Which is better for Duane Allman stuff? Pearly Gates or 59...

[Wound_Up]

The PG can be described as "focused" since its resonant peak has a higher Q factor than other Duncan P.A.F. replicas. IOW, it has a pointier resonance, more... focused. :-)

Is it MID focused? Not if played at home through a short cable... it can even be piercingly bright in some guitars in such a situation... but on stage, through a long cable in the old school fashion, stray capacitance drags down the resonant frequency and the focused peak effectively concentrates the sizzle... in the high-midrange.

Below is the resonant frequency of a Duncan PG through the kind of long cable played on stage (12m, parasitic capacitance = 1700pF). The peak was effectively "mid focused" in this case (with the nasal tone related to such an electrical response).



Sorry for the crappy pic. It's 20 years old but it's the only one that I've at disposal in this computer right now...

... and I don't post all that to argue, BTW: I just try to explain the logics behind the official description. Deciphering it on the basis of the explanation above makes it more understandable IMHO. YMMV.

Regarding SH1 vs PG for Duane Allman, I've no opinion: the man used relatively clean 1957 P.A.F.'s as well as 1959 ones among the hottest (in his "Hot'Lanta" LP), so I find difficult to recommend a single model.

Good luck in your quest.

Thank you for posting that. I actually prefer an over abundance of info so that's right up my alley lol

You could essentially say I use a really long cable. I've got 20+ pedals hooked up all together. Some through the front and others through the FX loop. So it takes some top end off.

[Wound_Up]

So I ended up ordering a Seth Lover neck pickup for it. It was $15 off and I just couldn't pass it up lol. If I don't like it, I'll just return it but I doubt that'll happen. I got it for myself for my birthday tomorrow, although it won't be here until Thursday.

I really appreciate all of you you guys' help

[jeremy]

late to the party but here goes anyway since this is right in my wheel house. duane used three les pauls over the years. the '57 gold top, the '59 cherry burst (with the pups from the gold top), and the dark burst which is either a '58 or '59 (serial number wasnt readable). usually marshall amps on the stage. he used a bunch of stuff when he was a session cat.

duane used the middle and bridge positions a lot, not to say he didnt use the neck by itself, but that wasnt his go to. dickey lived on the neck pup most of the time on the other hand. the seth lover is a fine choice to get close to his tone and will mix well with the 59b. the goldtop and cherry burst were brighter than the dark burst which duane only played for about five months before he died.

[Wound_Up]

late to the party but here goes anyway since this is right in my wheel house. duane used three les pauls over the years. the '57 gold top, the '59 cherry burst (with the pups from the gold top), and the dark burst which is either a '58 or '59 (serial number wasnt readable). usually marshall amps on the stage. he used a bunch of stuff when he was a session cat.

duane used the middle and bridge positions a lot, not to say he didnt use the neck by itself, but that wasnt his go to. dickey lived on the neck pup most of the time on the other hand. the seth lover is a fine choice to get close to his tone and will mix well with the 59b. the goldtop and cherry burst were brighter than the dark burst which duane only played for about five months before he died.

Yea I went with the SL because it sounded sweeter than the 59 to me. And many of the reviews I read said it has awesome clarity, which I'm looking for. The neck pickup coming out of the gold top is a generic alnico 5 HB that actually sounds really really good. So good, in fact, that the stock gold top pickups that were/are being replaced are going into another guitar with an iced tea burst finish that's got a neck pickup that I can only describe as extemely "wooly". The opposite of clarity, I think. (isn't that a coincidence. Putting my gold top pickups in the burst...just like Duane did. He's the reason I play and who I got my middle name, Duane, from.

I'm not sure why I hadn't thought about doing that before now. I already have the bridge pickup out so I couldve went ahead and installed it months ago. Oh well. That'll give me a chance to rewire it to 50s wiring when I swap pickups. It got a little better when I swapped in a new Gotoh abr1 bridge, steel Faber conversion posts, and Faber nickel aluminum tailpiece and locking studs but it's going to take a pickup swap to really fix it.

[Mincer]

A Seth Lover neck pickup is one of my favorites. Congrats on the sweet tones!