gibson 500t

[karpathion]

so i bought my explorer a bout 20 months ago, i played it for a day and decided to change pups. i put a dimebucker in it. not realy what i was looking for, so about 2 weeks later i installed a sh-5. better but just not right for the style of music i play. so i ordered a jb. much better. played it like that for about a year. decided i needed to tone it down a little, so i put the sh-5 back in, been playing with it for a few months. well i got bored last night and decided i would try that 500t again just to hear what it sounded like.
holy $&!*. this thing is sweet. harmonics are great droped tuning is amazing.
i had no idea gibson knew how to make pups.
well i'm saying this just to get a point across, wich you guys probably allready know. when you get a new axe play with it stock for a while, you might be surprised.

 

[The Usual]

Re: gibson 500t

This should be archived and automatically fired to posts entitled "I just ordered x guitar, what SD should I get to replace the stock pups".

There is this mentality (I've suffered from it myself) that you can always improve any stock gibson with a SD pup. Not always the case.

 

[blueman335]

Re: gibson 500t

i had no idea gibson knew how to make pups.
well i'm saying this just to get a point across, which you guys probably already know. when you get a new axe play with it stock for a while, you might be surprised.

Lesson learned: always know what you have before you jump at something else. And know what you like & don't like about it. That'll help focus your search if you decide to try something else.

Gibson knows how to make very good PU's, they invented HB's; they just don't have the selection we're used to with Duncan & DiMarzio. The thing I don't understand is Gibson's heavy reliance on A2's in so many of their HB's. I always swap out the magnets in mine, and they really sound nice, even the 490 series.

Of the ceramics I've played so far, the 500T sounds the best. Not so bright & sterile as the others. I ended up putting an A8 in mine for more warmth. Keep that in mind if you ever want a change from your 500T. First move should usually be a magnet swap or two. If that doesn't do it. then start shopping for a new one.

 

[lyongraulty]

Re: gibson 500t

I recently decided I didn't like the stock pups (490R and 498T) in my LP Special so I replaced them with P-Rails (which I really dig). But I tried them in my Epiphone Dot, and they sounded way better - better than the stock epiphones, but also better than they did in my LP!

 

[karpathion]

Re: gibson 500t

Lesson learned: always know what you have before you jump at something else. And know what you like & don't like about it. That'll help focus your search if you decide to try something else.

Gibson knows how to make very good PU's, they invented HB's; they just don't have the selection we're used to with Duncan & DiMarzio. The thing I don't understand is Gibson's heavy reliance on A2's in so many of their HB's. I always swap out the magnets in mine, and they really sound nice, even the 490 series.

Of the ceramics I've played so far, the 500T sounds the best. Not so bright & sterile as the others. I ended up putting an A8 in mine for more warmth. Keep that in mind if you ever want a change from your 500T. First move should usually be a magnet swap or two. If that doesn't do it. then start shopping for a new one.

you know i wouldnt mind trying a mag swap, like an a8 in my 500t but i dont even know where to begin.

 

[DonP]

Re: gibson 500t

+1 for the 500T. Great pickup and the 496R as well. They work well split too.

 

[uOpt]

Re: gibson 500t

I liked it better than the SD offerings, too, but in the end decided that it's too heavy-handed.

I never found anything better for my Explorer but I didn't put the 500T into a different guitar either.

 

[xxxplorer]

Re: gibson 500t

The only pickup I really liked better than the 500T (for what it does) is the BL L-500XL. It is in the same league output wise, but a bit thicker and more transparent.... like the sand was taken out of the 500T. That said... I would use the 500T again without no problem!

 

[BloodRose]

Re: gibson 500t

I took the 500t out of my explorer, not because it sounded bad, but because it was so hot it magnified all the slop in my playing.. Ive been happy with the Custom and Custom 4 Ive had in it.

I wanted to use the 500t in a diff guitar recently and it was dead. I was so bummed

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: gibson 500t

A friend of mine swears by the 500T. He gets great tones with them and he isnt a metal player.

I put a 498T in my explorer for a while, replacing a Duncan Custom, and loved it until I discovered Suhr Aldrich pickups.

 

[blueman335]

Re: gibson 500t

you know i wouldnt mind trying a mag swap, like an a8 in my 500t but i dont even know where to begin.

There's losts of info in previous threads on magnet swaps, even some online video.

Takes about 10 minutes to swap a magnet, from loosening the strings to re-tuning. Low tech work. You can get replacement magnets at Wymore Guitars.com.

I've significantly improved the tones on half of my guitars by swapping magnets (the otehr half sounded great with the stock magnets). I was constantly buying & selling PU's, hoping to find something that would match that particular piece of wood. Using magnets suddenly meant that I could dial in a PU's EQ & get it to sound much better. Gamble $5 on a magnet or $100 for a new PU. How many can you afford to do of each?

 

[BloodRose]

Re: gibson 500t

A friend of mine swears by the 500T. He gets great tones with them and he isnt a metal player.

I put a 498T in my explorer for a while, replacing a Duncan Custom, and loved it until I discovered Suhr Aldrich pickups.

how does the aldrich sound in an explorer? I love it in my lp

 

[Diocletian]

Re: gibson 500t

you know i wouldnt mind trying a mag swap, like an a8 in my 500t but i dont even know where to begin.

Quote, YOU: "holy $&!*. this thing is sweet. harmonics are great droped tuning is amazing."

Why change the magnets in it? Isn't that just as bad as replacing the pickup without ever trying it? Now you love the pickup but are going to change the magnet?
Guitarists, we're just never happy! :friday:

 

[Laughing Kookaburra]

Re: gibson 500t

I had a 500T in an SG-X, great pup. Fairly versatile for being hot, and the SG-X came factory coil tapped.

 

[Vetteboy]

Re: gibson 500t

+1 for the 500T. Great pickup and the 496R as well. They work well split too.

Yep. The 500T was just a bit too much for most of what I did with my Explorer, but the 496R was nearly magical. The neck tone I got from that guitar is the only thing that makes me regret getting rid of it.

 

[Fusion1]

Re: gibson 500t

The 496R is a pretty awesome neck pickup.

 

[Natman]

Re: gibson 500t

I agree that the "super ceramic" set is pretty good as far as stock pickups go. They do sound better with A4 though. I say that because I prefer good clean tones and bluesier dirt. Still maintains lots of power (too much output for me) but for any metal, you would definitely want to keep the ceramic mags (or possibly A8). Alnico really gets rid of the sterile tones (though this set is not too bad).