Pickup advice

[MartinS]

Hi. I've got a 1979 Gibson 335. The bridge pickup is more "country and western" than I'd like, so I'm looking for a bit more fatness and raunch, and I'd also like more sustain on the neck pickup, but with sweetness and clarity when played clean. Which SD pickups would you recommend?

Thanks.

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: Pickup advice

For what kind of stuff? Custom 5 for biting hard rock tone, Custom Custom for fat rock tone. Custom Custom/PG set could be what you want, but if it's low gain, Seth or APH/Jazz or Pearly Gates.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pickup advice

welcome to the forum!!

so you want less bright in the bridge. how is the output? too low or ok?

is the neck bright enough now?

 

[MartinS]

Re: Pickup advice

Hi. Thanks. I've listened to some of the samples on the SD website. I think I like the sound of the Pearly Gates for both neck and bridge, but I'm not sure. Someone outside this forum has recommended a Pearly Gates for the bridge and an Alnico II for the neck.

My band plays indie pop along the lines of REM or Echo and the Bunnymen. I don't use too many effects, just a Boss DD3, an Electro Harmonix Tube Zipper and a George Dennis GD120 Volume/Tremolo.

I think the output of the standard pickups is a little low, but I'm certainly not a screaming solo merchant (I like that nice Mr Slash and all that, but it's not my bag playing-wise). I'd like a sweeter neck sound with a bit more sustain and a bridge sound with more, um, attitude.

EDITED TO CORRECT STUPID MISTAKES!

 

[MartinS]

Re: Pickup advice

I've listened to the sound samples again and thought about my playing style, and think Pearly Gates in both neck and bridge positions could be right for me. Can anyone share experience of using these?

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: Pickup advice

PG's should work extremely well, because they have some bite, which is needed in a semi.
E: but if you want fat bridge, PG won't be. Seth will.

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Pickup advice

I disagree. In terms of fatness, I'd say a regular PGb (if it measures a little high like 8.40K and up) is definitely fatter (but sounds more barking due to them uppermids of the PGs) than a regular seth (with dc values measuring generally quite low, like 8.00K or lower).

For the neck as friend has recommended a2p-n or seth neck would be better I think. I personaly favor PGs. But you say "I'd also like more sustain on the neck pickup, but with sweetness and clarity when played clean". PGn is an a2 PAF clone, yet has much more uppermid than the other two. That's why I like it but at the same time due to this it is less sweet.

I'd say go for a PGb/A2P-N set.

Hope that helps,

B

 

[MartinS]

Re: Pickup advice

Thanks for your advice. I can hear the fatter tone of the Seth compared to the Pearly Gates bridge in the samples, but I'm becoming more than a little confused now and wondering if it's all worth the trouble. Has anybody swapped out 335 standard pickups?

 

[shogunlegend]

Re: Pickup advice

a bit raunchier than country western sounds to me like a pearly gates. if you don't like that, get a custom custom

 

[Lu_B]

Re: Pickup advice

Thanks for your advice. I can hear the fatter tone of the Seth compared to the Pearly Gates bridge in the samples, but I'm becoming more than a little confused now and wondering if it's all worth the trouble. Has anybody swapped out 335 standard pickups?

Although its not a Gibson 335 I swapped out the stock pups on my Tokai for Seths and couldn't be more happier. Yep its worth the trouble!

Have a listen to marin blues clips on sounclick he's go a 335 with Seths http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=101781&songID=2602216

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Pickup advice

I would say before we could recommend any pickups, tell us what pickups are currently in the guitar first. Are they stock Gibsons? If so, what are the specs (Alnico grade, DCR) if you happen to know? Or maybe somebody here knows what Gibson was putting in late 70's 335's.

 

[MartinS]

Re: Pickup advice

I emailed Gibson and got a reply which said: "The mounted pickups are probably Paf humbucking pickups or PAF reissue pickups."

How about Gibson burstbucker V Alnicos? (Perhaps not the best place to ask in a SD forum, huh?!)

Cheers.

 

[Lu_B]

Re: Pickup advice

I emailed Gibson and got a reply which said: "The mounted pickups are probably Paf humbucking pickups or PAF reissue pickups."

How about Gibson burstbucker V Alnicos? (Perhaps not the best place to ask in a SD forum, huh?!)

Cheers.

No we're pretty open minded about other pups.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Pickup advice

I emailed Gibson and got a reply which said: "The mounted pickups are probably Paf humbucking pickups or PAF reissue pickups."

How about Gibson burstbucker V Alnicos? (Perhaps not the best place to ask in a SD forum, huh?!)

Cheers.

They're not real PAF's or you are a semi-rich man right now. Not Burstbuckers of any kind because they didn't come out with those until about 3 years ago. Not 57 Classics because they came out in the 90's.

I wonder if they're T-Tops. When did they stop making T-Tops anyway? Hmmm....

Anyway, sounds like they're some sort of PAF-clone/vintage output buckers.

 

[MartinS]

Re: Pickup advice

Hmmm... indeed. The more I look into this, the more confused I become!

Let's try a different tack: if you had a 79 335 (with coil tap, although I never use it) and wanted to make the most of it's inherent tone, what pickups would you put in it?

(I'm not looking for a "hot" sound, I just feel it's lacking something.)

 

[Iron Horse]

Re: Pickup advice

With coil tap, I'd mod it into phase switch, and install something like CustomCustom and PG or PG set.

 

[MartinS]

Re: Pickup advice

The Seth Lovers sound pretty cool from what clips I've been able to find. How easy (or otherwise) is it to swap 335 pickups?

 

[reilly]

Re: Pickup advice

i had a seth lover in the neck of myless paul, it had a very fatt and beefy sound to it. I also had a set of Pearly gates in my ec-1000 (paul style body), i didnt really like them to much they were not as fat and big sounding as the 59's i had in my other ec-1000, but hey may be ok for you im into music a bit harder. I like a bright sound but i also want it to sound big. I ended up switching to a JB in the Bridge and 59 in the Neck. I do think the 59's have a lot of caracter to them

 

[johnny blackwater]

Re: Pickup advice

If its a `79 and it has a coil tap, it may be a Gibson "velvet brick" pickup, does it have black epoxy on the back? if it is stock, it definitely is a t-top of some sort. I would recommend a SD Alnico Pro II for a well balanced pickup.

 

[MartinS]

Re: Pickup advice

They sound pretty cool. Someone else has recommended the JB-bridge/59-neck combination. What I want from the bridge pickup, rather than searing overdriven leads, is a fat, very slightly distorted sound. My amp's a JC 120, but the Tube Zipper is a tube-driven distortion/envelope filter which is great, so this could be tweaked that way.