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Replacing my les pauls humbucker

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(@steveobouttorock)
Estimable Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 87
Topic starter  

Basically im sick of the tone from these shittty humbuckers in it and wanna replace them. I was looking at some stuff today but didn't hear anything good . I play pop rock alternative stuff and it seems there is no pickup to fit that. Everything i've seen is suited for like metal or jazz, nothing with all the tone and what not i am looking for. I was hoping for some reccomendations of pickups i should check out, cause i can't find anything. thanx for any help

be good at what you can do-


   
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(@rsadler)
Reputable Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 210
 

I was reading the les paul forums, and it seems a popular combination at the moment is Seymour Duncans JB (Jeff Beck) in the bridge, and Seymour Duncans Jazz in the neck. The sound samples on the SD site soud pretty cool


   
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(@forrok_star)
Noble Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 2337
 

Your saying there's a tone in mind on that Quest of tone and can't seem to find what it would take to find it. What makes you think changing pickups will be all that it will take. Pickups are only a single ingredient in the signal chain. It's the combined effort of everything used to create your signal chain. What are you using for equipment? Take a look at your equipment setup. Are there equalizer's between all different stages in the signal chain?

The setup I currently brainstormed, assembled, and now record with has taken hours that turned into weeks just hooking and unhooking the cables in every possible way. I know everyone can't spend the amount of time and money I do on searching for tone that I do. Utilizing 16 rack spaces and five amps later the setup allows me to plug any stock guitar with stock pickups into it and sound the way I want it to. From crystal transparent clean to you know that b***s to the wall cranked overdriven rock guitar at any volume.

I have a number of guitars that have hot rod to custom designed and built pickups in them from over the years thinking it was what I needed. To find out there are other things that can be utilized before even thinking of pickups. Not much talked about that I consider something every guitarist should become familiar with like any other piece of equipment that is talked about as much as stomp box effects to strings. They are all tube amps, equalizers and attenuators.

Everyone will have their own opinion on the subject on how they get their own original tone, this is mine. First all tube amp, second equalizers, third attenuator, then work from there. Here's and example of a setup. guitar-> eq pedal-> preamp-> amps tone stack-> power amp-> attenuator-> speakers. Effects can be add before and after the preamp or even at the mixer. By using equalizers bracketing anything and everything used. Will allow you control of your guitar signal from beginning to end.

I know this isn't the answer you were looking for Sorry. It should help you to analyze your signal chain. If you already have all three of the pieces of equipment I talked above and pickups are whats needed then perhaps trying different wiring configurations like built in guitar preamp, push-pull volume and tone controls, in and out of phase setups are some possibilities.

I can't remember what a friend of mine told me what it was called. I do recall him saying DiMarzio built it. You might contact DiMarzio about building one of their proto-type three coil pickups. What it is, is three single coils built together which can be wired for running number of combinations from humbucker to single coil and beyond.

Joe


   
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(@shadychar)
Trusted Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 41
 

Are you sure the 'poop tone' is from the pups? Have you tried a variety of different amps with the guitar to see if you can get better tone? Usually, the amp you use has the greatest effect on tone.


   
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(@undercat)
Prominent Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 959
 

It's true, the best advice here was definitely Joe's. Put your guitar through a bunch of other amps and see if you still feel the same way. The amp, as well as the cabinet make so much of a difference, it's crazy. I can get the sweetest, smoothest blues tone in the world out of my Classic 30, but through a line 6 Spider, I struggle to get anything really usable. It's not the guitar's fault.

So, if you do that and still think it's the pups...

Even stock pups from gibson are generally considered to be pretty high grade stuff.

Which guitar do you have? Each comes with different pups:

Studio/Custom: 490/498
Standard: Burstbuckers
Classic: Alnico V's
Melody maker/Jr/Special: P-90's.

Each have their own idiosyncrasies.

The JB's are well loved. Both the active and passive EMG's are nothing to scoff at. Lace actually makes a magnetic humbucker that kicks a lot of booty, despite the fact that they're better known for their Sensors.

If you think they all suck, you can go to the "boutique"-ish brands: Rolphs, Timbuckers, Darkbursts, Lollars, etc.

Do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life...


   
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(@gnease)
Illustrious Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 5038
 

Basically im sick of the tone from these poop humbuckers in it and wanna replace them. I was looking at some stuff today but didn't hear anything good . I play pop rock alternative stuff and it seems there is no pickup to fit that. Everything i've seen is suited for like metal or jazz, nothing with all the tone and what not i am looking for. I was hoping for some reccomendations of pickups i should check out, cause i can't find anything. thanx for any help

Not to minimize what's been said above, but allow me to point out two things in completely different directions.

First point: You want alternative sounds. Well a lot of those are single-coil based, not humbucker. Okay, you can change the tone of a 'bucker using an equalizer to somewhat brighten it, but you will have a much more difficult time using effects to change the time response -- that's the ADSR (attack delay sustain and release) envelope. This is dynamics, not frequency response and 'buckers and single coils are decidedly different. If a humbucker is not doing it for you, then maybe you would be better off to start closer to a sound you like and work from there, than spend a lot of time and money adding increased complexity to turn one sound into another. But don't go changing you pups immediately. Start by playing different guitars and amps and listen. See what's getting closer to your desired sound with just swapping out guitar and/or amp.

Second point -- and one which I feel is far more important: Learn to make your guitar sound different by playing it differently. Much of the character of your sound comes from you and not your equipment. Pros manage to sound like themselves on almost any setup, because a lot of that signature tone and feel is in how they fret and attack those strings. If you do not like your tone, maybe you need to take fresh look at how you play, try some new techniques. This is not an easy thing to do, but in the long run will carry you further toward where were you want to be. I love using effects and playing different guitars and amps. But what is really important to me is that I can carry my sound where ever I go and make a good version of it come out of any guitar. I hate hearing players say, well I'm gonna suck cause this is not my setup. Buy guitars and amps and effects you will enjoy playing and hearing, but learn to make your sound come from you.

-Greg

-=tension & release=-


   
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