Re: NPD - Black Friday deal
Update.
Got them installed this week. Only had a chance to give them a thorough go yesterday and today. Put the original gold covers back on them, so the guitar still has it's stock appearance.
If I had to sum them up in one word, it would be smooth. they have a very wide tonal range, but no harshness anywhere in the eq spectrum. The bridge is very satisfying, without any spiky treble. I normally have the tone knob down around 7 on a Gibson style bridge hum bucker, but I'm quite content to leave this one wide open. It's very nice clean, but it really sings at a rock to harder rock gain. It doesn't have the honk of a Seth Lover, or the anger of my WLH set. You know how Seths have a sort of growl? I don't know if that comes from being unpotted, but this Slash doesn't have any of that (I love that growl, actually, but I don't want my guitars to all sound the same, so I'm enjoying this, especially with a lot of dirt.)
The neck pu is very rich and creamy. "Fluid" is a word that keeps popping to mind. Clean it does a very nice jazzy sound, but again it really shines with gain. Again, the best way to describe it is smooth, with no mud. there's a certain throatiness on the initial attack, not completely unlike the 490 that was in there, but much more complex. Note separation is excellent.
I really like the combo of both pickups in the middle position. Again, not much need to mess with the tone knobs.
The one thing I was worried about was that this guitar with the ebony board and maple neck had a very piano-note attack that I heard with the stock pickups on clean. I was worried it wouldn't be there after the swap, but it's there, so the pickups don't detract at all from the guitar's own voice.
They are definitely a big step up from the original pick ups, especially the bridge, which was both harsh and anemic. I don't know if I would say they are my favourite Duncans: they are a very good all-round PAF-type pickup, and very versatile. But they don't have as much character as my Seths or WLHs. But they are a very good fit for this guitar, or probably any semi-hollow. You still get that ES growl.
Another set of stock Gibson pickups in the pile.