You know what im going to ask!!

[drjones]

what pickups.

Lads
I have jackson PS2, it is still the best set up guitar ive played. Guess am lucky in that respect. Am looking to put new pickups in it (why else would I be here), and so my question is how would Cool rails neck, quarter pound middle and Custom (humbucker) in the bridge work out??

did a lot of research on this forum when looking for pickups for my les paul, so hopefully you guys can help me out. am hoping to get a sound similar to strat, I especially like the tone of mike mcready from early pearl jam albums, and I guess generally I am more into sound of bands from the early to mid 90's. hopefully this guitar can cover the sounds my les paul cant (les paul has 59n, JB bridge). Also aware that if I REALLY want Strat tone would have to buy a strat. So guess I just want my jackson to sound better than it does with the stock pickups.

Cheers lads.

[ArtieToo]

Re: You know what im going to ask!!

Hey drjones; Welcome to the forum. I'll leave the final recommendations to others, but I'll give you my Quarter Pound 2-cents worth.

If you can swing the couple extra sheckles, get the "tapped" version. With that particular combination, having the ability to "tap" the QP gives a wide palette of sounds. There's also a cool and simple way to wire a 5-way so that the QP would be tapped in the #2 and #4 notch positions, for that nice chimey blend, then be full-on when used by itself in #3.

That would be a sweet set-up.
(I have a similar set-up in the Genny in my sig.)
Artie

[Luke Duke]

Re: You know what im going to ask!!

Drjones, Welcome to the forum!

I can understand you liking the Pearl Jam sounds, McCready get some good tones, Alive is fantastic.

For the bridge the Custom will give you lots of grind, and crunch, with plenty of harmonics. It will give you a more compressed, harder sound than, say a 59.

For the neck and middle it's all personal preference. Is hum an issue? Looks?

If you are looking for a very stratty sound, I'd suggest skipping over the cool rails. It has more of a PAF vibe to my ears.

The Quarter Pounds are great pups, lots of bite and tons of low end crunch. If you get the tapped version it makes it much more versatile. The QP has more of a P90 vibe when it is full on.

If you want a stratty, humcancelling pup look into the duckbucker, and classic stacks.

If noise isn't a problem, and you'd like a more quacky strat sound than a P90 could offer then look into a set of SSL-1's or APS-1s for a vintage sound, and SSL-3/5 for a hotter sound

At the end of the day, YOU have to like your tone, so let your ears guide you.

Luke

[drjones]

Re: You know what im going to ask!!

I guess should mention It doesnt have to sound like a strat, realised that will eventually end up getting one at some stage in the future. Just want my jackson to sound good. Not really worried about how it looks, just sounds. Forgot to mention, I also like the tones of Satriani, which is probably the reason I bought this guitar, wanted the floyd rose. Im also playing through a Marshall TSL60, if that helps. After opinions on whether this pickup configuration will sound decent. have got a good price on the set.
Cheers lads.

[drjones]

Re: You know what im going to ask!!

anyone else have an opinion they could offer?

[DracoAran]

Re: You know what im going to ask!!

Hey drjones; Welcome to the forum. I'll leave the final recommendations to others, but I'll give you my Quarter Pound 2-cents worth.

If you can swing the couple extra sheckles, get the "tapped" version. With that particular combination, having the ability to "tap" the QP gives a wide palette of sounds. There's also a cool and simple way to wire a 5-way so that the QP would be tapped in the #2 and #4 notch positions, for that nice chimey blend, then be full-on when used by itself in #3.

That would be a sweet set-up.
(I have a similar set-up in the Genny in my sig.)
Artie

Artie, talk to me about the Quarter Pound RWRP tapped. I am curious to know how it sounds (tapped) in the notch positions when combined with a real single coil. Is the quack all there or what?.

[ArtieToo]

Re: You know what im going to ask!!

Artie, talk to me about the Quarter Pound RWRP tapped. I am curious to know how it sounds (tapped) in the notch positions when combined with a real single coil. Is the quack all there or what?.

Yup, I think so. Here's how I have my Genny set up: QP's, both tapped, in the neck and middle, with a Custom 5 in the bridge. Since this is a Tele-clone, I changed the "Strat-ish" 5-way wiring around a bit to simulate more Tele-like pup combinations. (Also, added push/pull pots, one to split the QP's, and one to place them in series.) I simply swapped the neck and middle hot wires on the 5-way. So - with the 5-way straight up, I have the neck alone. Moving backwards is like a 3-way with the bridge, moving forward is like a 3-way with the middle, thus:

1. middle (switch towards the neck)
2. neck & middle (classic Strat #2 notch position)
3. neck
4. neck & bridge (Tele-ish position)
5. bridge

With the QP's tapped, the first 3 positions match the sound of a Strat. The #2 notch position has all the chimey, jangly, bell-like tone you'ld expect from classic singles. Switch them to full-on mode, and they become almost 'bucker-like. They do lose the single coil chime though.

The most fun sound of this guitar, though, is the neck/bridge combo. With the QP tapped, the C5 is a bit stronger than the QP, as you'ld expect. The C5 becomes the predominant sound, and the QP enhances it. Its a real nice sound. Switch the QP to full-on, and now it becomes the predominant tone, with C5 enhancing it. Its just a great combination of tones.

The series connection of the QP's isn't really all that useful, in fact, I'm switching that PP pots function over to paralleling the C5 this weekend. The tapped series connection is ok, but the full-on series mode is just too much. Too much output, too much loss of highs. I imagine that it could have a use for someone, somewhere, but not here.

Pretty much, any singles I buy new, in the future, will probably be "tapped" versions. Its just a lot of versatility for the price of a switch.

Hope this wasn't too long-winded.
Artie