Guitar pickup help for rock and metal lead guitarist!?
Im trying to decide what to put into the bridge position of my epiphone les paul custom. Can anyone tell me what the differences in tonal quality are between the gibson 500t and the 498t? I play rock, alt rock, metal, and i own a 120 watt hughes and kettner warp x amplifier. Also what would you suggest from seymour duncan's line?
Thanks a million!
please do not suggest emg! lol thanks
I'm not familiar with Gibson's pickups, but I am at least moderately familiar with Seymour Duncan's. I would suggest
Custom or Custom Custom - similar in tone, but I think the Custom Custom is a little hotter. Versatile, but not as "warm" per se as the Alt 8 and JB. Good cleans, good distortion, tight low end, good clarity. Not as high output as the others I've listed.
Alternative 8 - hot pickup, very "clean" sounding even with high gain. does not muddy up, gives both good cleans and solid chunky distortion. sounds similar to the JB, but a little hotter and with a tighter low end, ie, better for rhythm. I have this and an Alnico II Pro in my LTD EC-100QM and I just love it - lots of that warm, "middy" alnico chime, lots of mids to push a saturated tone, and the A2P gives a very "Slash" lead tone. Good times!
PATB-2 (parallel axis trembucker distortion) - quite possibly the hottest passive pickup seymour duncan sells. I've heard it still gives acceptable cleans, but I think its meant for a distorted tone especially. 21k DC resistance? Something crazy like that. Massive, beefy, but more balanced than the Invaders (which I do not recommend, too dark and muddy for most guitars).
You might also look into the D Activator and D Sonic pickups from DiMarzio... they're targeted towards players who tune down but still want a very "clean" tone - clarity with good chunk and output, etc. They're marketed as the passive alternatives to active pickups.
Something to keep in mind is that normally most humbuckers will expect to see a 500k volume pot. If you put a 1Meg pot in there instead, it will grab a little more treble from the pickup. It's a very simple mod, but I feel like it really made a difference with my Alt 8.... makes it a little louder, in other words. I can always use my tone knob to roll off some of the high end, if I want to after all...
Good luck!
Saul
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