Re: 59 vs PG vs AP2
a few years back, my rig was a gibson les paul classic premium plus with a set of pearly gates humbuckers through a marshall jtm60.
i totally love the pearly gates both in the neck and in the bridge.
a friend of mine had the exact same rig (he still does, i think) except he has the pearly gates in the bridge and and the alnico II pro in the neck. this is also a killer set-up. i think this set-up might work better for you since you want a rounder neck pickup sound. the pearly gates in the bridge is absolutely killer! played through the jtm60, it absolutely oozes billy gibbons and duane allman.
one drawback of the pearly gates in the neck position is that, at least through the jtm60, i found it really hard to get a good "soft" sound. i don't mean soft volume wise. what i mean is no matter how softly i pick the string, it still sounds aggressive. this made it hard for me to play santana stuff. it's hard to get a strong but mellow voice out of it. but for everything else, it was awesome.
the alnico II pro in the neck has a bit of a nasal character to it. some people don't like this at all but i personally love it. it can sound aggressive and it can sound mellow and sweet. way easier to get those santana lead tones here. of course, the jtm60 will never sound exactly like santana, but with the alnico II pro through it, you can get that strong but sweet and mellow character in your sound that santana was famous for.
it is also a lot easier to get dark jazz tones a la wes montgomery with the alnico II pros in the neck position than the pearly gates.
so with the pgb and the a2pn, you'll have a very versatile setup. one that can cover all the classic les paul sounds from aggressive leads to mellow jazz.
one thing i like about both pickups is that they have alnico II magnets. this will allow you to set the pickups as close to the strings as you desire without suffering from a loss of sustain typical of stronger magnets. setting your pickups as close to the strings as possible without them touching the strings will allow your right hand to be more expressive coz the pickups will be more sensitive to your picking. but this is only obvious if your default volume on your guitar is not 10. try playing with your guitar volume between 5 to 7. get the necessary volume you want from your amp. this technique is very good for blues. but not a lot of people like doing this. in fact, i know of only 2 people who like doing this: myself and the guy who taught it to me.
i have absolutely no experience with the 59's in les pauls so i can't really comment on them. they sound pretty good in strats, though.
i have tried antiquities on my les paul. those are killer. very smooth. they remind me of clapton's sound from live cream.
but the antiquities are too pricey. besides, you can get a pretty convincing clapton sound from the jtm60 with a les paul. it's just the way the amp is voiced. i think of it as a bluesbreaker with more gain. of course, this is just my opinion, based on the sound that i got from my guitar and amp. and since no 2 guitars and no 2 amps sound exactly alike, my post could be totally useless to you. but i sure hope that it's not.
