Charvel Pro Mod PUP recommendations

[Drkorey]

I picked up a Charvel Pro-Mod SanDimas alder body w/ floyd from Sweetwater awhile ago. Love the looks (specific ocean), the neck and playability but I find the pickups of bridge JB TB-4 and 59 in the neck thin, trebly and too "stratty".
Anyone else have similar issues with the TB-4, etc.?
It needs more beef and strength which hopefully is a pickup problem more than a "wood" problem. I am primarily looking for a bridge solution and neck secondarily.
Right now I am thinking of an MCP Afawyu and looking for other (more quickly available) options.

 

[Dragoneti]

I'm using for the last two years, after going throu almost the entire line of duncans and dimarzios and some bareknuckles, the Tom Anderson Hn3+ (i also have the TA H2+,h3 and h3+ on other guitars) and so far i haven't had the urge to change it.

Have a look at it!

 

[nigelpkay]

I don't know why they put the Duncan Distortions in the Socals. I guess just to differentiate from the San Dumas. I recently got the metallic black SoCal and same thing, it just sounds too thin.

The JB is the go to for Charvels, so it shouldn't sound too thin, the floyds don't help, but you should get a decent tone with the JB, maybe a switching problem or bad connection with their "six pack of sound" split setup? The Dimarzio Super Distortion always sounds good in them, and the Afwayu would be a good choice too. Anything big and warm sounding. Bare Knuckle Holydiver.... Dimarzio AT-1 etc..

I have a Peters Amplification Alnico II variant of his design 1 pickup I'm going to put in mine as soon as I get the matching neck version soon. It's kind of like the Duncan Warren Demartini RTM.

 

[Shask]

I tried a few things in my SoCal, and currently have a Duncan Invader in it. That is the chunkiest pickup I have found in it yet.

The neck pickup is still the stock Dimarzio Evolution Neck.

 

[danburton]

I dont have any sort of logical explanation for it but the Duncan Distortions that came in my Charvel sounded bad compared to Duncan Distortions I have in other guitars. I dont know any logical explanation for it...it just sounded...different. I pulled them out & put in other Duncans and the guitar sounded huge.

 

[jammin1]

I have a Dimarzio super distortion in mine. Out of a handful of pups I've tried this has been my favorite.

 

[Racerxrated]

Before you dump the pup, try adjusting the height and/or bring the screws up a bit. Might be a big difference. But, if it's a MiM I'm afraid it might be the wood.

 

[SFW]

I'm running a set of Duncan PATBs in mine. It's anything but thin. I have a PATB-1b in the bridge and a PATB-3 in the neck.

 

[Deleted member 21375]

Duncan Demartini RTM

 

[Speeddemon]

Since my So-Cal is an older MIJ model, it came with the DiMarzio ToneZone / Evo Neck combination.
Didn't really like either, so I went through a couple of different bridge and neck pickups.

DiMarzio SuperD:
Very bold and quite aggressive. Did work well to beef up, while not being too loose in the low-end (I found the JB and ToneZone a tad too flubby there).

Duncan Distortion:
-Tighter, more screaming and aggressive. Awesome for thrash metal, less so for other more classic metal styles. Lacks a bit dynamics.

DiMarzio Norton:
-Less screamy than the SuperD, tighter than the ToneZone (and JB), great harmonics and dynamics. Alnico V juicyness; not as piercing as a JB in the high-mids.

For neck pickup I settled on a Air Norton, although I could probably live with a Duncan Screamin' Demon too there. I changed the vol. pot to a push-pull version to split the Air Norton.

 

[Crunchity]

I have a Dimarzio super distortion in mine. Out of a handful of pups I've tried this has been my favorite.

Same here. Super Distortion in the bridge, Super 2 in the neck, perfectly balanced sounding guitar/pickup combination IMO.