HSS setup, 24 fret guitar- all humbucking- recommendations?

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Zappatalist

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Recently acquired a killer new axe, but it came loaded with some pickups I'm not wild about (Rio Grande Muy Grande set).

I'm considering replacing them, and specifically replacing them with a hum/noise-free solution.

Here are the guitar specs:
* bolt-on
* mahogany body, maple top, maple neck
* vintage trem (Point Classic)
* 24 frets
* 5-way switch
* 1 volume, 1 tone control

I need equally great cleans, mid-gain tones, and high-gain love. My musical scenarios take me from James Brown and the Meters, AC/DC, My Morning Jacket/Wilco, to full-on shreddy hard rock/metal. The 2 and 4 position have to be able to do clean-funk comping (e.g. they'll have to split well). I love complex harmonics and overtones, I like a quick attack, and I'd like to be able to pull out pinch harmonics. Not a huge fan of overly dark or compressed pickups. I typically prefer lower-output pickups, but I've never attempted this scenario, so I'm open-minded. I use channel switchers, so I don't really need to pummel the amp's input with signal.

Thoughts/recommendations?
 
Good suggestion, thanks. Had the Thornbucker in a previous guitar, liked it, although it didn't quite have as much "oomph" as I might've wanted. Would likely balance well with the single coils, though.
 
Zappatalist":2wethj46 said:
Good suggestion, thanks. Had the Thornbucker in a previous guitar, liked it, although it didn't quite have as much "oomph" as I might've wanted. Would likely balance well with the single coils, though.
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With oomph, do you mean more lows or mids, more ouput etc? Mind you, the darker or hotter the humbucker is, the less it's going to match with the singles and increase the difference in tone and output you get when you switch between the bucker and singles. I generally find that if you run a bucker that's too hot/dark in a HSS guitar, it will sound like 2 different guitars, and you'll have issues trying to make both types of pickups working with the same amp or pedal settings.
 
guitarnerdswe":1h1ldepu said:
With oomph, do you mean more lows or mids, more ouput etc? Mind you, the darker or hotter the humbucker is, the less it's going to match with the singles and increase the disconnect in tone and output you get when you switch between the bucker and singles.
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Right, yeah- I meant the latter, lows/low mids. As you stated very well, getting a balance between the bucker and the singles would be ideal. There's plenty of gain on tap for me at the preamp, so I don't need a super hot signal coming from the pickups.

*Also worth mentioning- I only have (1) volume and (1) tone control, so I don't have the option of running a 250k pot for the singles and a 500k pot for the humbucker.
 
If balance is your biggest concern, I'd stop looking at anything that isn't a low output PAF-ish humbucker.

There are also speciality humbuckers that sound more like a blend between a single coil and a humbucker, like the Dimarzio Humbucker from Hell or the Lollar El Rayo, if you want to try something different. There's also the Dimarzio EJ that sounds more like a Filtertron pickup.
 
Yep, considering that (low output humbucker), or going the other route- getting slightly hotter singles to match a humbucker.
 
Zappatalist":2qt98313 said:
Yep, considering that (low output humbucker), or going the other route- getting slightly hotter singles to match a humbucker.
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The problem is, there aren't any high output single coils that sound like single coils. They have to be low output to the get the classic single coil tone.
 
guitarnerdswe":3mbjp6lx said:
The problem is, there aren't any high output single coils that sound like single coils. They have to be low output to the get the classic single coil tone.
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I might be willing to compromise a little there, I think. My other guitar is a EBMM Axis w/MM90s; those kind of strike me as a "fatter" single coil (as opposed to a full-on P90), and I've really liked that tone, so I think I might ok with something that's a little beefier than a standard single coil.
 
In that case, try the DiMarzio Heavy Blues 2 if you want something that still has some of the single coil tone, or the Virtual Solo if you need even more output and are willing to live with something that sound even more like a humbucker.

The Injectors might work too, but I have no experience with them.

A little side note, if you run hotter singles and a humbucker that's not super hot, you might consider not splitting in the bridge/middle position.
 
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