Angus Young Sig Humbucker

EpiphoneSG77

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Does anyone know the exact specifications of the Gibson Angus Young humbucker ? I have one but the only thing I can find is that Gibson says it has an output of 9.2 !! Anybody ever actually tested one of these before ?
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

I haven't tried that pickup, and I'm not sure which SG's Angus has it in. I'm assuming the black one with lighting bolt inlays.

As for his oldest guitars - I think he used whatever came in those. As for his current main players - I'm assuming a few have Maricella Juarez wound Pearly Gates sets that are calibrated with a slightly hotter bridge.

A lot of players wish Duncan would come out with an Angus Young signature set, but for whatever reason they don't or can't. However, if you want an Angus Young signature set, you can pay the $180 Custom Shop price and have MJ wind you the exact spec Angus chose. Then, a regular PG neck, since there's no point in paying more for that - the PGn sounds great.

If I were to seek out exact Angus pickups, I'd go that route. As for my SG, the stock Burstbucker 1/2 set sounds absolutely great in it, and I've tried a few other pickup sets, yet always come back to the modern Gibson PAF set, the BB 1/2.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

I haven't tried that pickup, and I'm not sure which SG's Angus has it in. I'm assuming the black one with lighting bolt inlays.

As for his oldest guitars - I think he used whatever came in those. As for his current main players - I'm assuming a few have Maricella Juarez wound Pearly Gates sets that are calibrated with a slightly hotter bridge.

A lot of players wish Duncan would come out with an Angus Young signature set, but for whatever reason they don't or can't. However, if you want an Angus Young signature set, you can pay the $180 Custom Shop price and have MJ wind you the exact spec Angus chose. Then, a regular PG neck, since there's no point in paying more for that - the PGn sounds great.

If I were to seek out exact Angus pickups, I'd go that route. As for my SG, the stock Burstbucker 1/2 set sounds absolutely great in it, and I've tried a few other pickup sets, yet always come back to the modern Gibson PAF set, the BB 1/2.

I actually have had the Pearly Gates before and quite honestly I thought they were the worst pickups I could ever had .. Just my honest opinion.. What I'm really trying to find out is the Info that Gibson fails to give on a Angus Young signature pickup.. As far as Angus using Duncans I'm still not quite sure about that ,, It seemed to me more of an arrangement between Takumi his former tech and Duncan...
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

I actually have had the Pearly Gates before and quite honestly I thought they were the worst pickups I could ever had .. Just my honest opinion.. What I'm really trying to find out is the Info that Gibson fails to give on a Angus Young signature pickup.. As far as Angus using Duncans I'm still not quite sure about that ,, It seemed to me more of an arrangement between Takumi his former tech and Duncan...


If I remember correctly, Angus PU's are just a slightly hotter wind than an existing PU; kind of like Slashes are a hotter version of A2P's.

I'm not a PG fan myself, never could get them to sound the way I want; part of the problem being their EQ's are so different from each other. But they're good quality and some players really like them.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

The angus pickup from gibson is similar to, but not exactly like, a 498t. Its a a5, 14k-ish wind. But its a bit more polite than a 498t.

Classic angus young is all about the late pat#/T tops.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

you cant easily check the mv output of a pup.

you can check the resistance of the pup by using a multimeter set to dc resistance and putting the two leads from the meter on the hot and ground of the pup. to check it in the guitar plug a short cable into the guitar. select the bridge pup and turn all controls full up. put one lead from the meter on the tip of the cable, put the other on the sleeve. the reading in the guitar wont be accurate but itll give you a good ballpark estimate.
 
Angus Young Sig Humbucker

Knowing the exact specs won't help you that much. Just listen to JeffB; he described the Angus pickup well IMO.

Good Angus tone is all about a low-powered humbucker played with a HARD right hand through a relatively clean amp that is right on the edge of breaking up. Set your amp so when you pick softly, it's clean, and when you pick hard, it's crunchy. If I was after it, I'd use a Jazz set as my starting point, and get a 50W Marshall. Of course, I have an all-original '68 SG and a Bluesbreaker clone, so I wouldn't have to do anything...but speaking hypothetically, that's what I'd do.

That said, a lot of what people THINK is Angus tone is actually Malcolm tone, or a combination of Malcolm and Angus tone (they often doubled each other's parts, creating that slight chorusy sound that AC/DC has). Again: weak humbucker through an amp raw - it's all about the right hand. Malcolm just plays a bit "stringier" while Angus is meatier and smoother.
 
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Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

The angus pickup from gibson is similar to, but not exactly like, a 498t. Its a a5, 14k-ish wind. But its a bit more polite than a 498t.

Classic angus young is all about the late pat#/T tops.

My Angus hb read at a high 8/low 9k.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

Thats strange.I saw one at the old shop I used to frequent measured out of a gibson angus sg and it was 14 something. The guy hated it because it was way too hot. It said "angus" on the bottom of the pickup....maybe they bave changed them,IDK.

At any rate, I felt it sounded great, very similar to a 498 without the harsh/raspy high end. I never bought one because I didnt want anything that hot. I may have to give one a whirl now.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

Thats strange.I saw one at the old shop I used to frequent measured out of a gibson angus sg and it was 14 something. The guy hated it because it was way too hot. It said "angus" on the bottom of the pickup....maybe they bave changed them,IDK.

At any rate, I felt it sounded great, very similar to a 498 without the harsh/raspy high end. I never bought one because I didnt want anything that hot. I may have to give one a whirl now.

I think there has been more than one Angus pickup.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

I think I'm gonna settle on using my Angus bucker along with a Phat Cat or P94R in the neck. Thanks everyone...
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

I can get a close Angus sound just by using a A2P and boosting it a bit with a nice OD pedal and lower gain high volume power tube distortion is what you need.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

Angus is a marshall played loud.....cranked. But this is old school marshall so the drive comes from pure volume as well as just preamp.
His first SG as others have said will have had T-tops in it, as it was a 71.

Old AC/DC you'll hear the most clarity - but you can still hear Angus' tone is much more sizzly and driven than Malcolm's (as he was using Gretch pickups which I think drove less).
If you want to hear a direct comparison, Show Business on the first album has them trading leads.......Malcolm is the opening solo after the drum fill.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

the trick for a conveincing angus tone is an amp cranked to hell, you need a pickup with a raw sound, even clear mids and a little fizzy top with thick low mids, you can go with an amp on edge of breakup, a sightly driven amp (think an old marshall with volume full and gain 'tween 5 or 7) the pickup can be low output, mid, vintage or even high, as long as it sounds clear, with some sizzle on top and chunky bottom, you can run an overdrive on th clean channel cranked, but the key to angus yougn is gazillions of volume on a vintage toned preamp with a crunchy chunky p'up
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

the trick for a conveincing angus tone is an amp cranked to hell

Not really...even angus himself has said many times that he never plays on 10, that its always around 7 or a touch less. He doesnt run any knob on the amp full up as it just compresses too much. The pickups are low power, its all about volume and pushing the speakers hard and moving tons of air.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

If I remember correctly, Angus PU's are just a slightly hotter wind than an existing PU; kind of like Slashes are a hotter version of A2P's.

I'm not a PG fan myself, never could get them to sound the way I want; part of the problem being their EQ's are so different from each other. But they're good quality and some players really like them.

There was an article on the old SD website that I had book marked and i cant find anymore and MJ tells how the pickup she made for angus was a pearly gates wind but had a degaussed A2 mag. I remember that clearly but the link it dead now and cant find it on the new site.


I know this though... My BKP riffraffs which are very T toppy in sound will nail Angus tones pretty easy. So should any other low wind PAF.
 
Re: Angus Young Sig Humbucker

The Angus Young is just a 57 Classic Plus wound to 9k with a burstbucker pro short rough alnico 5 magnet.
 
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