Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

idsnowdog

Imperator of Indignation
Every demo I have heard on Youtube of the AY sounds like ass. It seems really bright and thin? It has a strong pick attack and some growl, but it doesn't sound like it has much body. How close is it to a Pearly Gates?
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

Angus' vintage SGs were fitted with a5 pickups. I believe that the Angus Young sig pickup is also a5. The closest Duncan to those vintage pickups would be a '59. The Angus sig pickup is an overwound a5 pickup. I doubt Angus even uses it. IIRC, neither Young brother uses the neck pickup.

The Pearly Gates is an a2 PAF style pickup. It has more mids than a '59 and the highs are smoother sounding. It's a great pickup.

The Brobucker really does the Angus thing well. There is nothing thin about the Brobucker IMHO, although it is a pricey option.
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

I thought the Gibson AY brIdge was ceramic?
Unsure...but have one in my lp lol.
The pickups are way way different.
I use the ay for rhythms and is good for big chords on high gain British amp.
PGb is looser, just still bright.
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

From what I understand, there is one Gibson Sig Pup from quite a few years ago and I read, not too long ago, that Angus was now using a Custom Shop degaused Pearly in the bridge. Are the clips your listening to the Gibby pickup?
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

i can get extremely close to Angus's tone with my Slash A2 pro in my MH-350nt, which is comparable in weight to an SG.



2/15/14 EDIT:

No..... That amp was way too gritty to sound like angus.
 
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Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

the angus pup sucks. ok maybe thats a little strong but it sucks. bright and shrill even in a les paul. thru a raging marshall it sounds good cause the amp is pushing a ton of bottom end and the highs are smoothed out. thru anything but a cranked amp, it always sounds like crap to my ears.

the pearlys on the other hand are much more usable. i LOVE the way they sound into a cranked amp but they sound good into lots of other things as well
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

The angus Gibson pup is pretty much a tweaked 498t. It's alnico 5, medium/high output and like Jeremy said, bright and shrill. Awful pickup
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

Angus Young vs. A real 59 Burst owned by Billie Gibbons?

Angus' scrawny ass doesn't stand a chace.
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

angus gets great tone and has for much of his career, so has billy, but thats not what we are really taking about here
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

the spec has the angus at 10K,alnico 5 from a old gibson scan if that helps

I always thought angus really used the rio BBQ? there is no definitive proof he even used this sig model?
It is just what gibson put in the sig SG
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

Angus Young vs. A real 59 Burst owned by Billie Gibbons?

Angus' scrawny ass doesn't stand a chace.

??? what does this mean???
confused.gif
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

although i like them both, i would take angus's tone over billy's anyday... i'm not sure what he was thinking using a rockman for a while.
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

I get a great Angus tone with my CR8 w/ stock BB1&2 into a JCM800. It's a very bright and powerful Les Paul. My R0 with the solid body has too much "punch" and chunk to it, with the same pickups. Better for harder Metal / Palm muting stuff.

BB Pros work great for an Angus Young tone as well.

I know Angus should have been using A5 magnets back then but A2's in the right setting seem to work very well.
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

Are you talking about putting them in a SG? Are you trying to get as close to possible to the Angus sound, or merely interested in the pickup?

FWIW, I have a SG Faded with BB1/2 combo in it - it gets very close to Angus' sound when combined with the right gear, IMO. Here's a link to a YouTube video recorded by a friend with the Faded SG:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnMVPcIftRk
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

the spec has the angus at 10K,alnico 5 from a old gibson scan if that helps

I always thought angus really used the rio BBQ? there is no definitive proof he even used this sig model?
It is just what gibson put in the sig SG

Nah at one time he messed around with the BBQ but I dont think he ever used it for long periods. If you look through old pictures you can see he experimented a lot.

From what i do understand he did have SD make him some Pearly inspired pickups. Theres a article about it somewhere in all the SD stuff im too tired to dig it up but if you interested it outs there.
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

ask this dude!:eek1:
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

Its true: the AY sign. has not been met with much acclaim. Angus himself is not the best authority on his gear. I read an article somewhere by an obsessed tonechanger who made a compelling case for Angus' having around 11 or 12 Ohm DC, not just 7. So my beAst guess would be A5 in a Seth or Antiquity, possibly an A8 if you want to sound ballsy under 50watts. But that would compromise the upper mid character, which would go best with a quality warm mahogany guitar (pref no maple cap). And I'd bet the right brand & gauge of strings would go a long way.

One cheat I've showed students who want his meaty chunk is to turn the guitar vol pot to 7.5 then readjust the amp to compensate the reduced treble & gain.

All of these would be more beneficial than the AY sig itself, based on all the reviews I've read.
 
Re: Angus Young vs Pearly Gates

The Pearly Gates pickup has a somewhat smoother and meaner nature. It is not Angus Young in the mind when I play it. If you give a kick of the presence of your Marshall, it can go somewhere there anyway.
 
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