Tom Anderson H3+

Tom Anderson is not know for hot pickups, but he still makes them. The H3+ is the hottest of the bunch. And believe me it's hot. Not distorted. Hot. A lot of high gain pickups really on making their own gain or high output. The H3+ is just hot. It overdrives amps the old school way. The voicing is different than most pickups of this kind. It's heavy in the low mids and very dark overall. It's never muddy, even in my Les Paul Classic I use it in. But it does have this dark, musty character in the mids. The other dimension here is how organic the pickup sounds. It's very very woody. This goes along with the darkness aspect too. A lot of pickups of this output tend to sound sterile. I'm not just talking about EMG's either. I think it has to do with the genre. A lot of high output guitarists seem to prefer a sterile sound. The H3+ is not for them. However, if you play metal or hard rock and you want to hear the organic complexities of your guitar, this is the pickup to get. Obviously with this high of an ouput, you aren't going to get the same organic tones of a 59 PAF. But it won't sound dry like an EMG either. I also really like the hi-fi clarity this pickup seems to have. It may be the added compression in the midrange I'm hearing. It has that "already tracked" sound that you don't usually get when you play live. I really like that about it.
This isn't a cheap pickup but it's not that expensive either. It's really not for everyone. But if you want to stand out from the pack in a high output situation this will definitely do that. It isn't my favorite pickup in the world, but I'm amazing at what it does to a les paul. It's a really dark and woody high gain tone that can't be had any other way.

The H3+ is a pickup that was made by Tom Anderson out of California. He’s a well known luthier and builds some of the best guitars out there. On top of that, he builds some killer pickups. The H3+ is a humbucker built with extra tall coils, oversized pole pieces to fit any spacing guitar and four conductor wiring standard.

The H3+ is one fire breathing dragon. It’s an awesome pickup for heavy metal as it has tons and tons of output. It is strictly a bridge pickup given its output, and I find it mates best with either the H1+ or the H2 in the neck. Using single coils in the neck with this isn’t really recommend due to its output, but if you don’t mind the volume drop, it could work out for you. The coolest part is that this pickup cleans up and splits scary well. It has some great single coil tones that really need to be heard to be believed.

The H3+ is a step up above the H3. It’s more compressed, has tighter bass, has a bit more of a scooped midrange and seems to sound thicker than the H3. The bass is tight enough for those looking to do crazy triplets like Meshuggah, but it isn’t overly sterile sounding like certain other pickups. The midrange seems to be pushed back to maintain some clarity. However, that doesn’t mean it’s overly scooped as it still has tons of mids. The treble is nice and crisp without being too harsh, too.

One complaint people have about this pickup is that it’s more compressed than the other pickups he offers. I find that, while it’s more compressed, it still is not super compressed like an active pickup may be. It’s still very organic sounding and blooms nicely on every note. It also stays super clear unlike certain other pickup manufacturers out there. If you find the H3 to be too little, check out the H3+.

Features:
Black bobbins
Non adjustable pole pieces
4-conductor wiring
hot output

Currently installed in the bridge position of an ESP Stephen Carpenter 6 string which has an alder body, mahogany side wings, maple neck through, and an ebony fret board. I mainly play through a Framus Cobra 100 watt tube amp but have also used it with a peavey 5150 and Hughes & Kettner triamp. All with great results.

I bought this pickup on a whim after hearing that Billy Howerdel (A perfect circle) uses the Anderson H2+.The H3+ is advertised as a higher output and thicker version of their popular H2 and H2+. I originally installed this in a Epiphone Les Paul custom and honestly was very underwhelmed by it. I ended up selling the guitar with the stock pickups and left this one in a box for a while. After growing tired of the 85 in my ESP I decide to give the Anderson another shot. Glad I did. This pickup had everything I was looking for in the ESP. It has a great crunch, tight low end, Clarity, and enough highs to cut through a metal mix without getting shrill. I had previously tried the Duncan invader (muddy), JB (shrill), Dimarizio Tone zone (good for rock and lower gain) , and the EMG 85 (one trick pony). None of those could get the array of sounds this pickup can and the Anderson smokes them all in the metal department.

The only downsides I've found were the non adjustable pole pieces and a slight microphonic problem. The pole piece thing is no biggie because the pickup is very well balanced and the microphonics I think were due to the pickup being very lightly wax potted.

I would recommend this pickup to anyone doing any type of rock music. Especially to metal players looking for high output without the pickup sounding shrill and sterile. This pickup has tons of chartacter and seems to make the guitar easier to play.