Best bang for the buck pickups - your opinion!

[Le Chat Noir]

I've been through a shedload of aftermarket pickups in recent years in search of the right ones for me, from cheap-as-chips to boutique and from very low to very high output.

I have to say, out of all the pickups I've tried I think my favourite humbuckers are Tonerider Alnico IV Classics. They just sound great to me, whether clean or driven - very open, detailed, well-balanced with a lush sweetness and no harsh frequencies anywhere. I've never tried any other alnico IV pickups so perhaps that is a contributing factor - would love to compare them to some BKP Mules one day.

Tonerider humbuckers can be had for 60-70 GBP for a set here in the UK, which means you get a set of them for the price of a single Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan etc, and about half the price of a single Bareknuckle or other high end pickup!

I love them and have just ordered myself another set as they're cheap direct from Amazon right now.

What are the best value pickups you've ever owned?

[savage8190]

Funny that you mentioned Toneriders...as soon as I read the title of this thread thats what I thought of. I used to have a set of Tonerider City Limits in a Mexican Strat....those were damn good pickups, and under 100 bucks for the set!

[OU818]

A set of Rio Grande Dual Calibrated single coils for my strat were very well priced and are a great sounding pickup. They reall ymake the Strat into a non-quacking rock guitar.

[Borderline Productions]

I was thinking Rio Grande's too. I have a friend who is a walking advertisement for them.

[jason41224]

i've got a set of GFS's in each of my teles (one with 2 HB sized filtertrons, one with standard tele neck/bridge) that sound GREAT. i think each set was like $50. now that's bang for buck.

[BaBaBooey]

I got a calibrated set of Black Dog Bare Knuckles in my Jimmy Page... I freakin adore them. They might cost a bit more, but you can find them well under retail no problem.

[irish_admiral]

The Bulldog pickups in my Tele are great, but don't really count as "bang for buck"! Same for BKPs etc...

I'd have said GFS too - cheap as chips, and not too bad-sounding - if it weren't for the fact that Toneriders are pretty cheap too, and sounded even better to my ears. Got a set of the Pure Vintage in my Strat, and they are just that. Cracking tones. Used to have the alnico IVs also... good pickups

Teddy, I did have a Mule, and it wasn't really any better than the A4s...

[Wendigo]

Oddly enough I'm gonna go with Gibson '57 Classics...

They aren't all that expensive really, and they deliver the best tone available in my humble opinion (for humbuckers). I realize we're talking bang for the buck here, but that's my point I guess: what gives you more bang than the classic tone heard on thousands of recordings?

[Icarus]

Oddly enough I'm gonna go with Gibson '57 Classics...

They aren't all that expensive really, and they deliver the best tone available in my humble opinion (for humbuckers). I realize we're talking bang for the buck here, but that's my point I guess: what gives you more bang than the classic tone heard on thousands of recordings?

Agreed. I love the '57 classics in my LP and they are currently keeping a bare knuckle nailbomb and mississippi queen that I have, out of work.

[irish_admiral]

Friend of mine has them in his LP... he plays it with an AC30 - he doesn't like them!

Sounded fine to me...

[Thinline_slim]

Bang for the buck would be Toneriders for me. I've had a few GFS and they're decent (Mean 90s were good) but all 3 GFS pickups were swapped out without much thought.

Also, those Gibson 57 classics are great pickups! I've wanted an LP Traditional Plus for a little while just because they sound so damn good with the 57s.

[Le Chat Noir]

I do also love Rio Grande, they're more in the 'upper mid' price bracket in the UK though. Muy Grandes are my favourite single coils

[MaxProphet]

toneriders come in classic vibes, they are made in the same factory. although they aren't "toneriders" brand they are virtually the same pickups. ie. 50 classic vibe= toneriders Hot Classics Set - TRT2. that's what i read on the internet anyway, must be true

[amesav]

The puckups my 1995 Gibson les Paul standard come out with pretty sure they the the Gibson burstbuckers,big warm fat sound

[Captain Wedge]

I really like Suhr pickups, especially their humbuckers. My next guitar will most likely have a set of them.

If I win the lottery, I'll get a Suhr guitar to go with them.