pickups of Gary Moore...

[nicolas]

:ugh1: guys!!!

I' m a big fan of Gary Moore, and I'd like to change my LP'sdt pick ups to try to reach his sound...Actually, the gibson Moore's model has bursbucker 1 on both neck and bridge, but I doubt he's playing on such a model, because burstbucker 1 has no a very big output, and according that he was playing on a slo at a huge volume, I thing that bursbuck 1 would be very "muddy"...or his sound is very BIG, but, not muddy....

so, I'm looking for a bridge and neck pick up, with a very big sound (Gary Moore), warm (but not muddy), natural sounding ala gary moore...I play big big blues (like gary , but not like bbking!) but not trash, hardcore, punk,death,etc.... what could I choose?

bridge: sh5? sh4 (mmm??? too...."nasal"?)? sh11? sh14? other
neck? sh2? '59? alnicoII? other?

I tried the sound samples on seymour's site, but my sound card is not a very good one, I don't really find a difference in the sound...

Help me!!!!

thxxxx :dance:

 

[JeffB]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

If you are tryying to get his Les Paul sound then stay away from high output pickups. You will want a PAF style. Gary has rarely ever used a high output pickup except for EMG's on his Charvels.

In the Duncan line you should stick with Seth's, Antiquities, or the Anniversary pickups. 59's are bit too bright as are the PG. The JB and Custom will take you far far away from Gary's tone in the bridge.

Gibson Burst Bucker Pros or 57 classics will get ya there too. Once they are adjusted right these pickups def have a PAF vibe.

I've been able to get really close to his tones over the years regardless of decade or instrument. Grab :

a NMV or JMP/early 800 series Marshall (or a Soldano)
a Strat or Paul with low output vintage style pickups
a Tubescreamer (for the Pauls, and Charvels) or BOSS DS1 (for the Strat)

Tubescreamer is KEY for leads on the bridge pup of the Paul.

Heavy guage strings...at least 10s. 11s are better (Gary has incredible hand strength and huge paws...)

That'll get ya as close as ya can get without being Gary Honestly his tones are pretty easy to get IME, compared to many others I've tried to cop anyways.

 

[spidey]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

Yeah jeff is right.
PAFs and a tubescreamer. However gary was also using a Marshall guv'nor pedal when he cut 'still got the blues'
Gary sometimes uses Tom Holmes pups (PAF style pups). In fact , Seymour Duncan produce a Peter Green set in their custom shop. Seeing as they are based on the pups in Gary's main Paul, I'm guessing they would be spot on.

 

[Breogan]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

Yeah jeff is right.
PAFs and a tubescreamer. However gary was also using a Marshall guv'nor pedal when he cut 'still got the blues'
Gary sometimes uses Tom Holmes pups (PAF style pups). In fact , Seymour Duncan produce a Peter Green set in their custom shop. Seeing as they are based on the pups in Gary's main Paul, I'm guessing they would be spot on.

Yeah, but that custom shop set probably will be very expensive and not that necesary. Tubescreamer (or similar) and low output pickups look like a cheap and usefull combination. This last months I've been after SRV tone and it was a bit hard to find for me. I've never owned and overdrive pedal so I went to a shop to try one and see if I my be interested. Everybody says how importat it was in his tone so I had to tried one. I've picked up the Maxon OD-808 and pluged to a Mesa F-50. Instant SRV tone, and I wan't even playing throught the right amp. Many times pickups aren't the key thing as long as they are good quality ones.

 

[jimlp]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

The Gary Moore Les Paul came with Burst Bucker Pros not BB 1's. They weren't called BB Pro's then they were called Burst Bucker V's.

 

[nicolas]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

Tubescreamer is KEY for leads on the bridge pup of the Paul.

mmmmm...ok JeffB..but how did he use it??? I mean: as a clean boost on the OD channel of the slo, as a OD on the clean channel, or did he add the OD of the tubescreamer to the OD channel of the slo? what about the settings of the tubescreamer????

thx a lot

 

[JeffB]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

Gain low, level full up....as for how he had the Soldano setup, don't know...doubt he did it on the clean channel tho :laugh2:

He did same same with the cranked Marshalls too

It's just a bass rolloff and midrange/slight gain boost.....

The DS1 he set the drive higher as he was using single coils..and you can hear it when he turnns it on..gain is nearly outta control.

 

[badco33]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

My Gary Moore Signature Les Paul came with a Burstbucker 1 in the neck and a Burstbucker 2 in the bridge and I think that was standard for all of those guitars. They are the Alnico II burstbucker not the Alnico V burstbucker pros. The Gary Moore Sig was the first U.S. released Gibson to be equipped with Burstbuckers. I think they released some guitars in Japan that had them before that. I don't think the burstbucker pros (V's) came out until later.

That guitar along with a DS-1 gives me a great Gary tone, but I also get a great Gary tone out of my Les Paul Standard (Seth Lovers) and R8 (57 classics), so I would agree that an Alnico II bucker is the best bet.

Gary plays with a lot of distortion but controls it with his volume and tone knobs. He's always working those things to dial-in what he wants throughout the song.

I was watching my Gary Moore- Emerald Aisles video last weekend, which was from his rock days. He was playing what looked like a stock strat and getting the greatest tones. Eventually he did bring out the Peter Green Les Paul but I was real impressed with his strat tone especially for those 80's era rock songs.

 

[nicolas]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

let's tryyyyyyyyyy!!!!

thx guys! :beerchug:

 

[JeffB]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

I was watching my Gary Moore- Emerald Aisles video last weekend, which was from his rock days. He was playing what looked like a stock strat and getting the greatest tones. Eventually he did bring out the Peter Green Les Paul but I was real impressed with his strat tone especially for those 80's era rock songs.

Great vid..wish I still had it

The red one is a 62 Strat...stock. It was stolen at one time and he got it back

The creme colored one was a 61 or 62 reissue...stock as well.

Yup only time he played the Paul (in the days when that video was made) was for Parisienne Walkways. He hits that one bend, and hangs onto it for like 20 seconds ...good gawd, talk about some sustain

Also love that little LP junior he's playing when him and phil are jamming "baby drives me crazy" backstage.

 

[badco33]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

You'll have to grab another copy on eBay. I see it on there for pretty cheap. Gotta love the Red parachute pants and red vest.

Is that the same Red strat he uses today? I wails on it in Shapes of Things.

I assume the Junior is the same one he plays for most of the Live Thin Lizzy video in Australia?

I doesn't seem to matter what type of guitar he plays, he always gets a nice warm tone. It must be those big mits and heavy strings.

 

[Jeffrec]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

I'ld go with Seth Lovers or Pearly Gates. Gary tends to go for a brighter sound. The PG definitely does that & the Seth gives you a nice bite to the initial attack. Gary's signature model uses Gibson Burstbuckers, but the Duncans sound better IMO.

Jeff

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

:ugh1: guys!!!

I' m a big fan of Gary Moore, and I'd like to change my LP'sdt pick ups to try to reach his sound...Actually, the gibson Moore's model has bursbucker 1 on both neck and bridge, but I doubt he's playing on such a model, because burstbucker 1 has no a very big output, and according that he was playing on a slo at a huge volume, I thing that bursbuck 1 would be very "muddy"...or his sound is very BIG, but, not muddy....

so, I'm looking for a bridge and neck pick up, with a very big sound (Gary Moore), warm (but not muddy), natural sounding ala gary moore...I play big big blues (like gary , but not like bbking!) but not trash, hardcore, punk,death,etc.... what could I choose?

bridge: sh5? sh4 (mmm??? too...."nasal"?)? sh11? sh14? other
neck? sh2? '59? alnicoII? other?

I tried the sound samples on seymour's site, but my sound card is not a very good one, I don't really find a difference in the sound...

Help me!!!!

thxxxx :dance:

Gary Moores distorted tone is the result of a low output pickup. He lets the amp do the work rather than pushing the front end with a hot pickup. 59's or Seth Lovers is your best bet. Gibsons Burstbuckers do the Gary Moore thing just fine.

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

Gain low, level full up....as for how he had the Soldano setup, don't know...doubt he did it on the clean channel tho :laugh2:

He did same same with the cranked Marshalls too

<snip>

Actually he used the clean channel on the soldanos and got all his distortion from an old Marshall Guv'Nor pedal. THis isnt a secret guys....Gary has been talking about how he got that tone for years. In the studio it was the Les Paul into a Guv'Nor into a bluesbreaker combo.

 

[spidey]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

Archer of Fish is right - Gary plays loud but has his amps fairly clean. He relies on the tubesreamer (or guv'nor) for the extra push - not the gain level on the amp.
Gary tends to set his controls on the tubescreamer at approx. 2 o'clock.

 

[JeffB]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

Actually he used the clean channel on the soldanos and got all his distortion from an old Marshall Guv'Nor pedal. THis isnt a secret guys....Gary has been talking about how he got that tone for years. In the studio it was the Les Paul into a Guv'Nor into a bluesbreaker combo.

Interesting, and thanks for that info, as I said I was unsure (but damn, clean channel huh?). He "died" to me after that first blues album, and I stopped keeping track of him ...that whole Blues thing has just screwed him up

I will say that live video at Hammersmith...the one released right after Still Got the Blues album got big is one of the best high gain les Paul sounds I've ever heard. I know he's using a Soldano there...and it sounds like a Tubescreamer to my ears. Regardless...gorgeous tone.

Personally I miss his metal days with a cranked NMV/800, and a Tubescreamer or DS-1 to take it over the top tho

BTW, apparently he's been messing around with the MODE-4 alot lately..dude likes to experiemnt thats for sure.

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

That vid is Guitar-Guv'Nor-Soldano.

 

[Brow]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

I've almost nailed the tone on his 'Blues Alive' album with my Gibson LP with Seths, a modded Tubescreamer for the main OD sound and then used an SD1 to boost the Tubescreamer up a notch. The amp was an Orange AD30 and 4x12 cab.

With this setup I was also able to do the 29 second sustain note in the live version of 'Parisienne Walkways'

 

[Archer_of_Fish]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

I can duplicate Garys tone on pretty much any of my Les Pauls and my Koch amp.

 

[JeffB]

Re: pickups of Gary Moore...

With this setup I was also able to do the 29 second sustain note in the live version of 'Parisienne Walkways'

Now the scary thing is....

Gary can pretty much do that with ANY setup....

Check out "Live at the Marquee" recorded in 1979 or 1980 IIRC. He's playing his original mirror pickguard guard charvel (and using the bar a bit)....he can STILL hold that note...cranked marshall...DS-1..not quite the sustain of the paula but pretty amazing.

Personally I feel that the best version of Parisienne walkways he's done.