Best Overall Pickup

Thrash · #1 10-27-2005, 01:24 PM

If you could only have one guitar to cover all styles from, rock, jazz, blues, metal, prog, fusion and others, what pickups would you use. Granted it may not be ideal but I have seen several players pull of all those styles very well with the same ax and changes in amp settings.

Here are a few I thought of: Breeds, Norton, Paf Pro, Fred, Paf Joe,
Neck EVO.

I recently went through a process of choosing pickups for an RG570 which I wanted a very well rounded guitar. I chose Breed bridge/Fast Track 1/Paf Joe.
I play a 5150II so I can get tons of gain from any pup. I haven't got them in yet but I hope they will work well. I'll try to post clips as well.

rgr · #2 10-27-2005, 01:29 PM

Breed or Norton in the bridge will be very versatile, the Breed is a little more polite (meaning less edgy), which can be a good thing depending on your style. For the neck, the PAF Joe is awesome, very clear and articulate which is what I look for in a neck pickup.

$0.02,
Roger

Angelo Guitars · #3 10-27-2005, 01:45 PM

From what I've heard of Magnus Olsson's (a.k.a. "Ibanez-Mag) playing, it sounds like a pair of BREEDS could cover a lot of ground.

I would also go with TZ (bridge), and VirtuAL PAF, or PAF Joe (neck) combo. Although I like the Air Norton, I tend to lean more towards the "woody/classic" tones from PAF style neck pickups.

I'm happy I have a few guitars so I can experiment with different pickup combos. Just to have a change of pace once in a while. But, when I choose a combo for my "main axe", it's usually the "most versatile" combo that I have to go with.

TheToneZone · #4 10-28-2005, 05:03 AM

A Breed in the bridge and a Paf Pro in the neck, and I only say Paf Pro because I haven't tried the Breed neck model.

Mike

toshiro · #5 10-28-2005, 08:48 AM

I'm in love with the Breed neck model, so the matched set is my top pick for versatility.

nickcoumbe · #6 10-28-2005, 09:16 AM

If I had single coils (which I don't) it would be Hotrails in the bridge, and then hs3 for the rest.

King Knall · #7 10-28-2005, 09:24 AM

Everytihng you stated (except for the EVO).

shredfreak · #8 10-28-2005, 10:23 AM

Seymour Duncan has some good pickups for many different styles. Suprisingly I would say SD's Dimebucker in my Strat. It would be probably the best pickup for me if it would be just little bit cleaner. I really enjoy playing blues, heavy metal and all kind of rock with it. Also PAF Pro is great and looks like Breed is very good too since so many people like it here.

So the combo would be probably this:
Dimebucker in the bridge or some similar pickup which is just slightly cleaner.
PAF Pro or Air Norton in the neck.
Dimarzio Pro Track seems to be very good overall pickup so that would be my choice for middle position.

mlr_pa · #9 10-29-2005, 10:34 PM

IF I can use my Digitech pedal, EMGs all the way. (SA,SA, 89)
If not, then a Kramer Quad in the bridge, and either a Bill Lawrence XL500, or a DiMarzio DP109 for the neck.

Jem7RB MK · #10 10-30-2005, 08:38 AM

Paf-Pro/BlueVelvet/Paf-Pro - Plenty of bite from the humbuckers, Plenty of tone from all 3 I still love Evo's So Evo/Evo/Evo would be my 2nd choice.

Rob

P.S. Evo's in particular responded extremely well to Vol adjustments for a bit less edge and a more rounding sounding tone

Roadstar · #11 11-02-2005, 11:54 AM

if you asked me this only a few days ago i would have said the air zone
but i tried a duncan distortion and i am HOOKED!
pure george lynch tones from this bad boy

lyconxero · #12 11-03-2005, 01:33 AM

Tone Zone/Air Norton combo for H-H

Tone Zone/Blue Velvet/ Air Norton combo for H-S-H

I think the H-H combo is actually more versatile than the H-S-H combo because on a 5 way switch you can have several coil splitting options and those two humbuckers split quite well together.

TomAnthony · #13 11-04-2005, 02:22 PM

Tone Zone in the bridge is killer. The Fred works excellently as a neck or bridge pickup.

Roadstar · #14 11-05-2005, 12:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thrash

If you could only have one guitar to cover all styles from, rock, jazz, blues, metal, prog, fusion and others, what pickups would you use. Granted it may not be ideal but I have seen several players pull of all those styles very well with the same ax and changes in amp settings.

Here are a few I thought of: Breeds, Norton, Paf Pro, Fred, Paf Joe,
Neck EVO.

I recently went through a process of choosing pickups for an RG570 which I wanted a very well rounded guitar. I chose Breed bridge/Fast Track 1/Paf Joe.
I play a 5150II so I can get tons of gain from any pup. I haven't got them in yet but I hope they will work well. I'll try to post clips as well.

the VIRTUAL HOT PAF by dimarzio
this is the most versilte pup ever!

For the vintage humbucker player who wants more: more power, more attack, more punch. The Virtual PAF™ proved that a pickup could be sweet-sounding and gritty at the same time. The Virtual Hot PAF™ is less about sweet and more about attitude. Play it hard and the sound jumps out of the speaker, but the singing quality of the best vintage humbuckers is still there, and coil-splitting works really well, too.

Jemwielder · #15 11-05-2005, 12:52 PM

I'll agree, I have an artcore guitar with a breed in the bridge and an eric johnson custom in the neck. I must say that this is the most versatile guitar i own (and i'm the proud owner of a jem.) These are great pickups to cover all styles.