New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

[bosartig]

Hello

Hope you can help me out with this. I plan to do a major maintenance to my 97 Gibson Les Paul guitar with a certified technician by Gibson. I play Grunge, Hard Rock and Blues.

I am changing the original pickups I would like to use for the neck position the Jazz SH-2n humbucker or the Slash neck humbucker. For bridge I am between the JB SH-4 or the Distortion SH-6B. The technician told me to hear the pickups with headphones at You Tube since he mentioned it was up to me to take the choice.

Which pickup alignment do you recommend me for the genres I play?

Should the guitar be connected in serial or parallel to have a better sound, I might get a pop up swith in the volume control to have both connections but in case it is not possible, which kind of connection would you use in my case?


Thank you very much for your comments.:crazy:

 

[Mincer]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Welcome to the forum!

For the genres you play, I'd actually recommend a 59 and a Custom. While the JB can do hard rock well, it doesn't do the blues thing very well due to the compression. The Slash in the neck might be too soft in the bass for grunge, too. You can always add a series/parallel switch for each pickup, as long as your pickups are 4 conductor.

 

[audiocheck]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Hello

Hope you can help me out with this. I plan to do a major maintenance to my 97 Gibson Les Paul guitar with a certified technician by Gibson. I play Grunge, Hard Rock and Blues.

I am changing the original pickups I would like to use for the neck position the Jazz SH-2n humbucker or the Slash neck humbucker. For bridge I am between the JB SH-4 or the Distortion SH-6B. The technician told me to hear the pickups with headphones at You Tube since he mentioned it was up to me to take the choice.

Which pickup alignment do you recommend me for the genres I play?

Should the guitar be connected in serial or parallel to have a better sound, I might get a pop up swith in the volume control to have both connections but in case it is not possible, which kind of connection would you use in my case?


Thank you very much for your comments.:crazy:

What kind of guitar amp do you use? Hi Gain or moderate Gain?

Pedals?

 

[CaptainWhizz]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Grunge is a pretty broad category, but I believe Kurt Cobain and Jerry Cantrell both used JBs at points in their careers.

Personally I would (and have) gone for a Custom and 59 in a Les Paul as Mincer says, as well as having a 59/ Custom Hybrid and a Tonerider Generator in a Les Paul DC.

 

[bosartig]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

What kind of guitar amp do you use? Hi Gain or moderate Gain?

Pedals?

JCM900 pedals DS2

 

[bosartig]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Hello

JCM900 pedals DS2

 

[bosartig]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Thank you for the information

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

I'll throw another vote in for the Custom in the bridge. As far as the neck, I've used a PGn in an Epi LP for 90's alt-rock with good results.

 

[Reverberocket2]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

The Slash set is pretty versatile. It can definitely do hard rock and blues.

The Slash neck pickup and Jazz neck pickup are polar opposites, so I would decide whether you want the warm fat alnico 2 sound of the Slash neck sound or a bright cutting alnico 5 sound of the Jazz neck and then match a bridge pickup to the neck pickup of your choice.

59/Custom Hybrid and Jazz neck might make a nice pair.

 

[misterwhizzy]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

I’ll add a vote for the Custom also, and I’d caution against the Distortion bridge. If I played at least ten percent of the time on the neck pickup, I’d make a recommendation there too, but I don’t, so I’ll reserve judgment.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Hi vicious (thats what your username means in german), since you use pedals, you should have compression in spades and should use a Custom. If you need even more compression, you can try a Distortion. Since i hate the JB in a Les Paul, i first refused to give the Distortion (a JB with a double ceramic magnet) a shot in the LP, but i was wrong. I recently tried it and loved it for a some heavy distorted sounds.

 

[bosartig]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Thanks, glad someone from Germany is on the forum.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Bridge = Custom 5, or C/59.
Neck = Jazz (so much better than the 59), PG, Alnico 2 Pro (a bit more versatile than the Slash).

 

[audiocheck]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

JCM900 pedals DS2

Since you are using a pedal to drive your amp, when needed, why not go for a vintage output set of pickups? Depending what you put in your bridge, the Jazz neck (I have found) is not the best in a Les Paul. For me, it was no good paired with a screamin' Demon or a 59b. I think my favorite neck pups on a LP are the Full Shred Neck, PGn and a 59n. The Screamin' Demon works in the neck in some cases too.

In the bridge, I don't like the Custom (many do, I don't like the lack of dynamics). If you got to go High Output, you can't go wrong with the Distortion. I have never used, but it seems the Slash set may be the way to go for you. It will give you great Hard Rock and Blues Tones. When you have to drive for Grunge, just use the pedal to do the rest. Any Duncan combo will be an improvement over Gibson pickups.

 

[Xeromus]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

I've got a '59 neck and Custom bridge in my Les Paul and it's perfect.

 

[bosartig]

Re: New seymour duncan pickups alignment for 97 Gibson Lespaul

Hello all, Thank you for the feedback. I went for the Duncan distortion for the bridge and the slash humbucker for the neck. Now I haven´t decided on the wiring yet.

Best Regards