good in SG's and deliver a punchier and more aggressive overwound PAF response (more like a thumpy and cutting tone rather than fat and middy)

[timmy_pix]

I can't comment on the Riff Raff (got one lying around, just haven't tried it yet!).

Having compared Mules and Stormies in the same guitar, it depends how you like things and the acoustic sound of your guitar.

Mule bridge, apparopriately, has a kick in the mids and is a ballsy little thing. The Stormy bridge is bright and scooped, so very open but doesn't have that kick.

The Mule neck is bright(er) but still nice and thick; the Stormy neck is slightly scooped again, and a bit darker (but still bright compared to say, a Classic 57).