Saturday Night Special Vs. Gibson 490R/490T

[kingneptune117]

Hey all,

Just picked up a 2017 Gibson Les Paul Tribute T. Awesome guitar. The pickups are maybe a bit lacking for my taste though? I don't know...just don't sound all that good to my ears.

I have listened to a few demos of the Saturday Night Special's on Youtube, and wow do these sound amazing. I think this is the set I am leaning towards getting.

For reference, I play a lot of modern rock/emo-rock. Sorry if those are broad terms. Think bands like Seether, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Mayday Parade, Anberlin, that sort of thing.

From what I can tell the Saturday Night Specials are kind of in the middle between a vintage PAF and a higher output pickup, which is what I think I want.

I want a pickup with a good amount of aggression and attack, but also with a lot of clarity. I do not want an overly tight pickup (by tight, think EMG 81 or something along those lines). I want a pickup that has a great crunch when using gain, but can also clean up nicely. I have an ESP Eclipse with EMG's for my metalcore needs. I want a pickup with a lot of character, and that is open and will let the guitar speak for itself, so to speak.

Anyways, I am looking to get an idea of how the Saturday Night Specials will sound in comparison to the Gibson 490R/490T pickups.

Let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Saturday Night Special Vs. Gibson 490R/490T

there's one thread on the SNS that has 13 pages. it might have a little of what you're looking for.

but it's not like they are so widespread that there will be many that have tried them and those Gibson pups in the same guitar. I bet enough people have used those 490s that if you described a little of what you want more/less of from them that might be a good starting point.

plus, you just got the guitar. it might take a bit to get used to what's going on with it and how it relates to your rig.

 

[kingneptune117]

Re: Saturday Night Special Vs. Gibson 490R/490T

there's one thread on the SNS that has 13 pages. it might have a little of what you're looking for.

but it's not like they are so widespread that there will be many that have tried them and those Gibson pups in the same guitar. I bet enough people have used those 490s that if you described a little of what you want more/less of from them that might be a good starting point.

plus, you just got the guitar. it might take a bit to get used to what's going on with it and how it relates to your rig.

Thanks for the reply. How would you describe the tone of the Saturday Night Specials. I did read through that thread, I didn't see too many impressions or comments from people who actually have them.

 

[Davii]

Re: Saturday Night Special Vs. Gibson 490R/490T

I've got a bridge SNS, in part to compare it to the [Da Minx] Custom Shop order I'd gotten, as I thought they were similar at first listen; The SNS comes across as tighter, with a faster attack, and not as brash as a 498T. No idea about 490T, as I've never had one. Can't comment on the SNS neck version either for the same reason.

No idea about the musical style off the top of my head, but it did OD well using my JMP-1

I did do some messing around with mag swaps, to see if Da Minx was an SNS bridge with an A2, but they're just short DI'd signals intended for reamping: https://www.mediafire.com/folder/x4n18xhn70ylk/Pickups

 

[kingneptune117]

Re: Saturday Night Special Vs. Gibson 490R/490T

The more I research, the more the Whole Lotta Humbucker sounds appealing. I want that chunky "Les Paul" tone. I think this is the pickup to do that.

 

[daenius]

Re: Saturday Night Special Vs. Gibson 490R/490T

The more I research, the more the Whole Lotta Humbucker sounds appealing. I want that chunky "Les Paul" tone. I think this is the pickup to do that.

You want to be careful with pickups of that style btw

Vintage humbuckers are "vintage" because they are wound to a certain spec that's similar to the oldest PAF pickups. Old PAFs are actually very bright pickups that are somewhat "scoopy" compared to their modern high output counterparts, which tends to surprise a whole lot of people because they were expecting a big fat warm chunky sound with plenty of mid muscle.

A vintage humbucker is only ONE part of the signal chain that produced the tones on the old records. So when you hear a record and go "oh hey it must be that guitar with that pickup!", you're leaving out the amp, the mic, the audio engineering, etc etc

Not saying they are bad pickups, they're great and I LOVE them! I have the '59 and a couple of other Dimarzio and Suhr vintage PAF humbuckers. Just stating the fact that people often times have misconceptions about them and end up getting disappointed.

So if you're looking for a "chunky Les Paul", try and see what you mean by "chunky". Are you're looking for a certain EQ characteristic, or output level, or sustain, etc. Play with the pickup finder on the Duncan site is a nice way to start IMO.

 

[darthphineas]

Re: Saturday Night Special Vs. Gibson 490R/490T

You want to be careful with pickups of that style btw

Vintage humbuckers are "vintage" because they are wound to a certain spec that's similar to the oldest PAF pickups. Old PAFs are actually very bright pickups that are somewhat "scoopy" compared to their modern high output counterparts, which tends to surprise a whole lot of people because they were expecting a big fat warm chunky sound with plenty of mid muscle.

A vintage humbucker is only ONE part of the signal chain that produced the tones on the old records. So when you hear a record and go "oh hey it must be that guitar with that pickup!", you're leaving out the amp, the mic, the audio engineering, etc etc

Not saying they are bad pickups, they're great and I LOVE them! I have the '59 and a couple of other Dimarzio and Suhr vintage PAF humbuckers. Just stating the fact that people often times have misconceptions about them and end up getting disappointed.

So if you're looking for a "chunky Les Paul", try and see what you mean by "chunky". Are you're looking for a certain EQ characteristic, or output level, or sustain, etc. Play with the pickup finder on the Duncan site is a nice way to start IMO.

This

 

[Mincer]

Re: Saturday Night Special Vs. Gibson 490R/490T

I would certainly think the Whole Lotta Humbucker or Saturday Night Specials would be perfect. They are both different takes on 'hotter PAFs', but don't 'feel' compressed, are very dynamic, and still manage to push the amp a bit.