Boogie Bill
New member
Re: Dimarzio vs Gibson vs Seymour Duncan pickups
Changed stock 490r/498t to Seth Lover set in a Les Paul Supreme.
Changed stock 496r/500t to Antiquity set in Les Paul 1960 Classic Premium Plus.
Changed stock 496r/500t to Custom Shop A2 50th Anniversary Seth set in a second 1960 Classic Premium Plus.
All of these were good changes for me. I liked the tones of the 496/500t set, but they were way too hot for my Mesa amps. The new pickups were also a better match when switching to my single coil G&L Legacys...less amp fiddling. And I typically play with pristine clean tones more than most players today.
Individually, the tones from the 490r/498t were okay. I think the 490 in the Supreme was good for jazz, but not much else. But the SET doesn't work well together, and the production Seths were much better in this regard, and produce classic PAF tones that cross multiple genres easily.
This is more about changing the type of pickup, rather than the brand, in my opinion.
My Gibsons with '57 Classics and those with the Burstbucker 1&2 sets have remained stock, and will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
A couple of my Legacys have Antiquity Texas Hot sets, and I like them...but I'm not in any hurry to swap out the stock pickups in my other G&Ls. A couple of used G&Ls have come to me, one with a Lil' 59 and another with a JB, Jr. Both got swapped out immediately. Again, style...not quality.
But I'm weird. I don't do metal or shred. My roots are Classic Rock...'50s thru the '70s, Blues, Country, and Jazz. Mostly clean rhythm parts, but the Boogies sing when I need them too. The crunch is there when I need it too, but stylistically I don't need it that much. And clean means C-L-E-A-N...acoustic guitar clean, not saturated break-up.
YMMV.
Bill
Changed stock 490r/498t to Seth Lover set in a Les Paul Supreme.
Changed stock 496r/500t to Antiquity set in Les Paul 1960 Classic Premium Plus.
Changed stock 496r/500t to Custom Shop A2 50th Anniversary Seth set in a second 1960 Classic Premium Plus.
All of these were good changes for me. I liked the tones of the 496/500t set, but they were way too hot for my Mesa amps. The new pickups were also a better match when switching to my single coil G&L Legacys...less amp fiddling. And I typically play with pristine clean tones more than most players today.
Individually, the tones from the 490r/498t were okay. I think the 490 in the Supreme was good for jazz, but not much else. But the SET doesn't work well together, and the production Seths were much better in this regard, and produce classic PAF tones that cross multiple genres easily.
This is more about changing the type of pickup, rather than the brand, in my opinion.
My Gibsons with '57 Classics and those with the Burstbucker 1&2 sets have remained stock, and will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
A couple of my Legacys have Antiquity Texas Hot sets, and I like them...but I'm not in any hurry to swap out the stock pickups in my other G&Ls. A couple of used G&Ls have come to me, one with a Lil' 59 and another with a JB, Jr. Both got swapped out immediately. Again, style...not quality.
But I'm weird. I don't do metal or shred. My roots are Classic Rock...'50s thru the '70s, Blues, Country, and Jazz. Mostly clean rhythm parts, but the Boogies sing when I need them too. The crunch is there when I need it too, but stylistically I don't need it that much. And clean means C-L-E-A-N...acoustic guitar clean, not saturated break-up.
YMMV.
Bill
