Re: Pickups or Amp?
I'm currently using an Epiphone Les Paul standard (built Nov 2009 according to serial ##) paired with the Gdec 3 15w amp and a generic cable (will look when I get home). The Epiphone also has CTS pots and orange drop caps already.
My sound on all the channels of the amp seem, well fuzzy. Not quite like fuzz pedal fuzz, but like muddy and unclear fuzzy.
I'm wondering if new pickups/new guitar would help more or a new Amplifier. I have some ideas on what I want on both sides, and plan to upgrade both at some point.
So should I get a new duncan hot rodded humbucker set, or a new Jet city amplifier first?
I'll buck the trend here a little, and say I think you should upgrade the pickups first,
if you like the rest of the guitar. Here's why:
* Amps get very expensive very quickly. The Hot Rodded Humbucker set (which will work well for just about anything short of modern metal) is roughly $125-$150 depending on who you buy from. An amp significantly better than your own in the new market will start around four times that for a Fender Blues Jr or Peavey Classic 30. Your money goes further used, but you're still spending more money on a good amp than a good pickup set, so your money goes further faster getting the pickups first.
* An amp suitable for performance volume levels will never see its full potential in your rehearsal space, because you'll be unable to turn it up to where the amp is being properly exercised to get the tone you are after on stage. Pickups will improve the tone of your axe through almost anything, of any power and circuit design.
* When you go shopping for an amp to improve on that Fender GDEC 3-15, you'll bring your axe to the store(s) so you get the most accurate picture possible of what the amp's going to sound like in your complete rig. If that guitar still has the stock Epi pickups, that's the sound you'll get through the amp, and you know that sound will change when you upgrade the pickups. It makes no sense, especially given the high amp cost and the other variables inherent in amp shopping, to try to hit a moving target by shopping for an amp using a guitar that won't be what you'll end up playing through it.
* Never bet on being able to use your own amp everywhere you go. Bassists know this very well, and many of them don't even bother with more than a good bedroom/practice amp; if they need more power they'll be getting it from the PA running direct. Guitarists tend to get their way more often on amp choice especially if they keep their rigs small (1x12-2x12 combo they can put in front of a mic, plug in and go), but you could still find yourself on a festival stage or battle of the bands where the stage manager just hands you a 1/4" plug for your axe and tells you its his way or the highway, there's no time for 50 bands loading their entire personal stage rigs in and out all day. Spending money on an amp that makes or breaks your rig's sound is therefore at least somewhat risky.
* My personal mentality towards "the complete instrument" is that the part of it that you are in physical contact with while playing is more important overall than what you plug into. That's opposite many guitarists' assessments, but mirrors the attitude about practically every other musical instrument on the planet. The better you feel about what you're personally using to make music, the more that will translate into a better sound and more musicality from any amplification rig you play through.
So, if, and this is apparently a bigger "if" than I first thought, if the guitar is otherwise comfortable and playable for you, and doesn't have any mechanical, fit or finish problems affecting playability, then by all means upgrade the coils. If, however, you plan on replacing the guitar wholesale, any money you put in it now is sunk and the amp wins by default.
