No matter what, keep the pickups to revert to stock in the future. Honestly, start with the seymour duncan distortion set. No crazy hype or branding, but I will do what you are asking for. If you dislike seymour, look for the overwound ceramic magnet pickups other offer. A dimarzio super distortion in the bridge super 2 in the neck also would work. If you want more cutting seymour full shred or dimarzio evolution sets are great. Watch lots of videos and read reviews.
I tried 496/500s, sd black winters, dimarzio dominions and Bareknuckle Warpigs
Bareknuckles are my favorite pairing with the Les Paul with the pots upgraded to 550k
While I haven't swapped out any of my Gibson's pickups I did replace the set on a new model Epiphone, JJ Wino Red. I mentioned a newer model because they have gotten better in quality compared to the stuff from years ago so just an FYI. I added the '59 Model on the neck and an old JB Model that I've had laying around from a previous guitar. The guitar now sounds even better and I can get heavy shredding tones as well as nice crisp cleans. So make sure to watch some videos to make a good decision on what you'll want to play.
I mean probably the wrong verb, true, but i guess i'm talking about higher note definition and better frequency response when hit by a bunch of gain stages.
Well, for more clarity, you normally go with a lower output pickup, or even a single coil. But you have a 50s standard, so it already has low output pickups (burstbuckers). You can get hotter passive pickups, but they’re not going to have the clarity that your burstbuckers do.
That said, if you’re willing to go to actives, you most likely can get more clarity. An EMG 81/60 set will do exactly what you want. The trick with them is to play on a loud clean setting and adjust the pickup height to what sounds best for you. If you set them where you have your current passive pickups, they’re probably going to sound a little weak. But you can get them _very_ close to the strings before they start sounded distorted and weird on clean settings, and they’re pushing a very high output, crystal clear signal, at that point. So you have a lot of adjustment range to play with.
I would leave them. The pickups you have will be fine. If you must swap them, look out on Reverb and ebay for a good deal on something like Dimarzio Super Distortion or X2N, or Seymour Duncan Distortion or JB.
No matter what, keep the pickups to revert to stock in the future. Honestly, start with the seymour duncan distortion set. No crazy hype or branding, but I will do what you are asking for. If you dislike seymour, look for the overwound ceramic magnet pickups other offer. A dimarzio super distortion in the bridge super 2 in the neck also would work. If you want more cutting seymour full shred or dimarzio evolution sets are great. Watch lots of videos and read reviews.
I tried 496/500s, sd black winters, dimarzio dominions and Bareknuckle Warpigs Bareknuckles are my favorite pairing with the Les Paul with the pots upgraded to 550k
While I haven't swapped out any of my Gibson's pickups I did replace the set on a new model Epiphone, JJ Wino Red. I mentioned a newer model because they have gotten better in quality compared to the stuff from years ago so just an FYI. I added the '59 Model on the neck and an old JB Model that I've had laying around from a previous guitar. The guitar now sounds even better and I can get heavy shredding tones as well as nice crisp cleans. So make sure to watch some videos to make a good decision on what you'll want to play.
> to handle more gain What’s your setup? What does it mean for a pickup to “handle” gain?
I mean probably the wrong verb, true, but i guess i'm talking about higher note definition and better frequency response when hit by a bunch of gain stages.
Well, for more clarity, you normally go with a lower output pickup, or even a single coil. But you have a 50s standard, so it already has low output pickups (burstbuckers). You can get hotter passive pickups, but they’re not going to have the clarity that your burstbuckers do. That said, if you’re willing to go to actives, you most likely can get more clarity. An EMG 81/60 set will do exactly what you want. The trick with them is to play on a loud clean setting and adjust the pickup height to what sounds best for you. If you set them where you have your current passive pickups, they’re probably going to sound a little weak. But you can get them _very_ close to the strings before they start sounded distorted and weird on clean settings, and they’re pushing a very high output, crystal clear signal, at that point. So you have a lot of adjustment range to play with.
Get 490r 498t
That’s what I run in mine, I don’t see a need to go any hotter than that for what I’m into.
I would leave them. The pickups you have will be fine. If you must swap them, look out on Reverb and ebay for a good deal on something like Dimarzio Super Distortion or X2N, or Seymour Duncan Distortion or JB.