Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

[Gooch]

Love my Traditional Pro Les Paul, but the BB3 in the bridge is just too harsh and the Classic 57 in the neck is too boomy. Yes, I've tried all the adjustments (height, pole pieces, tone knob, etc.), and I just think there's something better.

I play in a rock cover band (classic to hard rock, some early metal) with a Splawn Pro Stock and Celestion Creambacks. I don't need high gain pickups, but pickups that do well with low to high gain depending on the song. My biggest gripe on the neck is that it is so boomy/woofy and inarticulate. I'd like something that's not so woofy and is good for solos.

I've tried the A2Pro in two guitars and that was still a little too bassy. My favorite neck pickup is the SuperRock II by Schecter, but they don't sell those aftermarket and cannot find them anywhere.

I'm considering the Whole Lotta set and am open to others. Thanks, folks!

JYD

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

I love the Whole Lotta Humbucker set, especially the bridge! My favorite neck humbucker in a LP is the Jazz; don't let the name fool you though because it can handle gain, it is not boomy and it has all the articulation you could ever want! If I had to suggest a great set based on your criteria I would say check out the Jazz neck with a WLH bridge. I do really love the WLH neck pickup too but it is a bit thicker than the Jazz so you might want to try the Jazz first in the neck.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

In an LP, a WLH can be pretty warm in the neck slot. The Jazz set is simply an A2P set with A5 magnets, which have more bass and high-end, than the A2's in a A2P.

If you think A2 HB's are too bassy in the neck slot, you're not going to like most of the PU's with A5's. I think you'll like A3's and A4's best, which probably will mean swapping magnets yourself.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

In an LP, a WLH can be pretty warm in the neck slot. The Jazz set is simply an A2P set with A5 magnets, which have more bass and high-end, than the A2's in a A2P.

If you think A2 HB's are too bassy in the neck slot, you're not going to like most of the PU's with A5's. I think you'll like A3's and A4's best, which probably will mean swapping magnets yourself.

This is just nonsense. Have you ever used a Jazz neck? They are not more bassy than the A2P at all, not even close. I use both an A2P set and a Jazz set in separate guitars. If you've never used a Jazz then don't give bad magnet advice.

In my experience the A2P neck is very bassy but the Jazz is not at all. Try a Jazz, just because pickups with an A5 are sometimes boomy doesn't mean the Jazz is. It is a very special pickup. Also, he didn't ask for magnet swapping advice, he asked for pickup advice. All the magnet swapping madness that goes on around here isn't for everybody.

 

[chadd]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

I'm very familiar with the Trad pro pickup combo, I have two of them and most likely play some of the same songs. For the neck, I would consider the Full Shred or Jazz. You aren't going to find much that is less bass focused than those. As for the bridge, I'm not sure where to go with that. The BB3 is a moderate output A2 pickup, so I would think that any hotter or A5 based pickup would likely also be too "harsh" with the settings that you use. I would think that an A2P would probably work in the bridge, but you already had issues with one in the neck. I would try using the 57 in the bridge and see how that compares to the BB3. At that point, you will have more data points to work from.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

This is just nonsense. Have you ever used a Jazz neck? They are not more bassy than the A2P.

Geez, that time of the month again? There was just a thread here where a guy said his JazzN was too bassy. The OP on this thread seems to be very bass-sensitive.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

Geez, that time of the month again? There was just a thread here where a guy said his JazzN was too bassy. The OP on this thread seems to be very bass-sensitive.

Yes and I was an active participant in that thread too. Those of us who have used the Jazz neck participated in that thread saying there must have been something wrong with his electronics or wiring because the Jazz neck is not bassy at all.

So, let me get this straight blueman335, one guy comes along and starts a thread saying the Jazz neck is too bassy and all of the sudden you start giving people recommendations based on what that one guy said? So in other words, don't take the advice of somebody who has used the Jazz (me) versus the guy who is handing out a suggestion based not on experience but rather on what he read on the internet (blueman335). Ok, I guess it must be that time of the month for sure.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

Geez, that time of the month again? There was just a thread here where a guy said his JazzN was too bassy. The OP on this thread seems to be very bass-sensitive.

Yeah - it's that time of the month where you start talking out of your bass end.

I am in agreement with Snake - I was almost thinking full shred neck myself. But honestly, if you find a jazz in a Les Paul too bassy - the issue is either you or the guitar, not the pickups. And I'm not feeling the amp is the issue at all.

 

[Securb]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

In an LP, a WLH can be pretty warm in the neck slot.

I have a set of WLH in my Traditional and it is the best match of pickups and guitar I have ever seen. The bridge has some bite but I would call the neck far from hot. I play jazz with the WLH neck pickup in my Les Paul. I actually used that guitar at an audition on Friday and it sounded great with some cleaner tunes and the bridge was scorching when I needed it. Here is my review of the set in a Les Paul I had no problems dialing in anything I wanted. .

http://www.tmrzoo.com/2014/63700/review-seymour-duncan-whole-lotta-humbucker-im-gonna-give-love

 

[Securb]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

Geez, that time of the month again? There was just a thread here where a guy said his JazzN was too bassy. The OP on this thread seems to be very bass-sensitive.

BTW I have a Jazz in the neck of my Iceman with a Dimebucker, it is not bassy in anyway. Full and round, yes. Bassy not a chance in heck.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

But honestly, if you find a jazz in a Les Paul too bassy - the issue is either you or the guitar, not the pickups.

Right, it may well be his guitar. So it may come down to that he can either sell the guitar, or find PU's that give the tones he wants in it. It is an LP, which is where a lot of the complaints of bassy/boomy seem to come from, and his may have more low-end than normal.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

BTW I have a Jazz in the neck of my Iceman with a Dimebucker, it is not bassy in anyway. Full and round, yes. Bassy not a chance in heck.

All guitars are not created equally.

 

[LazNovak]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

All guitars are not created equally.

This.

I have a Trad Pro II and I put a Full Shred in the neck. It was missing some beef so I put fillister screws in the bridge side coil like the Screamin' Demon and now it's perfect for me.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

Right, it may well be his guitar. So it may come down to that he can either sell the guitar, or find PU's that give the tones he wants in it. It is an LP, which is where a lot of the complaints of bassy/boomy seem to come from, and his may have more low-end than normal.

Let me rephrase:

I have never seen/heard/had a Les Paul that would be boomy with a Jazz

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

I'll throw an off the wall suggestion out there: the Black Winter neck is very clean and definitely not boomy. I haven't personally used a Splawn, though a close friend of mine uses one, and I've heard Buddy Miller using them. They sound generally dark to my ear, which might add just the right character to a Winter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Securb]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

All guitars are not created equally.

Of course not. However, I find it interesting you can draw an opinion and give suggestions having never used the product. It is akin to someone leaving negative Yelp reviews because their friends didn't like a resturant.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

Of course not. However, I find it interesting you can draw an opinion and give suggestions having never used the product.

Never used a Jazz? So many people know more about my personal life than I do. I have an LP with a Jazz set, and I just swapped magnets (RCA2 bridge, UOA5 neck) to get richer tones.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

Let me rephrase:

I have never seen/heard/had a Les Paul that would be boomy with a Jazz

All of the LP's I've had and/or played have been on the warm side of the fence to some degree, but Zhang's got one that he's said is very bright.

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

Let me rephrase:

I have never seen/heard/had a Les Paul that would be boomy with a Jazz

Exactly. The LP I have a Jazz set in is one of the boomiest Les Pauls I have ever known. I used to have a 59 in it then I went with an A2P and I eventually tried a Jazz in it and the Jazz will never leave that guitar. The 59 and the A2P were boomy even though I love those pickups in other guitars. The Jazz has no boom to it but still sounds like a creamy neck humbucker... only with articulation!

 

[Snake Aces]

Re: Help Replace LPaul Pickups: No More BB3 and Classic 57!

Never used a Jazz? So many people know more about my personal life than I do. I have an LP with a Jazz set, and I just swapped magnets (RCA2 bridge, UOA5 neck) to get richer tones.

If you swapped magnets then it is no longer a Jazz set.