I couldn't tell the difference in headphones honestly for distortion. There was a slight difference in the clean tone. So for that reason, my choice was the slightly brighter tone of the B pickup. But I would proudly use either. Nice test. The only issue I have had in the past with overseas pick ups is that they tend to feedback easier and that they turned microphonic on me after time.

A SD. B 20 dollar amazing pickups. lol... Both sound amazing!

personally, did not think there was 80 dollars worth of difference between the 2, i found out quite a spell ago, high price pickups dont necessarily mean high price tone !

Both sounded great. I think the A pickup is the cheap one and the B is the Seymour Duncan’s

I don't care if you like Chinese, but I don't like China putting Seymour Duncan name on their pickups

SD is over rated and over priced. Not enough of a difference to justify the price. Buy American if thats what you want buy Chinese if thats what you want. Not enough of a difference for my living room

Both are great. I like the A better, not saying it is a Seymour, just like it better. But in the end I would buy the cheaper one, they are very close, it wouldn’t make a difference in the real world. Thanks for the video.

If you use that much distortion, there's not much point in the A/B test. But the clean section at 3'19 is day and night.

Overall I liked B. Especially on the cleans.

as most people have pointed out, there is a slight difference with the clean tones, with A being a bit brighter (maybe the SD?), but as far as gain tones are concerned, they're essentially and for all intents and purposes indistinguishable....

I didn't think either set sounds bad, but I did notice a bit more note clarity in B with the high gain.

I did not hear any difference! So I guess that's a big compliment for the Ali express pickup! thanks for the test because I am ugrading my pickups

My response before getting the official word is that B sounds “cleaner”. A sounds quite close but sounds “fuzzier”. Like extra noise around the notes, but mostly noticeable between phrases.

Move your light to either the left or right side of you and angle it down a tinge, this will give you a 3d effect and much more flattering light. Instead of the mugshot thing going on.

Damn. I was wrong. But that makes me happy! I enjoy the stuff that doesn't cost an arm and leg. I have Alnico 5s in my tele from Ali and they sound fantastic. Thanks or the video!

I can tell the difference between my lipstick, the P90, humbuckers, fidelitron, and a quad rail in my seven differently themed customized partscasters. Funny thing - I can get them to sound however I want through digital sound processing. Oh yeh, all these pickups are Chinese or Korean, which I chose mostly for their looks.

Be sure to watch the follow up video where the answer is revealed, and there is a link to the Aliexpress pickups. The link to the Part 2 video is right up there in the description.

B had richer harmonic output for me, that gets my vote. If that's the AliExpress one, then that's going on all my mod project guitars. If that's a SD, then is it worth the $70 upcharge? For a couple of pickup projects, I think so.

I preferred the A pickup as both sound very good with distortion but the cleanest riff was a bit superior with the A set of pickups

Twiddle EQ knobs a little and A can be made to sound like B, and vice versa, to my ears anyway.

I preferred A for some of the riffs, other riffs I couldn't tell much of a difference, so there wasn't $ 70 difference to me. I think if either guitar arrived undamaged & functional at unboxing, I wouldn't know the difference. I might feel different about them depending upon I plug into my most pedestrian amp vs most versatile amp with all the amp & cab sims. The SD's, obviously it's a $ 70 difference to squeeze out the last 3% that the pickups both basically get at some volume level as each other. Finding perceived sameness is it's own tone chase altogether.

To bad for the price difference I simply don’t give a hoot there is nothing wrong with both of those pickups

Two different guitars… mostly compressed sound you are genius.

I can't tell the difference. Have used mainly SD pickups for decades. I bought a cheap JB equivalent from China for £16 GBP and fitted it to my LP. It sounds excellent. These USA manufacturers are taking us for fools. Not any more!

Well, here's the deal.. IF the SD PUP's sound THAT close to the $20 joints, either PUP's have come a LONG way, OR SD aint kickin' the way they used to.. In any event, the $20 PUP's have proven their point... Guess the TRUE test is to compare through a REAL amp, side-by-side.. I'm likin' the $20 joints, tho!!.. For the record, I would say "A" are the Duncans...

Great playing and a great amp (or great simulator plug-in) make for most of the tone, so it's no surprise you got such good results on both. To my ear, though, it sounded like A was an alnico 5 magnet and B was a ceramic with a harsher attack. It's not so much that one was better than the other, but maybe each would serve a different purpose in the studio. I'm convinced that either would be fine in a live mix. Sincerely, A guy whose bought a ton of SD pickups

Buy the cheaper pickups, measure them to know what output and inductance you're working with, and then just mod them. For treble put a cap and resistor in parallel with each other, but in series with the pickup, and for more bass put them parallel to the pickup. Or maybe just change pots and a tone cap and call it a day. It's way cheaper, way easier to get exactly the sound you want once you know what you're doing, and frankly, it's much more fun this way.

I can't tell the difference. I just bought the Slash set off of Aliexpress and they look like the real deal and sound just like my real set on my les Paul. well worth the $50 I spent.

I bought an AliExpress 22$ Seymour Duncan copy( with original logo) instead of ibanez stock humbuckers and I am happy 😁. My guitar sounds much better...

Great video. I have been playing for about 45 years and in all honesty most of us have been fooled by advertising and hype.

One listen thru AirPods, I can’t tell which is which, nor does it matter… they both sound great!! Like another commenter said, I also have some “economy” pickups that I like better than similar “big names”.

Im sold on the Chinese Invaders. Ive always spent the cash for the brand SD. After all these years, i would go with the clones. Q: How do they hold up at max volume? Sustain?

Man this is tough! I'm gonna say A is the Duncan's.

Listening on some really nice studio monitors, it's night and day. B has a lot more clarity and dynamic range. It's definitely the tone I prefer.

Pickups convert mechanical movement into electrical energy. That's it. Whether SD or ALI, it doesn't get any more electric ;-)

I have some really good studio headphones and to me, it doesn’t matter. Both sets of pups have qualities that I like. If I HAD to choose a favorite, I go with option A overall.

B is Seymour Duncan, right?

I was all convinced the Duncans were the better sounding PU I was hearing - No, I picked the Aliexpress pickups. To me they were brighter and had an overall superior tone by far. I own a set of Dimarzio Air Norton and Tone Zone. I wonder how those pricey PUs would fare in such a test. Great demo, thanks

B = alli express, no I did not cheat, I notice at the beginning of the tone b is a little scratchy of course after about 1/10 of a second the scratchy sound goes away. For the cost yes B would satisfy and without being compared side by side, I wouldn't notice the scratchy sound

Ali express A, Seymour Duncan B...great tunes dude, you rock

3:36... is it me or does the Donlis pup have a little more chime and shimmer on the cleans??? ... imo they're practically identical on dirty sounds...

Playing through a Line 6 processor, you won't hear a difference. Because it's processed. Cool riffs that sound great regardless of the pick ups.

A = Aliexpress Pickup B = Seymour Duncan Pickup

A sounds like listening to music in Flac, B sounds like listening standard mp3.. It is easy to know that A are the Seymour Duncans.

I preferred "B" because it had just a touch more note separation and had a bit more proactive reaction with your modulation effects. That said, both were very similar.

The best a/b test.....BLIND

A was Seymour Duncan, a lot more clarity and tone didn’t get muddy in all the spots the B set did. The B pickups were more microphonic and had bad clean response, too chimey and thin in spots.

I prefer B slightly. Whichever are the Aliexpress pickups, they are on par with SD for a fraction of the cost.

B sounds a little Brighter and slightly clearer in the clean tone but in distortion i couldnt tell but it’s definitely not 70 bucks worth of difference. Im Im building a player guitar id buy what sounds good even if its cheap. Thats what i love about the time we live in. Tech has advanced to the point we can get great stuff really cheap

A=Aliexpress B=Seymour Duncan

Ok guys this digital S makes it sound all the same ( not really) but clean sounds made it clear that sd is the B. If you play at home on your digital device then who really cares but if its a real amp with volume up the you will hear the difference right away.

Great video. Ok, let me start by saying, i stopped the video at 3.11 minut mark when writing this comment. And i have not read any comments so my thoughts are unbiased. Ok Through my headphones, i prefer the sound of pickup a. I found them slightly louder, brighter and more articulated. But only ever so slightly. Id happily have either in my guitar. The real test of pickips in my opinion is how they sound live and how they cut through in a mix. For example. I have a prs se standard 24. The pickups in that guitar do not cut through the mix like my ldt eclipse 253. The eclipse actually cuts through the mix better than all my guitars including my explorer with emg active pick ups.

A for Seymour Duncan, just and no more, the B sounds slightly grainier, not as smooth but sightly warmer on clean, not much distortion).

I would say B is the SD.. They both sounded great to be honest, and I really found it hard to tell a difference. It's just that sometimes I felt the B with slightly bit more of low end.

Hard to tell, Richard. Both sound good, I only noticed a slight difference in the clean tone (B sounded a little better). My guess is: A - Chinese pickup B - Seymour Duncan

*If you really want a change with your electronics, going active is the ultimate solution granted I design my active circuits specific to each guitar and whatever pickups are in it.* I can make singles sound like humbuckers and vice versa. Virtually any features you seek will be had through RC filters and a semiconductor. Pickups in themselves are the biggest scam product guitarists are getting fleeced by. A $10 unbranded out of China will be no better nor worse quality than a $100 Duncan. I'm a serious enough player that I don't buy guitars for collector value, so I don't care about branding. Most guitarists are literally just building very expensive furniture for their hobby.

My friend swears by Bareknuckle pickups and hates Seymour Duncan for no really discernible reason. The Warpigs and the black Winter for me are virtually indistinguishable. Definitely war pigs aren’t 100 dollars better. In this case we are talking about a few hundred dollars difference and they sound the same. Just wax pot those Chinese pups and keep it pushing.

Wow, astounding, very very close, if you got the extra buck, go for the seymour, but if none, the chinese copy even works great, plus you could save the xtramoney, If your really bothered of the 2 not being equal, theres an eq to tweak on your pedal or amp anyway, and besides. The listeners around wont even bother

Some cheap pickups are well made and some are not. I've seen and heard both on a cheap old Squier Stratocaster.

I am probably not that good. But I can say this, the pups in my epi slash sound muddy through the same amp where my burstbuckers sound clearer. Even with power chords.

I have to be honest, since I never use distortion, gain, and overdrive, only Clean with some delay, reverb, and tape delay, not all at the same time, I'm not one that can honestly evaluate any distortion, gain, or overdrive quality. I can hear a difference, but, which one is better? Totally clueless. I did prefer A on the clean sample. Have no idea which pickup that was. Just preferred the sound and looking forward to learning which one it was when the answers are revealed. I also think this is another one that fits under the "everything about guitars is all about personal preference" umbrella. It does not matter one bit how much something costs (with the caveat of "that fits in your budget"), it's about how much you like the sound. Great video, Richard. Please keep them coming.

I guess the B is Seymour Dungan pick up it has more bite when you pick the note.

If i got the call to go into the studio for a session with a singer songwriter I'd bring the B guitar. If I was gonna play a live set I'd be ok with either guitar.

Yah you are right, I cannot tell the difference between the 2 different pickups. Why spend $90 when you can get something just as good for $20,

I have three guitars from Ali Express. I put a Seymour Duncan Hot-Rodded humbucker set in one of the Les Paul’s. I immediately noticed significantly more volume out of the same setting I was on with the old pickups. I would be very surprised if both guitars were set on the same volume.

Amazing, that Aliexpress seller should reward you.

Both sounded good, but B sounded better. Fuller cleans, more dynamics and screaming more in the solos. A sounded a bit more lifeless across the board. If B is the SD I'm getting some of those ali express pups!

Honestly, there is a difference. But I have no idea which one is the Seymour Duncan. I am liking A the best in all forms. I will wait to see part 2. I am late to this party. I am thinking it may depend on personal tonal preference, more than which one is "better."

They both sound good I'm getting the donolis for my guitar

Weird. I posted here, then it was somehow deleted before I finished watching the video. Sorting by latest shows it isn't even here. YT is cray cray.

Gucci should get into guitar business. They'll make another fortune.

B has slightly more dynamics. Thx for the blind test.

Slight difference and i mean slight id play either as long as a pick up isnt microphonic or straight garbage id be hard pressed to swap out either

don't know which is which, but i prefer b all the way, at least with this signal chain. brighter cleans and better defined distorted tones. but a is a good pickup. definitely does the job well

I know this video is 2 years old but if you see this next time show the time stamp of you playing and have all the sound geniuses tell you at what point you changed . pickups pickups

A: Seymour Duncan B: Chinese one Diffrence is most visible when playing clean tone. But it is not a vital diffrence..

A is ali. Actually both is good. But on the first play wave and noise make difference. On Next plays I don't know which one is real duncan.

Geez. After listening to both.... I KNOW which one I want. BUDGET!

they sound very similar, with A presenting more high frequencies and B more low frequencies. In my opinion, the two are equivalent in quality.

Distortion not much difference. Cleans I liked B better.

I'm guessing that A is the Seymour. It sound a bit thicker.

I think 🤔 b is the Seymour Duncan but they both sound pretty good 👍

Sounds like there’s a slight hum in the distortion with B? I’d say A is the SD?

I don't think they sound very different from one another. On a few crunchy samples, the A sounded a bit hotter. On a clean sample, I thought the B sounded a bit richer. There is not enough there that an EQ pedal couldn't easily change, drastically. That's why I don't care about pickups. I care about a noise gate and EQ pedal, especially if you perform live. Buy those and skip the pickups, if money is an issue, and it usually is.

A - Ali Express B - Seymour Duncan. I think.

Some Ali express pickup sounds better than the original

I think B is the SD .. has more definition , but it’s hard to tell ., the cheap pick ups and SD are that close .. a bang for the bucks if you have these cheap pick ups installed ..... cool challenge

I like A better it’s fuller and more open. But both sound great. I have not looked at anyone’s else’s comments. Think that A is the Duncan’s and B Ali.

I just purchased fake Seymour Dunkin’ pickups my question is are the pots and pickup selector worth using 😳

I'd say "B" Is the Duncan. Have you tried Dragonfire pickups? I have the "Screamer" in a couple of my guitars. Not bad for $35.

Seymour Duncans and DImarzios etc are made from metal with the same techniques of winding as the cheap ones. The Chinese made ones are hit or miss as far as QC. SD and Dimarzio arent made with some special magic tone dust. Given all things equal such as output Id bet the cheap ones sound virtually the same as the expensive UAS made ones. There will always be a difference in tone if one pickup has 13k output and the other 11.5k etc..

A better questionr is "How much is copper wire and a magnet worth?"

A- Seymour Duncan B- Ali express pkup

The aliexpress copies comes from different factories so if you are lucky you can get the good ones but if you are not The pickups could be a disaster. There's new independent companies building pickups so try. Instead sticking on the same brands over and over. you don't need to invest tons of money to get the sound.

A it's seymour duncan for sure! it's more brigth and the harmonics are just better

Everyone should do a blind test before buying an instrument to figure out if they are looking for a specific sound or just a brand on the headstock. Personally, I've been installing cheap pickups on my guitars for at least 4 years and I have to say they sound divine, at least as good as my first guitar which was fitted with 2 Seymour Duncan humbuckers. But 30 years ago Aliexpress didn't exist. Maybe we'd better focus on a good amp... shouldn't we?

I'm a JB 69 guy but the AliExpress. Holds up. I don't know which was which. . I think one was a tink bit more warm sounding.. I would buys an AliExpress

First clean I heard a difference and liked A better. Which is which, I don't know. Guessing: A Duncan, B the other.

Well there's only so many ways you can wrap wires around magnets .

Hard to tell with processing. It helps, that you can play. I pick B- for the real Duncan but that being said, I like GFS pickups. Pickups don’t know if they are good or bad, just players. Anyway, I am going to order a set from Ali express because both sounds were good. I don’t play as many notes as I used to but I can appreciate a good effort to compare and I think the Ali express, pickup/s, is worth a try.