Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

HighGain

HighGain

New member
I've decided I don't really care for the BB Pros in my '06 Les Paul. They seem more harsh than sweet to my ears. I've lowered them some, but they still just don't really do it for me.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with a PG in the bridge of a Les Paul. I have one in the bridge of an alder fat Strat and it sounds amazing, so I was thinking of going that route with the Standard. I'm playing through Marshalls, DSL50 and JCM 900 Mk III, Greenback 4 x 12, G12T75 2 x 12, V30 2 x 12....Billy Gibbons, Joe Perry, Warren Haynes,... mostly classic and southern stuff.

Coupla questions for you guys in the know, as I've never been one to switch pickups around a whole lot. What SD pup would be a good compliment in the neck for the PG? Does the nickel cover differ much in tone from an open coil pup? Should I even be thinking about the PG in the bridge, or is there a better combo I should be looking at?

Any feedback (ha) would be appreciated. Thanks!
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

warren haynes used a PG set for a long long time. One of his LPs has burstbuckers in it now and he uses that along with the PG set. Personally i think a PG set in an LP is darn nice. Id pair the PG neck with a CC bridge if you want a little more output, otherwise stick with the PG set.

let me clarify, i have never spent a lot of time with marshalls, im a fender guy myself, so im not taking your gear into consideration when answering your question. Only mentioning the PG set because you mentioned warren haynes and that is his "classic" pickup combination.
 
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Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Personally, I love the PG neck but, I do not get along with the PG bridge. I find the PG in the bridge to be kind of bright, trashy, harsh but, none of those things at the same time. Its really hard for me to describe the tone of it.

I have a Marshall MKIII and I had a Slash sig. I found the PG bridge to be that way in either and more so that way in the Slash IIRC. The Custom Custom is good but, if you dont mind rolling the volume and tone knob, the custom is a great choice for classic rock to hard rock in a LP. Matches PERFECTLY with a PG neck also.

BTW, just by swapping the magnet, you can make any custom series pickup into any one of the other customs. The CC uses a A2, the C5 uses a A5, and the Custom uses a A8. Plus, you can use a A8, A4, etc with good results. Its a good pickup to get becasue they all have their own sound but, you can tailor it by swapping the magnet to what you want.
 
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Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Remember the A2 '59, also. It's probably closest to a potted Seth, so it's warmer and fuller than a PG bridge. You might have to degauss it slightly for an LP, but that's easy to do.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Pearly Gates are an excellent choice for a LP; since you liked it in a strat, I can't imagine not liking it in a LP. I prefer them with covers, as it tames the PG sizzle a bit.

BTW, I'm from the Chicagoland area, but just spent the last week in Spartanburg, staying with friends. It's beautiful down there, and a lot warmer than it is here!
 
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Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

I think the PG set sounds like good bet for you from your description. I have it in an all mahog HH guitar and its very LPish. No harshness or brittleness here just smooth,fat and clear.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Thanks, fellas. Keep the ideas coming. That's interesting about the pup cover. I thought it would probably tame it some, but I've never bothered to ask that question in 30 years. Sad, I know. I thought I knew stuff in my 20s and 30s. I had to turn 40 to get a clue. :doh:

Lemonman, glad you liked our neck of the woods. That means a lot that you gave a shout out. I'm proud to be from here. A huge southern rock connection growing up with the Marshall Tucker Band being from here. Artimus Pyle, the heyday drummer for Skynyrd lived just up the road from me back in the 80s. Billy Gibbons, the Allmans, other Skynyrd boys, Charlie Daniels, Hank Jr,...they all hung out in Spartanburg on occasion.

It's kinda weird, but on the SD site, it says the PG is recommended for brighter guitars. Bright doesn't exactly describe a LP, but the PG was modeled after pups in Gibbons LP, correct? That's one reason I came here for advice. Not sure which direction to go in. Thanks again for the replys.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

HG, I always enjoy my visits there. Have a burger at Ike's for me:)

The PG pups were indeed modeled after Gibbon's LP. IME, in the right guitar they can sound amazing, in the wrong guitar they can be screechy. They are what is known as assymetrically wound, which means the two coils are wound differently. It gives them an extra dimension to their sound, an extra sparkle/bite; some like it, others don't.

Your Burstbuckers are also assymetrical, but have different magnets (A5 vs. A2 in a standard PG pup). But don't spend too much time worrying about how they're wound, it's how they sound that matters. Is your fat strat a stock HSS Fender? If it is, that's a PG+ pup, which is different from the basic PG, mostly in magnet choice (A5 again). Some of us believe it's a different wind altogether, based on the way it sounds.

I've found that the soundclips on the main Duncan site are very accurate when it comes to comparing the various pickups. If you haven't listened to them, loud and through good speakers, try to do so, and not just once or twice. It'll help you get a feel for the differences between the various PAF variants, which is what I believe you want. Check out the PG, Set Lover, 59 and Alnico II Pro clips.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Dude, I love Ike's. It's a hole in the wall, but the food is hard to beat. It tastes even better after deer hunting all morning.

Yeah, the PG+ is what's in my Strat. So that's an A5 magnet and the standard PG is A2? I didn't know that. I knew it was PG+ but I thought it might have an extra few turns of wire. I didn't even consider the magnet being different. I guess I should lurk here more, eh?

So, aside from the alder vs the mahogany/maple cap, we're talking about 2 different pups altogether in the PG and PG+? I was hoping they'd be more similar. I looked at some reviews on one of the net retail sites, and I think the PG is still worth a shot for what I want, although I think I'm down to just taking the suggestions from you guys and trying a few out. I can unload what I don't like on ebay.

I'll skip the neck portion of this discussion until I settle on the bridge pup. 'Preciate the help.

Here's the guitar I'm tweaking.

000_0343.jpg
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

When I was trying out all of the Duncans on my LP, the PG was not a good choice for similar reasons posted here. Sizzly and a little harsh. For me, the best bridge pups were APII and a 498T with an A2 magnet in it.

For what it's worth, the APII is a potted Seth. The non potting of the Seth adds some air, which adds a reverb like ringing overtone. It can be nice, but never dialed out. It wasn't for me, but I'd love to try it in a hollow body.

If you want more output, CC/59 hybrid with an A2 is cool too. But it is compressed and again, that doesn't dial out.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Welcome Highgain! Based on what you will be playing, I think the PG set will be just fine!
As for the "harsh/screechy" crowd, Listen to some ZZ Top. anything there harsh and screechy? The PG has an upper mid spike that let's it cut through and the a2 mag puts a sweet cover on the very top. The assymetrical wind gives it some dimension and "air" I think it is what we think of when we talk about a great 59 LP. No doubt, there is some sizzle/rudeness about them, but there is this thing called a tone control if it has a bit much bite for you. And how does the cover take the hair off??!?!?!?! Never heard that before. Oh well - give it a try!

as for the neck, just get the PG. There is no better LP neck in many an LP players opinion here.

However - let me tell you my 'goto' Southern/classic rock combo: PG neck, CC bridge. The CC has a MONSTER mid boost, right in the middle of 'mid.' Also it is FAT!!!! I can't emphasize that enough. My epi with that combo is my go to Allmans, Skynrd etc...axe. The CC is not for everyone, but if you like it, you'll LOVE it.

Either way, Double PG's or PG/CC are both great combo's and for what you play I can't imagine you wouldn't like either.

Look at my avatar - would I steer you wrong bro?
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

LOL...thanks, Aceman. Hey, I met some guys last year from your town...the Outlaws. They were great. I was totally heartbroken 5 months later about the death of Hughie Thomasson. A cool guy and one of my favorite guitar players. I wish they'd release the new album. The songs were some of the best they've ever done.

Lots of good info coming at me. So, the covers make no difference? Hmmm...well, it'll either be nickel or zebra then. That's settled. LOL.

I think I'm going to start out with the PG set, since everyone seems to like the PG neck. That will be there, and if I don't like the bridge, I can switch it out to something else that jives with the PG neck.

Aceman, I've always liked that avatar pic you have. Rocket Ride ON!
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Also - get the pups from one of our many forum bro dealers. You can then invoke the Duncan Exchange policy. If you really don't like the PG set, swap that PG out for a CC.

Check Lew, or Martin6string...Who else guys?
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

I'm going to go ahead and say PG set too.

Nothing's better than a good LP's with a set of Pearly's going into a Marshall voiced amp for har rock, southern rock, and blues.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

i love my pearly gates, i think they are perfect for a les paul. especially into a marshall with greenbacks.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

You can spend $200 on a set of PG's or $10 on a couple A2 magnets. Hmmm...

Please don't do the newbie thing and keep throwing money at new PU's, until you've twaeked what you have. Your BBP's have A5's; pop in A2's and you have something close to a PG, and it may be just what you want. Save your money.
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Not bad advice. I see pups in a million places, but I've never seen just the magnets. Where do I get my hands on some?
 
Re: Pearly Gates and Les Pauls / Advice please

Jeffrec said:
Jeremy,

You don't find the bridge to be too bright?

Jeff
Click to expand...

no. ive said before that i think that the pgb has some similarities to a great tele bridge pup, bright and punchy but not harsh, if you know how to use your tone control you can get almost anything out of it. ive had the same set for years, at the moment its in les paul special and i love it. if its too bright for a certain part, i roll back the tone a little. high end can be scary since its harder to hide mistakes but it will force you to be a cleaner player. i think the 59 has more high end than the pearly gates, but the 59 has less mids with more bottom, where the pg has strong upper mids.

if some one found the pg too bright and didnt want to use their tone control i would suggest putting a 250k tone control on that pup.

a buddy of mine uses the pg in his main jackson and also in his esp and he plays straight up metal. if you have the right amp you can do lots of different styles with the pg.
 
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