Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

[tskins03]

So I am debating whether to go with this combo (read the title) or buy an actual set like the whole lotta humbucker or the slash set. I want my own tone and sound and dont really wanna have a combo that someone else has. My guitar is a 10 year old Ibanez Artcore AS73 semi hollow body with graph tech resomax nv2 bridge and a trapeze tailpiece. All being played through a Crate Shockwave 350 watt amp w/ 4x12 Celestions. Figured you all would be able to help me as I am new to the PUPs world. I know I want SD for sure. I just like the way they present themselves. Plus a lot of people go with em so ill trust em.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

what tones are you looking for? the aph neck and pgb are going to be pretty different sounding, not in a bad way, but the bridge is going to have a lot of bite and snarl and the neck will be much sweeter and polite

 

[Tubes]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Hey man, I'm actually putting new pickups in an AS73 project guitar I Just picked up. Great guitar to put some nice pickups in!!

Making your own sets is nice and there's a lot of combos out there you can put together from the SD line. Reading through their descriptions helps a lot as they give you suggestions on what pairs well with what based on output and other characteristics. From that you can come to your own conclusions on what else may or may not work.

I personally don't think there's anything wrong with copying sets that others use either. You can't argue with what is tried and true and sometimes things just work and there's nothing wrong with doing the same thing. There's musicians out there that have been tinkering and experimenting for over 50 years and paying attention to what they're doing can save you a LOT of time in finding the tone you're looking for, believe me.

I'm doing a pretty classic humbucker setup in my AS73, the SH-2 Jazz in the neck and an SH-4 JB in the bridge. I think those two pickups cover a lot of really nice tones. I like the slash Alnico II pros a lot too, and thought about them before as well but I also kinda of think that they're a one trick pony in some regards too. I'm a huge Slash fan myself but I've found that I can mimic his tone with other neck humbuckers out there which also give me a little more versatility all around.

What kind of music do you play?

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

I lierally play EVERYTHING from Megadeth to christian soft rock and everything in between EXCEPT COUNTRY CAUSE FU®® COUNTRY lol. Although brad paisley is one of the greatest guitarist in the world. Yea so I really have no soecific music I play. I want my own spin on how music should be and make my renditions/covers really one of a kind sounding.

 

[Tubes]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Well in that case I should probably mention that Dave Mustaine plays an SH-2 a lot.


http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/vintage-output/sh2_jazz_model/

Check out the videos, they give you a good variety of sounds.

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Should I keep my stock pots or should I get some push/pull pots to go single coil. Whats the benefit if I do that? More sound/tone options?

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Well in that case I should probably mention that Dave Mustaine plays an SH-2 a lot.


http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/vintage-output/sh2_jazz_model/

Check out the videos, they give you a good variety of sounds.

I have researched that one as well. Not bad but I dont know if it will be right in a semi hollow big body guitar like mine.

 

[Tubes]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

That's all personal preference. The JB and Jazz both split nicely (there's a demo in one of those videos) so I'm splitting both. Some pickups don't split well at all so it depends on what you end up getting.

As for changing the pots, I have to still look inside and see what they actually are. Ibanez guitars are made pretty damn well I've found so who knows, maybe they're quality pots. They kind of look like alpha mini pots from the side but I can't tell for sure. Either way I want to put two push/pulls in there (and maybe a 3rd down the road for a piezo pickup). Changing them in a hollow body isn't super fun as you may have guess. First I gotta figure out what's in there to begin with. The wiring inside looks really nice actually just looking through the soundhole. I see nicely trimmed heatshrink everywhere so maybe the pots are good, you never know.

 

[Tubes]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

I have researched that one as well. Not bad but I dont know if it will be right in a semi hollow big body guitar like mine.

Watch these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7sv2NxhAw8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs9LFSYm0gY

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Watch these:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7sv2NxhAw8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rs9LFSYm0gY

Wow very nice. Thanks for sharing those vids. I think imma still gonna try out the PG and Alnico IIs. Who knows it might the best thing since sliced bread.

the chainz of the few are the chainz of two

 

[Tubes]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Alnico II's sound great in hollow/semi-hollows too so you can't go wrong.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

I want my own tone and sound and dont really wanna have a combo that someone else has. My guitar is a 10 year old Ibanez Artcore AS73 semi hollow body with graph tech resomax nv2 bridge and a trapeze tailpiece. All being played through a Crate Shockwave 350 watt amp w/ 4x12 Celestions.

a matched or calibrated set is generally a good thing. Don't worry too much cos your setup is probably unique already. Just aim for a set that gives you the response you want.
Megadeth to christian soft rock is a pretty wide playing field, so it would be better to describe what you like/dislike about the pickups you have now and then describe what you want/don't want from a new set.
But to answer your original question...yeah an APH and a PGb would match up close enough. They are both vintage wound A2 pickups with an emphasis on the mids and highs. I reckon they are actually a closer match than the Pg/pg set.

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

a matched or calibrated set is generally a good thing. Don't worry too much cos your setup is probably unique already. Just aim for a set that gives you the response you want.
Megadeth to christian soft rock is a pretty wide playing field, so it would be better to describe what you like/dislike about the pickups you have now and then describe what you want/don't want from a new set.
But to answer your original question...yeah an APH and a PGb would match up close enough. They are both vintage wound A2 pickups with an emphasis on the mids and highs. I reckon they are actually a closer match than the Pg/pg set.

Wow thank you. My setup is pretty damn unique lol. A blues jazzish guitar set up playing through a half stack monster made for metal lol. Im gonna go with the alnico neck, either the I or II and the PG for the bridge. Im already looking crazy for my rig already so why not just go all out. Now hopefully black friday thru cyber monday will have good deals for PUPs at guitar center. I heard they are doing 15 percent off ANY non sale item. I will let you guys know what I do hopefully next week SALE permitting lol.

the chainz of the few are the chainz of two

 

[blueman335]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

the aph neck and pgb are going to be pretty different sounding, not in a bad way

+1. If you like a big difference in EQ between bridge and neck, then use that pair. For myself, an A2P set, bridge and neck is much better. PGB's are brighter and thinner than most people expect them to be. A2PB's are a little fuller and warmer sounding.

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

+1. If you like a big difference in EQ between bridge and neck, then use that pair. For myself, an A2P set, bridge and neck is much better. PGB's are brighter and thinner than most people expect them to be. A2PB's are a little fuller and warmer sounding.

What guitar are you using? A lot of people ive been talking to on forum and off are solid body players, i.e. les pauls, diamond series, and strat players. I, however, am using a artcore as73 with trapeze tailpiece amped through a half stack Crate 350 watt shockwave. Odd setup. Nothing of mine matches. Literally lol so I am thinking the pg bridge and aph2 neck. They really dont "match" but I like the huge differemce in them. You should see the outfits I wear lol. The wife wants to punch me sometimes with the way I dress. I feel that these pickups will match my style and personality and I made this thread on here to see what people thought and its just what I expected, mixed reviews.

the chainz of the few are the chainz of two

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Just ordered a zebre pearly gate for the bridge on my hollow body. Ill post a video of a before and after sound clip. Ive searched on youtube and all ive seen is PGs in solid bodies mainly les pauls of course.

if im not back in 5 minutes...........just wait longer.

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Installed and sounding beautiful.

if im not back in 5 minutes...........just wait longer.

 

[Rik Zappa]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Hi, i love your ''odd'' guitar.Do you have put graphtech saddle on the bridge?If yes , is it more mellow than the original metal saddle?And do you have put your alnnico II Pro on the neck? I was thinking i setup almost like you ( in a semi hollow) but with the 78' in bridge.

 

[Artie]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Cool project. It certainly was nice of Ibby to make those f-holes so big. I've worked on a few, (non-Ibby f-holes), where my language became . . . colorful.

 

[tskins03]

Re: Pearly Gates (bridge) & APH-1n alnico (neck)

Hi, i love your ''odd'' guitar.Do you have put graphtech saddle on the bridge?If yes , is it more mellow than the original metal saddle?And do you have put your alnnico II Pro on the neck? I was thinking i setup almost like you ( in a semi hollow) but with the 78' in bridge.

I got the whole graphtech bridge with the string saver saddles. I like it a lot. Worth the $70. Less string breakage too. I play kinda hard and go through at least one string every two weeks but with the string saver I havnt replaced any yet. Except the e cause I was an idiot and over tuned it. Lol. I haven't changed the neck pickup yet. Saving money for it. It does sound great tho. Not too bright. A really good sound.

if im not back in 5 minutes...........just wait longer.