P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

[Towliff]

Hi there.

I’m new to all this so sorry for dragging up a question which has probably been answered. I have a 2011 Gibson Les Paul Classic with what I think are BurstBucker pickups. I’m not a metal fiend, I just like to jam and play rock, crunch, blues, clean etc. I’m Starting to get into playing Paul Gilbert stuff (although I’m far less technically capable!! . )

I’m re-levelling and crowning frets at the moment, and I am considering putting in some P Rails and triple shots. Problem is I don’t know anywhere nearby where I can hear this combo or try out (based in Southampton, England).

What opinions do you guys have of the P Rails and do you think these could be a good pickup to put in my LP? I don’t have any other guitars hence fancied the versatility of the single coil/P90/humbucker series/parallel.

I have read that lots of people don’t like the series much - or am I misunderstanding it?

If I do decide to go for these, which way round would you recommend putting them in:

Neck PU with the rail toward neck or bridge?
Bridge PU with rail toward neck or bridge?

Should I avoid the hot version?
Should I get two of the same one (I.e 2x bridge or 2x neck) or get one neck and one bridge P Rail?

Thanks for your help / comments / opinions.

James

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

I’ve installed P-Rails in a few guitars for customers. My opinion was the two single coils by themselves sound too much alike, and both in series as a humbucker was pure mud.

I didn’t see the appeal, but some people like them.

I’d rather have a good humbucker I can switch into parallel for a brighter tone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dystrust]

Re: P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

I have a set of P-Rails with Triple Shots in my SG and I think at least 3 of the available tones (Rail / P90 / Parallel) should work for you. The series humbucking sound is VERY fat as DavidRavenMoon suggests, and I rarely use it on the neck pickup. I have no issues using the bridge in series, but I played JBs and Customs for years before I bought the P-Rails. That being said, I generally prefer parallel to series unless I feel that I need the extra output.

Depending on your amp and how you play, the bridge in series may be a little muddy in a LP. This refers to the standard neck / bridge set; I don't see why anyone would want any more output such as running two bridge models or the P-Rails Hot. Itsabass actually uses two neck models for just this reason.

 

[Aceman]

Re: P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

First of, I have no idea why people would want the "hot" version. So, moving on....

Next, when the rail and P-90 are in series, they are pretty freaking hot. I believe that MOST Prail fans, since there is a single, and a P90, want the humbucker to be a "classic" PAF style like a 59 or something. Unfortunately, because math, the rail and P90 equal something closer to a Dimebucker in hotness.

Now - I think it is pretty cool. My Prails are in a 335 style. So if I want to pimp-slap a Fender preamp into next week by hitting it with those in Series and play Symphony of destruction, I can do that. However - since we are talking Triple Shots, what you do is put it in Parallel mode and there is you vintage output hum bucking sound.

I think most of the pain is guys who didn't get triple shots with them or had unreasonable expectations. As for the "muddy" Les Paul concerns, meh. You know your Les Paul better than anyone. I will say that I find the Prails generally bright pickups overall, but again, mine are in an Epi Dot Studio. But if you think you can go with the neck in series and it it be bright, crisp and articulate....at 12-14k or whatever it is, probably not. But, in Parallel, that's a whole other deal.

 

[Mincer]

Re: P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

Welcome to the forum!
Is there an issue with your current pickups that you'd like to solve, (too bright, more power, etc)? Sometimes it is helpful to know where you are now, and where you'd like to go.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

I've got P-Rails and Triple Shots in MANY guitars and really love them. Don't get the bridge version...way too hot and tends to sound muddy. Two neck versions are the ticket. DavidRavenMoon is correct that the two single coils tend to sound similar. But only if you mount the bridge pup with the P-90 coil toward the bridge. I always mount the Rail coil toward the bridge and get 4 totally different tones out of the pup. Sometimes I have put an A8 magnet on the Rail coil to give it a little more boost when next to the bridge. In the neck, I still think you'll get more tonal variation with the P-90 toward the neck and the Rail coil toward the bridge.

The TS rings are a great addition and work wonderfully for me (others have not particularly liked them). They work more intuitively if you use the alternate wiring scheme that is shown on the card that comes with the TS.

 

[ibmorjamn]

Re: P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

I was going to post something about p-rails in my "having a custom built bridge" thread but since there are comments here I guess it fits. I put all of the specs in the tone wizard and the top of the list is p-rails. Very high output was not what I was after but I listened to the bridge and it depends on the amp and amount of drive you use (based of their demo) not knowing what the full signal path is ? On a crunchy amp (less drive) it does sound good. On a heavier gain amp setting it is to much much but that might be because the option I chose versatile.

I listen to the jazz neck and the JB again also came up on the wizard , the jazz neck sounds good until it is played through a dirty amp to me. JB is not bad
lastly it gave me the custom 5 . I believe that is the one I bought a couple of years ago and it resides in my Dean "V" it is good to but I am still searching.
My 2000 Gibson pawn shop "special les paul" has a Dimarzio 36th anniversary in the bridge. It is close but I think it needs just a bit more oomph .

 

[dystrust]

Re: P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

I was going to post something about p-rails in my "having a custom built bridge" thread but since there are comments here I guess it fits. I put all of the specs in the tone wizard and the top of the list is p-rails. Very high output was not what I was after but I listened to the bridge and it depends on the amp and amount of drive you use (based of their demo) not knowing what the full signal path is ? On a crunchy amp (less drive) it does sound good. On a heavier gain amp setting it is to much much but that might be because the option I chose versatile.

I listen to the jazz neck and the JB again also came up on the wizard , the jazz neck sounds good until it is played through a dirty amp to me. JB is not bad
lastly it gave me the custom 5 . I believe that is the one I bought a couple of years ago and it resides in my Dean "V" it is good to but I am still searching.
My 2000 Gibson pawn shop "special les paul" has a Dimarzio 36th anniversary in the bridge. It is close but I think it needs just a bit more oomph .

If you're looking for PAF with a bit more, the Whole Lotta Humbucker set is amazing. They recently replaced the 59s in my ES-335 mostly because the bridge was just too bright and thin. I love the result; think Alex Lifeson on All the World's a Stage. I've heard that the Saturday Night Special set is good as well, but I haven't played that one yet.

 

[ibmorjamn]

Re: P rails with triple shots in Les Paul - Opinions requested

That is a good suggestion . I like the 36th Ann. But there is room for more tone.