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Over the course of the last five years I have gone down the boutique pickup rabbit hole. From Bare Knuckle to Lollar to Suhr to WCR...etc... Lately I have notice that I have been fighting my tone for a while. Nothing sounds quite right so to speak. Well, I loaded my main Les Paul back up with a Custom and a 59n and there was my tone. Back in full. Loaded a set of PATB-1s into my N4 and holy cow! The guitar sounds full and balanced for the first time ever. I have returned home, and I don't plan to straying again. There are a lot of pickup companies that promise a lot of different tones, but Duncans just work for me.
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2001 Les Paul Classic (Antiquity Set)
2005 Les Paul Standard (Aldrich set)
2019 Washburn N24 (Duncan Custom Shop PATB) -
the journey can be fun for sure, but if you find what works best for you thats great -
PATB-1's are killer. Have 'em in my LP Custom.Comment
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The journey can be expensive...lol!Originally posted by jeremy View Post2001 Les Paul Classic (Antiquity Set)
2005 Les Paul Standard (Aldrich set)
2019 Washburn N24 (Duncan Custom Shop PATB)Comment
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Have you tried Toneriders? Probably my only choice outside SD.
That said, here's my silly response...
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I can relate. Every Duncan I put in, always a good sound across the frequency spectrum, just sometimes just missing something specific I'm looking for, so when switching between Duncans it's just like turning the EQ knobs to the 'just right' spot.
Other companies, at best they sound pretty good, sometimes almost hit the spot, but that part that is not right, it's like they have some thin layer of slightly murky ugly sauce in specific frequencies on what would have otherwise been a good pickup sound, and because of that, they have to come out. With Duncans, they only come out just because I'm fine tuning to my taste. But I could have lived and worked with any of them.
Specific examples:
500T pretty good, pretty clear, doesn't work for all songs; Duncan Distortion tight, cuts, every note clear, easy to get the right sound out of it, much more satisfying to play
DmZ PAF neck, pretty good, but something unclear about the top end, slightly lacking detail; Duncan SethN, Pearly N, 59N, WLHn, Jazz, A2Pn, all clear neck pickups just different EQ profiles; The PAF stayed in for a week. Each of those Duncans stayed in for months to years even when they weren't the ultimate for what I was trying to do - I could work with any of them and they still sounded good.
There are exceptions. A Bare Knuckle Black Dog is the only bridge that bested WLH, 59B, Pearly Gates B for the bridge slot in one of my LPs, though the best matching neck is still a 59n/A4.
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