Pickups for Doom/Stoner?

[maggot]

I know that doom isn't that pickup intensive, but I'm moving from only using single coils and fuzzes to a humbucker guitar. Tune to C Natural/Drop Bflat. Haven't decided whether I'm gonna be leaning on pedal or amp distortion, but my rig is Laney AOR 30/ w extension cab. Possibly daisy-chained into a 70s Acoustic 120 bass head, with various boosters and fuzzes. Guitar is a Hagstrom. I want to be able to to have some clarity and melody ooze out from beneath the scuzz. And I'm used to single coils, so I'm leaning toward lower output if it'll work, and I don't like gritty-sounding pickups that much. Oh, and I play quiet by doom standards (loud for regular music, though).

[Beasleyboy]

Between Seymour Duncan, Lace, Bareknuckle, Lundgren...Humbuckers, P90s, Humbucker-sized P90s, you have hundrends of choices. There's really no "doom" pickup, at least in my experience. Gotta find what works with your rig and gets the sound you want

[misterstomach]

I'd probably look pretty hard at the lollar pickups if I was looking for s lower output humbucker. That or some other PAF style. I think Seymour Duncan has a pretty cool PAF for not much money. They own the original pickup winding machine from the old Kalamazoo gibson plant and wind their PAF's on that, which is pretty cool.

[Tristan]

Especially when downtuning I'd go Bareknuckle because they have extra punch and clarity without sounding clinical, which I think is optimal for that type of application.

[maggot]

I know that there is no real "doom" pickup, because people don't really talk so much about pickups, just looking for suggestions, especially among people using moderate-output humbuckers.

For reference, my favorite pickup is a P-90, my least favorite pickup is a Tone Zone and I'm trying to meet a humbucker that I actually like.

[celticelk]

If you like P90s, why not get a humbucker-sized one?

[AxAxSxS]

If you like P90s, why not get a humbucker-sized one?

[Beasleyboy]

I have Pig 90s in my SG. They are really fucking high output but they put out a ton of bass and still have clarity and that P90 feel. They make a humbucker sized verzion

[antennafarm]

man, seriously, go for some tv jones pickups. i've got them in my hagstrom swede and they work really well (powertron and powertron +, which are high output for a filtertron but still pretty low output in general... like a PAF, i guess) - just use your tone controls. LOTS of variations on them.

[Krosis]

Low output? Never heard of it.

[maggot]

Low output? Never heard of it.

I've got a boost pedal that a friend made me takes care of that. It's based on an EHX linear power booster. It has a volume knob plus two more big knobs on it to click between various input and output caps.

[HeavyXIII]

I know that doom isn't that pickup intensive, but I'm moving from only using single coils and fuzzes to a humbucker guitar. Tune to C Natural/Drop Bflat. Haven't decided whether I'm gonna be leaning on pedal or amp distortion, but my rig is Laney AOR 30/ w extension cab. Possibly daisy-chained into a 70s Acoustic 120 bass head, with various boosters and fuzzes. Guitar is a Hagstrom. I want to be able to to have some clarity and melody ooze out from beneath the scuzz. And I'm used to single coils, so I'm leaning toward lower output if it'll work, and I don't like gritty-sounding pickups that much. Oh, and I play quiet by doom standards (loud for regular music, though).

I know that there is no real "doom" pickup, because people don't really talk so much about pickups, just looking for suggestions, especially among people using moderate-output humbuckers.

For reference, my favorite pickup is a P-90, my least favorite pickup is a Tone Zone and I'm trying to meet a humbucker that I actually like.

Deja vu... This is eerily familiar to my experience with amps and pickups. I have extensive experience with the AOR series, and found the 30 to have slightly less gain than the other models I've played. Overdrives and boosts were helpful in getting the drive I wanted, and your boost compensates as you've noted. All of mine have loved pedals (except delays in the fx loop for some reason) and I've found rolling off guitar volume for cleans hard to balance with pure amp gain specifically; you might want to take that into account, if cleans are important to you at all.

On the pickup side, I used the Tone Zone, and really didn't care for it either. I ended up with Super 2s, which are very clear, although a tiny bit lacking in the low end department. Dimarzio lists them as high output, but they don't seem that way. I've liked PAFs alright, but some I've played were a little muddy. I'm sure there's a PAF that would suit you, maybe something like a Humbucker from Hell or those newer PAF Masters might be good options.

As far as humbucker sized P90s, I didn't care for the only one I've used which was the GFS Mean 90. I think a few others on the forum did like them, so your mileage may vary.

Hope some of this gives you some ideas! Good hunting!

[t-rey]

I have Pig 90s in my SG. They are really fucking high output but they put out a ton of bass and still have clarity and that P90 feel. They make a humbucker sized verzion

I want a set of War Pigs for my SG Classic something fierce.

[maggot]

Deja vu... This is eerily familiar to my experience with amps and pickups. I have extensive experience with the AOR series, and found the 30 to have slightly less gain than the other models I've played. Overdrives and boosts were helpful in getting the drive I wanted, and your boost compensates as you've noted. All of mine have loved pedals (except delays in the fx loop for some reason) and I've found rolling off guitar volume for cleans hard to balance with pure amp gain specifically; you might want to take that into account, if cleans are important to you at all.

On the pickup side, I used the Tone Zone, and really didn't care for it either. I ended up with Super 2s, which are very clear, although a tiny bit lacking in the low end department. Dimarzio lists them as high output, but they don't seem that way. I've liked PAFs alright, but some I've played were a little muddy. I'm sure there's a PAF that would suit you, maybe something like a Humbucker from Hell or those newer PAF Masters might be good options.

As far as humbucker sized P90s, I didn't care for the only one I've used which was the GFS Mean 90. I think a few others on the forum did like them, so your mileage may vary.

Hope some of this gives you some ideas! Good hunting!

The cool thing about using the boost is that I use the high sensitivity input, but I turn the distortion channel off, because it gets so fizzy otherwise. Then instead of whatever fizzy shit the amp provides, you goose in with a big boost, and it's so much smoother. You can get early Iommi-ish tones pretty easily. I just need a touch more high end to provide a flash of light to some of the notes.

[maggot]

I'm thinking of getting the DiMarzio PAF Masters. They're like 36th Anniversary wound on Alnico IV.