New pickups for my Les Paul

[GrevDrake]

I have a Les Paul Custom 20th anniversary from 1974 and I want to install new pickups. I'm thinking about the following combination:

APH-1 / Alnico II Pro NECK (with a gold cover)
SHPG-1 / Pearly Gates BRIDGE (with a gold cover)

Any opinions?

EDIT: btw, I'm new here, so hello to y'all!

 

[theodie]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

I would go with the APH in the neck and the bridge. I have never gotten along very well with the PGB. I find it bright and trashy sounding.

 

[Buck Cannon]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

The Alnico 5 in the PG-Plus (Bridge) helped alot,

 

[Kelsey]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

I just put an APH neck and PG bridge in my LP Studio, and it's an outstanding combination. They are easy to adjust for matching output, and they complement each other very well with smooth, round tones at the neck, and rich mids and bite at the bridge. The bite of the PG is easy to tame with the tone control, and it's easy to EQ an amp for the two pickups. I went with uncovered black pickups rather than gold covers, so that might affect the tone somewhat, but I think it's a great combo either way, depending of course on the tone of the guitar to some degree.

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

I'm a big APH fan, neck, bridge, it doesn't matter, warm, smooth, and sweet....with just the right amount of cut.

Luke

 

[The Usual]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

I am currently going through trying pickups out in a Les Paul. For me, the PG was much too harsh and difficult to get a good tone from. The AP2s are great, but I am settled with the Seth Lovers. I like the lower output pups with Alnico 2 magnets that let you use the amp for drive, and both the Seth and the AP2s are great for this. The AP2s to me are more round with full bottom and top, whereas the Seths are more mid focused. They are both great, just a different style. The Seths are giving me some troubles right now with squealing because they aren't potted, but some people on this site have been really helpful with solutions for this.

Good luck.

 

[GrevDrake]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

I ordered 2 Seth Lover pickups with gold covers and single wire with braided shielding.
They ROCK!
Nice distortion but still very clear, very fat sound and crispy.
I think these sound like Alnico Pro II, but with extra oomph.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

Good choice! You can't go wrong with Seths, CC/APII, C-5/59, Custom/59 or 59 set in a LP.

 

[GrevDrake]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

Soundclip (bridge pickup through a Behringer V-Amp with my Slash-tone setup):

Crazy Train

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: New pickups for my Les Paul

I don't know how people can NOT get good sounds from PG's in a LP.

They are the best in a Lester.