Used to love the EMG HZ's, but as Kimball said they are crap now.
What I have discovered is pups wound by guys like our Tony are, generally speaking, far superior to the big name ones.

Had a Guitar in last week, owner was complaining that the pups had no balls.
They were one of the big name brands that retail for an arm, leg and your left testicle.
As an experiment, I dropped a set of Tone riders in for him to road test. He rang me last night and after a few minutes of heavy breathing announced they were miles ahead of the sd's...

As for gfs, well, they are no better than the stock PBG pups. Probably come out the same factory in China.