Best Humbuckers for tons of types of music?

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HellaMelos
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Best Humbuckers for tons of types of music?

Post by HellaMelos »

I play a wide range of music, but mostly want something that can handle mild gain at times, sounds good clean, and handles effects well. I am running into a Fender Super Reverb and 2 pedalboards loaded down with pedals. I really like treble/bass, or anything really "chimey". I play mathrock, surf, grunge, and jazz.

I had been leaning towards a JB/Jazz, but wanted to see if there were any other options out there.

Almost forgot... this is going into a Fender Pawn Shop Supersonic.
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MattK
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Post by MattK »

I'd recommend something in the P90 spectrum - chimey cleans but gets dirty very easily. There are lots of humbucker size P90 variants - GFS has Mean 90s, Dream 90s, Surf 90s (the latter sound really bright and raw, I like them) but there are many variants - e.g. the Seymour Duncan P-Rails has switchable humbucker, blade and P90 single options in one pickup.
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Gabriel
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Post by Gabriel »

I have a set of 59s in my solid body and they cover pretty much anything, they're not too high output so they sound great clean but also sound great regardless of how much gain you add on.
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Fakir Mustache
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Post by Fakir Mustache »

You probably won't get any good surf tones unless you get something splittable.
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Freddy V-C
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Post by Freddy V-C »

I got some Jaguar pickups put them in my SG using two of these. All the tones all the time. Hambackers are for squares.
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laterallateral
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Post by laterallateral »

I'm sorry if this post isn't super useful but given all the equalization and effects at your disposal, you should be able to get any kind of guitar sound that you want out of a pickup, so long as it isn't broken.
Last edited by laterallateral on Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:05 pm; edited 115,726 times in total
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YuriK
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Post by YuriK »

Remember, tone is all in the fingers, so just buy the most expensive one you can find and call it a day!
No, but the jb jazz sounds like a good idea.
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Post by Noisy Cat »

I've got a JB & Jazz in my Squier Super-Sonic, both coil split to push/pull pots.

The Jazz is fine, although the JB is probably too hot for my tastes. Clean, it doesn't sound great unless split to a single coil.
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Post by theshadowofseattle »

Image

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paul_
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Post by paul_ »

A potted '59/PAF-inspired variant is all you really need in a bucker if versatility is concerned. The rest is your amp or dirt pedal dirtbox. Most other bucker designs merely exist to suit a specific genre or some extreme in gain/tuning configuration that the original 50s/60s or the early 70s Gibson units didn't and are scarcely quite as versatile as a result. Nonetheless, the amount of PAF-inspired buckers out there dictates you'll still have wiggle room for personal taste (DiMarzio PAFs are very different to Duncan '59s and so on).
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Rox
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Post by Rox »

Duncan 59s. Or the DiMarzio variant ( 58s?) . I'd veer away from JBs.
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Post by dezb1 »

Freddy V-C wrote:I got some Jaguar pickups put them in my SG using two of these. All the tones all the time. Hambackers are for squares.
Why have I not seen pics of this? Sounds cool.
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