ibanezrocks
HardtailPisser
:biglaugh:
I love them!!!
Here's some background info: I recently bought these off of our forum bro The Usual, and received them yesterday, installed them today. I put them in my SG Standard because although I couldn't imagine a better neck pickup in that guitar than the Pearly Gates that was in there, I was hating the lack of bass in the custom custom. So when I saw these pop up in the trading post I definitely wanted to give them a shot. I'm planning on putting the Pearly Gates in to my Ibanez so it'll have a good home, and I'll put a ceramic in the custom custom and try that in the Ibanez as well, if I like that I'll sell the evo, and if I don't I'll sell the custom custom. I'm proud to say I now have a big box full of pickups, mostly stock but now a couple SDs not installed in anything yet.
After playing them for a few hours this evening I thought I'd post my first impressions. I have yet to crank the amp so I haven't gotten them to feedback, but at high gain at bedroom levels they didn't feedback at all.
THE REVIEW:
Neck Seth Lover: The juries still out on this one, in no way am I liking this like the Pearly Gates. I tend to like a bright neck pickup, which the Pearly Gates fit perfectly, it had a decent bite, some low end warmth and just enough top end sparkle. Right now I'm finding the Seth Lover neck really dark, but not dark or compressed. I still have to really tweak them, and I should get it a bit brighter by lowering the pickup and raising the screw pole pieces. It's definitely the smoothest roundest sounding pickup I've played, but at the same time has a lot of overtones and picks up EVERY little nuance of my technique. I like the sensitivity of the pickup, its very dynamic and shows when you make a mistake. The lower output works well with my amp which won't go very clean but does very well with these pickups. I bought these because lately I've been using low gain sounds a lot but since putting these in tonight I've been cranking up the distortion and listening to the guitar scream, it's the best heavily distorted tone I've ever got, both from the bridge and neck, which was surprising.
Bridge Seth Lover: The first chord I struck made me breath a big sigh of relief. I was definitely ready for a change from the custom custom, as I had been using the neck pickup almost exclusively for the last few months (though I liked it for quite a while, I feel its better suited for a guitar with a natural abundance of bass and lack of mids, and it didn't balance with the Pearly Gates at all IMO at least in my guitar). I have yet to get a bad sound out of this pickup. I'm guessing its pretty hard to choose a bridge pickup for an SG that doesn't sound thin but has a classic tone at the same time, because I haven't had much luck with that so far. This pickup has just the right amount of bite to it, its not dull by any means, but not harsh either. Notes seem to blossom, it really responds to how you play it. I'm absolutely loving the high gain, its very thick and natural, and the low gain sounds are very bluesy. Makes a perfect set with the neck Seth Lover, the in-between position is so good that although I have my doubts about the neck Seth Lover, the in-between position is good enough to make up for that.
Closing comments: It's definitely hard to describe these pickups, the mojo they have isn't something I can define. They really react to my playing and I haven't had this much fun noodling around with some ACDC songs in a long time. I would like to thank our forum bro The Usual for the smooth transaction, they were packed well and he gave plenty of advice for dealing with feedback in case I run in to those problems. I also want to recommend others to try the foam with holes drilled through it as a replacement for springs to mount the pickups (this foam was like that of a cheap sandal, and was shipped with the pickup).
Now, others chime in with your experiences on the Seth Lovers, theres no way I can be the only one surprised by how good they are under hi gain?
Also I'll be sure to post pics because the guitar looks simply beautiful with covered pickups in it again. Next string change I'm taking the covers off and trying with zebra for awhile. Cheers.
I love them!!!
Here's some background info: I recently bought these off of our forum bro The Usual, and received them yesterday, installed them today. I put them in my SG Standard because although I couldn't imagine a better neck pickup in that guitar than the Pearly Gates that was in there, I was hating the lack of bass in the custom custom. So when I saw these pop up in the trading post I definitely wanted to give them a shot. I'm planning on putting the Pearly Gates in to my Ibanez so it'll have a good home, and I'll put a ceramic in the custom custom and try that in the Ibanez as well, if I like that I'll sell the evo, and if I don't I'll sell the custom custom. I'm proud to say I now have a big box full of pickups, mostly stock but now a couple SDs not installed in anything yet.
After playing them for a few hours this evening I thought I'd post my first impressions. I have yet to crank the amp so I haven't gotten them to feedback, but at high gain at bedroom levels they didn't feedback at all.
THE REVIEW:
Neck Seth Lover: The juries still out on this one, in no way am I liking this like the Pearly Gates. I tend to like a bright neck pickup, which the Pearly Gates fit perfectly, it had a decent bite, some low end warmth and just enough top end sparkle. Right now I'm finding the Seth Lover neck really dark, but not dark or compressed. I still have to really tweak them, and I should get it a bit brighter by lowering the pickup and raising the screw pole pieces. It's definitely the smoothest roundest sounding pickup I've played, but at the same time has a lot of overtones and picks up EVERY little nuance of my technique. I like the sensitivity of the pickup, its very dynamic and shows when you make a mistake. The lower output works well with my amp which won't go very clean but does very well with these pickups. I bought these because lately I've been using low gain sounds a lot but since putting these in tonight I've been cranking up the distortion and listening to the guitar scream, it's the best heavily distorted tone I've ever got, both from the bridge and neck, which was surprising.
Bridge Seth Lover: The first chord I struck made me breath a big sigh of relief. I was definitely ready for a change from the custom custom, as I had been using the neck pickup almost exclusively for the last few months (though I liked it for quite a while, I feel its better suited for a guitar with a natural abundance of bass and lack of mids, and it didn't balance with the Pearly Gates at all IMO at least in my guitar). I have yet to get a bad sound out of this pickup. I'm guessing its pretty hard to choose a bridge pickup for an SG that doesn't sound thin but has a classic tone at the same time, because I haven't had much luck with that so far. This pickup has just the right amount of bite to it, its not dull by any means, but not harsh either. Notes seem to blossom, it really responds to how you play it. I'm absolutely loving the high gain, its very thick and natural, and the low gain sounds are very bluesy. Makes a perfect set with the neck Seth Lover, the in-between position is so good that although I have my doubts about the neck Seth Lover, the in-between position is good enough to make up for that.
Closing comments: It's definitely hard to describe these pickups, the mojo they have isn't something I can define. They really react to my playing and I haven't had this much fun noodling around with some ACDC songs in a long time. I would like to thank our forum bro The Usual for the smooth transaction, they were packed well and he gave plenty of advice for dealing with feedback in case I run in to those problems. I also want to recommend others to try the foam with holes drilled through it as a replacement for springs to mount the pickups (this foam was like that of a cheap sandal, and was shipped with the pickup).
Now, others chime in with your experiences on the Seth Lovers, theres no way I can be the only one surprised by how good they are under hi gain?
Also I'll be sure to post pics because the guitar looks simply beautiful with covered pickups in it again. Next string change I'm taking the covers off and trying with zebra for awhile. Cheers.
