Metropoulos Forum

I have tried lots of humbuckers in the classic to paf on steroids, can someone steer me to a darker sounding medium-high output humbucker?

Dark and more power than PAF? Rio Grande BBQ comes to mind.

Fralin 9k/8k set? Big bottom end, mids are not as pronounced as most PAF clones. Nice gain. I'm not into "true" PAF clones, too bright and middy for me.

Seymour Duncann Custom Custom. It's Higher Output with an A2 magnet. A lot depends on the guitar and what you are trying to accomplish.

I personally only like higher output pickups when a Floyd Rose is involved where there is a sustain loss to be compensated for.

I thought Seymours Custom Custom was supposed to have MORE midrange, rather than scooped?

This might be a different approach, but you could try a DiMarzio "Steve's Special" (DP161) which is considered high powered, has lots of bass and a scooped mid, and try soldering an .001 cap from the hot side of the pickup to ground, thereby taming the high end (darker) without going too far.
I've used this pickup (without the cap, though) and its really got a different character to it... its got a lot of output, but its not distorted. Kinda strong and clean if that makes any sense, it does have a scooped mid and lots of bass response. Their description of "hi-fi" sounding is acccurate, and playing around with a small cap value to shunt off some highs might just be the ticket to what you're looking for.


DiMarzio's description:

Steve’s Special™ is a non-traditional approach to high-output bridge humbucking pickup design. Hot humbuckers usually concentrate most of the pickup’s power in a narrow frequency bandwidth for maximum impact. Using our patented dual-resonance design, Steve’s Special™ takes the opposite path, spreading the sound over a broad range. Bass and treble frequencies are boosted while the mids are pulled back, so the pickup’s power doesn’t kick a high-gain amp into overdrive as easily. This makes Steve’s Special™ a good choice for both fast soloing and clean chords, because individual notes won’t smear together with heavy overdrive, and clean sounds have an almost “hi-fi” quality.
Recommended For: Bridge position.
Tech Talk: Clean overdrive with high-gain amps. Very effective in Dual Sound® and coil splitting clean modes. For soloing, this is a very good pickup to play with a midrange-heavy amp: the mid-scoop in the pickup's sound keeps the initial pick attack clean, and the notes don't run together as much with legato playing, even with heavy overdrive.

WCB Darkburst.

Thanks for th feedback, The guitar in question is 1piece korina,Floyd,H-s,maple neck.

Is the darkburst A2, and what about the burstbucker pro A2?

Maverick wrote:Is the darkburst A2, and what about the burstbucker pro A2?

Neither pickup is dark OR mid-scooped... they're both clones of PAF's, which have notable presence and mids. The WCR Darkburst is supposed to sound like Duane Allmans tobacco sunburst LP... NOT a mid scooped sound at all.
Neither is a BurstBucker. Listen to almost ANYTHING Allman Brothers, or Mike Bloomfield, or early Clapton, or Alvin Lee... NOT dark or mid scooped, and both the pickups you've mentioned are approximations of those tones.
Even EVH's tone... NOT dark or scooped.

Quote from WCR's site:
These pickups were wound to the specs of Duane's
"DarkBurst" (hence the name), his last axe. Although
the name suggests they are a "dark" pickup set, that is
a false impression. That is only the name derived from the
axe itself. They are a slightly over-wound version of the Crossroads
Set, and tonaly have a sound like Duane from "Eat a Peach", Free,
Bloomfield's"Super Sessions," EVH's brown-sound, etc.

ANY BurstBucker is gonna be the same shit... bright with pronounced mids, similar to an actual PAF, but no where near as raunchy and "cool" sounding. I've used 'em, and I have actual PAF's in a LP, and in a side by side, actual PAF's kick ass on BB's, but both are bright and mid-pronounced.

You asked about "dark or scooped" humbuckers... IMO, you're going in the wrong direction with these choices.

fillmore nyc wrote:

Maverick wrote:Is the darkburst A2, and what about the burstbucker pro A2?

Neither pickup is dark OR mid-scooped... they're both clones of PAF's, which have notable presence and mids. The WCR Darkburst is supposed to sound like Duane Allmans tobacco sunburst LP... NOT a mid scooped sound at all.
Neither is a BurstBucker. Listen to almost ANYTHING Allman Brothers, or Mike Bloomfield, or early Clapton, or Alvin Lee... NOT dark or mid scooped, and both the pickups you've mentioned are approximations of those tones.
Even EVH's tone... NOT dark or scooped.

Quote from WCR's site:
These pickups were wound to the specs of Duane's
"DarkBurst" (hence the name), his last axe. Although
the name suggests they are a "dark" pickup set, that is
a false impression. That is only the name derived from the
axe itself. They are a slightly over-wound version of the Crossroads
Set, and tonaly have a sound like Duane from "Eat a Peach", Free,
Bloomfield's"Super Sessions," EVH's brown-sound, etc.

ANY BurstBucker is gonna be the same shit... bright with pronounced mids, similar to an actual PAF, but no where near as raunchy and "cool" sounding. I've used 'em, and I have actual PAF's in a LP, and in a side by side, actual PAF's kick ass on BB's, but both are bright and mid-pronounced.

You asked about "dark or scooped" humbuckers... IMO, you're going in the wrong direction with these choices.

+1. The name in that case is truly misleading. The WCR Godwood is darker than the Darkburst but by no means midscooped.

OK, let me re-word my question, Darker sounding than a dimarzio PAF with A2 BUT more output! you are right, I dont think any bucker sounds scooped but just less bright, I think the body wood is going to have some midrange detail to go along with the humbucker that is being used! I really like the Tone Zone but with a little less bottom-end

Maverick wrote:OK, let me re-word my question, Darker sounding than a dimarzio PAF with A2 BUT more output! you are right, I dont think any bucker sounds scooped but just less bright, I think the body wood is going to have some midrange detail to go along with the humbucker that is being used! I really like the Tone Zone but with a little less bottom-end

You might like a Gibson 498T if you haven't tried one. Its got a lotta balls, a little darker on top than a PAF, and lots of bottom end punch, but like you said, not as much as a Tone Zone.
I've used both the TZ and the 498T, and like the 498T WAY better. I didnt like the TZ at all. Too much bottom, not enough detail... the 498T has great detail, grind and bottom, without being too much.
Those 498T bridge and 490R neck pickups are some of my all time favorites. I gotta admit, Gibson really did a nice job with those.

fillmore nyc wrote:I didnt like the TZ at all. Too much bottom, not enough detail... the 498T has great detail, grind and bottom, without being too much.

Me neither. I tried it in a LP Goldtop and it was only loud and fizzy. The volume control worked like an on-off-switch with this pickup. I now have it in my Korean Brian Moore guitar in the bridge. It's OK there. Haven't tried a 498.

I stick to the Rio BBQ recommendation. Compared to the ToneZone it has less output, no fizz, more warmth and can be controlled with the volume pot. Not necessarily a midscooped pickup either but definitely on the dark side of the spectrum.

Cheers Stephan

darkbluemurder wrote: Haven't tried a 498.
I stick to the Rio BBQ recommendation. Compared to the ToneZone it has less output, no fizz, more warmth and can be controlled with the volume pot. Not necessarily a midscooped pickup either but definitely on the dark side of the spectrum.

Cheers Stephan

Give that 498T a shot if you get the chance. Im not the hugest fan of things produced lately by Gibson, but those are nice pickups.
I've always been interested in the Rio Grande stuff, but havent tried 'em yet. A lot of players seem to like their single coils as well, especially their Tele pickups.

Find something that's close and play with the magnets ? (available at Stew Mac or posibly RS Guitarworks.)