Pearly Gates vs. Pearly Gates Plus

[ratkent]

Re: Pearly Gates vs. Pearly Gates Plus

The only thing I might add about the Pearly Gates Plus is that it makes a great neck pickup if you have a really hot bridge pickup. I had a PG+ lying around from my Lone Star Strat and I put it in the neck of an SG with a Custom in the bridge and it killed.

 

[Robert Delahunt]

Re: Pearly Gates vs. Pearly Gates Plus

The PG+ is standard spaced, to match the AM STD trems. As far as how it'll sound in a LP, it sounds fab. I don't think it's much like the 59. It's in the ballpark, but it isn't exactly the same.

Go ebay hunting or keep your eyes open here on the board. Lots of folks sell them off. I've gotten all of mine used for around $50.

It's trembucker space. I'm looking at one right now, and the string spacing at bridge is 2.0"+

EDIT: The pole pieces align also. Still, if it technically "isn't" a trembucker, it ought to be because of the spacing, but since the pole pieces align, I'm calling it a trembucker.

 

[hanumanlangur]

Re: Pearly Gates vs. Pearly Gates Plus

I was playing a Strat with the PGP bridge and a Hamer Studio Custom with the '59 bridge the other day, and A-B'ing them on the same Dr. Z amp. I did this for awhile, actually, because I found it really interesting. The tones weren't very different. The Strat was a bit clearer and more open, and the Hamer was a bit deeper and smoother, but the fundamental tone was very similar.

Did I mention that the new Strat was less than half the price of the used Hamer, and sounded as good?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Pearly Gates vs. Pearly Gates Plus

I have not measured the separate coils in the PG plus in my Big Apple. But I did measure them once in a regular PG that I was installing in my Strat and I found that the two coils were not matched. They were close but not identical.

I have measured the coils in a 59b and they did appear to be identical...same DC Resistance.

I know it's been stated here that the two coils on a PG are matched. All I can say is that the two coils on the one I measured were not matched. Perhaps the one I measured was a fluke.

I suspect that that is one of the diffs between a alnico 559b and a alnico 5 PG plus. They do appear to sound very similar.

I do know that the two coils in a Lindy Fralin Unbucker are not matched and that the Unbucker has a brighter tone than Lindy's regular humbucker. I don't know whether the unmatched coils actually increased treble or just decreased mids in a way that allowed the existing treble to stand out a little more. Maybe it's that the hotter coil dominates the weaker coil and in doing so accentuates a bit of that single coil tone. I don't know! I'm not sure Lindy knows exactly what's happening either, but it works.

In any case, there seemed to be a similar thing going on in the PG that I measured, although that could have a fluke pickup with mismatched coils that I measured.

Lew