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Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 11:06 pm
by kaboom
I want to change out the pickups in this guy:
The neck pickup is ...okay, but the bridge pickup sounds whimpy. I'd like to try a new set. The duncans were put in by the old guitarist, who played in a nu metal band. I would say i like single coil toanz better, but i have limited experience with humbuckers. I think these les paul specials originally came with p90s, but i wanted to get some suggestions from people who know guitar pickups.
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Tue May 21, 2013 11:45 pm
by colossus
What kind of sound are you going for? Budget?
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 12:03 am
by Disarm D'arcy
If you like P90s, why not go for P90s in humbucker format such as the Gibson P94 or The Creamery Hum 90 and so many others.
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 12:33 am
by Mudfuzz
Disarm D'arcy wrote:If you like P90s, why not go for P90s in humbucker format such as the Gibson P94 or The Creamery Hum 90 and so many others.
I agree, also look at the Duncan Phat cat and the Rio Grande bastard, I like them better then the P94.
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 12:26 pm
by cheesecats
you could try something really different and go for a joe barden hb two tone
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 5:52 pm
by tuffteef
u need to get those ox4 pickups
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 8:58 pm
by Holy Schnikes
If you go with HBs, look at Bare Knuckle or Motor City and get a 4-conductor option to wire 'em up with coil tap or better yet, series/parallel options. I have a BKP Abraxas set in my LP Custom, vintage hot style bucker, basically a refined PAF with some extra balls to handle the series/parallel switching with little to no volume loss. I use push/push tone pots to execute the switching. I LOVE those pickups.
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 10:08 pm
by Psyre
I think you should definitely get humbuckers if you have limited experience with them. It's always nice to have diversity imo. I think Schnikes suggestion on Bare Knuckles is great. In my LP I use dimarzio's liquifier and crunchlab duo (John Petrucci's model despite not being much of a fan of his) and I think they are great and very different from eachother, yet blend great. I don't play prog or metal much but they fit my style greatly. Came recommended to me by Gunner Recall. Also they come in cream!
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Wed May 22, 2013 10:42 pm
by Mudfuzz
For what it's worth I'm thinking about putting Duncan Pearly Gates in my epi goth lp
or dimarzio tone zones...
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 12:12 am
by Helter
I have a Bare Knuckle Black Dog in my les pauls bridge and it is awesome!
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:53 am
by Holy Schnikes
Psyre wrote:I think you should definitely get humbuckers if you have limited experience with them. It's always nice to have diversity imo. I think Schnikes suggestion on Bare Knuckles is great. In my LP I use dimarzio's liquifier and crunchlab duo (John Petrucci's model despite not being much of a fan of his) and I think they are great and very different from each other, yet blend great. I don't play prog or metal much but they fit my style greatly. Came recommended to me by Gunner Recall. Also they come in cream!
Diversity rules IMO also, the more options the better.
And like you mentioned, don't let any "artist endorsement" sway the decision, just go off specs/description/sound clips/etc. My Abraxas set was designed for Carlos Fucking Santana who I couldn't care less about but they're so good! The bridge just RIPS and the neck is the best thing EVER, full and bassy but tons of chime and clarity. Perfect pickups for my LP. Thanks Carlos Fucking Santana!
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 10:57 pm
by MEC
GFS Mean 90's=CHEAP AND AWESOME!
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Thu May 23, 2013 11:53 pm
by Disarm D'arcy
I had a pair of GFS' Dream 90 that were very lacking, I'd advice against those. The Mean 90s seems closer to what I expect in a P90
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 9:00 am
by uck
If you haven't already, try adjusting the Duncans' height(s) and poles. Depending on which Duncans they are you can look at a magnet swap or even a rewind which would be a lot cheaper than any options already mentioned.
FWIW, the BG humbucker-sized P90s are great. Nice price point as well. Phat Cats aren't bad. Much better after swapping the bridge A2's for A8's or ceramics.
Re: Halp: new pups for my les paul
Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 10:28 am
by DarkAxel
when it comes to HBs, I'm all about DiMarzio
Air Norton/Classic for the neck position... and if you like something agressive but not TOO hot, Tone Zone for the bridge
if you want to go with something lower output, put an Air in the bridge position as well
in my experience most of the guitars with Seymours had this weird bite i didn't really like