Pickup Suggestions

Aceguy

Aceguy

New member
Holy **** it's been a while since I've been on here! That was a different person then, far more naive and stupid. Anyway, I'm looking at doing a pickup change in my Les Paul. Currently I've got a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, and a Dimarzio PAF 36th Anniv. in the neck. I like them, but they aren't exactly what I'm after, though I definitely prefer the neck to the bridge, at the current moment. I play mostly Blues and Jazz so I'm looking for some pickups for those genres. I've been especially looking at Seymour Duncan Seth Lover's, Bare Knuckle Mississippi Queens, and BG Pickups Pure90. I'm not really sure exactly what I want other than a warm, clean, tone, when playing clean, preferably vintage output and PAF or P-90-like. Any suggestions? I'm willing to look at any make or model.
 
Re: Pickup Suggestions

You sound like a candidate for SD P-Rails.
 
Re: Pickup Suggestions

If you're happy with the neck pickup, stick with that. But for the bridge, I'd recommend the Alnico II Pro. It excels at blues and clean jazz, it is definitely on the warmer side for a bridge pickup, it retains a lot of clarity, it has a vintage output, a midrange character similar to a lot of P-90s with a much softer high end, and if you every decide to turn the drive up a bit, it will still sound great.
 
Re: Pickup Suggestions

What kind of Blues?

All sorts of pups MIGHT work.

Set of A2P's for fat ole blues

Pair of PG's for Texas Blues

59's for any kind of Blues with bass and bite.

MAybe a Jazz set for Robben Ford sort of blues.

Phat CAts for P-90 George Thorogood rawky blues….or SRV.


Maybe an A2P for the neck and fat blues / smooth Jazz and a PG in the bridge for bite and snarl for Tejas or Chicago….perhaps tapped….
 
Re: Pickup Suggestions

I'm thinking E lectronics and see which pickups you do and don't like without having to change your amp settings and go from there.
 
Re: Pickup Suggestions

Myaccount876 said:
If you're happy with the neck pickup, stick with that. But for the bridge, I'd recommend the Alnico II Pro. It excels at blues and clean jazz, it is definitely on the warmer side for a bridge pickup, it retains a lot of clarity, it has a vintage output, a midrange character similar to a lot of P-90s with a much softer high end, and if you every decide to turn the drive up a bit, it will still sound great.
Click to expand...
Any experience with it tapped?
 
Re: Pickup Suggestions

Aceman said:
What kind of Blues?

All sorts of pups MIGHT work.

Set of A2P's for fat ole blues

Pair of PG's for Texas Blues

59's for any kind of Blues with bass and bite.

MAybe a Jazz set for Robben Ford sort of blues.

Phat CAts for P-90 George Thorogood rawky blues….or SRV.


Maybe an A2P for the neck and fat blues / smooth Jazz and a PG in the bridge for bite and snarl for Tejas or Chicago….perhaps tapped….
Click to expand...
I play all kinds of blues. I guess the best way to put it is that I play a hybrid of English and Chicago with a Texas edge.
 
Re: Pickup Suggestions

Aceguy said:
Any experience with it tapped?
Click to expand...

I can't say I have experience splitting the bridge version of the Alnico II Pro, but from experience with other PAF style pickups, the sound will be reminiscent of a very weak and thin single coil. Although, you could put a ~200K resistor between the switch lug (that the red+white wires would normally go) and the red+white wires (which are still soldered directly together). This is basically splitting only a part (I'd estimate about a bit less than 1/2) of the coil that would normally be completely split. This significant;y lessens the output and makes the sound closer to a single coil, but retains some - albeit not all - of the noise cancellation from humbuckers.

You can also play around with multiple resistor values to find what sounds best. If you really feel up to it, you could even wire in a mini-variable resistor (I'd start with a linear 500K variable resistor), wire the variable resistor up like a spin a split (but the grounded spin-a-split lug goes to the coil-split switch, again right where the red+white wires would normally go), experiment with varying degrees of coil shunting and find how much of a split you prefer. Or if you don't use the tone control, you can just wire the spin-a-split in place of the tone control and not need to buy a push-pull pot or a mini-toggle switch.

But you may just like the stock humbucker anyways. If I had to describe a bluesy sound that they can do, I'd say they work great for things like The Doors, even if Krieger obviously never used Alnico II Pros and his main SG had P-90s. It just fits the bill for a clean jazzy and bluesy sound that isn't too bright nor too dark, but just generally softer sounding on the high end with a relaxed bass response. It can be mellow in many cases, but depending on the setup, it can get raunchy if you need it to be. I consider it a pretty versatile and responsive pickup if you stick to the general equalization of less pronounced highs and present but not overbearing lows.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top