Stock gibson flying v w/ alnico II pro neck, pearly gates bridge

[T-800]

When I say stock flying v, I mean this antique natural with bb2 in the neck and bb3 in the bridge:

https://www.gibson.com/en-US/Guitar/USAM1U838/Flying-V/Antique-Natural

I like the Gibson V for various reasons. I like the design, the weight, the provenance.

What I'm looking for is good all around pickups for every genre except really hard stuff (I have another flying V with dirty fingers plus pickups for that)

I'd like a neck pickup that is polite and refined even under high gain/volume. Is that what the alnico II pro is or should I be searching for something else?

 

[jeremy]

id try the bb2/bb3 set before you swap anything out. those arent bad pups

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I think the Pearly Gates is probably going to be an improvement over the BB3.
Even so, I agree with the advice to give the stock pickups a chance.

BB2 should be pretty responsive and open sounding already. A2Pro is likely to be a bit smoother - a tad less bite & sparkle.
Both of those are A2, so neither will stay very tight at high gain. They'll give very nice lead tone, but not tight stops.

For something a little tighter under gain, I'd consider the Saturday Night Special neck.

 

[uOpt]

Needs 2 (or 3) pink Invaders and a Floyd Rose \m/

 

[JOLLY]

I had one similar to that, and I put a set of Seth Lovers in it. It sounded fantastic.

 

[krovatron]

I recommend giving the BBs a chance - I am a big fan of them. The BB3 is great in the bridge. I tend to go with a BB1 in the neck, but I know Vs come with a 2.
If you're not against magnet swapping, pulling out the roughcast A2 in the BBs and replacing them would help with tone shifts. The winds of the BB will be close to the 59 and PG