Recommendations for new pickups for my Epiphone Dot

Hi fellow softies,

I recently purchased an Epiphone Dot second-hand, and
sent it for set-up and re-stringing at Beez.

After multiple times of jamming with it and comparing it
to my other guitars, I've realised that the stock pickups
(both the bridge and neck PAF humbuckers) are kinda
weak and don't really produce a full enough tone.

If any of you play a semi-hollow guitar as well,
or know a lot about different pick-ups, could you point me
in the right direction about good choices to swap my
pickups to?

I play mostly punk rock, a bit of blues sometimes and I
like using open chords.

Thank you. Appreciate the help

greetings, welcome aboard

the pickups in the Epi DOT weren't conceived to be drive-inclined. there were made to complement the Dot's acoustics. they don't sound 'right' for you because they don't fulfill your needs. you need something to appease your punk rock staple, namely, you need something more commanding in terms of distortion.

off-hand, I'd recommend the following bridge pickups:

*Seymour Duncan: Distortion
*DiMarzio: Super Distortion
*Tesla: Nitro

if you'd like something tame in the neck position but nothing too wimpy with a generous emphasis on cleans:

*Seymour Duncan: Alnico II Pro
*DiMarzio: Norton
*Tesla: Plasma 2

however, do keep in mind that your DOT will always influence any pickups to manifest its partially hollow voicings. in this instance, a pickup swap will not guarantee a 'full' sounding response. this is compounded by the amp you are plugging this guitar into- by the way, what amp are you using?

Hey man,

Thank you so much for your thoughtful and detailed response.
Really appreciate it.

After some research, I realised that the Epiphone Dot comes equipped
stock with Alnico Classic (neck) and Alnico Classic Plus (bridge) humbuckers.
These are designed apparently to give a more vintage tone via the PAF humbuckers.
Curiously, these pickups also come stock in the same configuration in all Epiphone Les Paul
Standards and SG-400's.

That is totally true, I think i need something a little more high output. I have previously swapped
the stock bridge pickup in my Yamaha 112M with an Invader, a Hot Rails in my Squier Strat and a
Seymour Duncan JB in my Squier Cyclone.

I asked the question cos I know about the feedback problems with semi-hollow guitars, so I didn't
think an Invader or a JB would have been a good idea. I considered the 490T/490R that you were selling, but am not so sure about it.

I use a Marshall DSL 15H running through a single Celestion Seventy-Eighty 12" speaker at home,
and in the studio, i use Marshall JCM 900's. My main overdrive is a Mesa Boogie Throttle Box that I sometimes push with a TS7 if i need to, but with the Epiphone Dot, i prefer using my Catalinbread
CB30 (vox ac30 emulator pedal) pushed with the ts7. I also use a Boss NS2 to help with the noise.

Lately though, ive actually come to sort of like the tone of my Dot. It might not be as high output
as my other guitars, but sounds noticeably "bigger" than my Solidbodies. possibly because semi hollows have better resonance and sustain, from what ive noticed. The cleans on it are pretty decent too, esp when i use modulation like delay+flanger.

Would you recommend a pick up swap nonetheless or should I just keep it the way it is? I know the stock pickups in Epiphones are nothing to brag about, i just wonder if you or other players also have swapped your stock epiphone pickups for something better.

The pickups currently in my Dot are not all that bad really, but they're not all that good either.