Muscular verstile PAF bridge

[GuitarStv]

PATB-3 or '59. I used to play Death Metal on a Dean Cadillac with the '59, and other styles (mainly rock subgenres) as well.

To me, that is "muscular".

I think the PATB-3 is a good call for this. It was designed to be PAF sounding with a little more oomph.

 

[jeremy]

if we are talking about a muscular paf, then a patb3 is a fine choice. if money was no object, then id suggest a brobucker. it was literally designed to be a huge sounding muscular overwound paf. from what the op said, i dont know if a patb3 would be enough. i stand by my custom or custom5 recommendation. i dont hear the hybrid as being all that paf toned, and its brighter than the c5 to my ears

 

[Archer250]

I still stand by the Custom Custom

But if that's too hot, then the 59/Custom hybrid. Or the Suhr SSV+, or Thornbucker 2

 

[Clint 55]

I think the recs are on the money for a rock pickup based on PAFs, particularly Guitar Doc's. If you want it to sound mostly PAF but solid, Fralin does those perfectly. Both his vintage and step up PAFs sound super vintage accurate but have beef to them.

https://www.fralinpickups.com/product-category/guitar-pickups/humbuckers/traditional-humbuckers/

 

[Ascension]

My favorite right now is the Kiesel Beryllium have them in 2 guitars right now and these things blow me away. Alnico 2 and at 8.8 ohms in the bridge. Super sweet and very responsive but with gain also have some real attitude.
Here is a clip of the one in my 2017 Kiesel DC 135 through my PRS Archon.

 

[Ascension]

Here is my 2016 Kiesel DC 600 through my little Mesa Subway with the Beryllium set it has. These are right now my absolute favorite slightly over-wound PAF style pickups from anybody.

 

[Ascension]

I still stand by the Custom Custom

But if that's too hot, then the 59/Custom hybrid. Or the Suhr SSV+, or Thornbucker 2

Own or have owned and played every pickup you list and will take the Kiesel Beryllium over every one. I was floored the first time I played a guitar with one as did not expect them to be this good. I hate some of the other newer Kiesel humbuckers in a burn with fire kind of way but the Beryllium flat KILLS!

 

[Ascension]

I am looking for a versatile muscular PAF vibe. I want it to play classic 70s rock and 80s high gain. I really like the JB sound in my Charvel but it is a bit too hot and not that much PAF really. Maybe somthing Seymour Duncan would describe as medium output?

These are the options available to buy for me in stores, both sound like muscular PAFs but almost everyone just demos with high gain. The Demon is famous fir split coil sound. The Perpetual Burn sounded more like a rock machine to me \m/

* Perpetual Burn Trembucker
* Screaming Demon SH-12

What would you choose and why?

The guitar is a MIM Strat alder body with... nah no such thing as tone wood. But I do play in the crunch channel of the amp cranked which is very versatile and open sounding while using the correct humbucker it can sound very hard rock or classic metal and cleans up nice when rolling back the volume knob. I still have not decided if it goes to be an HH or HSH configuration.

Between the Burn and the Demon I would go the Burn hands down. Have 2 PB's in gutars now and really like this pickup. They are a little hotter than what I would consider a PAF style but are super versatile. Also they split very very well in particular when run with a single coil.
This is the clean sound of a Perpetual burn split with a Carvin AP 11.

 

[Ascension]

Here is the PB in full bucker mode at gain through my PRS MT 15 with nothing but a little verb in the loop. The Perpetual Burn is one of my favorite Duncan humbuckers. Very clear and articulate with incredible touch sensitivity and can be fat and sweet when you roll back the volume then get really aggressive and tight when you hit it hard and roll up the volume under high gain.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

I wouldn't say the WLH is THAT beefy, TBH. I thought the '59 was beefier. Yes it's got more highs, but it's also got less high mids, and it's got a ton more bottom end than the WLH, IME.

Matter of fact, I think the '59 is pretty beefy for a PAF-type.

 

[ToneFiddler]

I wouldn't say the WLH is THAT beefy, TBH. I thought the '59 was beefier. Yes it's got more highs, but it's also got less high mids, and it's got a ton more bottom end than the WLH, IME.

Matter of fact, I think the '59 is pretty beefy for a PAF-type.

totally get what you mean, but i still disagree!
i have a warm and middy LesPaul which spotted 59s and now a WLHb.
The 59 sounded bigger in there than the WLHb and with the next string chance it will be back to the 59b.

BUT the 59 is too scooped to be called beefy. In a guitar without the natural mids it can sound pretty thin.
It's not beefy by itself.

 

[Demanic]

totally get what you mean, but i still disagree!
i have a warm and middy LesPaul which spotted 59s and now a WLHb.
The 59 sounded bigger in there than the WLHb and with the next string chance it will be back to the 59b.

BUT the 59 is too scooped to be called beefy. In a guitar without the natural mids it can sound pretty thin.
It's not beefy by itself.

That's why you swap a UOA5 into it.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

 

[Rex_Rocker]

totally get what you mean, but i still disagree!
i have a warm and middy LesPaul which spotted 59s and now a WLHb.
The 59 sounded bigger in there than the WLHb and with the next string chance it will be back to the 59b.

BUT the 59 is too scooped to be called beefy. In a guitar without the natural mids it can sound pretty thin.
It's not beefy by itself.

Honestly, I wouldn't say either is fat-sounding, but I just don't think PAF's in general are. As far as PAF's go, I think I do agree with you in that they tend to accentuate the guitar's natural qualities more than hotter winds. So yeah, if you've got a mid-forward Les Paul, '59's will balance out nicely. I tend to associate "fat" more with lows and lower mids rather than high mids or even core mids personally, and I think the WLH's defining characteristic is that it's got some nice snarling and raspy high mids that give it lots of character under gain while still having the A5 firm bottom end, unlike the Pearly Gates.

Maybe I'm just biased because I was kinda underwhelmed with the WLH. For less money, I thought the '59 sounded more like I'd want a PAF to sound.

Another one to consider is the DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAF. I think that one has a bit more low-mid content than either the '59 or the WLH. Nice pickup, IMO, and underrated. I think it's because it's not really a traditionally-constructed PAF.

 

[ToneFiddler]

That's why you swap a UOA5 into it.

Sent from my SM-A115A using Tapatalk

in this guitar, stock is fine!

 

[JohnnyGuitarCA]

DiMarzio Air Zone!

"The best way to describe the Air Zone™ is to say it’s a vintage version of The Tone Zone®. It’s got the same low string-pull as our other Airbuckers™ for singing sustain, plus it has the big bass response and cool harmonics of The Tone Zone®, with extra sensitivity and control. It’s a great match for very hot amps, allowing the player to take full advantage of massive preamp gain without turning the sound to mud or fuzzy noise. It’s also a great neck pickup for jazz players who need to get the hollow-body arch top sound from a solid body, and it offers exceptionally good split and series-parallel capability."

 

[PFDarkside]

if we are talking about a muscular paf, then a patb3 is a fine choice. if money was no object, then id suggest a brobucker. it was literally designed to be a huge sounding muscular overwound paf. from what the op said, i dont know if a patb3 would be enough. i stand by my custom or custom5 recommendation. i dont hear the hybrid as being all that paf toned, and its brighter than the c5 to my ears

I was reading through wondering why no one said Brobucker yet.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I was reading through wondering why no one said Brobucker yet.

That was the first thing that came to mind for me and I did mention it upthread. Mine are among my absolute favorites.
Still, Custom Shop makes it a fairly pricey option.

 

[PFDarkside]

That was the first thing that came to mind for me and I did mention it upthread. Mine are among my absolute favorites.
Still, Custom Shop makes it a fairly pricey option.

I see I missed it in your post.

With Duncan expanding the production line options be borrowing from the custom shop, I wonder if the Brobucker will appear, maybe with a slightly altered name.

 

[LRS]

If the TS might be willing to consider Gibson pickups, either Classic 57+ or Burstbucker 3 would be an option for PAF tones with balls. The former being somewhat warmer, the latter being somewhat more agressive sounding.

 

[beaubrummels]

I was reading through wondering why no one said Brobucker yet.

I didn't because he said he needs to get to 80's metal. My Brobucker is hi-mid chimy and loose/weak on the bottom end, so I didn't think that would get there.