Help choosing pickups for Les Paul Studio.

[Intimidator333]

do you have the emg solderless system in the guitar?

Yes I do currently.

 

[scottosan]

Does it have the stock 300k pots in it?

 

[Intimidator333]

Does it have the stock 300k pots in it?

Has whatever comes with the EMG 57/66 set.

 

[zerotolerance]

Bare Knuckle Rebel Yell and never look back. I had the same problem with my Gibson - dark downtuned (B standard) guitar, I also wanted "organic sound" -they helped a lot. Just keep in mind that these are very bright pickups with almost no low end, if you decide to play "normal" stuff later they can be quite harsh. I liked to play Whitesnake with them, in normal tuning they gave me almost instant 80s hair metal sound. I found Gibson 498, 500 and few other Bare Knuckles (Nailbomb, Painkiller) too muddy

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Bare Knuckle Rebel Yell and never look back. I had the same problem with my Gibson - dark downtuned (B standard) guitar, I also wanted "organic sound" -they helped a lot. Just keep in mind that these are very bright pickups with almost no low end, if you decide to play "normal" stuff later they can be quite harsh. I liked to play Whitesnake with them, in normal tuning they gave me almost instant 80s hair metal sound. I found Gibson 498, 500 and few other Bare Knuckles (Nailbomb, Painkiller) too muddy

Dude if you found the Painkiller too muddy, it was either a) wired wrong, c) a damaged pup, c)or a combination of the former.

I love the Rebel Yells in my 04 LP for heavy rock/classic rock, but hate them in that guitar for modern metal.

In my walnut Carvin the RY was great for modern metal. Still not anywhere near as good as the PK.

The Painkiller would still be a better choice for the type of stuff the OP is going for.

 

[Intimidator333]

Bare Knuckle Rebel Yell and never look back. I had the same problem with my Gibson - dark downtuned (B standard) guitar, I also wanted "organic sound" -they helped a lot. Just keep in mind that these are very bright pickups with almost no low end, if you decide to play "normal" stuff later they can be quite harsh. I liked to play Whitesnake with them, in normal tuning they gave me almost instant 80s hair metal sound. I found Gibson 498, 500 and few other Bare Knuckles (Nailbomb, Painkiller) too muddy

Bare Knuckle Rebel Yell and never look back. I had the same problem with my Gibson - dark downtuned (B standard) guitar, I also wanted "organic sound" -they helped a lot. Just keep in mind that these are very bright pickups with almost no low end, if you decide to play "normal" stuff later they can be quite harsh. I liked to play Whitesnake with them, in normal tuning they gave me almost instant 80s hair metal sound. I found Gibson 498, 500 and few other Bare Knuckles (Nailbomb, Painkiller) too muddy

Dude if you found the Painkiller too muddy, it was either a) wired wrong, c) a damaged pup, c)or a combination of the former.

I love the Rebel Yells in my 04 LP for heavy rock/classic rock, but hate them in that guitar for modern metal.

In my walnut Carvin the RY was great for modern metal. Still not anywhere near as good as the PK.

The Painkiller would still be a better choice for the type of stuff the OP is going for.

I too had a Painkiller as well as a C Pig in the Mahogany Neckthrough Ibanez I mentioned earlier that I also don't like the EMG's in just like the Les Paul. I too found that both BKP's including the Painkiller were a bit too muddy. I felt like they both gave it a sludgy kind of tone. Like early 90's Swedish death metal like Dismember or all those Boss HM2 kind of bands as opposed to SYL City type sound I was after. Take that with a grain of salt as that was almost 10 years ago and my perception of tone and feel and everything has changed since then. Maybe the ultra hot pickups are pushing the low and low mid frequencies too far that are already prominent in those guitars as opposed to a more balanced or brighter voiced guitar?

 

[acalaf]

do you have the emg solderless system in the guitar?

Yes I do currently.

I noticed that the input jack that comes with the solderless system changes the sound of the pickups and makes the emg's sound worse than they should. I would suggest before switching pickups, to simply change the input jack switch. A switchcraft stereo jack can be found in guitar center for under $5 and might make you like the pickups enough to keep them. A lot of people think that the older soldered emg's sound better than the new ones, but the difference lies only on the input jack (where you plug the guitar cable) not the pickups or the whole solderless system itself. Strange but true...

 

[Braciola]

Motor City Detroiter

 

[thefyn]

I'm another vote for Motor City. IMO the best current production you can buy.

Tbey may take a while to get made but it's worth the wait.

Wade's brain when it comes to metallurgy, subtle nuances of the effects of materials is great.

Even a random custom I picked up from EBay spundscamaxing in the neck

 

[thefyn]

Motor City Detroiter

Good shout. One of my fav tones was an overwound Detroiter.

But the set he made for me is gold. He listened to my album and created a custom set for me. It's a black belt said with longer magnets and slightly more winds (I think)