Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

[mariosyjp]

My Gibson LP Signature T has been through quite a few pickups since 2013 and has settled for more than a year to
Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge (regular not Slash model)

The PGn has always been my favorite neck pickup since I first tried it in a cheap Gibson faded/chambered LP.

My favorite neck tones are high gain leads in the style of Gary Moore, and John Sykes and I think it nails those (even though I install it in reverse and raise the screw coils to get some more bite).

In both the chambered LP and in the sig T the PGn is fantastic.
In the chambered the best bridge pickup was the PGb because it tightened up the hollow tone and made it actually sound like an LP.
In my sig T (a warm/middy sounding guitar acoustically) the PGb is very harsh and doesn't let out the natural tone of the guitar.
In the sig T the A2Pb is the best imaginable LP bridge tone IMO! This pickup was very boring in the bridge of the chambered LP.

My issue with my current setup is this:
Even though both pickups sound great in each position and the EQ is close (this is important to me) it feels slightly like playing another guitar when switching.
I have grown very fond of the A2P in the bridge with its nice low end and organic feel that when I switch to the neck (even though it does sound great) there is a drier feel and a more focused tone than I would expect.

I plan to try the A2Pn which I hated in the chambered LP it sounded like a hollow woolly mess.
I suspect that I will like it but will still miss the vocal tone of the PGn.

Any suggestions? I know buy another guitar and use more pickups.....

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

Have you tried running the neck pickup with a very mild tone roll off? If not, try it at 9 and see what happens. You could also try the same with the volume knob instead, or running both volume and tone at 9 (adding knob pointers to your guitars helps a lot here). Sometimes, swapping for a lower value cap can help with subtle tone knob use, and help prevent the "wet blanket" sound as you roll off your tone knob. I usually halve, and sometimes even quarter, the stock cap value. E.g. If the stock cap is .022 uF, my go-to will be .01 uF, and sometimes I will even go down to a .0047 uF. (uF = micro-Farad)

If that doesn't float your boat, try some minor adjustments on the neck pickup before replacing it. Try moving the entire pickup slightly higher to boost the low end and low mids, and setting the adjustable screws lower – even below the cover if needed – in order to tamp down the output a bit. That should slightly loosen the pickup up. The rule of thumb is that overall pickup height is used to influence tone, and the screws are then used to influence volume.

 

[mariosyjp]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

Thanks for the suggestions.
Generally I prefer to use screw coils for adjusting tone (I adjust volume by tilting the pickup).
If I lower the screw coils (which are facing towards the bridge) then the neck becomes thick in the low mids and doesn't balance well with the bridge.
I am thinking about rotating the pickup to the normal direction (screws facing neck) but what happens when you raise pole pieces on a neck pickup like that? Does it still make it brighter or does it increase bass?
Maybe I should just put A3 in there and be done with it!

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

My Gibson LP Signature T has been through quite a few pickups since 2013 and has settled for more than a year to
Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge (regular not Slash model)

The PGn has always been my favorite neck pickup since I first tried it in a cheap Gibson faded/chambered LP.

My favorite neck tones are high gain leads in the style of Gary Moore, and John Sykes and I think it nails those (even though I install it in reverse and raise the screw coils to get some more bite).

In both the chambered LP and in the sig T the PGn is fantastic.
In the chambered the best bridge pickup was the PGb because it tightened up the hollow tone and made it actually sound like an LP.
In my sig T (a warm/middy sounding guitar acoustically) the PGb is very harsh and doesn't let out the natural tone of the guitar.
In the sig T the A2Pb is the best imaginable LP bridge tone IMO! This pickup was very boring in the bridge of the chambered LP.

My issue with my current setup is this:
Even though both pickups sound great in each position and the EQ is close (this is important to me) it feels slightly like playing another guitar when switching.
I have grown very fond of the A2P in the bridge with its nice low end and organic feel that when I switch to the neck (even though it does sound great) there is a drier feel and a more focused tone than I would expect.

I plan to try the A2Pn which I hated in the chambered LP it sounded like a hollow woolly mess.
I suspect that I will like it but will still miss the vocal tone of the PGn.

Any suggestions? I know buy another guitar and use more pickups.....

Thanks for the suggestions.
Generally I prefer to use screw coils for adjusting tone (I adjust volume by tilting the pickup).
If I lower the screw coils (which are facing towards the bridge) then the neck becomes thick in the low mids and doesn't balance well with the bridge.
I am thinking about rotating the pickup to the normal direction (screws facing neck) but what happens when you raise pole pieces on a neck pickup like that? Does it still make it brighter or does it increase bass?
Maybe I should just put A3 in there and be done with it!

Tilting the pickup does not allow you to controllably manipulate volume. It just increases coil mismatch in terms of output. And the only way it is permanent/stable is if you are bending the mounting ears...in which case you've got some weird pickup geometry going on that will also limit the overall pickup height.

The affect of overall pickup height on e.q. is significantly more dramatic than the effect of adjusting the screw poles alone. Screw adjustment has an affect on e.q., but it is far less than the effect of moving the whole pickup up or down. The reasons why are obvious: 1) Moving the entire pickup is moving two sets of magnetic poles instead of just one, and 2) the slug coil usually has a slightly stronger magnetic field than the screw coil. Thus, you have over 2x the amount of tonal affect by moving the whole pickup vs. moving the screw poles only. As such, it is prudent to use pickup height to make anything but slight changes to the tonal balance, and to use the adjustable screws to balance output.

The complaint is that the neck pickup is drier and more focused than the bridge pickup. So you *want* to add some low mids; that is what will make it sound wetter and looser in tone. You can do that by raising the pickup. But then it'll probably be too high in output, so you'll want to take some volume back out; do this by lowering the pole screws.

Again, use overall height for tone (higher = warmer/wetter/juicier, lower = more articulate/dryer/more scooped), and adjust volume afterward using the screw poles. Then compensate for any lost warmth with another round of more slight adjustments (pickup up followed by screw poles down).

A3 is a solution for the opposite problem. Put one in the neck pickup, and it will exacerbate your problem. It will make the pickup more dry and focused. You have the right magnet in there, and those two pickups are well within striking distance of onboard matching, via pickup adjustments and/or tone/volume tweaks. You just need to *really* learn how to adjust pickups for tone and volume, because there appears to be a good deal of confusion in that area.

 

[mariosyjp]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

Tilting the pickup does not allow you to controllably manipulate volume. It just increases coil mismatch in terms of output. And the only way it is permanent/stable is if you are bending the mounting ears...in which case you've got some weird pickup geometry going on that will also limit the overall pickup height.

I meant tilting using the 2 mounting screws left and right not up and down.

A3 is a solution for the opposite problem. Put one in the neck pickup, and it will exacerbate your problem. It will make the pickup more dry and focused. You have the right magnet in there, and those two pickups are well within striking distance of onboard matching, via pickup adjustments and/or tone/volume tweaks. You just need to *really* learn how to adjust pickups for tone and volume, because there appears to be a good deal of confusion in that area.

I know the tone of A3 vs A2 but I thought that by using A3 I would be able to bring down the screw coils, move the pickup closer to the strings.
This way making it sweater but maintain volume balance and lose some bass with the A3.
When raising the screw coils (and when they are facing the bridge) not only the treble is increased but also the humbucker picks up the tone mostly from the raised side narrowing down the perceived frequency range.

By the way I have never found in a humbucker guitar an issue with string-to-string volume balance.
To me this volume balance is pretty much already fixed with the instument's and the strings' design.
I find screw coils a great way to adjust treble response without affecting much the output.
For example in the bridge I usually set the screw coils of the plain strings lower to eliminate ice pick and higher under the wound strings to improve definition.
Sometimes the plain strings have less volume so I raise the corresponding pickup side with the mounting screw and I'm done.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

The APH used to be my favorite neck HB of all time, it went into every guitar. The PG was 2nd. I liked the APH a lot in the neck of my Lester..... until I tried out a Seth Lover again. It had been 10 years since I had tried all of those pups in the same guitar, and the APH won then. Ten years on, I enjoy the openness and clarity of the Seth Lover, and especially under gain. It has a great voice, and since Gary Moore generally played his real 59 burst(s), at least on recordings, the Seth comes really close. Even though the Seth has this clarity, it is still a warm sounding pickup. It's something you have to hear to understand. I love it.

I don't have any issues under gain either, cover or no cover.... although generally with a cover I will put a piece of masking tape over the slug coil, then put the cover back on tight.

Based on what you want, I think you'd really like it. Good luck.

 

[mariosyjp]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

Thanks for the suggestion Jeff!
I have actually tried Seths and I did love them both neck and bridge.
They have a magical 3D tone woody open smooth...BUT they didn't have enough punch for me for some 80s hard rock that I play (eg Whitesnake).
I found the bridge to be a little weak and I also wanted them to compress a little more because at the time I was playing through a marshall vintage modern (a very open/crisp amp).
Maybe with my current amp (jet city 22-has more gain available and is more compressed than the VM) the Seths would be great.
However I am loving the A2P bridge so much that I probably have to also try the neck model.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

I am not so sure Seths would be my choice for 80s hard rock, (other than GnR) as the A2 magnets are a little 'squishy' for stuff like Whitesnake. 59 or Jazz in the neck with a Hybrid in the bridge would be my choice, and it would sound different than your other guitars, but be a very versatile 80s rock machine.

 

[JWR]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

Really, really, hard to beat the PG neck in a Les Paul. It's the only one that does not sound too woofy

 

[mariosyjp]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

Really, really, hard to beat the PG neck in a Les Paul. It's the only one that does not sound too woofy

I agree! The Seth neck is really great also. What it lacks in punch it makes up for with character and detail.

 

[Discharged]

Re: Pearly Gates neck / Alnico II Pro bridge

If you ask me, the arguably "best" neck p'up for what you play is the A3-modded '59n. It pairs beautifully with an A2-modded '59b. Such a modded set, specially if covered, is the undisputed champion of price-to-tone ratio, in LPs and specially in semi-hollows.

/Peter