distortion pickups?

I was just wondering what a pair of seymour duncan distortion pickups sound like? Are they good?

Seymour Duncan make good quality pickups, though I haven't heard those ones in particular. Choosing pickups is a funny thing, as they sound different on every guitar, so the only way to know how they will sound is to fork out money for them, which is a pity. Has anyone here tried them? I was hoping someone might reply who had, but I'll just say this: Duncan make good pickups, and they provide pretty good descriptions of their sounds at their website (though obviously they never say anything bad about them). A good place to check is http://www.harmony-central.com and see their user reviews. They have a good databse with many reviews of most things, so you should find some opinon. Just be aware that often you will find two types of people writing reviews; people who unresevedly say great things aobut the pickups without being particularly informed, and others who say "those sux" and leave it at that. Read the reviews that seem to be by people who have really thought about the different aspects of the pickups, etc. Good luck on finding some that suit you.

I think SD have the specs on their site, now if you dont want to get excited about what the magnet is made of (MMM< ALNICO V*drools*)etc...

Look at the output specs: the higher the output the more it should distort.

12 to 18 k should be ..er,more than enough.

Also see which artists are using that pickup..and if you groove on that sound [of course bearing in mind they may have a megawatt valve amp , great fx units ,etc,mere mortals have solid state amps and lesser gear,which of course alters the sound.]

As Bardsley says SD are popular (for some) so you may not have trouble selling it on later,if you don't like it.

They're to expensive for my pockets,but i'd go for their lower output pickups if the money came flooding in.

What does the tech at your local guitar shop have to say about them?

Well ive only been playing for around 18 months, but i might be able to help. I have a epiphone les paul standard and i bought new pick ups for it at xmas, seymour alnico 2's and to be honest i cant really tell them apart much. They sound the same as my origonal ones i think! Maybe at really high volumes theres a difference, if i'd known i would have saved my money for another guitar!

Later Axl

I wanted to post on this because I think alot of new guitarist get the wrong idea of what to expect when going the replacement p/u route. Axl, you probaly didn't notice much difference between the Epi's and the Alnico 2's, because their really isn't much difference to notice, the p/u's are very similar. So one thing we have to consider first is, what do I have now, and what am I looking for in a new p/u ? More bass, more treble, more mid's, am I looking for a vintage sound, a metal sound etc.. Going from the stock p/u to a mild vintage p/u is not going to be a night and day change, more of a shade of gray sonically speaking, going from stock to a high output type pick up like a Screamin Demon, MegaDrive, FRED, is going to be more noticeable. One of the most obvious changes you will notice in p/u's is volume, hot p/u's are louder, they have more windings and stronger magnets, they produce more voltage, the amp gets a stronger signal. Distortion P/U's do not make your guitar sound like you are plugged into a Distortion Effects Pedal or a Stack of Marshalls, they are just louder, and if you are playing into a tube amp you will get more distortion or at least get it easier when everything is cranked, be forewarned not every tube amp is a distortion monster and pickups won't help that. Last but not least, your signal path to your amp, if clogged up with a bunch of effects will just about wipe out any advantages a replacement pick-up can give, the effects in the path to the amp cause alot of loss to the signal and color it so much that you are not going to hear alot of what the new pick-up has to offer. There are many things that affect your sound and pick-ups are just one link in the chain, Peace, Love and Joy

[Edited by pstring on 04-16-2002 at 12:10 AM]

BTW, Cyborg, what kind of guitar and pick-ups do you have now, and what kind of change in sound are you looking for?