Chiliphil1
New member
Hey everyone, I'm looking for some reccomendations for some new pickups.
I'm looking to replace the pickups in my Gibson LP custom. Currently it's running the 490r/498t set and I truly hate them. Running it into my Mesa T-verb it is anemic, bright, no power, no balls, nothing. In contrast my Ibanez RG1570 sounds big fat and mean with the Dimarzio crunch lab/liquifire set installed. Really a night a day difference.
I am torn between about a million options at this point and I have no idea which way to go. I'm looking at all of the usual suspects, Duncan, Dimarzio, EMG, Bare knuckle, etc.
When it comes to what I currently have, the RG sounds fantastic but it's dark, twice as dark as the LP and while it sounds amazing with the recto running it into the Friedman BE-OD it looses definition and sounds a little mushy. I think the darkness would be too much for the LP, so I am not even really looking at the same pups there. I will also be getting a Schecter with the Nazgul/Sentient set here soon. With that I have 2 guitars basically set up for metal and I don't really play metal!
My thoughts on the LP have bounced around a lot. I am about 90% convinced that I want a set of bare knuckle pickups. Now, which ones is another deal. In my opinion for what I am looking for there are about 3 "tiers" of BKP I could go with. First being vintage, I could run a black dog in the bridge and a mule in the neck. This would produce a very nice PAF tone but I worry that it won't be "enough" as I'm not necessarily looking for the classic rock sound and I felt that the Gibson burst buckers I had previously just needed "more" as they wouldn't push the amp and were very quiet. Second option would be to fall into the middle, not super high output but with a modern voice, something such as the nail bomb, holy diver, miracle man, etc. Third tier would be to just go all out and get something super mean and aggressive, this would mean the war pig.
I was just about convinced to go with the holy diver as I figure it should land right about where I want to be but I am afraid that the pickup may have a JB quality to it where it's just aggressive and bright. I HATE the JB.
At this point I have started looking at the usual suspects and see some interesting things, with Dimarzio I was thinking something like a super distortion with the PAF pro neck or maybe even an EVO sounds cool from description on the site. On the Duncan side I'm liking the idea of the pearly gates but I read that they can sort of fizz out under gain. Also the 36th anniversary looks pretty good. I may even possibly be open to the idea of a JB but from my previous experience with them (in a Jackson) I despised the tone of that pickup.
So anyway, to recap. LP custom Magogany with maple top, ebony board. Looking for more clarity and power. The 498 is a fizz bomb and sounds absolutely puny compared to the crunch lab. I need something that sounds thick and mean but isn't too hot so that it pushes the front of the amp (or Friedman pedal) into mush. Also, I would like it if it could also clean up if needed with the volume.
I was looking at BKP simply because I like the idea of having them, it doesn't have to be BKP. I would be very glad to hear suggestions of something that may work better for me with the recto, thanks in advance!
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I'm looking to replace the pickups in my Gibson LP custom. Currently it's running the 490r/498t set and I truly hate them. Running it into my Mesa T-verb it is anemic, bright, no power, no balls, nothing. In contrast my Ibanez RG1570 sounds big fat and mean with the Dimarzio crunch lab/liquifire set installed. Really a night a day difference.
I am torn between about a million options at this point and I have no idea which way to go. I'm looking at all of the usual suspects, Duncan, Dimarzio, EMG, Bare knuckle, etc.
When it comes to what I currently have, the RG sounds fantastic but it's dark, twice as dark as the LP and while it sounds amazing with the recto running it into the Friedman BE-OD it looses definition and sounds a little mushy. I think the darkness would be too much for the LP, so I am not even really looking at the same pups there. I will also be getting a Schecter with the Nazgul/Sentient set here soon. With that I have 2 guitars basically set up for metal and I don't really play metal!
My thoughts on the LP have bounced around a lot. I am about 90% convinced that I want a set of bare knuckle pickups. Now, which ones is another deal. In my opinion for what I am looking for there are about 3 "tiers" of BKP I could go with. First being vintage, I could run a black dog in the bridge and a mule in the neck. This would produce a very nice PAF tone but I worry that it won't be "enough" as I'm not necessarily looking for the classic rock sound and I felt that the Gibson burst buckers I had previously just needed "more" as they wouldn't push the amp and were very quiet. Second option would be to fall into the middle, not super high output but with a modern voice, something such as the nail bomb, holy diver, miracle man, etc. Third tier would be to just go all out and get something super mean and aggressive, this would mean the war pig.
I was just about convinced to go with the holy diver as I figure it should land right about where I want to be but I am afraid that the pickup may have a JB quality to it where it's just aggressive and bright. I HATE the JB.
At this point I have started looking at the usual suspects and see some interesting things, with Dimarzio I was thinking something like a super distortion with the PAF pro neck or maybe even an EVO sounds cool from description on the site. On the Duncan side I'm liking the idea of the pearly gates but I read that they can sort of fizz out under gain. Also the 36th anniversary looks pretty good. I may even possibly be open to the idea of a JB but from my previous experience with them (in a Jackson) I despised the tone of that pickup.
So anyway, to recap. LP custom Magogany with maple top, ebony board. Looking for more clarity and power. The 498 is a fizz bomb and sounds absolutely puny compared to the crunch lab. I need something that sounds thick and mean but isn't too hot so that it pushes the front of the amp (or Friedman pedal) into mush. Also, I would like it if it could also clean up if needed with the volume.
I was looking at BKP simply because I like the idea of having them, it doesn't have to be BKP. I would be very glad to hear suggestions of something that may work better for me with the recto, thanks in advance!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
