Recommend a bridge pup for SM guitar

[yesandno]

This is for the first SM version. None of the pup are original... I replaced them all... and I don't want the SM model pup.
The two humbuckers in there now are wolftone rewinds. The neck is fantastic but I haven't grown to like the bridge pup, plus I don't really care for the sound of both humbuckers together.

I haven't been shopping for pups for a number of years and the options are mindboggling.
As for DiMarzio's, their little pickup chooser thingy seems to give me Air Zone, Air Norton, AT-1, Breed bridge type of thing but I wonder if Super Distortion would work. I used to have them back in the late 70's and I remember liking them but that was ages ago.

Duncans website isn't much help. Then there's always the smaller pup makers to check out.

Looking for a fatter, smoother tone, articulate but not nasal. Ballsy, hotter output yet still sounds great clean and playing rhythm.
Is there such a thing. Damn, too many choices.
Anybody with the same model Morse that swapped the bridge out have anything to recommend?

BTW, I'm looking to spend in the $60-100 range

Oh yeah, also....should the bridge be F spaced? I ask this because the original SM that was in there (and rewound)...the poles seem to be a little too narrow for the string spacing at the bridge

Thanks

 

[Gio_Force_One]

i like the dimarzio tone zone i thought was pretty decent pickup and also i liked the paf pro and i have a fred in one of my guitars.i havealways like dimarzio pickups and have had good luck with them. i have the new steve morse and really like the pickups that are in it.they have such a nice bite to them

 

[straycat113]

This is a decision only you can make as what sounds good to you may not to another player. Checkout the DiMarzio web site as they have sound bites for their pups which will help you get an idea of what you are looking for.

 

[Roubster]

I personally love the stock pickups in my Y2D. However if you are looking for something new, I would highly recommend the Air Zone. It is a nice warm fat pickup, but has a lot of clarity with a nice tight low end, so it never gets muddy. Also depends on whether you are going to change the 250K pots to 500K? With the stock 250K it might be a bit too dark though. As a matter of fact, the AT1 should be a bit similar to the Air Zone and the Breed is also nice with more output and a bit more of a kick. That one might work better with 250K pots.

 

[yesandno]

Thanks guys.

Yeah, I did check out the sounds at DiMarzio and Youtube. For some reason the clips at DM played for like a couple seconds.
Unfortunately, trying to get a feel for what a pup sounds like over the internet....well...it pretty much scares me from buying ANY pickup!

I hadn't considered the ohms of the volume pot with respect to the humbuckers...although I could've sworn this SM model has 500K...but you say they're actually 250K, thanks. I just don't remember, I bought this about 10 years ago.

In that case, maybe a brighter pup is in order, though, the rewind in there is a sort of hotter paf style and its bright.

I'm thinking that I might clip the leads right at the pickup I have in there right now and trash it and put connectors on both the wire from the body assembly and whatever new pickup.

I got this guitar new and just didn't care for the humbuckers at all...the single coils were fine, but I was at the time replacing all my single coils for noiseless. The noise was driving me cuckoo.