'70s Les Paul Deluxe Mini Humbuckers

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BeyondTheRealms

New member
First off, I'm transitioning from guest lurker to poster.

I recently acquired a Gibson Les Paul Studio '70s Tribute. The pickups are Dual Blade Alnico Mini Humbuckers. According to Gibson these pickups improve upon the best attributes of the former Mini Humbuckers seen in the Les Paul Deluxe in the '70s, and the different Firebird Mini Humbuckers of the early '60s, in an efficient design that uses dual steel blades and an Alnico magnet for a vintage voice that still retains plenty of chime.

That is great, but I got this guitar thinking the Mini Humbuckers would give me that last missing piece I need to dial in a true Robbo/Gorham Thin Lizzy tone compared to using my Saturday Night Special loaded Les Paul. I think I have moved from 75% to 85% of nailing that tone, but I expected to be closer.

​​​​​​Is there a Seymour Duncan Mini Humbucker that will get me to 95% plus of nailing that tone or should I just be working on modifying my technique to get there?

I sincerely appreciate any advice, recommendations and suggestions.
 
Welcome to the forum. Do you have Robbo/Gorham's amps? That might be the missing ingredient. Guitars and pickups play off the amp and speakers. But if you can't own the amp, there are tweaks with pickups you can try. Duncan minis are just perfect recreations of the original hardware. What is the missing 10-15% you are seeking? Treble? Clarity in the mids? Beef in the bottom? The answer may decide whether it's an amp/speaker problem or a guitar/pickup problem.

Edit: sorry, I was thinking of the Antiquity - those are the only Duncan mini-humbuckers like the old Gibson ones. I think of FIrebird pickups as Firebird pickups - different construction.

Edit: Sounds like Gibson has gone the other way and is now putting their overwound Firebird pickups in LP Deluxes. I had those pickups in my Firebird when I bought it and it sounded good, just like a slightly weaker Les Paul. The right amp works well with those.
 
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It's a bit of a misnomer, but the Duncan SM-1, SM-2, & SM-3 mini humbuckers are actually Firebird pickups. If you're looking for a true mini humbucker with screws and slugs, the only SD option I'm aware of are the Antiquity Mini Humbuckers. That being said, I love the SM-1 in my Tele, but it may not be what you're looking for.
 
the antiquity II mini-humbucker is a fantastic take on the old lp dlx style mini. its made the way it should be and sounds awesome! i love the antiquity II firebird pups too but its a very different sound.
 
Thanks for all the replies!

I'm poor, so my gear is on the cheap side. My Saturday Night Specials are in an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I probably have as much in those pickups as I do in the guitar.

It was a gift from somewhere that I scored this Gibson with the Mini Humbuckers.

The amp is a Peavey Windsor I got when they were blowing out the final half stacks for $399.

I usually plug in to the low gain input and I have had some positive feedback that I get a good '70s AC/DC, Black Sabbath and UFO tones out of the Windsor.

I will spend some time comparing my tones with the Thin Lizzy tracks and report back the subtle things I am missing.
 
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Gear doesn’t have to be expensive to rock. If Satriani can make a squier sound like Satriani, you can rock your gear. I got a Squier PBass with some PBass humbuckers, a badass bridge and a hip shot. It thrashes throughly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Peavey Windsors are good amps. Sound like old Plexis when I tried one. Just had a bit of noise/hiss going on. There was a particular tour or period of time Lynyrd Skynyrd was using them on stage I seem to recall.
 
Just updating that I'm doing better matching those Thin Lizzy tones by turning all the knobs, including those on my LP Tribute. I'll keep at it and update again in a couple weeks. You guys could be saving me some money in the long run. Thanks!
 
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