An Even Sounding PAF pickup

A

arya44

New member
Hi there,

I returned Pearly Gates (too much high mid sizzle texas blues character for me). I'm looking to buy a set now as clean sound as possible but sounding refreshing and sweet, as transparent as it can get for a humbucker, with airiness and good enough mids and highs definition to be used for variety of genres (other than heavy metal). Not too much low or low mid which makes things muddy in LP especially in the neck position, and not too nasal in the bridge position. Something that the middle position sounds really good and the bridge and neck blend well together.
I'm thinking of Seth Lover but now that PG is gone and '59 won't be used in the neck (too boomy with not enough definition).
I'm also open to other suggestions. Any affordable boutique pickup, and if so compared to Seth Lover, why do you prefer that instead?
Is there any drawback for Seth Lover that I should be aware of?
and if so, what other PAF you suggest that doesn't have that drawback (or other drawbacks)?
Someone that I like his tone plays DAllen AlleyCats and he is really happy with them and they are very versatile apparently. Any comment?

Thanks a lot.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

PAF is anything but transparent as a tone. Seths are midsy and honky. Other PAF clones will be similar as they are copying that tonal ballpark. The Jazz is pretty even if you want that sort of thing.

Other than that......Zhangbucker is a custom winder who can wind something that has as much of your tonal wants as can be fitted in one pickup. His pickups are VERY affordable.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

The Greenie set made in the custom shop is by far the best PAF style pickup I've ever played, for many of the reasons and sounds you listed. One caveat here, I'll talk about their clean tone in a moment, but depending on the amount of gain you use, these will sound like a typical PAF set when you start to push them. However, they always remain articulate, at least to my ears.

The clean tones of both positions were surprising to me. I had to play with the height a bit, but now the bridge is warmer than expected and very useable. The neck is what really surprised me. It is warm, yet with a clarity and chime that I haven't heard before from a neck PAF. My opinion of the 59' is the same as yours; too boomy. For years the Alnico II Pro was my go to neck pickup. But as time went on, I wanted to hear more clarity from the pup, while keeping the warmth. The A2P started to sound like the notes had wool on them or something and the clarity couldn't get through. The Greenie neck solved that for me too. Now, it took some fiddling with the height to find the sweet spot and I still want to see if I can dial it in just a tad better, but I love it.

Now, I can tell that the out of phase middle tone won't be for you, based on your comments. You can just ask the Custom Shop to make the neck with normal polarity and that problem is solved.

Those D Allen pickups you mentioned are hella good money IIRC, at $650 a set. Nice sounding for sure, but I think the Greenie set is right there with them for half the price. From regular production I at first thought about the Seth's, but it may be a tad to warm in the neck and honky, again depending on how you set it up and what you're using it for. The Antiquities might even be better than the Seth's, but I haven't played those personally yet, so I can't comment.

If you're just going to be playing and have an amp with great clean headroom, the Seth's might be great. It might help if you could tell us what bands or style of music you play, or songs you like. Also, what type of amp and other equipment you're using. I picked up that the guitar is an LP.
 
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Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

Leon Of Late said:
The Greenie set made in the custom shop is by far the best PAF style pickup I've ever played, for many of the reasons and sounds you listed. One caveat here, I'll talk about their clean tone in a moment, but depending on the amount of gain you use, these will sound like a typical PAF set when you start to push them. However, they always remain articulate, at least to my ears.

The clean tones of both positions were surprising to me. I had to play with the height a bit, but now the bridge is warmer than expected and very useable. The neck is what really surprised me. It is warm, yet with a clarity and chime that I haven't heard before from a neck PAF. My opinion of the 59' is the same as yours; too boomy. For years the Alnico II Pro was my go to neck pickup. But as time went on, I wanted to hear more clarity from the pup, while keeping the warmth. The A2P started to sound like the notes had wool on them or something and the clarity couldn't get through. The Greenie neck solved that for me too. Now, it took some fiddling with the height to find the sweet spot and I still want to see if I can dial it in just a tad better, but I love it.

Now, I can tell that the out of phase middle tone won't be for you, based on your comments. You can just ask the Custom Shop to make the neck with normal polarity and that problem is solved.

Those D Allen pickups you mentioned are hella good money IIRC, at $650 a set. Nice sounding for sure, but I think the Greenie set is right there with them for half the price. From regular production I at first thought about the Seth's, but it may be a tad to warm in the neck and honky, again depending on how you set it up and what you're using it for. The Antiquities might even be better than the Seth's, but I haven't played those personally yet, so I can't comment.

If you're just going to be playing and have an amp with great clean headroom, the Seth's might be great. It might help if you could tell us what bands or style of music you play, or songs you like. Also, what type of amp and other equipment you're using. I picked up that the guitar is an LP.
Click to expand...
I play 1995 Les Paul studio. I use Philosopher's stone germanium edition compressor, Vick Audio Overdriver, TC Nova Drive, Vampler Plexidrive, BK Butler Tube driver, Boss Mega delay and CE-2 chorus, Boss Eq, ..
To Laney Cub head and late 60s Fane / Fender speakers.
I like clean tones of Pat Metheny and clean tones and smooth overdrives of Steve Hackette (early Genesis), Steve Howe (early Yes) and Andy Latimer (Camel). All British 70s rock tones.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

One thing about any Paf style humbucker it is uneven from the start .with the bright & punchy slug coil & the screw coils that has a warmer sweeter tone it is a great match .
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

Have you checked out some YouTube videos of Seth's? It'll give you an idea of what they're like. I love them, and have a few sets. They're open and airy, from being unpotted and have a 3D sound. My favorite PAF.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

blueman335 said:
Have you checked out some YouTube videos of Seth's? It'll give you an idea of what they're like. I love them, and have a few sets. They're open and airy, from being unpotted and have a 3D sound. My favorite PAF.
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Im almost sold at Seth but people comment on lows being not tight and too mid oriented. Also I saw a comment for note separation that they got from Lindy Fralin Pure PAF but not Seth. I can buy either a D Allen Alley Cats or Lindy Fralin with 40-50 dollars more that Seth on ebay.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

copperheadroads said:
One thing about any Paf style humbucker it is uneven from the start .with the bright & punchy slug coil & the screw coils that has a warmer sweeter tone it is a great match .
Click to expand...

Not know about this. What make / model to start with?
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

arya44 said:
Im almost sold at Seth but people comment on lows being not tight and too mid oriented. Also I saw a comment for note separation that they got from Lindy Fralin Pure PAF but not Seth.
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A good bit of that depends on the particular guitar. I really doubt you'd be disappointed in the Seths.

You should also look into Seymour Duncan's Alnico II Pro set if you haven't already...very clear and smooth.

:)
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

Oh, and the Antiquities. Definitely take a look at those since you're also considering the Fralin Pure PAFs!
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

Are the S-Decos available from the Custom shop still? If so, those.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

Leon Of Late said:
The Greenie set made in the custom shop is by far the best PAF style pickup I've ever played, for many of the reasons and sounds you listed. One caveat here, I'll talk about their clean tone in a moment, but depending on the amount of gain you use, these will sound like a typical PAF set when you start to push them. However, they always remain articulate, at least to my ears.

The clean tones of both positions were surprising to me. I had to play with the height a bit, but now the bridge is warmer than expected and very useable. The neck is what really surprised me. It is warm, yet with a clarity and chime that I haven't heard before from a neck PAF.

Now, I can tell that the out of phase middle tone won't be for you, based on your comments. You can just ask the Custom Shop to make the neck with normal polarity.
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i'd like to do 2 remarks. As far as i now all duncan CS Pafs are made on an vintage automatic winder. So they are more or less the same style of wind. though different magnets and more or less turns. this makes the ants for me the greatest testbed for fitting a pickup to a guitar. i have several sets, all uncovered, to take different magnets for different guitars. so the greeny should be also be wound on this machine like the seth and the ants.
The original neck greenie had - so the story goes - went dead one day and was rewound by a luthier who had only Fender style wire and he also put in the magnet reversed. this seem to make the neck unique and explains the parallel sound together with bridge.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

The most articulate and clear PAF's I have are Fralins. Maybe that's what you want. He uses A4's mostly (his favorite mag!), and they have the most balanced EQ of any of the alnicos.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

Not really a Paf cosmetically . screamin demon or PAF pro but start with something with double screws or slugs
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

I gotta go with the Seths, APH-1s or -2s, or even the Antiquities here. There are a lot of 'flavors' of PAFs, some more balanced sounding than others. A good place to start is deciding if you like mids. If you do, stick with the Seths, Ants, and APHs. If not, check out the Pearly Gates, Jazz and even the Sentient.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

I like Seths, Ants, and PGs, along with Gibson BB 1&2s. Of these, I would say the Seths are the most neutral. I have tried the Jazz neck; didn't care for it as it was too bland for me, but it might work for you.

Another one to consider is the Lollar Imperial. I've never tried them, but Jason told me that his Imperial had a more neutral tone than the Seth Lovers, and more clarity and definition.

And then of course,....Zephyrs. Always Zephyrs.

:)

Bill
 
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Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

Interesting that so many people hear the Seths as neutral. They sound very middy to me. Not a bad thing (I really prefer a middy sound in the bridge).

To my ears, the '59 is the most neutral sounding humbucker. You can get them to sound almost acoustic with the right amp settings. I don't have any problems with booming bass and the '59 that others have reported though . . . I keep the neck pickup backed pretty far off the strings.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

Leon Of Late said:
For years the Alnico II Pro was my go to neck pickup. But as time went on, I wanted to hear more clarity from the pup, while keeping the warmth.
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Slash AII Pro's. I stumbled upon a set of these accidentally. Now I virtually never pick up my Jet King with AII Pro's. They bring to the table that little bit of bite and clarity that the regular AII Pro's lack. Perhaps I shouldn't say that AII Pro's "lack" anything, just that the Slash version has that certain je ne sais quoi.
 
Re: An Even Sounding PAF pickup

GuitarStv said:
Interesting that so many people hear the Seths as neutral. They sound very middy to me. Not a bad thing (I really prefer a middy sound in the bridge).

To my ears, the '59 is the most neutral sounding humbucker. You can get them to sound almost acoustic with the right amp settings. I don't have any problems with booming bass and the '59 that others have reported though . . . I keep the neck pickup backed pretty far off the strings.
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Well, they have a mid thing going on, which is why I like them. I like neck pickups with mids. I like my bridge pickups to be a little more open.
 
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