CHEAP vs EXPENSIVE Pickups (AlNiCo) - Is There REALLY A Difference??

Depending on settings. Zephers better on some. Didnt matter on others

Have you ever looked at the Tonerider pickups?

I think I'll just get a classic vibe 50s squire. Heck with it...

Thanks. I wish I could see the switch in the ladder comparisons.

Sound is one thing. Response to the player is another. And I'm not knocking the cheap pick ups. The test of a "good" pick up is. Can it pick up the nuances that the player intends without having to fight/force it.

I could not tell any difference at all. Amazing.

1st round, I could not tell a difference, 2nd no difference. Third, I liked the 17 dollar one better🤷‍♂

Neck Cheap pups, bridge with overdrive, expensive pups. Negligible differences.

Sir try to install the Chinese pickup to fender guitar

The first 2 tests were very close, but I preferred the cheaper pickups slightly, they were a bit too bright with the extra gain, but that's an easy fix with the tonestack! The clear bobbins look cool too

I don't know how I missed this one Darrell. Nice comparison. The cheaper pickups sound a little bit thinner but still sound good. The silver wire is over rated and over priced but still sound good as well. The magnet material and strength are the soul of the pickups. No pickup set is worth $1000.

I bought two sets "alnicov" for 20 dollar per set. I love them, very much more than my "wintage staggered single coils with hummyhummy bobbins". Deep ballsy sound, very very SRV. The third set is on his way. Great. The brand is the same as tested in this video: Alnicov. I have the set with creme covers. Great stuff.

Got the blindtest 3 out of 3 😂 cheap is less full and morge ugly highs

I'm feeling pretty stupid right now, because I thought alnico was a name brand....... lol

You play a Fender Strat with Expensive Pickups vs a Squier with Cheap Pickups. That´s not a fair Test... The Test is only fair with a same Guitar!
My mind? $1000 for pickups is really crazy and out of my league.
Or were they wrapped on a virgin's thighs?

Great tone is in dynamics. Ofc pick ups matter. But I think most ppl chase certain tone when in fact they just need to practice more.

Wow. That's amazing how good those $17 pickups sound. Yes, i could discern the difference when they were played back to back like that, but the cheap pickups sounded incredibly good. Im buying a loaded pick guard for my Squier today!

I found Wilkinson pickups to be a great budget option with a good reputation and good performance.

honestly the difference is so little i wouldn't bother to spend 1000 dollars, when i can pay 17 for a decent sound.

OUR NEW ALBUM WAS RECORDED WITH ALNICO PICKUPS AND SOUNDS AMAZING

The law of diminishing returns; for $17 you can hear you guitar, for $1000 you can hear it slightly better.

Duncan is now forced to release pickups with GOLD wires for 3000 bucks.

Firstly, Great video, nice playing and fab amp... Secondly, there's just a Fiver's £££ worth of raw material in almost every Single Coil pickup, the principle construction and component parts are variably the same... Finally, I won't buy high-end branded pickups as I know that they're not better because I'm one who has leant the hard way...

i got all comparison wrong. what the f. hahaha!

Even shocking is the $17 pickups are installed into a squier. If the $17 is installed in the orange flame fender, maybe it will sound better than the $1000 duncan

This is so revealing. Talk about the "law of diminishing returns!" Those cheapies sound phenomenal. I hardly hear any difference.

100% accuracy in my case :P

Yikes. I've had good pickups and bad, and in some cases the difference has been fairly prominent. I really could never imagine dropping $1000+ on pickups though

Squier ceramics sound noticeably different than non-beefed basic Alnico V.replacements.

Inexpensive and cheap have different definitions. Mine are inexpensive. I have been playing for 60 years. This is the golden age of inexpensive quality guitars. Sure you have to replace several parts but you won’t have $2K in it.
In 1973 I bought my first Les Paul through Pearl Harbor PX for a little over $400 with case. As soon as it arrived I swapped out the cheap plastic jack plate and replaced the Klusons with Schallers.
It was a cherry sunburst and under the finish there was an inch long red pencil line for drilling the bridge posts that was overlooked. A flaw for sure but I didn’t care. That made it mine.

3 out of 3. There is a difference but it's not the pickups so much as that the cheap guitar buzzes more.

I was right on the first blind comparison, and wrong on the next two.

I liked the cheaper Pickups 3 times over 3 blind tests. The Chinese stuff just sound awesome!

I like the cheaper ones better!

There is a difference the cheap ones are a lot quiter

I might be crazy but, I liked the way the cheap ones sounded better 😂

I could get the blind test right and do hear the difference. But I can't say that the expensive pickups necessarily are better. Whatever better mean??

I have a Wilkinson Alnico V kit on one of my guitars and I'm very happy with the way they sound.

Spending a lot of money does not equal better sound in a lot of instances, personally I'll go with the squire and get a better amp!

A lot of these videos, miss an important step and determining if an inexpensive pick up standup to an expensive one I feel like we’re inexpensive pick ups feel the hardest is being microphonic. You should really have included a high volume a high gain test.

Just installed $35 pickups in my first guitar from 25 years ago. They sound amazing. Im blown away

I could easily tell the difference, but what was the difference. Adding super magnets underneath or a 2nd plate underneath?

$1000 for pickups, insane... pass it through a noisegate with EQ

buy 3 sets of the cheep ones and your still ahead! thanks..i needed this! the BS and YT (experts) cloud the waters with nonsense! i trust you sir, and thanks

Now, if you want to hear a NOTICEABLE difference in clean tones, try EMG pickups. They give more on both ends of the tonal curve, so way more versatile, and still 1/4 the price of the $1000 pickups!! (and very easy to retrofit).
The differences in CLEANS between your choices is barely discernible, but sometimes the only person that can actually HEAR the difference is the player.. The audience would NEVER notice!!

Usually the folks who buy $1000 pickups are attempting to make up for not being good players. It WON'T WORK!

Funny i liked the cheap ones for the first 2 but the bridge i liked the expensive ones. The first 2 clips the cheap ones were smooth. The expensive got treble clipping.

We can cut some high freqs on super cheap pickup, but we cant add natural power to that super expensive pickups. I may prefer cheap ones actually

The big difference is on your bank account after buying them😂

this made me realize that I will buy generic cheaper pickups rather than expensive ones