Pick up suggestions for Les Paul bridge

cragginshred

cragginshred

Fractal Fanatic
I have had the b buckers pros in my LP standard and now a set of 57 classic plus/classic. The neck is great the classic plus is a tad harsh even with the Axe II's limitless one sculpting. Wondering about a better choice for the bridge for Bonamassa to ZZ Zep and well into classic 80's metal without that upper mid harshness. Talk to me people...
 
I have the same problem, but i'm looking for modern rock sounds. I exchanged the bridge hb with a SD JB and that improved the sound for me... but there is still headroom for improvements :). I think the guitar body is playing a big role aswell.

Cheers
PhillAnselmo
 
That's a tuff one... zz is pretty much single coils wile a lot of the zep stuff is les paul or tele, PAF low to mid output . 80's metal depending on what 80's metal your looking at could be anything from an EMG 81 to SD JB/Scream'n Daemon to DiMarzio Super distortion. Personally I would look at low to mid output pups that have an even tone about them and for the 80's metal find an amp that lends it's self to though those tones, EQ and bost to make up for the lack of pick up output. Have you considered a JVT Variax?
 
I like Gibson 498T's at the bridge of LP style guitars. They have a slight mid push, but not as much as JBs which I find too muddy and "honky". The 498Ts have a smooth tone used clean and a creamy but still punchy overdrive tone.
 
Best Pickups I found for the job is the Amber Classic Rock, hand wound, no wax, a little pricey but absolutly top notch.
Best money I ever spent on pickups.
amberpickups
 
GM arts I have the 498T's in my Lifeson and really do like them, just want some thing a little more vintage with balls tho. ZZ single coils (maybe in isolated situations),. no we must be talking about a different Texas band. The legendary pealry gates guitar and his PG signature Humbuckers are his tone tone.
As fr as all these companies I have never heard of,. appreciative for the suggestion but apprehensive.
 
All depends on how you play what you play. I'm a huge fan of Bareknuckle pups, and have several sets in several LPs, all offering different sonic palettes. My fave "do all" pup is probably the Riff Raff. But the mids of the Blackdog are awesome. Again, it's all in how you play what you play... I can't give you the best pup cuz I ain't you.
 
Was looking for similar characteristics a while back. Went with a set of Wolfetone Legends. Was not disappointed and still loving them.
It was a sure cure for the ice pick OD tones I was running from. Wolfe of Wolfetone recently got an AXE II and lurks around this forum a bit.
He freely communicates if you have questions.

I have a restore of a 1980 Dean eLite in progress. Going with a Rewind Creme Brulee set in it. I expect them to be similar to the Legends.....I shall see.

Both can be had from a reputable eBay dealer at a good price....delaer is The.Art.Of.Tone
 
I'm not a big fan of SD pickups for the most part for some reason. I've hated every guitar I've ever played with a JB in it, but the SD 59 is one of my all time favorite pickups. I think that it's got a lot of what I would consider vintage PAF. I'm a huge Gibson pickup fan, but the 59 is as good if not better than a lot of them at doing what I love about them to begin with.

Not real sure if it's what you are looking for though.
 
RossE said:
Was looking for similar characteristics a while back. Went with a set of Wolfetone Legends. Was not disappointed and still loving them.
It was a sure cure for the ice pick OD tones I was running from. Wolfe of Wolfetone recently got an AXE II and lurks around this forum a bit.
He freely communicates if you have questions.


I have a restore of a 1980 Dean eLite in progress. Going with a Rewind Creme Brulee set in it. I expect them to be similar to the Legends.....I shall see.

Both can be had from a reputable eBay dealer at a good price....delaer is The.Art.Of.Tone
Click to expand...

Yes, I do. I post occasionally, too. :mrgreen

Let me know how those Creme's stack up against the Legends, please. I hope to hear that James is making good stuff!
 
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the seymour duncan website has a "compare tone" page. They explain the guitars and amps used for each recording and the settings of the tone knobs. You can choose up to 4 pickups and quickly compare how they sound with clean or distortion settings. Fortunately for you, the reference guitars for humbuckers are Les Pauls. This should give you a fair assessment. I was there yesterday because I watched a rig rundown for Neal Schon and he was talking about his new semi-hollow PRS guitars, which will come with PRS pickups, however, he is using Duncan CUSTOM CUSTOM in his bridge. I thought it was interesting because he had been using DiMarzio in his Les Pauls over the past 10 years.

I guess he wanted to "start over" and make a clean break from Gibson and also wanted to start a fresh with another pickup source.

I have a Fernandes Monterey Elite, and it is the first guitar I've owned with a Duncan JB in it. I absolutely love the sound. The pickup out performs every other aspect of the guitar itself, I'm afraid. I found it very interesting that in my Fernandes, it comes across as much darker than the other guitars I own, but on the Duncan tone comparison site, the JB sounds brighter than the other 2 pickups I was comparing it to: Duncan Custom, and Custom Custom.

Now I'm more confused about what I should get for my Schecter Hellraiser when I remove the EMG's. It is a shredder guitar, but I am not a shredder, I do not need shredder type tones. I just want an all around good balanced sound, reminiscent of the JB or Custom Custom, but it will depend on how it interacts with the guitar body itself.

I love this process (never ending tone-quest), but it does make my head hurt sometimes....
 
cragginshred said:
GM arts I have the 498T's in my Lifeson and really do like them, just want some thing a little more vintage with balls tho. ZZ single coils (maybe in isolated situations),. no we must be talking about a different Texas band. The legendary pealry gates guitar and his PG signature Humbuckers are his tone tone.
As fr as all these companies I have never heard of,. appreciative for the suggestion but apprehensive.
Click to expand...

Have you heard of Bareknuckle Pickups?

Check out the two pups I'd recommend for your LP bridge position:
Mule (authentic PAF recreation, gorgeous, but of lower output): https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=humbuckers&sub=vintage&pickup=the_mule
RiffRaff (really awesome, little more open and aggressive but so nice, my tech's fave pup in my guitars): https://bareknucklepickups.co.uk/main/pickups.php?cat=humbuckers&sub=vintage&pickup=riff_raff

That's all I can offer as a repeat recommendation. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
 
I have a WCR Godwood in the bridge of my singlecut. I cant imagine anything sounding better for an LP. Different or just as good but not better. Godwoods have that quintissential huge LP tone. Very clear but very fat
 
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