jimijames
New member
Re: I freakin love the P-Rails
The p-rail neck HB mode sounds like two different pickups, in parallel, it sounds very much like a jazz neck. In series, its much fatter - I have a pearly gates in the neck of my les paul and it sounds a lot like that - it has a lot of A2 warmth without actually being A2, think of an A5 neck pickup without scooped mids. It's hard to describe, because it's more open than the pearly gates, almost like if you crossed a p-90 and a PAF style humbucker. There's a lot of attack and harmonic complexity, like in a p-90, but there's a PAF smoothness that's there as well. Admittedly, I haven't tried the '59, Distortion, or any other comparable A5 neck humbuckers, but I don't think this sounds like any neck humbucker I've ever played. That being said, I highly doubt you'd be disappointed with it - it's amazing no matter how you slice it.
As for the A8 59/custom, the output is far greater than what you would expect from an 11.25k bridge humbucker - it's louder than the 14.4k Custom Custom I had in my strat a while back. In fact, it's louder than the 18+k P-rails in both my strat and my jazzmaster copy. The A8 magnet gives it some *insane* harmonics, and the mismatched coils give it a PAF vibe when the volume is rolled down.
Overall, I would say the A8 59/Custom is... unique. The high output makes it very touch sensitive - that is, until you play full out. It compresses the amp more than the pickup itself it compressed - let's take for example, the opening lick of thunderstruck. I can play it at a consistent volume without having to adjust my technique for the open-string pull offs, which doesn't usually happen without a booster pedal. Then, after that, I can play the chords and hear every string on the lester - something that usually only happens with low-output types. If you really lay into it, you can get a great singing sound, but if you back off, you can also get a very twangy and dynamic blues sound.
In fact, the closest any les paul came to a tele was when I was running the A8 59/custom in parallel...
At any rate, they're both pickups worth checking out. but I like the p-rails better than the A8 59/custom just because the p-rails has 4 distinct and usable sounds. In all fairness, I never split the 59/Custom, so I'm going to say YMMV just to be safe.
Good luck and happy tone hunting!
The p-rail neck HB mode sounds like two different pickups, in parallel, it sounds very much like a jazz neck. In series, its much fatter - I have a pearly gates in the neck of my les paul and it sounds a lot like that - it has a lot of A2 warmth without actually being A2, think of an A5 neck pickup without scooped mids. It's hard to describe, because it's more open than the pearly gates, almost like if you crossed a p-90 and a PAF style humbucker. There's a lot of attack and harmonic complexity, like in a p-90, but there's a PAF smoothness that's there as well. Admittedly, I haven't tried the '59, Distortion, or any other comparable A5 neck humbuckers, but I don't think this sounds like any neck humbucker I've ever played. That being said, I highly doubt you'd be disappointed with it - it's amazing no matter how you slice it.
As for the A8 59/custom, the output is far greater than what you would expect from an 11.25k bridge humbucker - it's louder than the 14.4k Custom Custom I had in my strat a while back. In fact, it's louder than the 18+k P-rails in both my strat and my jazzmaster copy. The A8 magnet gives it some *insane* harmonics, and the mismatched coils give it a PAF vibe when the volume is rolled down.
Overall, I would say the A8 59/Custom is... unique. The high output makes it very touch sensitive - that is, until you play full out. It compresses the amp more than the pickup itself it compressed - let's take for example, the opening lick of thunderstruck. I can play it at a consistent volume without having to adjust my technique for the open-string pull offs, which doesn't usually happen without a booster pedal. Then, after that, I can play the chords and hear every string on the lester - something that usually only happens with low-output types. If you really lay into it, you can get a great singing sound, but if you back off, you can also get a very twangy and dynamic blues sound.
In fact, the closest any les paul came to a tele was when I was running the A8 59/custom in parallel...
At any rate, they're both pickups worth checking out. but I like the p-rails better than the A8 59/custom just because the p-rails has 4 distinct and usable sounds. In all fairness, I never split the 59/Custom, so I'm going to say YMMV just to be safe.
Good luck and happy tone hunting!
