Tonerider Rocksong

Same as all the other reviews.

These went into a Schecter Exotic Star. Both the stock neck and bridge were replaced. The tone of the stock Rocker II pickups was thin in this particular guitar.

I have two set ups...one is based around a little modified 1 watt Bumbox with a Fultone Clyde Deluxe Wah, a Aramat Effects Green Machine, a killer modded Maxon ROD881, a Verbzilla and a HBE Mimic Mock II going into it. And my other set up is a Fultone Clyde Wah going into an Elmwood M60 Modena with a Lexicon PCM91 and a HBE Mimic Mock II in the effects loop.
I think for the price the tone of these pickups is nothing short of amazing when put into the "right" guitar. Balanced, clear, warm with a little syrup. Just the right output in both the bridge and neck for everything but certain metal tones. I agree with another reviewer who said they are somewhere inbetween the SD 59's and Alnico II's with better mids then either.

They are in the same league as Seymour Duncan's and Dimarzio's so don't let the fact that they're half the price and made in China fool you 'cause these are great pickups.
I have been playing for along time and have 20 something guitars, most with non stock pickups. These are quality pickups that when put into the "right" guitar will yield a pleasant experience for the player. Not every guitar will work for these pickups. They might not be clear enough for the warmest, muddiest, bassy guitars out there. And they may be to clear sounding for the brightest guitars. But for everything in between I think they'll work pretty darn well.
I think for the money they're in a leaague by themselves so they get a 10!

Humbuckers...4 conductor, so they can be split, which is one of the reasons I got them. Classic nickel finish. 8k in the neck, 12 in the bridge

These went into a beautiful Cort CL1000 that I found in a Cash Convertors. The pick-ups in it sounded like crap, and hummed a lot. A mate referred me to these (and this review page). I wanted to keep the original wiring coil split option, so I wanted 'buckers that could do it. Got the matching pair (8k neck, 12k bridge). The Oz distributor told me they were designed for the classic mahogany set-neck, dual humbucker you-know-what guitar. Which the Cort is, (though it's not a les copy) so that was that.

Output is medium, I would guess. This is going through a Crate VFX5212 combo, and occasionally a Laney VC100 combo. The tone is balanced, warm, strong...you can let your amp decide what it wants to do with the signal. What I have found amazing is not so much the bridge, though it sounds superb, but the neck. It has an amazing creamy tone; on the gain/crunch channel, it sounds like that classic PRS sound -that piping, rich lead sound. Back off the gain,it cleans up nicely, and all notes have very good definition (doing the intro to Sweet Home Alabama sounds lovely, for example ). I've always gone straight to the bridge for lead, but this is a whole new option for me. Balance between the two is fine. With the coil splits, I've got a load of usable sounds in one guitar.

I would definitely biy these again, and have been looking at Toneriders other pickups (Strat and Tele style) to bring some life to other cheaper guitars. Been playing for 25 years, I have an original Yamaha Pacifica, a Mike Stern sig Pacifica, a P90 Hamer XT, a couple of Chinese knock-offs, and this. My Cort is quickly becoming my number one, thanks to the Toneriders. I'm not much of an after-market pickup guy, but I can say the neck pickup sounds better than the neck '59 in my Mike Stern (though comparison is hard due to different woods, neck scale length, etc. That is @$180 for one here in Australia, while these were $110 for a neck/bridge pair. As they say, a no brainer

Passive humbucker, not sure of impedance, but low-to-mid vintagey sound.
Wiring suits coil tap, which is what I wanted.

Installed in the bridge position of a Lag Jet NV200 - stock pickups were a bit non-descript and messy sounding.
Kept the Lag pickup in the middle, and put a Seymour Duncan ssl-1 in the neck.

Output level is low-to-mid, nice vintage sound, pretty well balanced with good string definition.
I play country, folk-rock and classic rock. Its a very good pickup for that classic rock 70s sound - think Jimmy Page. For country it sounds fine with the coil tap, but its more of rock pickup.
Very good value - its made a huge difference to the quality of the Lag, and helped turn it into a decent gigging guitar.
It's not quite as good as the SSL-1 in the neck, but near enough the same quality at a much better price. Great for this guitar, but I put Duncans in the Strat.

If I needed to, I would replace it with another Rocksong - its very good value and it is definitely of high enough standard for a professional musician - there are better pickups out there, but they cost considerably more and are only slightly better.
My only gripe is a lack of customer support - I wanted to coil tap this pickup, but the wiring diagram was appalling. When I contacted Tonerider (twice) to ask their advice - no reply. Funnily enough, when I contacted them prior to buying saying could they recommend a pickup, they were quick enough to answer.
Compare this to Seymour Duncan, who have every wiring diagram you can think of and really go out of their way to help you, and it's another reason why I chose SD to put on my Strat, rather the Tonerider.
Two points off for poor customer support.

Mine are Zebra cream/black, they have four conductors, screws, springs, nice box. They measure at 8k & 12k and have AlNiCo II magnets.

Hamer 1994 Special - Like Garry Moore had/has.

They are in both the neck and bridge positions.

The Sound of Rock! Think Seymour Duncan Custom Shop '78 Van Halen sound on a budget!

Balanced sound from bass/mid/treble. Possibly you could say bright but they aren't they are very much like the original Gibson humbuckers but the bridge is wound more. Gibson PAFs varied in ohmage anything from 7-10k. THe early Van Halen sound was a PAF out of an ES335 rewound to 12k (available as the Seymour Duncan custom shop '78 special). These are a similar sort of thing. They are balanced, airy, harmonically rich, all those things you want.

I would buy them again, I am thinking about putting a set in a Gibson ES-335 instead of the '57 classics they have.

Been playing since 1985.

I like the price and the boxes they come in. I hate that they are made in China because they have to be rubbish..but they are not..and that does my head in all the time.

I compared in this guitar, the original Seymour Duncan 59/JB combo, and a Seymour Duncan APH-1n/SH-15 combo. Neither of these really sat well with the guitar. I was about to put the 59/JB back in and thought I'd throw these Toneriders in not expecting anything but bland lifeless tone but thinking well you don't know till you try.

I was like OMG! this neck is just great. It has the bottom end of the 59 and the mids of the APH-1n, how awesome. Then I put the bridge on and it had plenty of output and captured a lot of that Seymour Duncan Custom Custom SH-11 sound and feel but without such a lack of bass. It cleans up like the JB does also, but is smooth and buttery in character with warmth but still edgy. Gobsmacked!

These get a ten for fantastic value, because they are priced nicely but are in no way cheap rubbish. There's a lot of balance to the tone across bass/mid/treble and I use them usually with a treble booster into Marshall 2204 type amps (Modded Valve Junior with preamp valve added to be like the 2204 without all the treble they had [more like a plexi sound - but 5 watts], and also a modded Ceriatone 2204 [same sound 25/50 watts switchable]). I use Weber Blue speakers, both an 8" blue pup, and 2 X 12" blue dogs.

These really are a seriously good buy, you should put these into a decently wooded guitar and see what I mean. I have them in a 1994 Hamer Special and they are totally like the name suggests, "Rock Song", meaning classic rock paf tones made to go into Mahogany bodied guitars.

Sweet Home Alabama! to Van Halen Unchained

Ok ok, enough praise. Think of the money you spend on other pickups. I have had Gibson 490R,496R,498T,500T,Burstbucker 1 & 2, Wolftone Dr. Vintage, Seymour Duncan, and these bloody Chinese made little SOB's are the ones in my Hamer. I shake my head over it all the time.

Passive AlNiCo II magnets 8k & 12k open coil zebra

1994 Hamer USA Special

This pair has been in a Godin Freeway which they sounded OK in, not without their charm but really not quite the go. I also tried a Seymour Duncan AlNiCo II Pro and Alternative 8 in it which I feel did work better. That guitar has a maple body with poplar wings and the Rocksongs seemed just a tiny bit harsh.

I also tried those two Seymour Duncan's in my Hamer USA Special. That guitar originally comes with a Seymour Duncan 59/JB combo which has a lot of character to the sound but the JB wasn't quite there and either was the 59.

I should mention I had a Gibson ES333 and a Les Paul which both had a Seymour Duncan AlNiCo II Pro and a Custom Custom. The Hamer was purchased to fill the gap left by selling the Les Paul.

So like said I swapped out the pickups for the APH1n/SH15 and then swapped them back to the 59/JB straight away. Then a week later I swapped them again but once more thought no they didn't suit. I was going to swap them back to the 59/JB for the time being and probably purchase a Custom Custom for the bridge but I wasn't really sure I liked the APH1n in the neck better than the 59. Also the Custom Custom was great in the ES333 but I didn't feel it was quite rite in the bridge of the Les Paul. It has some great characteristics but not as perfect a fit as in the ES333 which I also sold.

As an almost seemingly silly thought I saw the Tonerider boxes on my shelf and it crossed my mind to use them. Then I thought nah they are Chinese and they don't belong in a decent American guitar. But then hey I might as well put them in because the only way to know is to try them out.

In they went and I was pleasantly shocked at the results. omg they are bloody great in a big slab of Mahogany body. The neck grabs the deep tone of the 59 but has the more pronounced midrange of the APH1n so that is a better sound than either of the other two as one lacked mid cutting through, and one lacked bottom end.

In the bridge it has that lovely AlNiCo II magnet soft highs but with heaps of edge (not shrill but cutting through), and they are not wound to over the top at 12k so they are hotter but still very sparkley and harmonically rich. Basically it has similarities to the Custom Custom in top and mids, but it has a balanced bass presence which the CC does lack.

SO when they say Larry Carlton to Van Halen (and you cringe thinking yeah right Chinese crapola) they actually deliver just that. The neck goes from deep jazz to blues/rock sounds and the bridge goes from light trebley clean tones to a tonefull harmonically rich rock sound ala Van Halen circa 1978.

I was thinking I would like to get some custom wound pickups made to the same specs as these if only they could make them sound the same. That way I could say I've got custom wound blah blahs but there is no guarantee they would sound the same (maybe they would be better). I like these in my Hamer very much. Like the website says they are at home in a mahogany bodied guitar to give you that classic rocksong sound.

I have tried Wolftones PAF wind, '57 classics, Burstbuckers, Seymours and these are up to par and not as much money. A lot of the larger manufacturers like Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan have lots of different models to choose from which all tend to have a lot of character built into the sound eg JB or EVO which really dictate a huge chunk of the sound shaping.

Of course these dictate the sound but they are more balanced and traditional than a lot of the others. These are more like what a great paf and an overwound paf could sound like. They are really open and raw and will help you really capture that great Gibson Les Paul tone of years gone by.

Set of normal size humbuckers, 4-wire, mine have chrome caps, impedance 8 and 11.6 kiloohm, inductance unknown, alnico II magnets

I use the rocksong set in a Burny Les Paul Standard (Super Grade model),
I use the Tonerider set in both positions. The Tonerider rocksong PUs replace a DiMarzio Virtual PAF in the neck and a DiMarzio AirNortin in the bridge position.
Reasons for change: just trying something new, I wanted a little more bite in the bridge and a little more bite and output in the neck.

The output is not much more than the DiMarzios.
I use a Randall RH50T 2xEL34 top or a Engl Straight tube amp.
The tone is very even and balanced, i'd say, slightly more on the warm side. Bass is strong and smooth, I miss a little bit of glittering trebles/presences. Dynamics could be a tad better, they feel a bit too smooth for my taste.
I play different kinds of music, from blues via blues rock, punk rock and har rock/classic metal.

All in all the sound of these PUs is not too bad, but theey feel a little lifeless. The sound is just too even, what gives the feel that these PUs lack a little of character. I will definitely put back the DiMarzios I had in this guitar before because they felt more alive and more characterfull.

I wouldn't buy them again. I play for about 25 years now, with some longer breaks.
Ther eis nothing I love at the rpocksong set, but i like the output level. Just right 4 me, not too hot, not too weak.
Compared with the DiMarzios named above they are worse in almost all aspects. Sound, character, liveliness.
I still search for the ideal PUs for this guitar, but the DiMarzios I had before are closer, therefor I'll re-install them in this guitar again.

The quality of these PUs is not good. At the neck PU, the "adjustable" pole pieces can't be adjusted because some of the boreholes are a tad too big for the thread of the pole pieces. A no-go, especially because they have "Quality controll: passed"-sticker. They are not expensive, but in my opinion too expensive for such china "quality".

Humbucking , Zebra colors Alnico2 magnets..around 12k

Used on a mongrel strat . Swamp ash body , maple neck and fingerboard..in bridge pos ..I needed a sweet sounding humb pickup that don't sound too powerful

Sweet sweet sweet.. with the combination of swamp ash wood , and maple , this p.u. just sings ..I found myself quite often switch to the bridge humb for clean passage and chordHowever , don't expect this baby to drive your amp crazy . Remember it's not a high output P.u. however it does sound great for hard rock kinda sounds all the way to pristine clean jazz

Great value , Great sound ..But... i just wish it came with a more decent scheme and manual references . Just an add of a nice sheet of paper won't cost that much !!

Passive humbucker, boutique handwired, Alnico II, gold cover, 4 conduct, look solid and outstanding.

I installed this set of pups in my MIK Epiphone Les Paul standard plus.
Reasons is that I want to get rid of the muddy of stock pups, and improve the tone of cause.

Middle output level, great balanced bass/mid/tremble, a little brighter than ordinary Alnico 2 humbuckers because it's over-wounder to get a higher output. This set of pups get extra harmonics and great sustain as well as clarity. Just great clarity. You might have to adjust the height of the pups and reset your amp to get the best tone, after all it's a unique pup .

After installed, I competed it with a Gibson LP standard through Marshall JCM2000 and this Epi guitar with Rocksong gets 90 percent what the Gibby got.
It should work much better in a better guitar.

It's just fantastic for the bucks I paid, if you want to get people envy, buy this...

nickel covered humbucker

Epi Dot SE limited edition block
replaces Epihone "designed in USA 'Alincos.
set installed

I wanted to install some different pickups in an Epi Dot SE as the stock ones were a bit muddy though not bad .I went ahead with Rocksongs first just to give them a whirl .They sounded better even while I was restringing it let alone all tuned up and ready to go .I was very impressed with them .I cannot help but wonder whether a certain negative reviewer for these has ever owned them or indeed any guitar at all .The sound is punchy but sweet from soft chordy jazz ,which I play a lot of to OD'd blues ..its transformed the Dot into a professional sounding instrument .I dont really know how it compares to Gibsons or SD's but as it sounds so good not really bothered to find out .Certainly from memory it sounds much better then the 335 Gibson I tried out for an hour or so but maybe that had dull strings,it had been hanging on the dealers wall for a long time .i will certainly try out Toneriders again in my Strat maybe .
I play Jazz and blues plus a bit of folk and country .The pickups handle any tone very sweetly from clean to dirty

playing 40 years

Passive Humbucking set, four conductor for coil splitting. Specs on www.tonerider.com

I replaced the stock pickups on a Raven West RG450 semi-hollow body PRS knockoff with a set of Rocksongs. The stock PUPs were uninspired; a little dark, good for clean tones, but really lacking any character when driven and not powerful enough to bite, punch or otherwise distinguish themselves.

Output is medium/hot. These have been described as PAFs on steroids and I agree. They are punchy, dynamic, have good harmonics and the clarity is stellar. This guitar is alive now. Woody tone; the pickups really seem to give a supercharged PAF sound paired with the natural guitar tone. Balanced, but more alive and dynamic than the previous pickups. I am continually surprised at how clear these things sound even with the gain on 10. I bought these on a hunch and feel like I found the deal of the century on pickups.

My rigs consist of various things:
ADA MP-1 preamp
Rocktron Piranha preamp
V-amp Pro preamp/modeler
SS poweramp
2x12 cab

I also use software amps like Revalver and Guitar Rig.

My style is...well, I noodle around and play lots of different styles/sounds. However I always seem to fall back to good punchy, biting lead tones with some effects.

This is a set, and they are matched well. The neck pickup is more tame than the bridge, works great for vintage PAF tones and cleans up nicely. (both clean up nicely though)

Been playing mostly classical for 20 years, but electric off and on that entire time as well. I actually have two of these RG450 guitars, the other with a pair of Bartolini pickups (77D/55). I'm not really happy with that combination but am leaving it as is for awhile.

I have a distinguishing ear and am a harsh critic of tone and am continually searching for great tones. These pickups were a gamble; I was really unsure about which pickups to try on this semi-hollow body, but that gamble has paid off better than I ever expected. I wanted something with more punch, bite, dynamics, harmonics...I guess everything except what a Jazz pickup would deliver, although these are clearer than the stock pickups as well. These pickups are not crazy hot (I am going to replace the other guitar's pickups with an evo2/paf-pro pair later), but I didn't want that for this guitar.

It now sounds amazing. I wanted a guitar to have a modern take on vintage tone. One that could be used to play a variety of styles (but these really aren't for the more extreme types of metal) but be modern in its response, dynamics, etc. I found what I was looking for.

One complaint - the pickups come in these NICE boxes but the diagram is lame; no examples for coil split or parallel or phased-reversed or anything. Very lame, especially compared to the Bartolinis which contained a sheet with about 10 different schemes.

-1 for a lame diagram.

Humbuckers

Installed on a Gibson. Wanted change from factory sound.

The output level is different on each pickup. They are noiser than the factory model. Tone is lifeless. I can't believe the reviews here are genuine. Next time I stick to the big names. You get what you pay for.

These are a joke. Don't be the butt.

Rocksong set, bridge and neck, 16k and 8k resistance. Nickle covers

I installed these on a PRS Santana SE, as I wanted a hotter pickup set, but not a fuzzy distorion sound. I went to their site, and listened to the sound clips. It was a hard choice, as their Alnico IV and Generator sets had great sound clips as well. I figured for the price I would give them a shot. Man was I ever pleasantly surprized! These things kick ass.

Both the neck and bridge are very responsive to pick attack, and can go from a warm clear tone to wonderfull crunch and screaming pinch harmonics with a simple adjustment to the volume pot. I can honestly say that these sound better than any Duncan, DImarzio or Even Fralin set that I have owned, They are a bit on the bright side in my guitar, but a quick cap change and they were dead on. Very good for heavey Blues (Gary Moore) or Santana type of overdrive sound.

I would buy these again, In fact I have a set of Duncan 59s in a Les Paul that I might pull out, sell on E-bay and buy a set of these! I love the wide tonal range, the pick response, and the nickle covers are first class. These are a great bargin for the buck!

Rock Song-Bridge-passive Humbucker
12k-Huge and full

Fender std american stratacastir
Bridge
replacing the std single coil stock pickup
dimarzio Virtual vintage blues single coil size humbucker
My self and only my self
Not a full humbucking tharashing texas sound- still feel little thin

No doubt at all. Fully covers up and rhythm sound is fantastic and the overdrive and little bit of distortion is so thundering. Feel amazing with solos, very crispy and I love the punch.
I am using laney with a Vintage 30 and a green back. Gives me a thrashing ocean like crispy humbucking sound
Base is fantastic with amazing middle sound and the high end is very soloing. I love the sound with a bit of distortion.I am using with texas specials in the neck and middle. I have tried seymour duncan pearly gates plus, seems great too. However, I want to have a change so I tried this babe with little effort of 59 aust. dollars. So great combination. Nothing wrong in trying. you will never go wrong with this combination. I have modified the original pickguard with a HSS fender moto pickguard with all old same fender wiring. Feel great. I play country and contempery rock and lot of christian blues mixed rock. I can cover a lot. So far I have tried only on bridge and so I cannot comment on it.One thing I would like to say with this manufacturing of this pickups is 3rd - G string adjustable screw is little loose, but I did not have any big issues based on this.

If it is destroyed, I will try a tone riders vintage models only in neck and middle because I will replace the bridge with this rock song itself.I have been playing for 14 years and I own lots of dimarzios and a fan of Rio Grande and seymour duncans. I love dimarzios for their compressed and bell like tones. For Seymours I love their heavy ones such as SH-11, custom 5 and JB's. The great thing with this pickup is loudness but very sweet and not at all harsh. I am a fan of dimarzio but I love this pickup for the price, matching quality with texas specials and great soloing ability. Recently I have tried Area 58's,area 61. The neck is very good for the rhythm and I am not impressed with bridge 61. When I went back to old texas specials with rock song in the bridge (12k). Never had a mind to change and no turning back to dimarzios. Very original and feel the touch sensitiveness of this babies. I love dimarzio's V.V.54's and I want to try this rock song in the bridge position too. Hope I still have the luck and May the loving God bless these combination too. Hope My opinion will be useful to someone in the world

2000 Ephiphone Les Paul custom made in Japan for the Japanese domestic market (ie not for export) so it is a carbon copy of the real thing.

The guitar came with a new Seymour Duncan SH6 in the bridge and a mystery white open humbucking pickup in the neck.

Well the Seymour is fantastic as they always are, with a sound just like The Backyard Babies get and great sustain. The neck pickup was a different story however, the closest sound comparison would be a sick pig farting in a bathtub full of mud.

I had just spent close to a grand on the guitar, freight and a new hard case so didn't have the money to lash out on another Seymour.

I saw this on ebay for $54, jumped on their website, listened to the sound clip, searched out some reviews and thought it would be a good interim fix.

Man, i am so happy with it i am keeping it on !

8.0K , nice looking open humbucker in black, very similar looking to a Seymour.

I have been playing for 20+ years, grew up on rock, punk, hardcore, metal and play stuff in the vein of The Backyard Babies, Motorhead, Smack, just loud fast raaak and roll.

This pickup can go from sounding like Slash on Sweet child of mine to Steve Jones of the Pistols. Output matches the Bridge Seymour and this thing is powerful, has good mid range, minimal noise and tons of warmth. Great in the neck for leads / riffs and great split for powerchords.

I have owned and played a lot of guitars and this pickup sounds better than most of the crappy stock pickups you would find on epiphones, ibanez, yamaha, monterey etc

I think it actually sounds better than the neck Gibson pickup on my 1995 Les Paul and would recommend this if you want that chunky les paul rock sound.

I have these in a custom built mahogany bodied semi hollow. I had a nice set of custom wound humbuckers made for it, but sold them at a stoopid high price then bought these and pocketed the difference.

I also had a set of GFS Retrotron Brooklyns in this thing for a month or so. They were quite bright sounding in this guitar. While certainly OK, since they are single coils, it's an apples/oranges thing. I will say the Rocksongs sound like they were made and voiced for this guitar. I love the tone they provide and could not be happier with my choice.

I don't thik there are any artists using these yet, but there should be. However, I believe many have the perception that low price means low quality. Certainly not the case here.

I like vintage voiced PAF style pickups. I was a bit hesitant due to the higher ouput rating of the bridge pickup, but it has become one of my favorites. I like these pickups better than several of the high priced botique winds I have.

These are very well balanced pickups. The neck pickup is excellent for blues and rock. It has a nice fat, creamy tone. The bridge pickup is great for classic rock tones. Pinch harmonics are easy to get.

While I agree with much of what the other reveiw said, I will take exception to the Duncan Dimarzio comment. I've used Seths, 59's, Jazz, Classic PAF, virtual vintage PAF and for me, the Rocksongs are a better match. I've used them in two guitars so far and love what I hear.

While I will always search and try different pickups, I have found a winner with Tonerider. As the other reveiwer said, I can buy a set for the price of one Duncan or Dimarzio. The A4's are next on my list. I spoke to a fella who plays blues in Australia that has the A4 Tonerider's. He was amazed at the tone and responsiveness.

I won't bore you with details of the gear I use. I'm old, I've played for 40 years and know what I want in tone. I'm greatful companies like Tonerider are out there. Not many seem to know about them, but I'm sure that will soon change. Anytime I an pay 1/2 price and get exceptional quality, I'm a happy camper.

These are a Humbucking set.
Resistance: 8.0k (neck), 12k (bridge)

I put these in a Monterray SG copy, rplacing both the neck and bridge pickups.

They have a smooth sustain, much more guts than the standard pups, no surprises. They are hard to describe in the usual tone terms as they seem to be full of surprises at just about every different gain/volume setting I use. Must be very responive. I play mostly Rock and Punk.

Yeah I'd get these again. Dimarzios, or SD's they aren't, but they are in the ball park, well made and at about a third of the price!!