Replacing stock pickups for a SBMM JP70

[Osteoporozis]

I got my SBMM JP70 in the mail a few weeks back and I'm absolutely loving it, except that the stock pickups are really disappointing. I picked it just based on what a few of my favorite guitarists/bands use, and since that worked so well the first time, I continued with that strategy and essentially came upon Lundgren M7s.

Now, these are currently running about 200 bucks a piece... And as important as the sound is to me, I'm not sure 400 dollars worth of pickups is justified in a 600 dollar guitar. I mean, I guess I do get to keep them and put them in something more expensive, should I ever have the money for that, but then I'm running the chance of not liking a pair of 200 dollar pickups.

So can I get any advice here - something similar to these with a smaller pricetag? Or is this not an abnormal price?

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

It all really depends on what sound you're looking for as well as what you tune to and what you're playing through rig-wise.

 

[Osteoporozis]

Based on reviews and examples they sound like they're what I'm looking for. I don't know if people make knockoffs or anything similar, but I don't exactly need top-of-the-line and that's what these seem to be.

Currently playing out of an Ibanez X Tone Master. It's solid state, but based on reviews it's a pretty good one. It's just what I've got - I'll see about upgrading once I'm happy with my guitar.

 

[trevose]

Unfortunately, that's about the going rate for Lundgrens.

I had a chance to play a guitar with M7s a while back. I thought they sounded great. That said, they cost 100% more than your average Duncans. If you're familiar with the term "diminishing marginal utility", I think this is a good example of it. That is, you'll see a lot more improvement from the stock pickups to the Duncans than you will from the Duncans to the Lundgrens. The M7s really do sound incredible, though (although the clean was a bit lackluster, but that's not why you get them).

If you want to spend half the cash, people seem to like the SD Distortion 7 for that really tight low-end that the Lundgrens are known for. You might also give the SD Nazgul/Sentient set a shot and maybe try swapping out the 500k pot for a 1-meg to really open them up. Can't say I've tried them, but I've read good things, and I've had good results with 1-meg pots on darker sounding guitars.

Happy tone chasing.

 

[KultureDekay]

I've always thought of a guitar with nazgul bridge and liquifire neck PU's.