Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Its a great pickup! Its a very balanced and a precise pickup! The EQ sounds fairly flat but, the EQ sounds boosted across the board. Also, you better not be a sloppy player with one. You will hear all mistakes but, you will hear all the nuance's of your playing.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Sweet! I really am looking forward to getting one since the only after market pickup I've used now is a JB but I loved it.

Maybe if I use this it'll help me clean up my playing, haha.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Devil Tiger said:
Sweet! I really am looking forward to getting one since the only after market pickup I've used now is a JB but I loved it.

Maybe if I use this it'll help me clean up my playing, haha.
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No wonder you love the JB, you eyes (ears actually) havent opened up yet to good sounding pickups!:laugh2: :laugh2: :laugh2:
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

That pickup is extremely awesome for metal and hard rock. retains clarity even thru hi gain. MOST AWESOME ! i played it on the Epi Iommi Sig, the build,feel , and other stuff of the guitar was like the G400,except it had 24 frets. but the SOUND !! WOAH. im not a pickup whore at all, but suuuure hear it. its warm sounding, superb mids and low end. not schrill.
it will fatten up the SG. sometimes SGs sound "thin" , not with this thing in in IMO.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Its a great pickup. I'm using it in my LP and I'm very happy with it.

However, its not as hot as Gibson claims it is. In fact, I'd say its a middle to low output pickup - but maybe thats why it sounds so good. It is unbelievably clear... you can crank up the gain and strum a chord and still pick up the individual notes. Theodie's right about not being sloppy. Haha.

I've heard ppl say that this pickup sounds slightly thin... I disagree. I feel like this pickup lets the guitar sit in that "spot" in the frequency spectrum where the guitar belongs, so its not fighting with the other instruments.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

theodie said:
Its a great pickup! Its a very balanced and a precise pickup! The EQ sounds fairly flat but, the EQ sounds boosted across the board. Also, you better not be a sloppy player with one. You will hear all mistakes but, you will hear all the nuance's of your playing.
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...kind of like listening to a Sabbath album. :>
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

spuds said:
Its a great pickup. I'm using it in my LP and I'm very happy with it.

However, its not as hot as Gibson claims it is. In fact, I'd say its a middle to low output pickup - but maybe thats why it sounds so good. It is unbelievably clear... you can crank up the gain and strum a chord and still pick up the individual notes. Theodie's right about not being sloppy. Haha.

I've heard ppl say that this pickup sounds slightly thin... I disagree. I feel like this pickup lets the guitar sit in that "spot" in the frequency spectrum where the guitar belongs, so its not fighting with the other instruments.
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The people what say it's thin probably listened to it in an SG. Did you measure the resistance in yours before you put it in, by chance?
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Rather than re-typing, here is my previous review of the Gibson Signature Iommi. I have four of these, three meaure @ 15.5K, and one measures 17.0k. In the Epi Iommi G-400 (SG body), the pair sound better as a whole, but one in the bridge Epi LP sounds epic, although less SG/Iommi-like.

In my opinion, I do not find that I have to be so clean playing as others have suggested...but I am comparing this experience to a pair of Dirty Fingers.:smack:

A set of Anderson pickups are supposed to arrive on my doorstep tomorrow!:fingersx: The Anderson H3 is another "stoner" pickup...and made famous of sorts by Pepper Keenan/CoC.

Iommi pickup review:

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?t=57452&highlight=tony+iommi+review

edit: There is nothing wrong with buying from MF, but the link below is an independent retailer. Give Dennis a call! He was actually selling these for less than MF, and actually had them in stock when MF was out for over a month last year:

http://www.adirondackguitar.com/
 
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Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Sweet, thanks man. I was going to see if I can find one from a forum member used since I'm sort of poor but if I get the money I'll try out Adriondack.

I was thinking about getting a Model T, how does it sound? All I use in my stoner metal rig is either a strat or a les paul copy with a big muff and cry baby.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

I have been thinking of the tone, and if you really want to nail the Iommi tone...an SG body is necessary. However, I only realized this after I got The Korean made Epi Iommi. It only took me 25+years! After thinking it over some more...I think the most important statement I made is that the Iommi pickup better replicates the post-Ozzy tones like the song "Heaven and Hell". P-90 pickups were used on the first four albums, so some of that snarl is not going to be there with any pickup but a P-90. A Strat was used on the first album "Black Sabbath" until it broke down.

The Epi Les Paul with the Iommi has more balanced sound, but then again, all pickups are likely to sound more balanced in an LP body. An SG body just has more driving focus (all terms hard to describe). If you have an LP, and not an SG don't sweat it. What the fingers do has more to do with musical expression than having the exact correct gear.

I just dig the sh8t out of the Iommi's. They are an awesome pickup.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The model T was a happy accident. I graduated from high school in 1982, and that spring, I saved up enough marbles from my part time job to get a "good amp head" from the local pennysaver type paper.

I ended up buying the head, not knowing what I really had. This amp head was sold as both a bass/guitar amp, so the bottom end (@SS) is there. I don't see people using Marshalls for electric bass amplification! The tone is really/stunningly/wierdly clean (but big), but the big bottom end with a relatively mellow Boss SD-1 overdrive (any other pedal that tries to drive harder, like the DS-1 just fails, to my ears) is IT.

I went through the 4x12 stage of my youth, but ended up with single 12" monster of a speaker.
 
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Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Sludge are you sure about the first 4 Sabbath albums, where Tony was using P-90's in his SG's? I've never saw pictures of his guitars using those types of pickups. I thought he was using stock Gibson SG's with humbuckers till he got fed up with microphonics and feedback and the SG itself went out of tune horribly live, so thats when JayDEE or John Birch (I forget which came first) started winding pickups for him and eventually building guitars (also since Gibson wouldn't build him a custom 24 fret neck version of the SG) for him.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

An SG with P90's was used on the first album, as well as a Strat (until it broke).

I searched my pc, and found he used an SG with P90's for "Black Sabbath", "Paranoid", and "Master of Reality". John Birch wound his first custom pickups.

I guess I need to pull out "Volume IV", and give it a listen.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

SLudgenutz, I stand corrected. I did a search on a few old Sabbath videos and Tony is definately playing an SG with what looks like regular P-90 type pickups.

I honestly had no idea he used those pickups back then and I consider myself a pretty big Iommi fan. Disappointed in myself for NOT knowing that. Thanks for the heads up on that though.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

I'm interested in the strat Tony used on "Black Sabbath", was it just a stock strat with single coils or what?
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

How would those babies sound on a V ???? mmm (pinky nail between teeth)
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Another big thumbs up for the Iommi's. I had the Iommi G-400 and they killed. They retain their clarity and deliver the goods.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

They look like ordinary single coils on the white strat I saw him pictured with way back when... IF that was the strat he used on recordings. And I'm likely to believe it is the same strat as that looks like the one he was playing on exactly in the Rolling Stones Rock N Roll Circus in 1969 with Jethro Tull.
 
Re: Gibson Tony Iommi Signature Pickup

Dr.Mavashi said:
How would those babies sound on a V ???? mmm (pinky nail between teeth)
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I am of the opinion that the Iommi will sound good in a V's bridge. They sound great in my Epi LP bridge, and Epi Iommi. As a pair, the Iommi pickup set may be better off in an SG body. In my LP's body, the sound was springy/boingy when both pickups were selected. The Epi Iommi does not suffer this problem.

I am not an owner of a V, but I have heard that they sound "between a Les Paul, and an SG". With that in mind, I would say go for it, and get a more conventional PAF style (and usually less expensive) pickup for the neck position. Or, get a set, and use the Iommi from the neck position in another guitar. Mr. Iommi :notworthy says he rarely uses the neck pickup anyhow.
 
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