what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

glassman

glassman

Electron Herder
I just picked up an Epi LP std and was wondering what the stats are on the pickups. I am not unhappy with what is in there at this point; I honestly am still getting to know this guitar and haven't made any judgements yet. I simply am curious as to what is in there so, should I ever decide to make a change, I will have an idea of which direction I want to go.

Thanks,
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

Unfortunately they're no-name cheap Asian-made PU's. Materials & workmanship are mediocre and inconsistent, and they're unnecessarily buried in a half pound of wax, which adds to the muddy tone. They're okay, until you hear good PU's. The weakest part of any Epi is the PU's (I have a bunch of Epi's, all with upgraded PU's). As far as which dierection to go, you can't tell anything from the stock PU's; you'll have to get quality ones to make a judgement.

Put in a set of Duncan '59's, or a C5/'59N, and you'll see a big difference in clarity, definition, and tone quality. Check eBay for used ones, at about half the new price. Life's too short for crappy PU's. Trust me on that.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

I figured they were cheap pups. I think the inconsistency that you mention will be what makes it tough to determine a direction to go in using the stock pups as a baseline.

I have a set of SD Seth Lover pups that don't have a permanent home; maybe I should consider putting them in and make my determinations from those...a known starting point.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

glassman said:
I figured they were cheap pups. I think the inconsistency that you mention will be what makes it tough to determine a direction to go in using the stock pups as a baseline.

I have a set of SD Seth Lover pups that don't have a permanent home; maybe I should consider putting them in and make my determinations from those...a known starting point.
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Oh heck yeah, throw them things in there. The stock ones are just low-medium output a2 PAF type of pickups.... but as Blueman said, encased in a half pound of wax and are cheaply made and assembled. Seth Loves would be great in there
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

glassman said:
I have a set of SD Seth Lover pups that don't have a permanent home; maybe I should consider putting them in and make my determinations from those...a known starting point.
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+1. Well, why didn't you say so. Absolutely. Pop those in. Let us know how they sound.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

Well...the Seth's will go in as soon as I get a chance!

The guitar actually sounds quite good with the stock pups in it...I can only imagine what the Seth's will do.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

glassman said:
Well...the Seth's will go in as soon as I get a chance!

The guitar actually sounds quite good with the stock pups in it...I can only imagine what the Seth's will do.
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I just picked up a used Epi lespaul with a burstbucker in the bridge, its sounds great!! i think i like it better then my wolfgang. It has a nice thick powerfull sound, the added weight and the wood used what gives the paul the sound. I love this guitar dammit.
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Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

the recent stock epi buckers are like 8k neck, 13k bridge or something like that but there is lots of variation.

i love a set of 59's in every epi les paul that ive tried but i would guess seths should work great. if not, throw a5 magnets in em and youll be golden. i almost always prefer a2 in gibsons but for some reason i like the a5 in the epis
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

The thing that concerns me about the Seth's is that they are not potted and they tend to go out of control with extremely high gain. The clean through moderate distortion sound is awesome though with lots of harmonic action going on that the stock Epi's don't have...The Seth's are currently in another guitar and I A-B'd them last night.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

jeremy said:
i love a set of 59's in every epi les paul that ive tried but i would guess seths should work great. if not, throw a5 magnets in em and youll be golden.
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+1. PAF's and LP's are a match made in heaven, and mag swaps are cheap & easy if you need to do it. You can add a lttle wax & pot your Seth's if you need to. Doesn't take much.

And that's a very nice-looking LP you have Glassman; love that color & flame.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

blueman335 said:
+1. PAF's and LP's are a match made in heaven, and mag swaps are cheap & easy if you need to do it. You can add a lttle wax & pot your Seth's if you need to. Doesn't take much.

And that's a very nice-looking LP you have Glassman; love that color & flame.
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Thanks, it really caught my eye. The cell phone cam shot really doesn't do it justice. It really fit my hands nicely and has a really nice unplugged sound to it.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

great looking guitar
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

One thing I noticed about the stockers in my 2004 Korean Epi LP, was that they were cursed by being both weak AND muddy. Not that it matters much, Epi labeled the pickups with a small oval label (that falls off easily) as to position and "hotness". Under drive, I preffered the bridge model in the neck position under gain.

I don't know even why they bother, but my Epi had the Gibson classic (neck) and the wider modern (bridge) spacing difference. This does not mean that the Epi and Gibson covers are interchangeable. From what I remember Gibson pole screws are a tad larger in diameter than than Epi pole screws. I was trying to verify this for the last half hour, but I'm having trouble finding old pickups/covers stored away. YMMV.

I hear Epi Dots use two lower power (neck) models, ergo, two classic spaced hb's in both positions.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

Sludgenutz said:
One thing I noticed about the stockers in my 2004 Korean Epi LP, was that they were cursed by being both weak AND muddy.
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Amazing. They must work at it to get them sounding like that. PU's upgrades are mandatory.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

^Yup, and removing the covers and all that wax didn't help a lick tone wise, either.

Seriously, Les Paul himself knows what a great deal an Epi LP Standard is. Les plays with such a clean and rich tone, he has no probs with stocker pickups. Gibson, for that matter paid a great tribute to Les with the two conductor 490R, but most modern-tone end users find it to be a slug.
 
Re: what are the stock pups in a Epiphone Les Paul Standard

Sludgenutz said:
Gibson, for that matter paid a great tribute to Les with the two conductor 490R, but most modern-tone end users find it to be a slug.
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Actually with a magnet swap to A5, the 490R is a pretty good PAF, much better definition. It's was cursed at birth with the wrong magnet, and as a double whammy, got paired with the bright 498T, which makes the 490R seem even darker than it is. Don't give up on it.
 
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