Neck pickup recommendations

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mchn13

mchn13

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Ive been a long time jb/'59 player, but started usin mcp's and bkp holy divers i. The bridge of my pauls, whats a good match for a ripping neck pup? Mostly for higher lead runs.?
Ive started using the neck pup alot more, and the '59 is just a little dull to me.
Its for a les paul studio lite through a mesa markIII, and a '77 jmp.
 
Forgot to mention, i think yeti reccomended an alnico proII for the neck in this guit. Anyone play one?
 
The Suhr Aldrich neck handles high gain great. Best neck pickup for distortion I have used. Psychodave who used to post here was known for running a JB in the neck position.

If you are not wanting to stray too far from the '59, than the SD jazz is a nice change, a little more output than the '59.
 
Duncan Pearly Gates neck is a great pickup...adds a little bite and slice to the '59 formula
 
rupe":1hn1c816 said:
Duncan Pearly Gates neck is a great pickup...adds a little bite and slice to the '59 formula

Thats what im hoping for, a little less round and a little more glassy i guess.
 
59' is a good neck pickup. I use the alnico pro II with a warpig bridge. The cold sweat is suppose to be pretty nice, and the clips I've heard of the VHII is pretty awesome.
 
mchn13":eozdni74 said:
Ive been a long time jb/'59 player, but started usin mcp's and bkp holy divers i. The bridge of my pauls, whats a good match for a ripping neck pup? Mostly for higher lead runs.?
Ive started using the neck pup alot more, and the '59 is just a little dull to me.
Its for a les paul studio lite through a mesa markIII, and a '77 jmp.

Well, if you wanna stick with MCP's the Detroiter and Afwayu neck pickups are both great!

I tend to prefer the Detroiter's for downtuned stuff.
 
mchn13":1stu6hr5 said:
rupe":1stu6hr5 said:
Duncan Pearly Gates neck is a great pickup...adds a little bite and slice to the '59 formula

Thats what im hoping for, a little less round and a little more glassy i guess.
I think you've found what you're looking for then :thumbsup:
 
Duncan Jazz and DiMarzio PAF plus a couple of my favorite neck pickups. In my LP Trad + I have a DiMarzio 36th anniversary (bridge version) installed in the neck position and it works out well.
 
DiMarzio PAF Joe is my all time favorite neck pickup.
 
blackba":gty7nm0z said:
The Suhr Aldrich neck handles high gain great. Best neck pickup for distortion I have used. Psychodave who used to post here was known for running a JB in the neck position.

If you are not wanting to stray too far from the '59, than the SD jazz is a nice change, a little more output than the '59.

+1 on the Aldrich neck. Very awesome plus it splits well.
 
a2 pro

again, you'll thank yourself later...perfect mix of round and glassy with that guitar. i've owned 5. and tried MANY neck pickups, but always went back to the a2pro.

one other that sounds REALLY good is the evo neck, with a treble bleed value of around 250-300pf across outer hot lug to middle volume. it has little more upper mid sizzle due to the ceramic bar mag compared to the smoother a2pro, but still, really big open glassy and clear, believe it or not.

duncan JB in the neck in these guitars IMHO are REALLY muddy for some reason, even with different treble bleed cap values from 100pf -1000pf. couldn't get it right, so i gave up.

a regular old seth lover is a nice pickup, but, i didnt love it, the output wasnt where i wanted it to be.

the pearly gates is another great recommendation in this guitar, and depending on the hairs you want to split, can be adjusted to sound really close to the a2pro. i actually lower the a2pro neck pup on the bass side anyways, so a pearly gates would probably work better for me now (i wanted the full on output from the a2pro neck back in the day, but over time, my tonal tastes obviously like all of us, changed, and now i prefer the bass side almost flush with the pickup ring and the treble side about 3/32...i cant remember my G and D string measurements)....before i used to run it 1/16 on the bass side and 3/32 on the treble cause i liked that output.

something about the balsa wood in those bodies really reacts with the alnico magnets in a good way.
 
50MkII":1bqtlq1b said:
Dull? Are you looking to drive the amp harder?

nah just more presence, less round..

thanks for all the suggestions dudes. im gonna pick up an alnicoII pro on the bay, or a pearly gates. should be an easy find.
 
yeti":3exvcnyu said:
a2 pro

again, you'll thank yourself later...perfect mix of round and glassy with that guitar. i've owned 5. and tried MANY neck pickups, but always went back to the a2pro.

one other that sounds REALLY good is the evo neck, with a treble bleed value of around 250-300pf across outer hot lug to middle volume. it has little more upper mid sizzle due to the ceramic bar mag compared to the smoother a2pro, but still, really big open glassy and clear, believe it or not.

duncan JB in the neck in these guitars IMHO are REALLY muddy for some reason, even with different treble bleed cap values from 100pf -1000pf. couldn't get it right, so i gave up.

a regular old seth lover is a nice pickup, but, i didnt love it, the output wasnt where i wanted it to be.

the pearly gates is another great recommendation in this guitar, and depending on the hairs you want to split, can be adjusted to sound really close to the a2pro. i actually lower the a2pro neck pup on the bass side anyways, so a pearly gates would probably work better for me now (i wanted the full on output from the a2pro neck back in the day, but over time, my tonal tastes obviously like all of us, changed, and now i prefer the bass side almost flush with the pickup ring and the treble side about 3/32...i cant remember my G and D string measurements)....before i used to run it 1/16 on the bass side and 3/32 on the treble cause i liked that output.

something about the balsa wood in those bodies really reacts with the alnico magnets in a good way.

EVO neck is a great pickup and has a unique tone. I miss that pickup...
 
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