Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

[Mr. B]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

Jeremy and Lew nailed it. Clapton's tone from that era is A5, not A2 magnet. The Duncan 59's are the closest thing I have found. I keep the 498t in the bridge in my SG with a 59 in the neck so I can get Clapton and AC/DC out of the same guitar. I like the 59n uncovered better than covered.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

In my guitars, the Seth Lover drives the amp a little harder than the Antiquity does. The Seth is also brighter.

IMO, the Seth rocks a little harder. Take the cover off and it rocks harder still and starts to sound more like an uncovered PG...another favorite pickup of mine.

The Antiquity is wonderful though. Less aggressive. More polite. A little more restrained and elegant.

It's nice to have them all in similar guitars...and I do.

Overall, the uncovered Seths are my favorites and the most fun to play. I have three sets.

But I like them all: Antiquity, Seth, PG and 59.

And the Tom Holmes in my ES335.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

I don't remember what mag(s) I tried in my Ants, but it may not have been A2's. I definitely should have done that. Could have been my old standby, RC UOA5's, maybe RC A4's. I need to dig out the Ants and put in full strength A2's. Are you using polished or RC A2's in yours?

To my ears, degaussing takes A2's in the wrong direction, reducing highs and output on a magnet that doesn't have an abundance of either at full strength.

in this pup i used polished a2. just played it last night and even the drummer said it sounded great.

IME, the arguably "best" Seymour Duncan all-around sounding set for a SG for the kind of music the OP wants to play with it is the Whole Lotta Humbucker.

I'm quite surprised nobody mentioned it before.

HTH,

i agree thats a very good set in a sg for classic rock but it wont sound like claptons sg. at least the bridge anyway, its too hot. i love that freakin neck pup though

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

IME, the arguably "best" Seymour Duncan all-around sounding set for a SG for the kind of music the OP wants to play with it is the Whole Lotta Humbucker.

I'm quite surprised nobody mentioned it before.

HTH,

I restricted my response to the two pickups the OP owned he said he was choosing between.

If I open it up to pickups I've tried in my SG, I would include WLH, 59, Pearly, and even the 78 model, which is a bright snappy spongy version of a PAF for someone who was a huge Clapton fanboy.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

'59's are wound so that they emphasize the high and low ends of A5's. That can be too much in some guitars. RC's of any alnico smooth out the high end a little, but otherwise keep the other qualities more or less intact. They're good when you want a subtle change. What I like about RC UOA5's is that their EQ curve isn't as extreme as A5's, and the rich A2-like texture & complexity of their sound. They sound more like A2's than A5's, but with a little sharper high end, and a little less midrange. For the kind of music I play, I've gotten to prefer unoriented magnets (which include A3 & A4).

Blueman, you nailed it. One of the best summarys i read in this forum. I might add the possibilities to tame the high freq. content with covers and pot values.

 

[niknik]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

Wooow this thread go so fast.

Have anyone tried SD custom shop Angus Young?

From my search, the AY has a lot like Pearly Gate.
It was made for SG but is it gona make my SG in to a rock guitar?

 

[SJ318]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

What Lew and Blueman said on this page.
I'll take that and triple it!
Steve B.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

While I haven't tried the Angus Young pickups, the Saturday Night Specials do the blues rock thing really well in an SG. Check it:

 

[blueman335]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

the Saturday Night Specials do the blues rock thing really well in an SG. Check it

Wow. Great tone & great playing.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

Wow. Great tone & great playing.

Yeah. That couldn't be my only tone but it's a good one.

I put A4 in my Custom Shop Pearly Gates and had a lot of fun for a week or two.

Went back to the A2's eventually, and prefer that sound.

But A4's sounded cool.

Seemed like they were too articulate, with more note separation than I was completely comfortable with.

I like the notes to blend together more.

 

[OsvyRock]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

Hey guys! Don't want to ''hijack'' or anything, but what do you think of installing some Slash Alnico II Pro's on a Gibson SG?
Got them on my Flying V. Will I have a similar result to them on my Flying V or will they have a different result?
I'm thinking of getting something new/different for my Gibson SG than the stock 498T/490r that have been installed for 11 years now...
My favorite/winning Seymour Duncan combinations have been the SH-5/59n on DBZ Bolero and a JB/STK-S7/STK-S6 on a Squier Strat.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

Hey guys! Don't want to ''hijack'' or anything, but what do you think of installing some Slash Alnico II Pro's on a Gibson SG?
Got them on my Flying V. Will I have a similar result to them on my Flying V or will they have a different result?
I'm thinking of getting something new/different for my Gibson SG than the stock 498T/490r that have been installed for 11 years now...
My favorite/winning Seymour Duncan combinations have been the SH-5/59n on DBZ Bolero and a JB/STK-S7/STK-S6 on a Squier Strat.

I don't care for the stock 498T/490R set, too mismatched in EQ for me. But...with a RC UOA5 in the bridge & an A5 in the neck, they're very different PU's. Better balanced & better tones.

 

[OsvyRock]

Re: Pickups for SG. Antiquity or Seth Lovers?

I don't care for the stock 498T/490R set, too mismatched in EQ for me. But...with a RC UOA5 in the bridge & an A5 in the neck, they're very different PU's. Better balanced & better tones.

Thanks for your reply blueman335. My guitar tech suggested the same, magnet swapping. His suggestion was changing the 490r Alnico II magnet for an Alnico V magnet. Perhaps, I'm an Alnico V guy...
Choosing pickups for SG seems quite a little difficult due to the shape, tone, design... Many are talking about the Saturday Night Special as a great match for SG. The ''best'' demo I found for them are here on this Guitar World review of Todd Kerns Prestige Signature Guitar

I just wonder how processed are these pickup demos and how close they're to the real thing.