Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

[Lewguitar]

If you've tried these these two humbuckers:

1. Which is more "single coil" like?
2. Which has more output?
3. Which has more bass?
4. Which has more mids?
5. Which is "brighter"?
6. Which has more upper harmonics?
7. Which is more textured or complex?
7. How do they differ?
8. How are they similar?
9. How do thier chordal/rythym tones differ?
10. How do thier lead/soloing tones differ?
11. Would you prefer one in a Les Paul over the other?
12. Would you prefer one in a Strat or Tele over the other?



Any other comments?

I know the coils are slightly mismatched in the Pearly Gates and that gives the PG a brighter tone and a little more transparency to the mids.

But these two pickups need to be compared to each other by those who've used both. I have not.

Thanks! Lew

PS: OK Chirstian....take it away! :laugh2:

 

[rspst14]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

If you've tried these these two humbuckers:

1. Which is more "single coil" like?
2. Which has more output?
3. Which has more bass?
4. Which has more mids?
5. Which is "brighter"?
6. Which has more upper harmonics?
7. Which is more textured or complex?
7. How do they differ?
8. How are they similar?
9. How do thier chordal/rythym tones differ?
10. How do thier lead/soloing tones differ?
11. Would you prefer one in a Les Paul over the other?
12. Would you prefer one in a Strat or Tele over the other?

1. Pearly Gates, although I hear a bit of a single coil tone in both pickups.

2. They are very similar in terms of output, I can't hear a noticeable difference

3. Definitely the Alnico 2 Pro

4. Definitely the Pearly Gates

5. Definitely the Pearly Gates

6. Pearly Gates

7. This is a tough call, and it depends a lot on what you mean by textured and complex. I would say the Pearly Gates is more complex, but the EQ of the Alnico 2 Pro gives it a "texture" that really sets it apart from the other A2 pickups on the market.

7. (since you numbered wrong, we'll have two #7's) The Pearly Gates is brighter and less bassy, with an emphasis on the upper mids and the treble. The Alnico 2 Pro is warmer with a stronger bottom end, and the highs are a bit sweeter sounding. The mids certainly aren't scooped, but they aren't as prominent as the mids in the Pearly Gates.

8. Both have that A2 PAF vibe, and both are excellent choices for a good clean tone. They both work extremely well for blues and classic rock.

9. I prefer the brightness of the Pearly Gates for rhythm playing, although the Alnico 2 Pro works well for a darker rhythm tone.

10. Both have beautiful lead tones, it just depends on what you're after. The Alnico 2 Pro is warm and bluesy, with a deep low end and warm, sweet highs. The Pearly Gates is brighter and less bassy, with an enhanced treble response and more mids. It also has a bit of an upper midrange spike, something the Alnico 2 Pro doesn't have.

11. Again, it really depends on the tone you're after. I personally think they are the two best Les Paul neck pickups ever made, but the one I'd prefer would depend heavily on the guitar and the tone I was after. If the Les Paul in question were unusually dark, I'd lean towards the Pearly Gates. If it were unusually bright, I'd lean towards the Alnico 2 Pro. Assuming it wasn't too bright or too dark, it would depend on the rest of my guitar collection, as I don't like to have the same pickups in different guitars. I like when each of my guitars has a sound that's all it's own, a sound that can't be easily reproduced with another one of my guitars.

12. In this case, I'd prefer the Alnico 2 Pro. The extra brightness of Strats and Teles might make the Pearly Gates too bright with certain setups. It's been my experience that the Alnico 2 Pro works exceptionally well in bright guitars, so that would be my pick for a Strat or Tele.

Ryan

 

[theodie]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

PS: OK Chirstian....take it away! :laugh2:

Though Ryan did a hell of a job, I would love to hear Christians take on it also.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

Though Ryan did a hell of a job, I would love to hear Christians take on it also.

I agree, here is what I think...

 

[FretFire]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

Excellent thread! These are the 2 neck pickups I'm currently torn between for my upcoming project, black limba body, hardtail, 25.5" scale 22 fret black limba neck/ebony board. Looks as though the A2P might be the ticket here... with a CC in the bridge .

 

[TheArchitect]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

If you've tried these these two humbuckers:

1. Which is more "single coil" like?
2. Which has more output?
3. Which has more bass?
4. Which has more mids?
5. Which is "brighter"?
6. Which has more upper harmonics?
7. Which is more textured or complex?
7. How do they differ?
8. How are they similar?
9. How do thier chordal/rythym tones differ?
10. How do thier lead/soloing tones differ?
11. Would you prefer one in a Les Paul over the other?
12. Would you prefer one in a Strat or Tele over the other?

1 - PG
2 - Depends on position B=PG N=A2
3 - A2
4 - A2
5 - PG
6 - PG
7 - PG
8 - PG more clarity / A2 smoother
9 - PG more distinct
10 - PG neck has more bite / A2 Br. more fatness
11 - PG's in the Paul
12 - I have the A2's in a strat. I am awapping them for 59's. PG's in a stratish PV are pretty cool.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

If you've tried these these two humbuckers:

1. Which is more "single coil" like?
The Alnico 2 Pro has a more single coil vibe to me, the sucked in mids and bell like top end make it that way

2. Which has more output?
The PG is a ever so slightly hotter pickup

3. Which has more bass?
The Alnico 2 Pro has more bass, but the PG has a strong bottom as well

4. Which has more mids?
The PG has more mids, but they are upper mids, which makes a lot of people thing that it is gonna be real bright

5. Which is "brighter"?
This is where Ryan and I differ...I think that the Alnico 2 Pro has more "real" treble...what I mean is the the bright quality in a PG is more of the upper mid thing...the treble in the A2Pro is very sweet where the PG is a little ruder, not quite as tame as the A2Pro, I think that's what make people think that the PG is brighter...to my ears the A2Pro has more treble

6. Which has more upper harmonics?
PG...hands down

7. Which is more textured or complex?
Good question...the PG has a more complex tone going on and IMO has an amazing texture as well...the A2Pro is a great pickup but it is far more bland to me that the PG...I do like the A2Pro alot, but IMO it has to be paired with a great bridge pickup...I love the tone of the A2Pro with another pickup, but by itself it is kinda bland to me...that is more bland that a PG

7. How do they differ?
In a nutshell...the PG is like a PAF with a kick, the A2Pro is like a moderne interperation of a PAF

8. How are they similar?
They both have a PAF vibe going on, they both have the typical Alnico II charter, they are both vintage output

9. How do thier chordal/rythym tones differ?
It really depends...the A2Pro excells at very fluid playing, while the PG has more bite and attack that make it kinda toungh to be subtle! IMO the A2Pro can become a tad muddy with chords and lots of gain while the PG retains clarity all the way up on the gain control! If you are looing for a very mild pickup that is great for cleans and fluid lead lines the A2Pro is great, if you want a rock and roll rythym tone and leads that sting but still have a bucker tone the PG is your thing

10. How do thier lead/soloing tones differ?
Oops...see above!

11. Would you prefer one in a Les Paul over the other?
The PG hands down!

12. Would you prefer one in a Strat or Tele over the other?
In the bridge of either a Strat or a tele I would say the PG, in the neck of a Tele the A2Pro would be a good choice in the neck...remember I think that the A2Pro sounds killer with a great bridge pickup.



Any other comments?

I know the coils are slightly mismatched in the Pearly Gates and that gives the PG a brighter tone and a little more transparency to the mids.

But these two pickups need to be compared to each other by those who've used both. I have not.

Thanks! Lew

PS: OK Christian....take it away! :laugh2:

Like I said...both are great pickups, but to my ears the A2Pro is just a little on the bland side...I do think that if you have a great bridge pickup it is a fine choice for the neck some people that means another A2Pro...I could see an A2Pro in the neck and a PG in the bridge. I would never use an A2Pro in the bridge...but maybe that's just me. I know that this sounds slanted towards the PG, but to me it just has more vibe/mojo to me...

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

Excellent thread! These are the 2 neck pickups I'm currently torn between for my upcoming project, black limba body, hardtail, 25.5" scale 22 fret black limba neck/ebony board. Looks as though the A2P might be the ticket here... with a CC in the bridge .

the A2Pro WITH a CC is a great set up...the CC in the bridge is what an A2Pro neck needs to have a cool vibe.

 

[FretFire]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

the A2Pro WITH a CC is a great set up...the CC in the bridge is what an A2Pro neck needs to have a cool vibe.

I really want to be sure I don't get too bright with all the limba and the ebony board, and I'm wondering if a PG might be too rowdy on the high end .

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

I really want to be sure I don't get too bright with all the limba and the ebony board, and I'm wondering if a PG might be too rowdy on the high end .

My Moderne is Limba and I have a set of PG's in it...I LOVE IT!!!

 

[FretFire]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

My Moderne is Limba and I have a set of PG's in it...I LOVE IT!!!

You're not helping . There is definitely some experimenting in my future :laugh2:.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

bump...

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

1. Pearly Gates, although I hear a bit of a single coil tone in both pickups.

2. They are very similar in terms of output, I can't hear a noticeable difference

3. Definitely the Alnico 2 Pro

4. Definitely the Pearly Gates

5. Definitely the Pearly Gates

6. Pearly Gates

7. This is a tough call, and it depends a lot on what you mean by textured and complex. I would say the Pearly Gates is more complex, but the EQ of the Alnico 2 Pro gives it a "texture" that really sets it apart from the other A2 pickups on the market.

7. (since you numbered wrong, we'll have two #7's) The Pearly Gates is brighter and less bassy, with an emphasis on the upper mids and the treble. The Alnico 2 Pro is warmer with a stronger bottom end, and the highs are a bit sweeter sounding. The mids certainly aren't scooped, but they aren't as prominent as the mids in the Pearly Gates.

8. Both have that A2 PAF vibe, and both are excellent choices for a good clean tone. They both work extremely well for blues and classic rock.

9. I prefer the brightness of the Pearly Gates for rhythm playing, although the Alnico 2 Pro works well for a darker rhythm tone.

10. Both have beautiful lead tones, it just depends on what you're after. The Alnico 2 Pro is warm and bluesy, with a deep low end and warm, sweet highs. The Pearly Gates is brighter and less bassy, with an enhanced treble response and more mids. It also has a bit of an upper midrange spike, something the Alnico 2 Pro doesn't have.

11. Again, it really depends on the tone you're after. I personally think they are the two best Les Paul neck pickups ever made, but the one I'd prefer would depend heavily on the guitar and the tone I was after. If the Les Paul in question were unusually dark, I'd lean towards the Pearly Gates. If it were unusually bright, I'd lean towards the Alnico 2 Pro. Assuming it wasn't too bright or too dark, it would depend on the rest of my guitar collection, as I don't like to have the same pickups in different guitars. I like when each of my guitars has a sound that's all it's own, a sound that can't be easily reproduced with another one of my guitars.

12. In this case, I'd prefer the Alnico 2 Pro. The extra brightness of Strats and Teles might make the Pearly Gates too bright with certain setups. It's been my experience that the Alnico 2 Pro works exceptionally well in bright guitars, so that would be my pick for a Strat or Tele.

Ryan

Hails guys, interesting question. i recently bought an ibanez rg 450 ltd japan.. and the stock pups suck a ****ing lot. shrill/harsh/fuzzy all the way. dry and dead sound. obscure output. sound´s lick Bubble gum sound when you crush it inside your mouth, with your teeth.ç Get it? ahahahahah
Well... the ibanez has the classic 24 frets, rosewood fingerboard , maple neck. basswood body.
i´m read this topic and i get interested in the Pearly Gates NECK.
but i want to know from you if it will reach my expectations :
Moderated/high output. Not bassy, but not thin. full of sparkle or grinding middles, open, warm and beautiful vivid Highs(not harsh, not shrill, not fuzzy highs) .
do you think pearly gates will help me acchieve that sound described Above?
Hails
J.P

Ah... i´ll need GOOD balanced CLEANS for mix with the Middle pickup(that i didn´t decided which one i´ll go for . for the middle, i want some kind of a Single coil Sized CC, but i thknk it doesn´t exist) and crystal clear, well balanced tone with Distortion(or full distortion)
Hails
J.P

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

****, i forget to ask...
what´s the difference between the Pg and the Pgplus or pg+???!
is there a neck version of the PG+?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

****, i forget to ask...
what´s the difference between the Pg and the Pgplus or pg+???!
is there a neck version of the PG+?

Fooking Hails Man! (as they might say in Ireland :laugh2: ) The PG+ is available only as a Fender pickup, though Duncan makes it. You can buy one from Allparts. It has an alnico 5 magnet...not the usual alnico 2 magnet of the PG. It was designed for the Fender Lonestar Strat bridge position. There is no PG+ neck pickup.

Ryan, that was awesome! Thanks!

Lew

 

[BachToRock]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

Good thread Lew!
I think the others have nailed the differences well here... they are very similar pickups and it would be difficult to judge them unless you can compare then in the exact same guitar.
Regarding this difference: 5. Which is "brighter?

"This is where Ryan and I differ...I think that the Alnico 2 Pro has more "real" treble...what I mean is the the bright quality in a PG is more of the upper mid thing...the treble in the A2Pro is very sweet where the PG is a little ruder, not quite as tame as the A2Pro, I think that's what make people think that the PG is brighter...to my ears the A2Pro has more treble."

The A2P will have a more pronounced resonant peak since it has symetrical coils which yields a more "distinct" treble... the PG will have 2 slightly different resonant peaks with it's mismatched coils so instead of a tall pointy mountain it would look like 2 smaller peaks on a frequency response graph.
This is the magic of the Hybrids and the reason the original non-perfect PAF's sound so great... the mismatch creates a more complex tone that is less "peaky"
Mismatched coils will also have more harmonics because there is less cancellation going on and this adds to the complexity of the tone... this is a factor in what some have described as a more "single coil" type of tone. The 59/Custom Hybrid that I praise right and left almost sounds like a really good P90 for this reason... that would explain why I love the Phat Cats as well!

 

[BachToRock]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

You could pop an A5 magnet in a Pearly Gates Neck and call it the PGN+...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

Thanks!

The way Lindy Fralin explained it to me is that the two coils are out of phase in a humbucker so there's alot of cancellation of the harmonics between the two rows of polepieces. That's why a humbucker sounds warmer than a single coil.

When you wind one coil hotter, the output of that coil dominates the other coil a little, plus the two coils are not picking up those upper harmonics in exactly the same way so the two signals are not so identical anymore and so there is less cancellation of the upper harmonics as there would be in a normal humbucker.

The result is that the pickup with mismatched coils will reproduce those upper harmonics and the pickup will sound brighter.

You know how sometimes you'll see someone on TV wearing two microphones on thier lapel? Those two mikes are out of phase. They both pickup the audience and background noise identically and because they are out of phase, that background noise or audience is noise is eliminated or cancelled. But the guy's mouth is closer to one mike and so they both do not pickup his voice identically, so his voice is not cancelled to the same degree as the audience noise.

That's how it was explained to me...I could be wrong.
Lew

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

What I love about PGs is that extra upper-mid punch embodied in a great A2 PAF tone. A2P I think sounds rounder, but not necessarily more muddy. That I think is awesome, a thick round a2 PAF tone that is clear!

But frankly, I'd go for mag-modded antiquities when it comes to getting that a2p tone. Switching the magnet to a full strength a2 in an ant gives that a2p tone + some 3d clarity and openess that I think is missing in an a2p.

BTW my favorite non-custom shop pickups are PGs.

B

 

[WITH FULL DISTORTION]

Re: Please compare: Pearly Gates neck & Alnico II Pro neck

Well, it seems like i´ll get a pearly gates. anyone wants to give me some advice for the neck and Middle positions H-S-H Ibanez basswood/rosewoodfretboard/mapleneck?
as i described above in the other topic