Anderson Humbucking Pickup Info

[Rob C.]

Hey guys,

I've been a loyal Anderson user for more than a decade now. Over the past few months I’ve started to stray away from using my Andy’s in both live and studio situations in favor of much lower quality guitars that are loaded with Duncan pickups. Here’s the issue, while I love the output, clarity and overall tonal response of the Anderson pickup there seems to be a “high fi” sound or presence I do not like. I’ve been using H2+ in the bridge position and HO1- in the neck position. I haven’t tried or heard either the HC of HF series yet. Thoughts??

Thanks for everyone’s input and help.

[pluto]

Love the HC2 bridge and especially the HC1 neck pickups. I put them in a custom shop gibby flying v and also a R0. While they still have a lot of output, there is a very pronounced midrange character to them. Compared to the burstbuckers, they were less shrill on the high end, and definitely creamier. I thought the character of those guitars were held intact although I probably should have went with lower output HC pickups. I would compare them favorably to the gibson classic and classic plus pickups but with a tad more output. I don't know much about duncan pickups, so I can't really compare them to the hc pickups.

[pipedwho]

The HO1- has a very different tonal response to the H2+. If you could get a beefier sounding HO1- for the bridge, would that give you what you're looking for?

The mid emphasis that is characteristic of the Duncans and other more traditional sounding pickups can be found in the HO and HF/HC series pickups. It might be worth trying an HC3/HF3 in the bridge, which are hot pickups that bring the power of the H2+ with more midrange character. The HC2/HF2 might be ok, but may not be 'big' enough if you're used to hotter pickups.

I have an all mahogany guitar that I put an HO1-/HO1+ set into, and it brings all the tone of traditional dirty grinding less refined 'buckers.

[JeKo]

If I wanted the same output as the popular H2+ but with a tad more traditional midrange, would the HC3/HF3 (or HC2/HF2) be the answer?

[pluto]

If I wanted the same output as the popular H2+ but with a tad more traditional midrange, would the HC3/HF3 (or HC2/HF2) be the answer?

The hc2 has less output than a h2+. I haven't tried the hc3 or hc3+, so they may be comparable in terms of output.

[pipedwho]

The hc2 has less output than a h2+. I haven't tried the hc3 or hc3+, so they may be comparable in terms of output.
Agreed. The HF3 is much closer in output power to the H2+ than is the HF2.

This might be just me, but I prefer the uncovered HF series over the metal covered HC. To my ear the metal cover takes away some of the upper end sparkle that I love so much in the HFs. (This is true of any metal covered pickup, so if you like metal covered pickups in general, then you probably won't have a problem with the HC pickups.)

[Rob C.]

Thanks for all the replies and input.

I tried a HF2 and didn't dig it at all. The EQ curve was wayyyy different that the H2+ and just wasn't pleasing to me. The slightly lower ouput wasn't an issue and possibly even a good thing (let the amp do more work and slightly more versatile for me). If this helps, the frequency that I'm having issues with can be tamed a little by rolling back the tone control about 20%. What do you guys think about a H2? I think I may have a HO1+ somewhere that originally came with the Cobra so I'm going to try throwing that in to see what I think too. Maybe a HO2 could be an option...

[pipedwho]

If you prefer the EQ curve of the H2+ over the HF2, then you're probably not going to prefer the HO series either. Both the HO and HF/HC series have a similar mid emphasised PAFish sound, with the HO being a little warmer. The H series has a wide range, very evenly spread frequency distribution. I prefer the more traditional HF2 sound in my Cobra S over the H2+ for most things bar heavy rock. But, in my Drop Top, I prefer the H3 for most things including heavy rock.

If the H2+ is too bright for you, then the H2 will probably not solve the problem, as it has even more of that top end extension. The H3 is a little darker and might serve you better, being a hotter pickup.

Also, if the frequency you're having trouble with is tamed by rolling back the tone, isn't that a better solution than getting a new pickup? Or are you still not quite liking the H2+ even with the tone dialled back?

But, if you have the HO1+ sitting around, definitely give that a go. I really dig the HO1-/HO1+ combination I have in an all mahogany "Gibson SGish" sounding guitar.