Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

[speed2dirt]

Actually, the pickup is a Pearly Gates Plus, not a Pearly Gates. Mike Lewis, who was then head of Fender's guitar marketing (he's now running Gretsch) and I were the ones who worked out the pickups on that pickup. Mike had a background in retail sales knew what the Pearly Gates sounded like and he wanted that tone for this Strat. But, he wanted around 6dB of boost over and above a regular Pearly Gates for the bridge pickup. According to Mike, "When you go into the bridge position, I want a noticeable boost. And the Texas Specials are already on the hot side." So we took a stock Pearly Gates, changed the magnet from an Alnico 2 to an Alnico 5, and added a few hundred more turns. And viola! The Pearly Gates Plus was born.

I hope you enjoyed today's history lesson.

Anybody have opinions on the tonal differences? This is Evan's response to a thread from 2004. I'm just wondering what the A5 does to the Pearly Gates' tone, as does the extra winds. I think Fender typically puts this pickup in Alder body strats. Which PG would sound better with a Mahogany body/neck & ebony fretboard? What neck pickup would you pair with it?

[astrozombie]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

I find it slightly odd that Evan said the guy just wanted more power... so they swapped magnets and added winds. I get the winds, but the AlNiCo 5 swap? why? I'd put a normal pearly gates neck in there.

[ratherdashing]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

I had a PG in my Strat, and I got to play a Lonestar Strat that the PG+ was put in.

The PG+ has a tiny bit more high end bite, a little more low end, and a slightly hotter output. It's a very ballsy pickup and a great match for the Texas Specials in the neck and mid. Those Lonestar Strats were some of the best guitars Fender put out in the 90's.

The original PG is smoother and more balanced, but has that raunchy rudeness it is famous for.

[speed2dirt]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

The PG+ has a tiny bit more high end bite, a little more low end, and a slightly hotter output. It's a very ballsy pickup and a great match for the Texas Specials in the neck and mid. Those Lonestar Strats were some of the best guitars Fender put out in the 90's.

Yea, the Lonestar was the strat I dreamed of and never got. Oh well. Somehow, I just can't get along with the new MIM reissues. They seem heavy and the neck is thicker, which is not what I remember at all about the original. Anyway, the description you gave is pretty much what I remembered I liked about it. How do you thnk it'd sound in mahogany?

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

Adding a few hundred more turns will increase the d.c. resistance which bumps up the output a bit. But it will also lower the resonant peak. To account for that, we switched the magnet to an Alnico 5, which has a slightly sharper attack on the note; the effect to your ear is increased brightness. The result: the signature Pearly Gates tone with slightly more output.

A good neck pickup to match with it is the '59. Fender released that as the Big Apple Strat, later called the Double Fat Strat.

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

Evan how the PG+ will sound if you replace the a5 with a2?

[astrozombie]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

Adding a few hundred more turns will increase the d.c. resistance which bumps up the output a bit. But it will also lower the resonant peak. To account for that, we switched the magnet to an Alnico 5, which has a slightly sharper attack on the note; the effect to your ear is increased brightness. The result: the signature Pearly Gates tone with slightly more output.

A good neck pickup to match with it is the '59. Fender released that as the Big Apple Strat, later called the Double Fat Strat.

Thanks for chiming in Evan. I didn't realize the peak went down when you pumped up the output.

[dominus]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

I just want to know why the PG+ is standard spaced.

[astrozombie]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

Evan how the PG+ will sound if you replace the a5 with a2?

He kind of answered this question in his post. The resonant peak of the pickup goes down, as a result, it sounds darker. I'm assuming the hotter PG didn't resemble the pearly gates sound, so that's why they swapped the magnet in the first place.

[speed2dirt]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

Adding a few hundred more turns will increase the d.c. resistance which bumps up the output a bit. But it will also lower the resonant peak. To account for that, we switched the magnet to an Alnico 5, which has a slightly sharper attack on the note; the effect to your ear is increased brightness. The result: the signature Pearly Gates tone with slightly more output.

A good neck pickup to match with it is the '59. Fender released that as the Big Apple Strat, later called the Double Fat Strat.

Thanks, Evan! That was very informative.

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

I just want to know why the PG+ is standard spaced.

Good question. Back when I started working here there was "Fender spacing" and there was "Gibson spacing." It was very cut 'n dried and easy to understand.

But over the years bridge and saddle spacing dimensions have migrated all over the place. Some Gibsons use Trembucker spacing. And many Fenders, including the mid-'90s American Standard Strats, upon which the Lonestar was based, use standard humbucker spacing.

[philthis]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

Adding a few hundred more turns will increase the d.c. resistance which bumps up the output a bit. But it will also lower the resonant peak. To account for that, we switched the magnet to an Alnico 5, which has a slightly sharper attack on the note; the effect to your ear is increased brightness. The result: the signature Pearly Gates tone with slightly more output.

A good neck pickup to match with it is the '59. Fender released that as the Big Apple Strat, later called the Double Fat Strat.

I have that double fat strat. I instantly loved the PG+ bite it had. It realy grabs the gain on the note and harmonics well which is important if you play a el34 tube based amp as the amp will usually have pleny of clip but you then have to crank the gain up on the amp to dial it into the tone or add some kind of distortion pedal to get more gain in the tone. With that pickup, it seems to bring out the gain in the notes better. If you allready have plenty of gain in your amp say a 6L6 tube amp you may want to try a standard PG pickup as the magnet is a A2 mag in that pickup and it seems to really pickup the clip aspects of an amp which is whats usually lacking in a gainy 6L6 amp. Thats what I love about Duncan pickups, if you understand how the pickup can work, its easy to get a great tone from them.

[SabbathFan0220]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

I wish the PG+ was a regular production pickup so it came in both spacings...

[dr. ad]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

^ very good point...

[hamerfan]

Re: Pearly Gates vs Pearly Gates Plus

I had a PG in my Strat, and I got to play a Lonestar Strat that the PG+ was put in.

The PG+ has a tiny bit more high end bite, a little more low end, and a slightly hotter output. It's a very ballsy pickup and a great match for the Texas Specials in the neck and mid. Those Lonestar Strats were some of the best guitars Fender put out in the 90's.

The original PG is smoother and more balanced, but has that raunchy rudeness it is famous for.

I have a Lonestrat pickguard in a Squier Strat. It does not sound balanced to me. I did not like the '6db more'. At the same time the PG+ is considerably darker than the Texas Specials. I would like to test a 59B or a 59N in this assembly. I have also read about forum bros which liked to hook off the tone pot for the PG+. But this was not enough for me.
BTW Be aware that the Fender PG+ comes in parchment color, different from white and cream.