Re: Great comparison of Slash set vs. Gibson 57s
The truth is Gibson 57's cannot be beat... so are the Burstbuckers and even the 490/498 pickups. Ask this question here and you'll mostly get the fanboi bias, but the truth is Seymour Duncan is a pickup wizard, but Gibson is the original and they never lost it. I have a ton of guitars, and 57's are some of my favorite. I even have set in an alder Stratocaster. They're great, all-around pickups. I like the bass response and harmonic content of the 57's over the Slash set. I think the 57's handle a wider range of distortion and cleans better. I have both the Slash signature and the AII Pros installed. I like the Slash set. To me they're a bit spongier, warmer. When I bought them, I thought they'd be a little hotter than my Classic/Classic+ set, but they're very comparable.
You'll find the difference and the Slash component when you do different types of soloing. For example, Slash likes to do this kind of thing:
|--17brb~---17b~--17-14-16-14_16_14---16---14-------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------17---17--17_16_14----14--------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------16----16~---|
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
He does this staccato kind of thing between strings right before short legato bursts. The Sig pickups really let those nuances pop out. The 57's have kind of a smoother, quicker action, so if you're playing something Gary Moore'ish like so:
|-17-----17----17_20_17---17---------------------------------------|
|---20b~---20------------20---20_17_20_17---17------------------|
|------------------------------------------------19---19_17---19~---|
|-------------------------------------------------------------19--------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------------|
(I'm not any good at emulating different players, so it is what it is)
They're all similar PAF pickups, so we're talking nuance here. I'm just saying that if I wanted to play something where mid-fretboard notes pop out a bit more, then I'd grab my Slash set, but if I wanted to do more fast picking then I'd grab my 57's. Slash does this thing when he plays rhythm where he does this kind of "chicka chika quack" thing in between chords. Those kinds of nuances seem to get just a little more emphasis as far as I can tell, but if adjust your technique then I'm sure you can do the the same with any pickup.
One last thing is that the 57's have a little more solidity whereas the Slash sigs have kind of a transparency to the tone. You can tell this subtle difference if you compare the AII Pros vs Slash sig to. The sum of all your gear adds flavor or color to your tone. Alnico pickups, alnico speakers, guitar wood, string material, pedals, etc. I could see how guys who like to play straight into a cranked Marshall might prefer the Slash set. I personally like pickups, speakers, and pedals that have some color to them probably because I rarely have the chance to crank up m amps.
