Pick ups

cragginshred

cragginshred

Fractal Fanatic
I have been drifting more toward the warmth of lower out pups the past 6 months or so. My Les Paul has the ultra vintage Joe Bonamassa SD pups, and my EVH special has Eddie's latest creations which have a nice blend of warmth clarity yet enough hair to play 80's type metal to classic rock. This makes them very flexible. Any suggestions out there in the Duncan or Dimarzio line up that would fit this bill for my Lifeson LP? It currently has the Gibson 498T/R in it which are compressed and pretty high out put with very little character. I am not familiar with a lot of the not so well known pups builders and do not feel like rolling the dice with them.
 
I have a pair of Seth Lover Duncan's on my Heritage 555. Great balance an tone. Clean up nicely when the vol is rolled back. Sing really well when gained.
 
cragginshred said:
I am not familiar with a lot of the not so well known pups builders and do not feel like rolling the dice with them.
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Good luck returning something to a store once it's been installed, if you don't like it. A lot of the "not so well known" guys will work with you till you're happy, no matter what.
There are some not-so-well-known BS artists that I wouldn't deal with, sure. But, you're sure not gunna be able to talk tone with Larry or Seymour for as long as it takes to figure out what will work best for you. Lollar, WCR, Fralin, and a few others that come to mind have stellar reputations for customer service and communication, as well as tone.
Not only that, but it puts food on someone's table. :encouragement:

My .02:p
 
cragginshred said:
I have been drifting more toward the warmth of lower out pups the past 6 months or so. My Les Paul has the ultra vintage Joe Bonamassa SD pups, and my EVH special has Eddie's latest creations which have a nice blend of warmth clarity yet enough hair to play 80's type metal to classic rock. This makes them very flexible. Any suggestions out there in the Duncan or Dimarzio line up that would fit this bill for my Lifeson LP? It currently has the Gibson 498T/R in it which are compressed and pretty high out put with very little character. I am not familiar with a lot of the not so well known pups builders and do not feel like rolling the dice with them.
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My favorite pup i the one on my '58 Danelectro. Damn thing has almost NO output! But it has a clear, 'unmediated' sound to me. I think humbuckers sound like effects, they alter the sound so much.
 
Geezerjohn said:
I have a pair of Seth Lover Duncan's on my Heritage 555. Great balance an tone. Clean up nicely when the vol is rolled back. Sing really well when gained.
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This was my go to choice, but want a 'little more' than what the Joe B pup has. You feel the Seth has plenty of 'grr' for solos when needed? Clean up is wanted for shizzle!!
 
I've had good luck with DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs. They have lower output and clean up well with the volume rolled down. They sound good for hard rock too. And DiMarzio has an exchange policy if you try something out that you don't like. Check the details on their website.
 
Dimarzio mo joe and paf joe ,I like a lot. alnico 5 magnets and fairly low output They work good with a 3 postion switch and push/pull pot for single coil. The 36th paf is good also ,but I like a little bit more output
 
A few months ago I took a set of Seth Lover recreations out of my Les Paul standard that I had in there around 20 years give or take. Was happy with them but the Joe Bonamassa 59 recreations just kind grabbed me and just had to try them. Was not expecting a huge difference since they are both that, low/medium type pickup.
They are pretty similar (to me), there is a sweetness in the clean’s that is a hair nicer than the Seth Lover recreations, and that’s about it really. Maybe because the JB recreations are a copy of the pickups in his 59 Les Paul which is 50 + years old and the Seth Lovers are just a recreation of the process back in the 50’s. I don’t know just a though.
To me the pickups (Seth Lover/JB 59 recreations) are two shades of the same color, I could be happy with either set.
As for drive the amp models have more than enough gain on tap (for me that is) and even if in the rare case not just use a filter as a boost. I’ll take the clarity out of the guitar first.
John
 
Dimarzio Norton? Similar to the Duncan JB without the proverbial icepick.
On the more vintage side Dimarzio Air Classics. Allthough these might be a bit too clean for 80's rock stuff.
Just my $0,02
 
cragginshred said:
This was my go to choice, but want a 'little more' than what the Joe B pup has. You feel the Seth has plenty of 'grr' for solos when needed? Clean up is wanted for shizzle!!
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The Duncans retain definition even when dimed. They do not give over-the-top gain and drive like DiMarzio, but I don't really care for that sound. I prefer pups that retain some clarity even when cranked. Another good choice might be Suhr SSH in the neck and SSH+ in the bridge. I have that combo on my Suhr Modern and it is probably my favorite guitar. Sounds amazing.
 
cragginshred said:
This was my go to choice, but want a 'little more' than what the Joe B pup has. You feel the Seth has plenty of 'grr' for solos when needed? Clean up is wanted for shizzle!!
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Just a thought... you might want to go with a lower output pickup. You can always boost it for a 'little more' by increasing Input Trim in your preset/scene, but you can't take output away, other than backing off the volume, which usually also affects tone. Have you considered any of the BurstBuckers from Gibson? For a reference, my LP has the BurstBucker Pros in it, and I have to set my "INSTR IN" input setting to 100% to "tickle the red".
 
Hawk I have a low op pup in my LP traditional and dig it. Took a BB pro out due it's over the top mid range I was not psyched about. Geezer, I have had the ssh Suhrs and they are very good. Also had the Aldrichs which were ok for a while then dumped em. Looking harder at the Seths!
 
6L6C said:
A few months ago I took a set of Seth Lover recreations out of my Les Paul standard that I had in there around 20 years give or take. Was happy with them but the Joe Bonamassa 59 recreations just kind grabbed me and just had to try them. Was not expecting a huge difference since they are both that, low/medium type pickup.
They are pretty similar (to me), there is a sweetness in the clean’s that is a hair nicer than the Seth Lover recreations, and that’s about it really. Maybe because the JB recreations are a copy of the pickups in his 59 Les Paul which is 50 + years old and the Seth Lovers are just a recreation of the process back in the 50’s. I don’t know just a though.
To me the pickups (Seth Lover/JB 59 recreations) are two shades of the same color, I could be happy with either set.
As for drive the amp models have more than enough gain on tap (for me that is) and even if in the rare case not just use a filter as a boost. I’ll take the clarity out of the guitar first.
John
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Sweet bro! Not many folks out there have tried both. I kinda want all the Joe B Duncans have with a skosh more op with out loosing the clarity. Thoughts?
 
cragginshred said:
Sweet bro! Not many folks out there have tried both. I kinda want all the Joe B Duncans have with a skosh more op with out loosing the clarity. Thoughts?
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Sounds like you might be using me as your deciding factor? Your F*****d
Kidding of course!! My thoughts ---
Like I said the Seth’s and the Joe’s are pretty similar right down to the DC resistance, off the Duncan site the Seth Lovers are rated bridge 8.1k neck 7.2k, my Joe Bonamassa set (yes I broke out the box) bridge 8.14 neck 7.69. Pretty dam close. They do have a similar quality to them so I suspect the resonant peak on them is pretty similar (hell it might be the same wire with the same winds for all I know). Both the JB’s and the SL’s are not potted something else they have in common, so a little susceptible to feeding back, but I never had issues for what I do.
As I said the top end on the JB’s are a bit sweeter to my taste a little more mellow, in a good way not slop. The SL’s slightly more aggressive in the top end, but not brittle. The SL’s seem to have a little more push but very little and of course overall a slightly different voicing. Both pickups clean up really well when riding the volume control BTW. ( I am also using 50’s wiring)

So I think allot of it comes down to the magnets, they change over time. Like I said above the SL’s are a recreation of a pickup made 50+ years ago and the JB’s are a recreation of a pickup that is 50+ years old. Since you do love your JB’s you already have I would say go for the Seth Lovers, I love mine and although not installed on anything right now I am keeping them and they will be installed on a future guitar most likely another Les Paul.
I also have a Les Paul with BurstBuckers like Thomas-Hawk, and I love these also a bit more midrange like stated above but it sounds great! Maybe because it’s a custom, and a bit of a heavier beast.
Other observations: Like GeezerJohn said I really like the Duncans allot because of the string clarity, rich, full, tight. Not that I had every DiMarzio on the planet in my Les Pauls but the one’s I did, they sounded fine but just did not grab me. But on the other hand all of my Ibanez guitars are loaded with DiMarzio’s. Just seems to be a trend of mine the more heavy the wood I seem to like Duncan and the more light wooded the guitar I seem to prefer DiMarzio.

John
 
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