MM90 replacements? Anybody swapped them out for anything?

[Astrofreq]

Just curious if anyone has swapped out their MM90's for other pickups. What did you use and why? How did they sound?

I like the MM90s, but I'm debating swapping them out for something hotter, but still spanky. Suggestions?

 

[Sweat]

I thought about it with my MM-90 AL but you will have to do some routing since MM-90 are thin in size compared to others, I statrted but then came to love my MM-90's

I was going to drop in some EMG passive P91 and p92 pups, bought them and still have them, but put the MM's back in and now they rock

 

[Astrofreq]

Hmm...good to know about the size. No chance I'd route out anything.

 

[fsmith]

I swapped out the bridge MM90 in an Axis SS a few years back with a DiMarzio DLX Plus but like Keith said I had to route the body about 3/16" to accommodate the different thickness of the new pickup. I did it by hand and it's not for the faint of heart.

 

[mtrejo]

I TOTALLY dig the MM90's on the AL. So much so that after my first one arrived, I ordered a second one, just slightly different specs in body wood and neck combo. Both of mine are hard tail and piezo. I did a brief tone comparison between my axis and the Albert Lee and man, those MM90's kept up extremely well in high gain mode, seemed to me they cut through just a tad more. Pretty impressive. The beauty is that a light crunch sounds spectacular and the cleans…well…they are as clean as I'd like without that annoying hum. Brilliant pickups IMHO.

Not sure that I'd want to ever mod my guitar by routing wood to achieve a hotter tone but might look for a cool pedal that could enhance what you already have? Others might disagree but that's how I'd go after it.

Let us know what you find!

 

[altouchet]

I replaced the bridge position MM90 in one of my Axis Supersport's with an overwound Lollar. It's definitely thicker and a bit darker sounding. It pushes the amp more. If that's what you're going for, then great! But, as others have said, it's hard to beat the tone of the stock MM90's.
I did NOT have to route anything to fit the Lollar Soapbar. Although, it is out of phase with the stock neck pickup MM90. You'll either have to reverse the hot & ground on one or the other, unless you like the out of phase sound when both pickups are combined.