Super High Gain Pickups

for years, I was a medium output SD custom/59 hybrid. One of the sweetest stock pickups out there. I have the same ironman 22k that @Racerxrated refers to. I love the sound from it. I am afraid to change it out, because i have a good thing going and i don't want to fuck with it.
 
blackba said:
When I was looking at Anderson pickups, I first tried an H3 and found it too hot for me. Swapped it for an H2+ and that has stayed to this day. I would think an H3+ would be way too much for me.

For me I have been moving away from super hot pickups. I put T tops back in my 73 Les Paul custom. In my other les Paul, I tool out the Suhr Aldrich pickups I had for years for a thornbucker/+ set. I find I have plenty of gain available on my pedals and my amps, so letting them do the work. All that said I am more of a classic hard rock and metal player, so I am sure I am chasing different tones.

And I will echo on pickups, DC resistance is the easiest to measure, but you have to combine that with magnet strength & type as was mentioned and also you should know the inductance of the pickups. So DC resistance is really only 1 piece of the puzzle, its not worthless, but its also doesn't tell the whole story.
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Anderson use ALNICO poles like strat pickups instead of bars under alloy screw/slugs. The magnets are much closer to the strings compared to traditional humbuckers.
 
I built my own humbucker pickup for my super strat. It’s a ceramic magnet ibanez pickup I’ve had. Les Paul wise I run everything from a BB2 to 496/Duncan custom, stock Tops in my 76, to EMG 85/81 in my 85 LPC.

I’m not particular to one pickup but I prefer to have different flavors on hand that compliment a guitar.
 
I tend to favor hot ceramic magnet pickups. Some of my current favorites:
  • JWP Iron Man (in a Les Paul Standard)
  • Bare Knuckle War Pig (in a Les Paul Standard)
  • Wolfetone Timber Wolf (in an SG Standard)
  • Guitarmory Atlas (in my Jackson RR1)
I've also got a set of Motor City Solutions sitting around waiting for me to drop into something, which is really my excuse to buy another Les Paul. I've also got a Haussel Tozz B XL in a Les Paul Trad Pro, but I'm not sure if I like it or not. Might pull the Haussel and put the Motor City's in that guitar.
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I'm currently running the hottest pickup I have ever used , around 15K but man does it nail that VH Fair Warning tone to perfection.

Not surprisingly it's named the FW for Fair Warning.





Listen to the below for a minute , that is DEAD ON "Hear about it later tone" .

 
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scottosan said:
Anderson use ALNICO poles like strat pickups instead of bars under alloy screw/slugs. The magnets are much closer to the strings compared to traditional humbuckers.
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I wasn't aware of how Anderson pickups were constructed, so I appreciate you sharing this. Explains to why I find the H2+ to split so well.
 
ccn said:
I'm currently running the hottest pickup I have ever used , around 15K but man does it nail that VH Fair Warning tone to perfection.

Not surprisingly it's named the FW for Fair Warning.





Listen to the below for a minute , that is DEAD ON "Hear about it later tone" .

Click to expand...

Nice ! Nailed it
 
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ccn said:
I'm currently running the hottest pickup I have ever used , around 15K but man does it nail that VH Fair Warning tone to perfection.

Not surprisingly it's named the FW for Fair Warning.





Listen to the below for a minute , that is DEAD ON "Hear about it later tone" .

Click to expand...

Who Makes the FW?
 
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stephen sawall said:
When you split a high output humbucker the single coil is more in it's normal range. Lower output humbuckers split for single coil are too weak.
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Closer in resistance, but the magnet still sits under the screws/slugs, which aren’t permanent magnets, whereas start pickups typically use permanent magnets as poles. Ceramic single coils are the exception and have the bar under the poles like a humbucker.
 
I recently bought a 500K tone pot and a 250K tone pot and I intend on trying both in a single humbucker equipped guitar and I only did that based on what is said below in the video . He is actually using a 250K pot in the guitar instead of the much more popular 500K pot . I found the specific point in the video where he talks about why he chose a 250K pot instead of the 500K pot to get that Fair Warning tone .


 
Very cool with all the Tom Anderson love. I use the H3, H3+, HF3 or HF3+ in about 10 guitars right now. Love them. I am a hot pickup lover, been through just about all of them from BKP, DiMarzio and Seymour Duncan.

I think the hottest pickup I have is the Caparison PH-bc that came in my Horus Custom Line. It’s different that other Caparison pickups that I’ve had (never liked them, always replaced), it’s like having a condenser microphone on the strings, it pickups up EVERYTHING. Brutal (good) sounding. I don’t know the specs, but it’s noticeably louder than all my other high output pickups.
 
I currently play the Tom Anderson H3 and H1 in a baritone Les Paul. Awesome pickups. Dark, clear, thick, and smooth.

Played the Lace Drop and Gains before the Andersons, and liked them as well. The D&G have a snarl to them which sounds awesome live, but for me they didn't record quite as well, and weren't as smooth as I wanted. Really awesome sounding, though, and fun to play. But for me, the H3 and H1 just have this huge, dark, massive tone that I dig even more.

Also, ignore the resistance values. Having switched back and forth between the H3/H1 and D&G sets to make sure I truly liked the TAs better (I love both sets), I can tell you beyond a doubt that the H3/H1 is MUCH hotter than the Drop and Gains. So much gain off the H3, it's crazy.

I also tried the H3+/H1+, but on my drop-tuned baritone LP with it's .080 gauge low A, the H3+ would blow out on certain low notes or when sliding between notes on the low string. It'd make a huge, standing-wave "whump" kind of sound unless I whisper-picked it on those frets. Other than that, though, the tone was mind-blowing. But due to the whumpage, I went back to the H3/H1.

Anyway, all three of those sets are aces. Tom Andersons bring the smoothness. The H3+ would be great in something closer to standard tuning, IMO. The H3 is ripping good for dark, low-down stuff, especially if you rock tunings lower than a sewer tunnel. And the D&Gs are the way to go if you want more snarl and grit. For me, the H3/H1 is ideal.
 
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