Bridge pickup for Les Paul

[tallcoolone]

WCR Godwood and the newer Gibson Custombucker are the two best LP bridge humbuckers I’ve tried. I have several guitars with Duncans but outside of Ants I don’t like them in LPs. Wolfetones are pretty good but nothing beats those top 2 for me.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

BKP RebelYell

Great bridge for a dark or full-sounding guitar. Got mine for an Explorer.
IMO the Rebel Yell neck is an underappreciated gem, too.

I like BKPs; have the RY set, the Holy Divers and a set of Polymaths. All good.

 

[romanianreaper]

High output pups have their place, but Les Pauls go downhill fast with anything above 9k if you are using a modern, high gain amp IMO. The heft of the guitar needs something more subtle and airy to maintain clarity and focus.

I have a Duncan custom shop WLH in my R9 and it will do any metal great aside from downtuned modern stuff. Other favorites of mine are the Marshallhead MKII and Duncan CS Pearly Gates (not production).

I agree! As a.Les Paul fanatic, too much gain makes the guitar lose it's voice as a Les Paul. My Tonenerd Whiskey is perfect and replaced a Motor City 2nd Degree Black Belt, and both leave room for the guitar to breathe.

 

[Rex Rocker]

I personally think Les Pauls do great with EMG's and Fishman Moderns. It depends on the style of music you want to play. I certainly wouldn't use them for 80's and 90's alternative, but I don't think Les Pauls don't work with high output pickups. Plenty of tight, focused, clear high output pickups out there.

A Les Paul with a 500T is fantastic, or a 498T for more versatility, I guess.

Don't get me wrong. I dig PAF types in Les Pauls too. But lots of great sounds have been achieved with Les Pauls and high output pickups. I mean... Doug Aldrich isn't exactly playing Death Metal and his pickup is hot and kinda dark. And it works!

Adam Jones!

JMO.

 

[romanianreaper]

I personally think Les Pauls do great with EMG's and Fishman Moderns. It depends on the style of music you want to play. I certainly wouldn't use them for 80's and 90's alternative, but I don't think Les Pauls don't work with high output pickups. Plenty of tight, focused, clear high output pickups out there.

A Les Paul with a 500T is fantastic, or a 498T for more versatility, I guess.

Don't get me wrong. I dig PAF types in Les Pauls too. But lots of great sounds have been achieved with Les Pauls and high output pickups. I mean... Doug Aldrich isn't exactly playing Death Metal and his pickup is hot and kinda dark. And it works!

Adam Jones!

JMO.

I totally agree but that Aldrich I had in my Les Paul was awesome for both high gain and rock. That pickup is amazing on how great it cleans up.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

All of his old pickups are killer IME, even his single coils. My personal favorites are the Tarbacks and L100’s, but the former wouldn’t be hot enough for the OP, but also great in LP’s. If others also tried them they would have no interest like me in the other stuff getting recommenced lol. The great pickups back from those days have took me outta the martrix since diving deep into it that stuff last year

It's VERY hard to beat the old Bill Lawrence L90 models, the old Gibson Dirty Fingers, and the old Mighty Mite stuff. They have magic in them. SERIOUS magic. I will say though that the Suhr Aldrich achieves the magic, too.

 

[JohnnyGtar]

I totally agree but that Aldrich I had in my Les Paul was awesome for both high gain and rock. That pickup is amazing on how great it cleans up.

Yep.

 

[braintheory]

It's VERY hard to beat the old Bill Lawrence L90 models, the old Gibson Dirty Fingers, and the old Mighty Mite stuff. They have magic in them. SERIOUS magic. I will say though that the Suhr Aldrich achieves the magic, too.

Those are all among my favorite vintage high output pickups as well. I used to love things like the Iron Man’s and a few other popular ones on here, but they just sound sterile and uninspiring to me if compared directly in the same guitar. I actually thought the Aldrich (and most Suhr products) IME is a pretty sterile meh pickup too imho, but in a really great sounding guitar I’d probably still get an overall great sound with it, but I try to optimize what I can

I love also the L100’s, the right 500L’s and 510L’s, 550L’s. You really can’t go wrong with almost any pickup made in like the early ‘80’s or sooner. Wish I realized this sooner lol. Would’ve made the journey shorter. Even the worst sounding vintage pickups I’ve tried since getting in this rabbit have been a lot better to me than most recent made stuff I’ve had

 

[nigelpkay]

Very happy with the Gibson Slashbucker (Custom BB A2) that comes in the Slash guitars. It reads in the high 8k but plays hotter as it’s got some compression to it. You can find them online all the time as people rip them out of their Slash guitars in favour of the Duncan Alnico II Pro. But I really like them as they hold together with heavier gain.

I also liked the BKP Black Dog and MCP Detroiter.

 

[paulyc]

Old Dirty Fingers
500T
Duncan Distortion

 

[MetalThrasher]

Duncan SH5 (custom) or SH4 (JB). The SH5 is one of my favorite pickups and it just works in a lot of guitars for me. I'm not a huge fan of the SH4 JB, but for a Les Paul or PRS type guitar they work well!

 

[EyesOfTheSouth!]

WCR Godwood and the newer Gibson Custombucker are the two best LP bridge humbuckers I’ve tried. I have several guitars with Duncans but outside of Ants I don’t like them in LPs. Wolfetones are pretty good but nothing beats those top 2 for me.

I agree about the Custombucker. It does everything great. If it didn’t squeal a bit, then I would still have it in my R9. I forget how good it is until I put it back in after trying something else. But the CS WLH edged it for the noise issue.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Duncan SH5 (custom) or SH4 (JB). The SH5 is one of my favorite pickups and it just works in a lot of guitars for me. I'm not a huge fan of the SH4 JB, but for a Les Paul or PRS type guitar they work well!

The JB has earned - and deserves - its legendary status. But it also is notoriously picky about which guitars it likes and which it doesn't.
And that has to do with the individual instrument, not with any particular model.
Can be epic in certain Les Pauls and not great in others. The only way to know is to try it.

On the plus side, if you get a JB and it doesn't like a particular Les Paul, you likely have another guitar it'll sound great in.

 

[tallcoolone]

I agree about the Custombucker. It does everything great. If it didn’t squeal a bit, then I would still have it in my R9. I forget how good it is until I put it back in after trying something else. But the CS WLH edged it for the noise issue.

The CB def has a chirp to it—esp with a heavy stiff pick which I just switched to. I noticed it tonight but the sensitivity and harmonics are off the charts. I brought 2 LPs the recent CB stock R8 and the R8 with the Godwood. Two different feels but both great.

 

[Ventura]

Great bridge for a dark or full-sounding guitar. Got mine for an Explorer.
IMO the Rebel Yell neck is an underappreciated gem, too.

I like BKPs; have the RY set, the Holy Divers and a set of Polymaths. All good.

Yep, got a couple of my Lesters stocked with the RYs in both positions - by far my fave LP pup to date.

 

[ccn]

The JB has earned - and deserves - its legendary status. But it also is notoriously picky about which guitars it likes and which it doesn't.
And that has to do with the individual instrument, not with any particular model.
Can be epic in certain Les Pauls and not great in others. The only way to know is to try it.

On the plus side, if you get a JB and it doesn't like a particular Les Paul, you likely have another guitar it'll sound great in.

I heard that the Black Crowes guitarist Chris used a JB in his Lester for that iconic solo in Hard to Handle.

 

[The One]

I agree! As a.Les Paul fanatic, too much gain makes the guitar lose it's voice as a Les Paul. My Tonenerd Whiskey is perfect and replaced a Motor City 2nd Degree Black Belt, and both leave room for the guitar to breathe.

Yeah Like all those guys that people worship that used a Dimarzio SD in the 70's.....It seems their Les Pauls didn't have their own voice.

 

[artiewylde]

What would you guys recommend for a medium/hot output bridge pickup for a les paul standard. I’m thinking 10 to 14k . Guitar currently has 500k pots and 50s style wiring. Has a 8.6 k paf style pickups which is great for 70’s stuff but I think I want to go hotter for 80s rock to 90s alternative. Don’t do drop tunings or chug stuff so what would you recommend ?

Jb does it all

 

[PSGuitar]

I totally agree but that Aldrich I had in my Les Paul was awesome for both high gain and rock. That pickup is amazing on how great it cleans up.

I have the Aldrich now in my Les Paul Standard and want to try a ToneNerd Whiskey. After that, I might be done trying pickups for this LP. Maybe I'll keep the Whiskey and Aldrich and rotate now and then!

 

[JohnnyGtar]

I totally agree but that Aldrich I had in my Les Paul was awesome for both high gain and rock. That pickup is amazing on how great it cleans up.

I had an Aldrich in my 80's Kramer and it slays with that guitar. Thinking of yanking it just long enough to try it in my LP. If I like it in there, I'll order another one so that both guitars will have the Aldrich in the bridge position. I'm also gonna try a DiMarzio FRED in my LP.