Humbucker upgrades for a Rally GL-400

[GDPunkRock]

Hey all, I'm thinking of getting some upgrades for my Rally GL-400, possibly a pickup upgrade to start off with as lately, the stock pickups have been sounding kinda "boring" to my ears per say.

Don't get me wrong, they are still decent stock pickups that have served me well all these time. It's just that perhaps, I'm looking for something a little more bite to it.

I play a wide variety of rock, from old school GNR, ACDC stuff to modern punk such as Green Day, Blink 182, the occasional alternative like the GazettE, Stone Sour, a bunch of metal like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slipknot, and last but not least some indie from The Strokes, Two Door Cinema Club, Stereophonics, Oasis etc.

What are some versatile pickups would you guys recommend I upgrade to? Been considering EMG's for the more harsh sounds I play, but I'm afraid they could be too much for the softer indie-alternative stuff.

PS: On a side note, I could be needing to get a better amp, currently using a normal combo solid state... Any recommendations on really cheap, but "tube-like" behavior amps? Stuff like the Orange Micro Crush, Vox's Lil Night Train, y'know mini guys with a punch.

 

[Nicholasim]

Contrary to popular beliefs, i feel that EMGs produce really nice chimy clean tones, especially the 85 in the neck. The bass is very punchy and nice too.

Depends on how much you're willing to spend really. Popular sets in lespauls are:
Duncan jb, jazz, 59s, distortion
There are some Tesla pickups going for really cheap on the forum, i think its the VR extreme.

 

[peter01]

Never been a fan of EMG pickups. Have you considered Lollar Imperial humbuckers or Porter Anthem PAF?

 

[GDPunkRock]

Never been a fan of EMG pickups. Have you considered Lollar Imperial humbuckers or Porter Anthem PAF?

Hmm.. not very familiar with these brands, though I've read about them on the LesPaul forums quite abit. Are they vintage sounding pickups?

 

[VidaK]

if you like the guitar tone used by all those artists you have mentioned above, changing pick ups would do nothing for you I think since they range from single coils / passive humbuckers / active humbuckers

what you would want is to enhance the bite of the tone elsewhere, such as a distortion pedal with higher gain than what you have that has more treble and upper mids

 

[an2]

I'm a strong believer of changing the pedals/amps first before pickups. Even stock Epiphone Les Pauls can sound quite good if played through the EVH 5150III \m/ Those Laney Cub stuff are quite interesting for their price if you're willing to consider!

But my 2cents on a pickup change if you have to, is that you should consider the JB/Jazz set (Green Day's Billie Joel Armstrong has a JB in the bridge of his BJ strat). Does rock pretty well, which is what you seem to be aiming for.

 

[zesn]

I'm a strong believer of changing the pedals/amps first before pickups. Even stock Epiphone Les Pauls can sound quite good if played through the EVH 5150III \m/ Those Laney Cub stuff are quite interesting for their price if you're willing to consider!

But my 2cents on a pickup change if you have to, is that you should consider the JB/Jazz set (Green Day's Billie Joel Armstrong has a JB in the bridge of his BJ strat). Does rock pretty well, which is what you seem to be aiming for.

I used to think the same way until I realised some of the crappy in-house pickups in the Epiphones and lower end chinese made guitars really do a good amp no justice.

Would encourage a pickup swap and definitely not an EMG, the 'chime' experienced personally would be described as plasticky. But if you're into the high-gain stuff the EMG shines that way.

Try the Porter, Lollar, Bareknuckles. Cheap and good ones would still be Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio, Tesla etc

 

[Nicholasim]

I used to think the same way until I realised some of the crappy in-house pickups in the Epiphones and lower end chinese made guitars really do a good amp no justice.

Would encourage a pickup swap and definitely not an EMG, the 'chime' experienced personally would be described as plasticky. But if you're into the high-gain stuff the EMG shines that way.

Try the Porter, Lollar, Bareknuckles. Cheap and good ones would still be Seymour Duncan, Dimarzio, Tesla etc

EMGs plasticky!? I don't remember it being that way. I remember the 85 having lots of low end and chime to it in the neck. Could it be the rig? But anyway that was 5 years ago (so maybe I remembered wrong, but I doubt it). I was never a fan of active pickups though. Battery swap is too troublesome and you always have to worry "eh, got enough battery or not?". Hassle hassle.