dvanburen
New member
What's up folks! Ive been an active member of the forum in the past but haven't been on in quite some time due to life happening, but I wanted to get back on and get some conversation going.
Just wanted to share what pickup combos ive been playing around with for the last year or two. I am a Les Paul guy so that's what Ive been putting them in. As some of you may remember I am a Seymour Duncan Pickup Guy and Ive done reviews on some hybrid pups a while back and I must say that the 59/jazz neck is by far my favorite. I'll take it a step further tho. For me, in my Les Paul, the 59/jazz with A5 mag is superior. Ive tried A2(which I Like) and A4(which I want to like). But the A5 mag works just great in my guitar. I will say that I prefer the jazz screw coil/59 slug in that hybrid. It really does make a difference which one you use. Its always been,to my ears, that the screw coil imparts more of the sound (60/40 roughly) to the pickup in that configuration. That neck pickup is clear, open, chiming and warm. Good bass response but not muddy. Transparent and clear without being sterile. It's really a fine neck pickup. I won't use anything else in the neck and I've had time to think about it.
As far as the bridge goes.. I really like hot bridge pickups for rock/metal. But I really do strive for versatility. I always loved ceramic mags (thick ceramic to be specific) because of the big powerful bass response and chest thumping power chords. Not only that, but ceramics offer really good note response while keeping note definition very clear. Downside is that you lose the organic warmth that you may get from alnico mags. I've experimented over the years and found that the Duncan custom with the fat ceramic mag from the Duncan Distortion offers everything that I could want out of a hot bridge pickup. Its huge! Its actually warmer than most ceramics mag pickups Ive heard including the Sh-5 Custom. It has good note separation and has a big low end smack in the face. Really nice pickup!! I Love the DD distortion in the right guitar and I've tried hybrids with coils of that pickup as well. I love the Custom with A8 mag in it too. Sounds really smooth and is quite hot but just a little too nice for my taste. JB is also fine in the right guitar but Don't like the bass response and don't like the upper mid nasally honk. I've done several variations of hybrids over the years with what I own in Duncan pickups and I just recently went back to the JB/Custom hybrid A5 mag. I use the custom screw coil/JB slug. I feel that it imparts more of the custom sound to it which I prefer. If anybody has played a Custom 5, its a very nice pickup and it has a scooped sound to it in the midrange. The JB, on the other hand has a very prominent upper mid range spike with a very low bass response (IMO). Well, when you mix the two together you get the best of both worlds. You get an overall hot pickup with PAF and modern tones. You get the solid bass response from the C5 and the shred, responsiveness with the midrange growl of the JB. Ive tried this combo with A8 mag and with the ceramic but It really seems like its too much! JB pup does do well with A2 mag but anything hotter than A5 it really just yells at you and is quite overbearing.
This hybrid pickup has been my favorite as of now. Anybody that has made hybrids knows that these pickups have a very harmonically rich sound to them that pickups with the same coils don't have. It has been described in the past that these hybrids have a 3-D sound to them. They are very transparent and oozing with tone.
Sooo, with that said, I am running my Les Paul with a Duncan Jazz/59 A5 hybrid in the neck and a Custom/JB A5 hybrid in bridge and I could not be happier (until I change pickups). I hope someone finds this thread useful and inspiring. And may tone be with you. Let me know what you guys think! Cheers!!
Just wanted to share what pickup combos ive been playing around with for the last year or two. I am a Les Paul guy so that's what Ive been putting them in. As some of you may remember I am a Seymour Duncan Pickup Guy and Ive done reviews on some hybrid pups a while back and I must say that the 59/jazz neck is by far my favorite. I'll take it a step further tho. For me, in my Les Paul, the 59/jazz with A5 mag is superior. Ive tried A2(which I Like) and A4(which I want to like). But the A5 mag works just great in my guitar. I will say that I prefer the jazz screw coil/59 slug in that hybrid. It really does make a difference which one you use. Its always been,to my ears, that the screw coil imparts more of the sound (60/40 roughly) to the pickup in that configuration. That neck pickup is clear, open, chiming and warm. Good bass response but not muddy. Transparent and clear without being sterile. It's really a fine neck pickup. I won't use anything else in the neck and I've had time to think about it.
As far as the bridge goes.. I really like hot bridge pickups for rock/metal. But I really do strive for versatility. I always loved ceramic mags (thick ceramic to be specific) because of the big powerful bass response and chest thumping power chords. Not only that, but ceramics offer really good note response while keeping note definition very clear. Downside is that you lose the organic warmth that you may get from alnico mags. I've experimented over the years and found that the Duncan custom with the fat ceramic mag from the Duncan Distortion offers everything that I could want out of a hot bridge pickup. Its huge! Its actually warmer than most ceramics mag pickups Ive heard including the Sh-5 Custom. It has good note separation and has a big low end smack in the face. Really nice pickup!! I Love the DD distortion in the right guitar and I've tried hybrids with coils of that pickup as well. I love the Custom with A8 mag in it too. Sounds really smooth and is quite hot but just a little too nice for my taste. JB is also fine in the right guitar but Don't like the bass response and don't like the upper mid nasally honk. I've done several variations of hybrids over the years with what I own in Duncan pickups and I just recently went back to the JB/Custom hybrid A5 mag. I use the custom screw coil/JB slug. I feel that it imparts more of the custom sound to it which I prefer. If anybody has played a Custom 5, its a very nice pickup and it has a scooped sound to it in the midrange. The JB, on the other hand has a very prominent upper mid range spike with a very low bass response (IMO). Well, when you mix the two together you get the best of both worlds. You get an overall hot pickup with PAF and modern tones. You get the solid bass response from the C5 and the shred, responsiveness with the midrange growl of the JB. Ive tried this combo with A8 mag and with the ceramic but It really seems like its too much! JB pup does do well with A2 mag but anything hotter than A5 it really just yells at you and is quite overbearing.
This hybrid pickup has been my favorite as of now. Anybody that has made hybrids knows that these pickups have a very harmonically rich sound to them that pickups with the same coils don't have. It has been described in the past that these hybrids have a 3-D sound to them. They are very transparent and oozing with tone.
Sooo, with that said, I am running my Les Paul with a Duncan Jazz/59 A5 hybrid in the neck and a Custom/JB A5 hybrid in bridge and I could not be happier (until I change pickups). I hope someone finds this thread useful and inspiring. And may tone be with you. Let me know what you guys think! Cheers!!
