Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

[Chris of Arabia]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

I've had a set in my Korina SE since they were a 'UK only' offering. Unfortunately, you're probably wasting your time asking me to describe the tone of anything. What I can say is that there's more life about them than the stock pups, but they may well be wrong for that guitar. Depending on what you run it through, it can sound very bright and present with them in there. I think they would suit a heavier guitar rather better i.e. a Les Paul, or at least one of similar construction. I can't give you anything more detailed than that currently, as it's in Riyadh and I'm not for another week. I'll give it another try when I get back and see if I can't come up with a few fresher observations.

[IsakaJr]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

I have a Jimmy Page Custom Shop Set which I got from MJ at the Dallas Guitar Show. These are supposed to be the Custom Shop "Whole Lotta Humbuckers", and though I haven`t compared to the "Reg Production" set they do sound like others have described as a "59 with something more in the mids".

It is a very simplistic way of describing them, but its in this ball park. I`d describe them as "Gibson 70s" sound. Very different from PAF takes like PearlyGates or the Seth Lover. It seems like they have an emphasis on the attack in the mid section and just sings under a little more gain, but what I LOVE about mine is the Dynamics, they do respond VERY nice to picking!

I have tested mine in a LesPaul Traditional and I`m still yet to test the Splits and "funky" wiring though. They do come with a Page Wiring Diagram with the 4 push-pulls for all the Split, Series, Out-of-phase sounds. Yet to try those. I`ll report back maybe with some samples of mine...

[BloodRose]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

Im SOOO intrigued with these.. Im trying to decide what to do on my final LP project and I cant decide tween these, a slash set or a distortion/slash neck set. I want this guitar to just DRIP and ooze tone.....

[J.LaGrassa]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

I just installed a set into my LP Classic last night, still doing a little tweaking to the pup heights but so far so good they are very clear sounding with a nice punch to them for being vintage output.

[ExplorersRock]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

Got 'em last night and installed 'em!

Quick Verdict: The overall tone is full and balanced with good strong drive.

I'm still in the test phase but I can give some general info. First, if you want a good rock-n-roll style pickup with some vintage flavor, this is the pickups set. I think the description of them being like '59s with less scoop, tamed highs, and the lack of the boomy-bass is 100% accurate. If you like '59s but hate the scoop, you should ABSOLUTELY try these. Also, they have less of a polished sound to my ear when distorted... like more punch (as J.LaGrassa said) and a touch of grit. It's really a great and versatile rock tone. Realistically you could make them do metal, but I wouldn't choose them for that. To me what's really fantastic is that not only are the distorted sounds great, the clean tones are outstanding and keep the treble in check. I'll report more when I get to mess around with them some more.

I will say this in closing. J.LaGrassa said he's dialing in the pickup adjustments. I spent some time doing this today and they are VERY responsive to height adjustments. In fact a little movement goes a long way! Some who like the plug-and-play stuff might hate this. If you like tinkering with your gear at every opportunity (like me) in order to dial in that just right tone, this is an awesome feature of these pickups!

[ExplorersRock]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

I just installed a set into my LP Classic last night, still doing a little tweaking to the pup heights but so far so good they are very clear sounding with a nice punch to them for being vintage output.

Btw... I LOVE this Les Paul. With the reverse zebras... HOT!

[BloodRose]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

Got 'em last night and installed 'em!

Quick Verdict: The overall tone is full and balanced with good strong drive.

I'm still in the test phase but I can give some general info. First, if you want a good rock-n-roll style pickup with some vintage flavor, this is the pickups set. I think the description of them being like '59s with less scoop, tamed highs, and the lack of the boomy-bass is 100% accurate. If you like '59s but hate the scoop, you should ABSOLUTELY try these. Also, they have less of a polished sound to my ear when distorted... like more punch (as J.LaGrassa said) and a touch of grit. It's really a great and versatile rock tone. Realistically you could make them do metal, but I wouldn't choose them for that. To me what's really fantastic is that not only are the distorted sounds great, the clean tones are outstanding and keep the treble in check. I'll report more when I get to mess around with them some more.

I will say this in closing. J.LaGrassa said he's dialing in the pickup adjustments. I spent some time doing this today and they are VERY responsive to height adjustments. In fact a little movement goes a long way! Some who like the plug-and-play stuff might hate this. If you like tinkering with your gear at every opportunity (like me) in order to dial in that just right tone, this is an awesome feature of these pickups!

Sounds about perfect! I have guits I could use for metal, (charvel, other LP) and Id like this other LP to just be a great sounding rock and roll machine. So this could be perfect!! Ive got an LP with a pearly gates set too that sounds great and covers alot of ground

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

The WLH's are the same thing the CS used to sell as the Jimmy Page pickups, those I have tried and they are very close to a set of 59's.

You could get into hair splitting all day long on them but they are very much in the 59 range of tone.

[Soulcrusher_X]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

J.LaGrassa, that is a beautiful LP. The zebras look incredible. Man, Seymour is really churning out some winners, lately, eh? I have been really tempted to try out some of the Bareknuckle pickups, but I don't know.....the Slash set and WLH are high on my GAS list. Still, I'd like to try some PGs too. F-it. I need more Les Pauls.

[J.LaGrassa]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

Well the more I play these pickups the more I dig there tone, I seem to like both pickups set at around 3/32 on the high E strings and just a tad lower on the Bass side I initially set them up at 1/16 on the treble and bass strings. The neck pickup is very nicely balanced definitely not boomy like a 59N and the bridge can get some nice chunk and tight low end but stays clear sounding with dirt and it gets a nice treble bite to it and at first I thought it might be to much but once I dialed the height down it took a little edge off but still cuts great.

I think these pickups respond well to an amps EQ you could probably play any style of music with these, I also like they way they clean up!

[Simon_F]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

Glad you guys are liking 'em. I think they're great!

[Simon_F]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

You could get into hair splitting all day long on them but they are very much in the 59 range of tone.

They are, but with some cool differences. I have always struggled with the '59n in a Les Paul. Nice top end but boomy on the bottom strings. No such issue with the WLH - lovely even response across the strings.

[Wattage]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

hoping to get something that needs buckers in the near future and these will be in it for sure

[Soulcrusher_X]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

They are, but with some cool differences. I have always struggled with the '59n in a Les Paul. Nice top end but boomy on the bottom strings. No such issue with the WLH - lovely even response across the strings.

I like what I'm hearing here. I was running into the same issues.

[LtKojak]

Re: Whole Lotta Humbucker. Who's tried them?

I have always struggled with the '59n in a Les Paul. Nice top end but boomy on the bottom strings.

This "symptom" was what got me into mag swapping... I had it with both my stock JazzN and my '59n as well in my 335 copies.

Well, you know the rest, I think.