Les Paul for hard rock & metal
- Thread starter ibanezrocks
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blueman335
Mojo's Minions
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
Might work, works for a number of players, though I'll refer you to a recent Aceman thread where he estimated that JB's 'fail' about 1/3 of the time, often in warm woods like mahogany. Whereas Customs don't seem to have nearly as many issues like that. Either PU could work well in an LP, but the Custom is a safer bet.
Might work, works for a number of players, though I'll refer you to a recent Aceman thread where he estimated that JB's 'fail' about 1/3 of the time, often in warm woods like mahogany. Whereas Customs don't seem to have nearly as many issues like that. Either PU could work well in an LP, but the Custom is a safer bet.
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
The worst ever pickup I put in a Les Paul non-chambered body (Custom) was the JB bridge. Nasal mids, dry, icepick top clanky bottom. I've had a lot of SD and Gibson pickups in LP's, but that was the worst. The Jazz neck that came with the set (HRH) was incredible.
The worst ever pickup I put in a Les Paul non-chambered body (Custom) was the JB bridge. Nasal mids, dry, icepick top clanky bottom. I've had a lot of SD and Gibson pickups in LP's, but that was the worst. The Jazz neck that came with the set (HRH) was incredible.
blueman335
Mojo's Minions
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
I've seen many posts from members over the past decade saying the same thing about JB's in their guitars, but put the same PU in a Strat and it'll probably sound great. There were debates raging about JB's when I joined this forum. Maybe both sides are right, and it's often more a matter of what you put a JB in and what kind of music you're playing. There's no doubt that it excels in some things. It may the most marketed PU in the world, which sets player's expectations high, maybe sometimes unrealistically so, but in some guitars and some genres it's just not a top choice. No PU is. Plenty of other Duncan's to choose from.
I've seen many posts from members over the past decade saying the same thing about JB's in their guitars, but put the same PU in a Strat and it'll probably sound great. There were debates raging about JB's when I joined this forum. Maybe both sides are right, and it's often more a matter of what you put a JB in and what kind of music you're playing. There's no doubt that it excels in some things. It may the most marketed PU in the world, which sets player's expectations high, maybe sometimes unrealistically so, but in some guitars and some genres it's just not a top choice. No PU is. Plenty of other Duncan's to choose from.
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
Year of production matters also. My 1978 Seymour-wound JB sounds very different from my 2-3 year old JB.
Year of production matters also. My 1978 Seymour-wound JB sounds very different from my 2-3 year old JB.
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
beaubrummels
Well-known member
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
Your know your hair will grow back before you get an answer.
Your know your hair will grow back before you get an answer.
JB_From_Hell
Jomo's Nimions
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
Pick a hot-ish bridge pickup, pick a paf-ish neck pickup, and tweak your amp and pedals. The longer I have this Gibson LP/SG, the more I think the hairsplitting between pickups is unnecessary. My guitar has real PAFs, and I can get whatever tone you want with the right pedal. If I wanted to play old school rock, I'd turn my amp up really loud and not use any pedals. If I wanted death metal, I'd turn the amp down, kick on the red channel of my Radial and adjust the mids and bass.
I really think it's important to get the right pickup, but I feel like all the years I spent swapping out pickups would've been better spent tweaking EQ knobs on a good amp. That said, I don't care about sounding like Jimmy Page or Slash or whoever. If you're trying to ape people's specific tones, everything I said is irrelevant.
Pick a hot-ish bridge pickup, pick a paf-ish neck pickup, and tweak your amp and pedals. The longer I have this Gibson LP/SG, the more I think the hairsplitting between pickups is unnecessary. My guitar has real PAFs, and I can get whatever tone you want with the right pedal. If I wanted to play old school rock, I'd turn my amp up really loud and not use any pedals. If I wanted death metal, I'd turn the amp down, kick on the red channel of my Radial and adjust the mids and bass.
I really think it's important to get the right pickup, but I feel like all the years I spent swapping out pickups would've been better spent tweaking EQ knobs on a good amp. That said, I don't care about sounding like Jimmy Page or Slash or whoever. If you're trying to ape people's specific tones, everything I said is irrelevant.
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
Two Les Pauls in my arsenal at the moment. A trans black Standard with a 60s neck and an all black LP Custom with a Richlite board.
After trying several, I went with these:
Custom: A set of DiMarzio Super Distortion Bridge and PAF Pro neck. I then reordered them with gold covers and didn't like that they lost so much output. But with the Super D and the PAF Pro it gets me nice and close to Jon Nodtveidt's tone (Dissection) with my Marshalls. I really like this guitar as it sounds and doubt I'll change anything.
Standard: I umm'd and ah'd between an EMG 81/85 combo and a Seymour Duncan Custom in the bridge with a 59 bridge model in the neck. Currently I left the Duncans in as the 59 in the bridge is sort of like one of those big guitar secrets that just works so damned well. This is tuned to D standard and gets very thrash, but the 81/85 combo also sounded amazing.
Looking at your amps, I'd steer you towards what I have in the LP Standard. It's worth noting that my LP Custom is a little darker sounding than the Standard but also a lot fuller in the high end. The Standard is a little flatter but still has a pronounced low end that the custom custom just seems to like. My hunch is you may well be happier with the EMGs; if I was doing thrash only then that's probably what I would use in the LP. But I understand active pickups are a bit unfavoured at the moment (God knows why!).
Two Les Pauls in my arsenal at the moment. A trans black Standard with a 60s neck and an all black LP Custom with a Richlite board.
After trying several, I went with these:
Custom: A set of DiMarzio Super Distortion Bridge and PAF Pro neck. I then reordered them with gold covers and didn't like that they lost so much output. But with the Super D and the PAF Pro it gets me nice and close to Jon Nodtveidt's tone (Dissection) with my Marshalls. I really like this guitar as it sounds and doubt I'll change anything.
Standard: I umm'd and ah'd between an EMG 81/85 combo and a Seymour Duncan Custom in the bridge with a 59 bridge model in the neck. Currently I left the Duncans in as the 59 in the bridge is sort of like one of those big guitar secrets that just works so damned well. This is tuned to D standard and gets very thrash, but the 81/85 combo also sounded amazing.
Looking at your amps, I'd steer you towards what I have in the LP Standard. It's worth noting that my LP Custom is a little darker sounding than the Standard but also a lot fuller in the high end. The Standard is a little flatter but still has a pronounced low end that the custom custom just seems to like. My hunch is you may well be happier with the EMGs; if I was doing thrash only then that's probably what I would use in the LP. But I understand active pickups are a bit unfavoured at the moment (God knows why!).
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
With the standard active models you can't really turn the boost off, which I believe is the main reason why many don't like them.
With a passive you can run it raw or with a boost,,,,you have the choice, not to mention greater control over the boost's parameters.
I personally like both ways very much, and even actives with an additional pedal-boost when it's time to really get jiggy.
Modular built-in preamps are very cool also,,,,,,,but once again it's just doing exactly what a pedal could.
With the standard active models you can't really turn the boost off, which I believe is the main reason why many don't like them.
With a passive you can run it raw or with a boost,,,,you have the choice, not to mention greater control over the boost's parameters.
I personally like both ways very much, and even actives with an additional pedal-boost when it's time to really get jiggy.
Modular built-in preamps are very cool also,,,,,,,but once again it's just doing exactly what a pedal could.
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Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
The boost? Do you mean the overall increased output?
The boost? Do you mean the overall increased output?
ibanezrocks
HardtailPisser
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
This is great. I found a cheap set of Seymour Duncan blackouts, but I'm leery of actives for now so I'm following this discussion still. I have yet to find a decent deal on a used custom so I'm keeping my options open for now.
Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk
This is great. I found a cheap set of Seymour Duncan blackouts, but I'm leery of actives for now so I'm following this discussion still. I have yet to find a decent deal on a used custom so I'm keeping my options open for now.
Sent from my BlackBerry using Tapatalk
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
It's basically a small gain-circuit within the pickup's casing. Kind of like a tube-screamer built-in.
It's basically a small gain-circuit within the pickup's casing. Kind of like a tube-screamer built-in.
Aceman
I am your doctor of love!
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
I am not an Active fan, but I LOVE my Blackout. I'd play all kinds of stuff with that.
I am not an Active fan, but I LOVE my Blackout. I'd play all kinds of stuff with that.
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
I don't think I really agree there. The overall output is generally a little higher than passive pickups for sure, but as for having a mini tube-screamer built in? Nope. You can get perfect clean tones out of EMG pickups very easily.
Active pickups have smaller magnets which doesn't affect the vibrating string as much. That means much better sustain! But due to the small magnet, the preamp is required to actually get an output. Otherwise the output would be far too weak. That's why it's there.
I don't think I really agree there. The overall output is generally a little higher than passive pickups for sure, but as for having a mini tube-screamer built in? Nope. You can get perfect clean tones out of EMG pickups very easily.
Active pickups have smaller magnets which doesn't affect the vibrating string as much. That means much better sustain! But due to the small magnet, the preamp is required to actually get an output. Otherwise the output would be far too weak. That's why it's there.
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Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
Well you just said there's a preamp in there, which was my exact point.
I didn't say there was an actual tube-screamer in there, I just said "kind of like" a ts in that it's a preamp/booster, which was my initial point.
Also,,,,,that's just marketing BS about the lower magnet-pull helping with sustain.
Any pickup should be set at a height/distance that allows for good signal without any magnetic "killing" of sustain.
My X2N-loaded guitars (about the strongest magnet there is in the pup-world) sustain just as well as my 81 loaded guitars,,,,,,because they are set at the proper distance from the strings.
Well you just said there's a preamp in there, which was my exact point.
I didn't say there was an actual tube-screamer in there, I just said "kind of like" a ts in that it's a preamp/booster, which was my initial point.
Also,,,,,that's just marketing BS about the lower magnet-pull helping with sustain.
Any pickup should be set at a height/distance that allows for good signal without any magnetic "killing" of sustain.
My X2N-loaded guitars (about the strongest magnet there is in the pup-world) sustain just as well as my 81 loaded guitars,,,,,,because they are set at the proper distance from the strings.
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Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
I see. However calling it even slightly tube-screamer like is a little false as it doesn't add dirt to the signal and so forth. It just pushes the output of the pickup so it can actually be heard. To me, when you say it's an internal tube screamer, it sounds like I'm leaving an always-on boost in front of my gear which really is not the case with the EMG internal preamp. Not at all.
As for marketing BS, I dunno, to me EMGs have noticeably less string pull than my passives. One of the reasons I'm not a major fan of some of the ceramic-mag pickups on the market is precisely that they can't seem to sustain too well unless quite far off the strings but then it sounds thinner. Not a rule, there are some ceramic magnet pickups I like. But the pickups I've owned/tried and still use all seem to follow that sort of theme.
But then again, i wouldn't recommend or buy a pickup based on string pull. I'm not really making a point here, just saying.
I see. However calling it even slightly tube-screamer like is a little false as it doesn't add dirt to the signal and so forth. It just pushes the output of the pickup so it can actually be heard. To me, when you say it's an internal tube screamer, it sounds like I'm leaving an always-on boost in front of my gear which really is not the case with the EMG internal preamp. Not at all.
As for marketing BS, I dunno, to me EMGs have noticeably less string pull than my passives. One of the reasons I'm not a major fan of some of the ceramic-mag pickups on the market is precisely that they can't seem to sustain too well unless quite far off the strings but then it sounds thinner. Not a rule, there are some ceramic magnet pickups I like. But the pickups I've owned/tried and still use all seem to follow that sort of theme.
But then again, i wouldn't recommend or buy a pickup based on string pull. I'm not really making a point here, just saying.
Gone_Shootin
New member
Re: Les Paul for hard rock & metal
Both of my Les Pauls have Duncan Customs in the bridge. In the neck, the Epi has a PGn, and the Gibson has a Jazz. The PGn is one of my favorite pickups, but the Jazz is a better fit with the Custom, imho.
The Alpha and Omega set was also on the short list for the Gibson. The demos I've heard make them sound like a slightly refined Custom/Jazz combo to my ears. And I may end up with them in my Explorer. So I'd give them a look too.
Both of my Les Pauls have Duncan Customs in the bridge. In the neck, the Epi has a PGn, and the Gibson has a Jazz. The PGn is one of my favorite pickups, but the Jazz is a better fit with the Custom, imho.
The Alpha and Omega set was also on the short list for the Gibson. The demos I've heard make them sound like a slightly refined Custom/Jazz combo to my ears. And I may end up with them in my Explorer. So I'd give them a look too.
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