I swapped the original TB+s out of my 08 Gibson TBird for a set of nominal 9.2K Hongkongbuckers (mine actually measure about 9.5K neck and 9.6 bridge, the resistance of the TB+s that came out were 9.7K) and am very happy with the result.
I agree with Gaolee's assessment. I like the mids of the HKs better. For some reason I also find the HKs easier to balance across the strings than the TB+s were.
Not sure what the resistance is of the HKs others have used and I have my HKs set high (2mm from strings for the neck and 4mm for the bridge) and I am not concerned by the output or getting lost in my band (rock covers).
I will use the bass soon in a heavier originals rock trio I have recently joined- half a step down and drop D, it will be interesting to see how it goes in that environment.
As you can see below, I have used spacers to stabilise the pickup from sideways movement, particularly the bridge one as it sits almost out of the body. I thought this was important as the external wiring of the HKs looks pretty flimsy and I did have one pickup turn up DOA because this wiring had broken.
I guess as with all pickup options it comes down to a matter of personal preference, players style and the band environment they are being used in.
I had never been overly in love with the TB+s in this bass, so it was a good swap from my perspective. Interestingly, I love the square TB+s (the ones that look like guitar pickups and have been used in various Les Paul Basses at times) in my ES335 Bass which sound quite different to the ones that came standard in my Gibson Thunderbird.
Also they add considerably to the cool! (Bridge swap courtesy of my G3 Tribute- both basses now have matching hardware)
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