pickup for bright les paul

S

speedlearn

New member
Hello:

Need suggestions for a bridge pickup for a 1999 Les Paul Classic that is a bit bright. I am playing through Marshall 50 watt superbass head into 4x12 greenback cabinet. Tone I am looking for is classic rock - Mick Ronson, early 70s classic rock. Tried seth lover, antiquity and pearly gates - they were either too bright or not enough punch. Have custom custom in there now and that is great tonally, but too much gain. Is there a pickup with custom custom pickup tone that tames bright les paul with less output - but more than seth lover and antiquity?

Thanks,

John
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

Have you thought of The Tone Zone by Dimarzio.

The Dimarzio site says "Have you ever heard a bridge pickup that made a guitar sound like a giant mosquito attack? If you’ve run into this problem, The Tone Zone® is the solution. The Tone Zone® is hot enough to qualify as a high-output pickup, but it has a wider dynamic range — hard picking will produce a lot of power, and softer picking will be much cleaner and quieter. It’s got tremendous bass and low-mid response to reinforce the bottom end and make the overall sound bigger. The highest single notes have depth, and chords sound huge. Patented dual-resonance coils reproduce more overtones than you’d expect from such a fat-sounding pickup. It makes a great match with an Air Norton™, PAF Joe™, or PAF Pro®, and split-coil mode produces an excellent single-coil sound as well."

B:8.5
M:8.5
T:5.0

I tried one in a basswood bolt-on with maple/rosewood neck and it is a lovely pickup that distorts well but can clean up with a bit less volume.
Some do complain it is a bit muddy with too much gain, but I think it's down to the amp setup and individuals ear.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

The APH set is voiced similarly to the CC, but it's not as hot. I think that would be an excellent choice. The AHP will definitely help tame the brightness. The Slash set is another you might consider as well. That set was designed to give Slash's new LP's the same tone as his old Derrig LP clone, which was a naturally bright guitar. Slash gets very heavy to very bluesy with both sets, so I think you can get the tones your looking for.

The 59' set has more punch than the Seth and Antiquity, but being an A5 magnet it does have a decent treble bite. Not overly bright by any means, but I think you'll like either the original APH set or the newer Slash set the most, based on your stated needs.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

I believe a 3OOk volume pot will help with the highs at the bridge. My LP Custom has an old RS Guitarworks Treble Tamer set in it, that works quite well.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

You know Mick Ronson and those guys usually had their guitars running through a Range Master treble booster. Ronson often used a wah cocked half way.


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Re: pickup for bright les paul

67Mopar said:
I believe a 3OOk volume pot will help with the highs at the bridge. My LP Custom has an old RS Guitarworks Treble Tamer set in it, that works quite well.
Click to expand...

I put a 250K pot in my LP to tame it a little and I love the results.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

Sounds like the problem lies more with the guitar than the pickups. I agree that 300k volume pots would help. If I take your parameters of Pearly Gates not having enough punch and the CustomCustom being overpowered, there isn't much to try in between from Duncan. I would have to suggest something like the Gibson 57 classic / 57 classic plus.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

Just dial the pickups volume down a little, it worked for me with my old 2002 lp std fitted with burstbuckers.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

Slash bridge would be a very good fit in this case, I think. ToneZone has big lows but is too hot for the OP. The Breed neck makes a good full sounding medium-output bridge pickup. I have one in bridge position on a Les Paul. It does have the characteristic DiMarzio vowel overtone in its mids. Some like that, others don't.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

Years ago, we used to use those horrendous curly cords and never had a problem with too much highs coming through!
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

TB-16 with a magnet swap to A2 would be a little less hot with similar tonal properties. APH 1 or 2 set is another possibility.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

I have not tried these, but i think they would be warmer vintage output Bridge pups:

Whole Lotta
Saturday Night Special
APH (as already mentioned)
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

All-nickel strings, perhaps heavier gauge too?

Also maybe adjust that custom custom down or change amp settings? Are you rolling down from everything dimed, or setting everything to 12'o'clock and adjusting from there?

Greenbacks, too, aren't necessarily the penultimate universal answer to the meaning of life...there are darker, punchier, less fizzy speakers. If you're playing loud, perhaps their low wattage design is giving you more speaker breakup than you wanted? Maybe check out some youtube comparisons with stuff like: k100, heritage 65, cl80 / mc90
 
Last edited:
Re: pickup for bright les paul

Air Zone is AWESOME. Fattened up my Strat without making it too modern sounding.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

Edgecrusher said:
Rio grande barbecue bucker is a good fit for what you want.
Click to expand...

+1 on the BBQ - it's fat yet sizzly and less hot & compressed than any of the Custom series.

I still think the Slash neck is the best choice here though. CC with less gain describes that pickup very well indeed.
 
Re: pickup for bright les paul

Whole Lotta Humbucker set
or 59/A4 modded set
or A2P set or Slash set
or old vintage (pre 1990’s) Custom / Jazz set
 
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