What SD pickup is for me?

[AndrewPlaysLoud]

I've got a Toronado that I'm looking to replace the pickups on. I'm looking for something that has a decent clean sound. But the distortion is really what counts for me. Also, my current pickups (Fender Atomic Humbuckers) give me so much feedback. Will Seymour Duncan pickups eliminate some of the feedback? Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

[beebe]

The Seth Lovers usually come with the nickle cover, so they will look nice in the toronado. I will be putting one in the bridge of my toronado as soon as it gets here. They have a medium to high output, compared to the atomics which are supposedly hot (high), so you will probably get less feedback, but you can't know for sure. I tend to have trouble with finder pickup feed back, so any change may be for the better when playing really loud. Look at the spec charts on the SD site. If you can find similar specs on the atomics you'll be able to compare, but i don't know where you would find them. The Seth Lovers have a lower high end output, so i'd bet you'll get less of the anoying high pitch feedback. They have a pretty flat response, so they may sound a little dull clean depending on what you are going for (they will sound more like clean humbuckers on a les paul and less like the atomics which are somewhere between a les paul and a fender... less sparkle... maybe what you like...). But the flat response will really allow you to taylor your distortion sound using effects. It all depends what you like. If you want to play death metal, go with the dimebad darrel pickups... but i'd suggest going with a pickup like the seth lover which will allow you more freedom. Like i said, I haven't put mine in yet. If you want to wait I can get back to you and let you know how they turn out. The first six humbuckers on the spec chart will all sound good, so if you find any of them used pick one up. But read the spec chart descriptions. Maybe you want something fatter like the invader or the original trem bucker with a higher low end response... these may be better for nu.metal... but again you can get a similar sound by tweaking something with a flat response.

[jeremy]

seth lovers are great pups but probably not for you. they are unpotted which means that they are more prone to feedback, especially with high gain.

andy, by feedback you mean it starts howling?

[TheMist]

Go with a SD Distortion/59 setup. It would sound great for what you want.

[John Wymore]

I think I would second the Distortion bridge & "59" neck idea. If you are set on nickel covers they can both be ordered that way.

[beebe]

yeah i guess i didn't really know what i was talking about. i loved the way my seth lover sounded when i got it in (bridge)... a million times better than the stock atomics... but (with overdrive, distortion and volume) it was microphonic... so i had to wax pot it and now it's pretty rad... no microphonic feedback... just the good stuff.