In praise of Iron Gear pickups

Grumpyrocker

I guess one of the main reasons Iron Gear pickups are so much less expensive than DiMarzio and Duncans is that they are sold direct. There's no retailer in the middle getting their cut. There's also no nonsense about mojo in the marketing, just simple "here you go, these sound good" sales.

I've decided to go the whole hog now with this guitar, and have just ordered new bridge parts, locking tuners, etc. from the Iron Gear store (Axetec) to transform the EC-256 into a very different looking beast - to suit the snarly tone from the new pickups. Spent a good few hours playing last night and am still very happy with the result from a relatively low cost. Iron Gear pickups aren't "good for the price", they are good, period.

OilCityPickups

Grumpyrocker said:

 Iron Gear pickups aren't "good for the price", they are good, period.

Totally agree

nick79

Has anyone here tired Iron Gear Platinum 90's? I've recently picked up an Epiphone 61 SG and the stock P90's just arent doing it for me. They sound ok but not lively enough for me. 

Grumpyrocker

OilCityPickups said:

drwiddly said:

Whilst I rate Irongear very highly, Oil City are on a different level.

Very kind of you to say that ... but you'd kind of expect a product that is entirely designed made by one person, produced in limited quantities for a higher price to be a little better. Better is a subjective word though, and bung the output of any pickup through drive and effects and any differences are very difficult to hear. What you pay for with pickups from small makers is the personal fitting of that pickup to your own specifications, and some techniques that don't suit mass production. If I copied an Iron Gear pickup spec exactly my pickup would sound the same ... I don't have magic fingers.

I think this may be one of my favourite posts I've read on the forum. It clearly shows where there is value in paying more for certain products, without sprinkling the product with mojo fairy dust. You're paying for time, expertise, and a bespoke product - which is where money should go. And this kind of honesty from a maker shows why (and when) they deserve your money. More power to your (none-magic) fingers sir.

All too often we're paying money for nothing - I reckon a Gibson headstock costs £1200 at the very least (and I've paid it). 

chrishill901

thomasw88 said:

chrishill901 said:

OilCityPickups said:

I maintain that their quality is right with Duncan (not custom shop) and DiMarzio ... and pickups are my full time job. 

I've got to agree with this, they're definitely on a par with SDs... What he doesn't say however is how much better Oil City Pickups are than all of the above. I got a middle and neck Stonetone a few months back to go with my Arcane Inc bridge pickup which is really premium and they are easily as good. Really great pickups.

I disagree.  I like Oil City, Bare Knuckle and Bulldog particularly from the boutique range.  I've been round most of the other big makers as well
They aren't 'better' than the irongear/Tonerider pickups I also currently use, just different. 
 I remember taking out a set of BK Brown sugars from one guitar and replacing them with some Tonerider Hot Classics and in THAT guitar the tonerider's sounded much better to me as they're slightly hotter. However they were less than half the price.

 What you can ask for is a slightly different wind/magnet etc from these guys, but whether its worth paying double the price is highly subjective

I've never been able to tell what brand of pickups let alone which model a player uses. 

You don’t have to agree, it’s entirely subjective as you say! 

I have always found pickups to make a massive difference. My favourite pickup is still an SD Alnico Pro 2 though. My experience with boutique pickups isn’t in the sound but rather the feel and response. It’s a musicality that I find gets reflected in my playing that sets them apart. But to the ear there is often little discernible difference. You may argue that it’s psychosomatic, but for me it’s there, there’s a different kind of warmth and texture that’s impossible to describe.

I’ve got a cheap ESP GL256 and I upgraded the stock cheap ESP pickup with an SD Screaming Demon and didn’t notice anything (the stock pickup was actually decent). I assumed the quality of the guitar was the limiting factor. Eventually I purchased an Arcane Inc Mr Scary and put it in and I was completely blown away by the warmth, clarity and articulation in the sound. It felt seriously good to play. Best pickup I’ve ever used. And the Oil City’s I got from Ash to go with it complement it perfectly.

Adam_MD

gringopig said:

I ordered a set of Monty's PAFs and I'm going to do a proper comparison.

So frustrating having to wade through so-called demo videos where the player instantly launches into a heavily overdriven barely in tune cacophony with absolutely no reference points.
Look at this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0hO9KoTXJk&feature=youtu.be

Linked to on the Monty's website and with high production values it tells you absolutely nothing about the sound of the pickup and it's more of an amp demo than anything and, get this - -> that isn't a clean amp tone.

If the buyer is going to use an amplifier setting like that, does it really matter what you use. Just get a cheap set off ebay for a tenner and crank it up! Who cares about the minutiae of timbre and construction when you are completely clipping the waveform and turning it into generic mush. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf4xYCMtFVg

Impossible to tell until you get to the 'clean' section and even then it  still isn't clean! 
It is possible to detect the increase in clarity on the Seymour Duncans a bit though.

I reckon a lot of money can be saved by high gain or even any player who uses a distorted sound by just buying cheap pickups.

It would be interesting to hear a proper demo of these Iron Gear pickups.
Not this though ARGGHHH Out of tune and distorted....


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzdunZu6Fhw

I don't get the point of pickup demos apart from just being something to watch on youtube if you're bored.  The sound they achieve in the demos wont tell you what the pickups will sound like in your guitar.  Ive had the same pair of humbuckers in 3 different les pauls and they sounded different in all of them.  They really worked well in 2 of the guitars but not the third. 

These days I just go straight to the pickup winder tell them what I want and go with their recommendation.  I've not had any issues with Marc at Mojo or Ash at oil city.  If I'd done that first time I ordered pickups from Ash I wouldn't have had to send one back for a magnet swop when he warned me about it before I ordered and I didn't listen.

gringopig

.

thomasw88

chrishill901 said:

thomasw88 said:

chrishill901 said:

OilCityPickups said:

I maintain that their quality is right with Duncan (not custom shop) and DiMarzio ... and pickups are my full time job. 

I've got to agree with this, they're definitely on a par with SDs... What he doesn't say however is how much better Oil City Pickups are than all of the above. I got a middle and neck Stonetone a few months back to go with my Arcane Inc bridge pickup which is really premium and they are easily as good. Really great pickups.

I disagree.  I like Oil City, Bare Knuckle and Bulldog particularly from the boutique range.  I've been round most of the other big makers as well
They aren't 'better' than the irongear/Tonerider pickups I also currently use, just different. 
 I remember taking out a set of BK Brown sugars from one guitar and replacing them with some Tonerider Hot Classics and in THAT guitar the tonerider's sounded much better to me as they're slightly hotter. However they were less than half the price.

 What you can ask for is a slightly different wind/magnet etc from these guys, but whether its worth paying double the price is highly subjective

I've never been able to tell what brand of pickups let alone which model a player uses. 

You don’t have to agree, it’s entirely subjective as you say! 

I have always found pickups to make a massive difference. My favourite pickup is still an SD Alnico Pro 2 though. My experience with boutique pickups isn’t in the sound but rather the feel and response. It’s a musicality that I find gets reflected in my playing that sets them apart. But to the ear there is often little discernible difference. You may argue that it’s psychosomatic, but for me it’s there, there’s a different kind of warmth and texture that’s impossible to describe.

I’ve got a cheap ESP GL256 and I upgraded the stock cheap ESP pickup with an SD Screaming Demon and didn’t notice anything (the stock pickup was actually decent). I assumed the quality of the guitar was the limiting factor. Eventually I purchased an Arcane Inc Mr Scary and put it in and I was completely blown away by the warmth, clarity and articulation in the sound. It felt seriously good to play. Best pickup I’ve ever used. And the Oil City’s I got from Ash to go with it complement it perfectly.

I pretty much change the pickups in every guitar I own.

  I've got two sets of BK mules in my les pauls,  a bespoke set of tele Oil city pickups in a jerry donahue jap tele,  tonerider in a levinson blade tele,  BK and Bulldog pickups in my  strats, Iron gear & Tonerider in my 3 Yamaha superflighters.    I think the only stock pickups I've got at the moment are in a 72 tele and a G&L tele (which I've just got), and will probably change them or sell the guitars at some point.

I've owned around 30 sets of strat pickups,  approx 10-15 in teles, and  20 or so Humbucker/p90 humbucker sets.  

All the custom makers have been a joy to contact, and always provide a great service,I'm  not trying to do them down at all.

Also  agree that upgrading stock pickups is usually worth doing.
  But personally unless I specifically want a custom pickup, the irongear/toneriders provide absolutely what i want and mean I can spend the additional money on tone enhancing pedals...

Pickup height is a big factor as well and spending some time trying various heights whilst time consuming is worth doing.

OilCityPickups

Grumpyrocker said:

OilCityPickups said:

drwiddly said:

Whilst I rate Irongear very highly, Oil City are on a different level.

Very kind of you to say that ... but you'd kind of expect a product that is entirely designed made by one person, produced in limited quantities for a higher price to be a little better. Better is a subjective word though, and bung the output of any pickup through drive and effects and any differences are very difficult to hear. What you pay for with pickups from small makers is the personal fitting of that pickup to your own specifications, and some techniques that don't suit mass production. If I copied an Iron Gear pickup spec exactly my pickup would sound the same ... I don't have magic fingers.

I think this may be one of my favourite posts I've read on the forum. It clearly shows where there is value in paying more for certain products, without sprinkling the product with mojo fairy dust. You're paying for time, expertise, and a bespoke product - which is where money should go. And this kind of honesty from a maker shows why (and when) they deserve your money. More power to your (none-magic) fingers sir.

All too often we're paying money for nothing - I reckon a Gibson headstock costs £1200 at the very least (and I've paid it). 

There has never been a better time to buy guitar pickups than today, there is  breathtaking choice ...

The flip side is there has never been a more difficult time to be a small pickup maker. When I started eight years ago you could count the number of UK pickup winders who sold on the open market on the fingers of one hand. Now it appears that a new UK pickup maker pops up every couple of weeks. The pie hasn't grown bigger, but there are a hell of a lot of extra  folks at the table. Import costs for parts and wire from the US are soaring, and vital (at least for me) EU markets are in doubt. There are lots of semi-hobby winders who have day jobs or other sidelines who don't have to pay the rent with winding ... so while the guitarist in me is very happy at the situation ... the businessman is a bit less so :-)

Calum13

Anyone tried the strat pickups? I hear good things about their humbuckers but not heard much about their single coils.

Grumpyrocker

Calum13 said:

Anyone tried the strat pickups? I hear good things about their humbuckers but not heard much about their single coils.

Yeah I've used their regular single coil in the past, and the blade. Really good.

ThePrettyDamned

OilCityPickups said:

I maintain that their quality is right with Duncan (not custom shop) and DiMarzio ... and pickups are my full time job. 

This is my opinion also, but less educated! My buddy put tesla sharks into his prs Tremonti SE and it sounds absolutely fantastic, every bit good enough for any professional. 

FarleyUK

I've had Tesla Sharks in my 20019 Les Paul 50's Traditional, and it sounded superb; not quite on a par with the Slash Signature pups in my 2008 Standard (which they're based on), but very, very close.

However, I've swapped them out for a Dirty Torque and a Blues Engine, and they sound excellent; obviously more aggressive, but they sound very sweet indeed!

TTBZ

@FarleyUK you use BKP Mules as well don't you - what's the Blues Engine like compared to those?

FarleyUK

TTBZ said:

@FarleyUK you use BKP Mules as well don't you - what's the Blues Engine like compared to those?

Not any more - got rid of them a while ago and went back to the Slash signatures

OilCityPickups

Personally I prefer the Blues Engine to the Mule ... both are great pickups, but the devil is in the detail. Ignoring price for a moment, lets look at how original PAFs were wound: all original PAFs were machine wound (like the Blues Engine), the winding and wire laying pattern contributes to a smooth sound. Early Fenders were hand wound with scatter winding which gives them their characteristic tone ... this is also how Mules are wound.

Mules are great pickups, don't get me wrong, but a Blues Engine is closer to the original spirit of the Gibson PAF.

If you then factor in price ...

skullfunkerry

Grumpyrocker said:

Calum13 said:

Anyone tried the strat pickups? I hear good things about their humbuckers but not heard much about their single coils.

Yeah I've used their regular single coil in the past, and the blade. Really good.

I had the Steel Twin set in a Modern Player Tele and they sounded great - surprisingly for me as a gain monster, I preferred the sound of the neck pickup without engaging the overwound coil; either way though, it was one of the best Tele neck pickups I've heard