Today we are looking at one of my top choices for high-quality, boutique pickups, Tone Emporium and the TE-25. I have an Ibanez S series I fell in love with, but the pickups definitely were not cutting it for me. The stock Pickups are the highly revered Ibanez PowerSound Ceramic magnet pickups. The Ibanez Powersound is basically a budget, mass-produced, copy of the Dimarzio Super Distortion pickups. They are pretty good for the 80’s metal sound, wound very hot and aggressive, they have a very gnarly vibe. For my purposes, they are way too bassy and out of control, not nearly versatile enough for what I use this guitar for.
So my search for some good replacement Humbuckers started. I had my eye on the traditional, go-to versatile Metal pickups. The Dimarzio Tone Zone and PAF pro, or the Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz set. I love both of these options, and being a lifelong Ibanez guy I have had plenty of Experience with the Dimarzio set. In my search for the right option for this Dark but aggressive sounding guitar, I noticed Tone Emporium did have a higher gain option for humbuckers. Being so affordable for about a decade Tone Emporium is my go-to for all the vintage style boutique pickups, from Fender style all the way through to PAF humbuckers. I have used them for everything except metal-style guitars. Being a huge fan of the Tone Emporium TE-20, and even having a spare set on hand, I began to think about using them on this unruly Ibanez.
It was then I discovered the good folks at Tone Emporium actually have a high-gain humbucker option known as the TE-25. I am not sure if they are new, or I just never considered them because I only use TE for the vintage vibe style of instruments. Either way, this was a new discovery to me, so I instantly ordered them. As I was excitedly reviewing the specs I noticed, on paper anyways, the specs are strikingly similar to the aforementioned Dimarzio and Duncan go-to sets of Humbuckers. With the Alnico V magnet and the Bridge pickups clocking in at 17K, just like the Duncan JB and Tonezone, and the neck also a Alnico V clocking in the 7-8K range ala Duncan Jazz or PAF pro.
I slapped them in this lovely S470 and made this demo video, mostly for myself, to get a good comparison, but also for your enjoyment. The part I forgot to Mention is all of Tone Emporiums stuff is extremly budget friendly, to the tune of half the price or less than the Duncan/Dimarzio counter parts. If you have reference monitors or studio headphones use them while watching the video. Drop a comment and let me know your opinion.