Just how bright is the Pearly Gates Bridge?

[slyfox]

Greetings,

I have a PRS Standard 24 I've installed a CUSTOM CUSTOM Bridge and PEARLY GATES Neck in and I love that combo and the warm saturation of a loaded up Alnico II for smooth singing leads. This was a recommendation from the Duncan Pick-up selection tool.

I recently got a 50's Les Paul Standard which is what I've wanted for a long time. I thought the unpotted pick-ups were going to be lot more squealing but they aren't too bad. They make the guitar sound like a LP but I do find when recording the noise before or after a take they are a bit noisy and I find them to have more presence, treble and less mids than the set in my PRS. I'm looking to ultimately swap them...not that I don't like the BB, but I generally like to customize my pick-ups in a guitar and it's an easy mod to reverse if I want to sell or trade.

My concern is losing that LP tone so I want to stick with something in that PAF style. I like the PG neck so much in my PRS I am interested in a complete set for the Les Paul but a lot of the stuff I've come cross online is that its a very bright pick-up. Taming brightness is not a problem I want to have...so just how bright is this bridge pick-up? Maybe I'm trying just to find someone tell me what I want to hear so I can get the PG set...I really dig the neck pick-up tone.

 

[freefrog]

By design, PG B is brighter than many other P.A.F. replicas (because it has a higher Q factor than most).

Now, let's keep in mind that passive pickups aren't devices with a fixed EQing: not only their sound will vary according to the guitar but the whole wiring can change their tone drastically.

Google about pots resistance and cable capacitance if needed... There are also many videos about that on YT.

I remember having installed a PG B in a LP whose body was in fact totally made of sycamore (maple). Way to bright to begin with. The problem was solved thanks to a small value capacitor from hot to ground, taming the brightness*. Playing the guitar through a long cable would have caused strictly the same effect... since a small capacitor can bring exactly the same capacitive load than a long cable, in a way smaller and cheaper frame.

*https://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/...ors-to-a-coil-to-change-the-tone-of-my-pickup

FWIW.

 

[beaubrummels]

IME PG is like a 59 with an extended range of bass and treble added and smooth across the mids. With certain amps, they can seem bright, but it's easily managed with the tone on the guitar or the amp. It's better to have clarity and treble in the source that you can easily tame, than to try to make it up with EQ when it's not there to begin with.

 

[slyfox]

Some people seem to really like the PG set, others just the neck. There's obviously a lot of variables involved...I have a feeling that I would like it as my speaker, amp, pedals tend to be more neutral to dark.

My other consideration would be for an Alnico Pro II set, for a flavour different enough from the PRS...I just like the PG neck, makes me wonder if I'm missing something on the bridge. Lifes not long enough to try all the pickups you want to try.

 

[FuelGTRX]

I would say the PG has more presence to it. It can be a little bright, but its never shrill. It also has a surprising amount of low end punch for an A2 PAF style pickup. I have the bridge PG in an HS strat, a bolt-on mahogany offset style guitar, and in my Gibson LP Standard 60s and I love it. I had a Les Paul with Alnico II Pros in it years ago. Great sounding set. Later on I swapped out the bridge APH2 for a PGb. The PGb was noticeably more aggressive in the upper mids and highs, but I didn't find in to be much brighter. Just more aggressive with more presence than the APH2, if that makes sense.

 

[jeremy]

the cc has a lot of mids, so im not surprised you find the bb to have more treble and less mids. the bb does have slightly unbalanced coils but i havent noticed them being overly noisy. the pgb has a big upper mid peak that some people perceive as being bright, i think its a great pup in a lp. just dont expect it to be as fat as the cc. i havent tried the hades gates, but im curious since its supposed to be a slightly overwound pg

 

[gimmieinfo]

I used PGs in several LPs including my current. They are bright but in a certain way....a lot of high mids and not much in the way of body, low and low mids. So i can see how they would be great in a PRS due to the fact they are usually dark sounding. In a LP i found them from painfully thin to almost great in 3 LPs. The darkest of them is where they worked pretty well. I would say look elsewhere unless the LP u r putting them in is quite dark. I think they're great pickups in the right guitar.

 

[slyfox]

Great input here fellas. Now my head is spinning lol. I love the Custom Custom in the PRS and thought about another identical set for the LP as I have in the PRS but I think it's probably better to have something for a slightly different sound...although I'm sure the same pickups in a Prs vs a LP will have it's own characteristics.

I guess I could always give it a try and if I really don't like the bridge, at least I know I like the neck. Personally, I play and record acoustic fingerstyle and use my electrics for singing lead tone and harmonies and I love the sound of big mids and harmonic content and in an alnico II magnet its smooth and warm.