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Vintage Style Guitar Humbuckers For Rock And Blues
Installing a set of replacement pickups is a great way to alter your instrument's tone so that it better reflects your own personal taste and style. While most of today's stock pickups tend to offer superb construction and high-quality tone, there's nothing wrong with wanting something a little different! Today, we want to take a look at a few quality humbuckers that specialize in recreating vintage dual-coil tones that pair perfectly with the signature sound of blues and rock.
With the PAF 36th Anniversary, DiMarzio didn't just set out make a simple clone of Seth Lover's legendary humbucker, they created the perfect tribute. The PAF 36th Anniversary keeps the warm, sweet tone these pickups are known for but uses modern technology and techniques to create a vintage-styled humbucker that actually improves on the original. Worried about clarity, not enough attack, or annoying microphonics and feedback? DiMarzio made sure to take care of that and then some. While it is still a weak pickup (a hallmark of vintage humbuckers, after all), the 36th Anniversary features a well-defined tone that never gets muddy and a plenty tonal balance, making it the perfect pickup for old school rock and blues. Give it a little bit of overdrive and you have a remarkably sweet and articulate humbucker with just enough bite to get dirty when the track calls for it!
The PBF guitar pickup line is built to offer smooth, vintage humbucker tone that was born from a collaborative effort from Bill Bartolini and Ed Reynolds. The Vintage Pair the PBF-49 neck and PBF-51 bridge combination is intended for those players who seek the earlier vintage humbucker tonalities that come from windings near 7.5K-ohm for the neck pickup and just over 8K-ohm for the bridge pickup. The 49 and 51 provide much more focused and defined lows while retaining and improving the sweetness of the high end. The tone of the PBF series pickups is simply Bartolin's distillation of the best features of Vintage Humbucker tone. All PBF series pickups are cast in epoxy to remove unwanted feedback and microphonics.
If you're looking for authentic vintage humbucker tones, the Suhr DSV is just what the doctor ordered. Used by top pros who need to duplicate the classic sounds of an unforgettable era, the DSV humbucker has a broad sonic aperture with very little compression artifacts that typically afflict high-output pickups. The DSV is best known for its smoother highs and overall vintage feel. And with 30 years of research and development by John Suhr, you can be sure that the DSV humbucker offers the quality and workmanship that Suhr is known for. DSV Bridge pickups are available in both Fender-Style Trem Spacing (53mm) and Gibson-Style Spacing (50mm).
The Van Zandt Tru Bucker Vintage 4 Conductor humbucker pickup was built to capture the sound of a vintage Les Paul, 335 and other guitars that are famous for their use of the PAF pickup. These humbuckers offer a unique vintage sound with just a little more output than the originals, perfect for higher gain tones. Expect lots of top end shine with a thick bottom and plenty of attack. A great choice for rock, classic rock, blues, country, and rock-a-billy. If you've never experienced the tone and craftsmanship that Van Zandt pickups are known for, the Tru Bucker is an excellent place to start!
The SH-1 '59 is a versatile P.A.F. style humbucker that is a popular choice for country, jazz, blues, funk, classic rock and heavy rock. This neck humbucker boasts a vintage-correct Late '50s sound that offers plenty of warm, crystalline clean tones but can easily get full, bright and dirty when distorted. It also boasts a particularly smooth, natural sustain. Classic trimmings include plain enamel wire, long legged bottom plate, vintage single conductor cable and no logo. Perfect for players looking for a classic sound with modern versatility. They're Seymour Duncan's best selling pickup for a reason!
DiMarzio PAF 36th Anniversary Humbucker
With the PAF 36th Anniversary, DiMarzio didn't just set out make a simple clone of Seth Lover's legendary humbucker, they created the perfect tribute. The PAF 36th Anniversary keeps the warm, sweet tone these pickups are known for but uses modern technology and techniques to create a vintage-styled humbucker that actually improves on the original. Worried about clarity, not enough attack, or annoying microphonics and feedback? DiMarzio made sure to take care of that and then some. While it is still a weak pickup (a hallmark of vintage humbuckers, after all), the 36th Anniversary features a well-defined tone that never gets muddy and a plenty tonal balance, making it the perfect pickup for old school rock and blues. Give it a little bit of overdrive and you have a remarkably sweet and articulate humbucker with just enough bite to get dirty when the track calls for it!
Bartolini PBF-51 And PBF-49
The PBF guitar pickup line is built to offer smooth, vintage humbucker tone that was born from a collaborative effort from Bill Bartolini and Ed Reynolds. The Vintage Pair the PBF-49 neck and PBF-51 bridge combination is intended for those players who seek the earlier vintage humbucker tonalities that come from windings near 7.5K-ohm for the neck pickup and just over 8K-ohm for the bridge pickup. The 49 and 51 provide much more focused and defined lows while retaining and improving the sweetness of the high end. The tone of the PBF series pickups is simply Bartolin's distillation of the best features of Vintage Humbucker tone. All PBF series pickups are cast in epoxy to remove unwanted feedback and microphonics.
Suhr DSV
If you're looking for authentic vintage humbucker tones, the Suhr DSV is just what the doctor ordered. Used by top pros who need to duplicate the classic sounds of an unforgettable era, the DSV humbucker has a broad sonic aperture with very little compression artifacts that typically afflict high-output pickups. The DSV is best known for its smoother highs and overall vintage feel. And with 30 years of research and development by John Suhr, you can be sure that the DSV humbucker offers the quality and workmanship that Suhr is known for. DSV Bridge pickups are available in both Fender-Style Trem Spacing (53mm) and Gibson-Style Spacing (50mm).
Van Zandt Tru Bucker
The Van Zandt Tru Bucker Vintage 4 Conductor humbucker pickup was built to capture the sound of a vintage Les Paul, 335 and other guitars that are famous for their use of the PAF pickup. These humbuckers offer a unique vintage sound with just a little more output than the originals, perfect for higher gain tones. Expect lots of top end shine with a thick bottom and plenty of attack. A great choice for rock, classic rock, blues, country, and rock-a-billy. If you've never experienced the tone and craftsmanship that Van Zandt pickups are known for, the Tru Bucker is an excellent place to start!
SH-1 '59 Model
The SH-1 '59 is a versatile P.A.F. style humbucker that is a popular choice for country, jazz, blues, funk, classic rock and heavy rock. This neck humbucker boasts a vintage-correct Late '50s sound that offers plenty of warm, crystalline clean tones but can easily get full, bright and dirty when distorted. It also boasts a particularly smooth, natural sustain. Classic trimmings include plain enamel wire, long legged bottom plate, vintage single conductor cable and no logo. Perfect for players looking for a classic sound with modern versatility. They're Seymour Duncan's best selling pickup for a reason!