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Explorer pickups part 2

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  • Explorer pickups part 2

    OK, I'm stuck down in the rabbit hole, ready to come up. After listening to countless demos, I've narrowed it down to the sound I want - A5 magnet with scooped mids. For SD, that would leave two obvious candidates - 59 and C5. The Pearly gates is in there too but might have more mids than I want as its an A2 magnet.

    The C5 is higher output which puts it in the bottom of the list.

    So between the 59 and PG, which one would be less muddy in an explorer? Or any other similar voiced pickups with vintage to moderate output?

    Thanks

  • #2
    Re: Explorer pickups part 2

    pearly gates is a great sound with a nice upper mid bite. to my ears this sound great for low gain (say AC/DC levels), but gets pretty annoying with more gain but that is just me. what gain levels do you use?

    i also like the 59b. i own a fat sounding LP guitar where i liked the 59n in the bridge more than the 59b though.
    it's definitly scooped but will let the mids through if you're guitar has them.

    But also consider the screamin demon SH-12. it beats the 59s in that same fat LP by miles (by that i mean: 59 sounds nice but maybe too polite. demon has a great "roar" and deep bass and a nice single coils attack to it)
    the duncan page describes it pretty accurate.
    It cuts well, and has a bright attack and can be called scooped. so far one of my favorites.
    the bass is kind of tamed, tight and quite deep if that is possible.
    but i can see how this pickup could sound like utter crap with the wrong guitar and amp (too "pling pling"). But a big slap of mahogany is a good starting point.
    the custom 5 is way more compressed and higher output. i find it quite uninspiring to play in comparison to the others.

    for low gain i would choose the PG or the 59 over the Demon though. but any gain level higher, the demon.

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    • #3
      Re: Explorer pickups part 2

      Not a lot of gain, think hard rock levels at most without saturating to the point of doom. The C5 is probably not so suited for what I want.


      I like the idea of a PG set. A PAF sound with a little zing to it. Doesn't seem muddy either.

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      • #4
        Re: Explorer pickups part 2

        yes the pg is not muddy at all.
        but it’s also not scooped. for my setup and taste it’s already too honky with e.g. slash kind of gain levels.
        for those levels i already prefer the 59 or demon.
        but those upper mids really make the Pearly Gates feel alive/wet at low crunch levels.

        the demon sounds too dry for me with low gain so it needs a lil more to get it going but still what i would call rock levels. it’s not much hotter than a 59 and it doesn’t sound overwound at all. so it’s probably not awg 42 with it’s 10k and rather empty bobbins. so DCR is not comparable. it also has that zing/sizzle.

        the 59 can be boomy in some guitars but it can be dialed out.

        like i said i like all 3 pickups, but the PG doesn’t fit scooped. so from your description the demon is closest(scoop: check, sizzle/cut: check), but i don’t recommend it for crunch gain levels.

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        • #5
          Re: Explorer pickups part 2

          A5, scooped mids and not high output= the 59/Custom Hybrid. It has more output than a 59, not as much as the C5. And it splits well, too, if you like that sort of thing.
          Administrator of the SDUGF

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