T
Tommy Von Voigt
Member
Hi everyone! This is my first post after lurking for awhile. I'm on a pickup quest. I've got 6 guitars. I'm going to provide lots of information, which will hopefully be beneficial.
The guitars:
• 1984 Gibson Union Jack Explorer. I believe it to be an alder body and a maple neck, with an ebony board. DiMarzio Transition in the bridge, DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell in the neck (wired in parallel).
• 1984 Gibson Explorer. I believe it to be an alder body (though it could also be mahogany) and a maple neck, with a rosewood board. Original Dirty Fingers set.
• 1986 B.C. Rich USA Standard neck-thru Warlock. Most likely a maple neck, but I have no idea what the body wings are made of. Still has the original set of DiMarzios from 1986. According to DiMarzio, it seems to be a Super 2 in the bridge (why?!?!?!) and their now discontinued PAF in the neck.
• 1987 Ibanez Destroyer DG555. Basswood body, maple neck, rosewood board. DiMarzio Transition in the bridge, DiMarzio PAF Pros in the middle and neck positions.
• 1988 Fender American Standard Strat. Alder body, maple neck, maple board. DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Blues in the middle, DiMarzio Injector in the neck.
• 2017 Les Paul Classic. Mahogany body, maple cap, 9 hole weight relief, mahogany neck, rosewood board. DiMarzio Transition in the bridge, DiMarzio Super 2 in the neck (wired in parallel).
My gear:
• 2 100 watt Marshall Plexi clones (a 68 and a 69), which have been heavily hot rodded and have an extra preamp tube. These are both Hopkins Pandoras. Mid-80s style monsters, basically. I run a clean boost and a delay in the loops, get my gain from the heads, plug straight in, and that's it.
• Ceriatone King Kong 50 (still on order, haven't played it yet)
• Early-1982 Marshall slant with the original quad of G12-65 Celestions.
• Late-1972 Marshall straight with the original quad of G12H-30 Celestion Greenbacks (55hz Pulsonic cones!)
• Suhr Reactive Load, and almost every IR that OwnHammer and Celestion sell.
So what's the deal?
It all started with the Les Paul. It came stock with a Classic 57 plus in the bridge, and a Classic 57 in the neck. The bridge is best described as alright, sometimes giving me a very subtle Tom Scholz-style mid thing, depending on what I was doing. The neck pickup always sounded like crap. Mud city, with boomy, exaggerated lows, but it wasn't my primary concern, since I play on the bridge like 99% of the time. But I wanted to see if I could get this thing to really sound good. So I tried a Suhr Doug Aldrich in the bridge. That's a hotter pickup with an Alnico 5. It didn't seem to agree with me. It felt like it was pushing the amp into an uncomfortable place. Everything felt exaggerated, and somehow too clean and stiff even with tons of gain. After a bunch of trial and error, I found that this Les Paul tended to be on the bright side of the spectrum, so I was trying to find something more full, that felt and sounded really organic and also totally raw and ballsy. This led me to the Super Distortion. I tried a Super Distortion in the bridge, and a Super 2 in the neck. The Super Distortion certainly seemed to put the guitar in the right ballpark, as far as the EQ goes, but it did sound like a bit of a congested mess in some regards. And the Super 2 in the neck had all the same problems the previous neck pickup did.
I also put a Super Distortion in the Strat, but in that guitar, it seems to work okay-ish, for whatever reason.
At this point, I set the Les Paul aside, and focused my attention on the 84 Union Jack Explorer. I put a Super Distortion / Super 2 set in this as well, and discovered the same thing. Kinda "too much" and feeling like it was congested. The Super 2 in the neck had all the same issues I've had with every other neck pickup. I went back and forth with DiMarzio tech, and tried a Dominion in the neck. Same situation. Then I tried the Humbucker From Hell, wired in parallel, to try to clean up as much mud and boominess as possible. It did that...sounds weird, though. They also suggested the Transition for my bridge position, and BAM, now we're getting somewhere! It's like a fancy, artisanal Super Distortion...lower output, more articulation, more organic.
So I bought one for the bridge of the Les Paul, and for the bridge of the 87 Destroyer. It made an improvement to the Les Paul, but not nearly as much as it did for the Union Jack Explorer. I am starting to suspect that my Les Paul might not be a very good piece of wood. The Transition sounds good in the Destroyer, though it sounds darker than the Union Jack Explorer. I had also put PAF Pros in the middle and neck spots of the Destroyer, and WHOA! I like it! So, it is possible for me to like a neck pickup!
But here comes the next wrinkle - I noticed when I did a couple of shows with the Les Paul with the Super Distortion that it seemed way more immediate and in your face than it ever did before. This was through both a 6505+, and a JCM800 2204. It was kind of unnerving, honestly. And then I noticed the same issue with the Union Jack Explorer with the Transition in the bridge. I brought my 68 head to a rehearsal, cranked it up, and suddenly it seemed like the amp was so stiff and tight and immediate, it was predicting what I was about to do. Nothing relaxed at all. No sag, no sponginess, no soft attack, no subtle bloom. The mids and highs weren't harsh or anything, they were just SO pronounced and firm. At apartment volumes, everything is fine, but at rehearsal or show volumes, it's a thing. And the Les Paul did the same thing at a show with my 68 head, with the Super Distortion. Now, I know that running gobs of gain can cause you to hear your jeans rubbing against the guitar...I get that. But, I've always played with tons of gain, and I've never quite encountered a situation like this, even through all of those exact same heads. I'm now starting to wonder if this is just the way ceramic magnet pickups behave. That seems like the common denominator here, and wouldn't you just know it...every single one of my guitars now has a ceramic pickup in the bridge!
With the Warlock, discovering that it is a Super 2 in the bridge helps explain why that guitar sounds noticeably brighter / less full than all of the others. But I do like the way the neck pickup sounds!
As for the other 84 Explorer, the stock Dirty Fingers set is going to go at some point. They sound muddy and dark and congested to me.
So, I think I may be looking at a big reset. Based on all of this trial and error, I think I can say that:
• Hotter pickups are not really needed with any of my heads, and in fact may even disagree with them, depending on how hot they are. The Suhr Aldrich, the Super Distortion to some degree, and the 84 Dirty Fingers set in my other Explorer all seem to indicate as such. I want to be able to run lots of gain, without ending up with the "pushed too hard" and congested thing that really hot pickups seem to be causing...
• I'm worried about ceramics. This stiff / tight / immediate / in your face thing seems to be going on with all of the ceramics, as far as I can tell. Yet, I don't recall this at all with the stock Classic 57+ in the Les Paul, which was an Alnico 2. I don't even recall it being an issue with a low end Epiphone Les Paul I had a while ago, which had a Bare Knuckle Crawler in the bridge (15.4K, Alnico 5).
• I'm leary of Alnico 5, however, based upon the way the Suhr Aldrich behaved / felt.
So, getting back to each guitar:
• The 84 Union Jack Explorer - I like where the Transition puts things, EQ wise, but this thing is so tight and immediate at higher volumes it's not as much fun to play. And the neck pickup situation is trash.
• The other 84 Explorer - Whatever ends up being the right thing for the Union Jack, I'll put in here as well.
• The Warlock - I'm digging the neck pickup, but the bridge has to go. This thing has no balls right now.
• The 87 Destroyer - No complaints really regarding the PAF Pros in the neck and middle. I seem to dig them. But I suspect this will have the same issue as the Union Jack at high volumes, since it has the Transition in the bridge.
• The Les Paul - I hope this thing isn't a lost cause...
• The Strat - Last on my list of priorities...
Everything I do is rooted in the late 70s - the 80s. Boston, hair metal, Def Leppard, classic early to mid 80s melodic metal, etc. I don't mess with drop tunings. I like lots of gain, but I'd like it to be as clear, open, and devoid of congestion, fizz, fuzz and harshness as possible. I also want a soft attack. I'm not expecting the pickups to provide all of that, but I want to avoid any that could contribute to it. I feel like I'm in the market here for boutique, lower output bridge humbuckers across the board, and I'd love to hear what everyone suggests. I'd like to get away from the DiMarzios. Should I be looking at A2, A3 and A4 magnets? Also, I'm probably going to just go with PAF Pros in the neck position across the board, unless someone has any better suggestions.
Thanks!
The guitars:
• 1984 Gibson Union Jack Explorer. I believe it to be an alder body and a maple neck, with an ebony board. DiMarzio Transition in the bridge, DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell in the neck (wired in parallel).
• 1984 Gibson Explorer. I believe it to be an alder body (though it could also be mahogany) and a maple neck, with a rosewood board. Original Dirty Fingers set.
• 1986 B.C. Rich USA Standard neck-thru Warlock. Most likely a maple neck, but I have no idea what the body wings are made of. Still has the original set of DiMarzios from 1986. According to DiMarzio, it seems to be a Super 2 in the bridge (why?!?!?!) and their now discontinued PAF in the neck.
• 1987 Ibanez Destroyer DG555. Basswood body, maple neck, rosewood board. DiMarzio Transition in the bridge, DiMarzio PAF Pros in the middle and neck positions.
• 1988 Fender American Standard Strat. Alder body, maple neck, maple board. DiMarzio Super Distortion in the bridge, DiMarzio Virtual Vintage Blues in the middle, DiMarzio Injector in the neck.
• 2017 Les Paul Classic. Mahogany body, maple cap, 9 hole weight relief, mahogany neck, rosewood board. DiMarzio Transition in the bridge, DiMarzio Super 2 in the neck (wired in parallel).
My gear:
• 2 100 watt Marshall Plexi clones (a 68 and a 69), which have been heavily hot rodded and have an extra preamp tube. These are both Hopkins Pandoras. Mid-80s style monsters, basically. I run a clean boost and a delay in the loops, get my gain from the heads, plug straight in, and that's it.
• Ceriatone King Kong 50 (still on order, haven't played it yet)
• Early-1982 Marshall slant with the original quad of G12-65 Celestions.
• Late-1972 Marshall straight with the original quad of G12H-30 Celestion Greenbacks (55hz Pulsonic cones!)
• Suhr Reactive Load, and almost every IR that OwnHammer and Celestion sell.
So what's the deal?
It all started with the Les Paul. It came stock with a Classic 57 plus in the bridge, and a Classic 57 in the neck. The bridge is best described as alright, sometimes giving me a very subtle Tom Scholz-style mid thing, depending on what I was doing. The neck pickup always sounded like crap. Mud city, with boomy, exaggerated lows, but it wasn't my primary concern, since I play on the bridge like 99% of the time. But I wanted to see if I could get this thing to really sound good. So I tried a Suhr Doug Aldrich in the bridge. That's a hotter pickup with an Alnico 5. It didn't seem to agree with me. It felt like it was pushing the amp into an uncomfortable place. Everything felt exaggerated, and somehow too clean and stiff even with tons of gain. After a bunch of trial and error, I found that this Les Paul tended to be on the bright side of the spectrum, so I was trying to find something more full, that felt and sounded really organic and also totally raw and ballsy. This led me to the Super Distortion. I tried a Super Distortion in the bridge, and a Super 2 in the neck. The Super Distortion certainly seemed to put the guitar in the right ballpark, as far as the EQ goes, but it did sound like a bit of a congested mess in some regards. And the Super 2 in the neck had all the same problems the previous neck pickup did.
I also put a Super Distortion in the Strat, but in that guitar, it seems to work okay-ish, for whatever reason.
At this point, I set the Les Paul aside, and focused my attention on the 84 Union Jack Explorer. I put a Super Distortion / Super 2 set in this as well, and discovered the same thing. Kinda "too much" and feeling like it was congested. The Super 2 in the neck had all the same issues I've had with every other neck pickup. I went back and forth with DiMarzio tech, and tried a Dominion in the neck. Same situation. Then I tried the Humbucker From Hell, wired in parallel, to try to clean up as much mud and boominess as possible. It did that...sounds weird, though. They also suggested the Transition for my bridge position, and BAM, now we're getting somewhere! It's like a fancy, artisanal Super Distortion...lower output, more articulation, more organic.
So I bought one for the bridge of the Les Paul, and for the bridge of the 87 Destroyer. It made an improvement to the Les Paul, but not nearly as much as it did for the Union Jack Explorer. I am starting to suspect that my Les Paul might not be a very good piece of wood. The Transition sounds good in the Destroyer, though it sounds darker than the Union Jack Explorer. I had also put PAF Pros in the middle and neck spots of the Destroyer, and WHOA! I like it! So, it is possible for me to like a neck pickup!
But here comes the next wrinkle - I noticed when I did a couple of shows with the Les Paul with the Super Distortion that it seemed way more immediate and in your face than it ever did before. This was through both a 6505+, and a JCM800 2204. It was kind of unnerving, honestly. And then I noticed the same issue with the Union Jack Explorer with the Transition in the bridge. I brought my 68 head to a rehearsal, cranked it up, and suddenly it seemed like the amp was so stiff and tight and immediate, it was predicting what I was about to do. Nothing relaxed at all. No sag, no sponginess, no soft attack, no subtle bloom. The mids and highs weren't harsh or anything, they were just SO pronounced and firm. At apartment volumes, everything is fine, but at rehearsal or show volumes, it's a thing. And the Les Paul did the same thing at a show with my 68 head, with the Super Distortion. Now, I know that running gobs of gain can cause you to hear your jeans rubbing against the guitar...I get that. But, I've always played with tons of gain, and I've never quite encountered a situation like this, even through all of those exact same heads. I'm now starting to wonder if this is just the way ceramic magnet pickups behave. That seems like the common denominator here, and wouldn't you just know it...every single one of my guitars now has a ceramic pickup in the bridge!
With the Warlock, discovering that it is a Super 2 in the bridge helps explain why that guitar sounds noticeably brighter / less full than all of the others. But I do like the way the neck pickup sounds!
As for the other 84 Explorer, the stock Dirty Fingers set is going to go at some point. They sound muddy and dark and congested to me.
So, I think I may be looking at a big reset. Based on all of this trial and error, I think I can say that:
• Hotter pickups are not really needed with any of my heads, and in fact may even disagree with them, depending on how hot they are. The Suhr Aldrich, the Super Distortion to some degree, and the 84 Dirty Fingers set in my other Explorer all seem to indicate as such. I want to be able to run lots of gain, without ending up with the "pushed too hard" and congested thing that really hot pickups seem to be causing...
• I'm worried about ceramics. This stiff / tight / immediate / in your face thing seems to be going on with all of the ceramics, as far as I can tell. Yet, I don't recall this at all with the stock Classic 57+ in the Les Paul, which was an Alnico 2. I don't even recall it being an issue with a low end Epiphone Les Paul I had a while ago, which had a Bare Knuckle Crawler in the bridge (15.4K, Alnico 5).
• I'm leary of Alnico 5, however, based upon the way the Suhr Aldrich behaved / felt.
So, getting back to each guitar:
• The 84 Union Jack Explorer - I like where the Transition puts things, EQ wise, but this thing is so tight and immediate at higher volumes it's not as much fun to play. And the neck pickup situation is trash.
• The other 84 Explorer - Whatever ends up being the right thing for the Union Jack, I'll put in here as well.
• The Warlock - I'm digging the neck pickup, but the bridge has to go. This thing has no balls right now.
• The 87 Destroyer - No complaints really regarding the PAF Pros in the neck and middle. I seem to dig them. But I suspect this will have the same issue as the Union Jack at high volumes, since it has the Transition in the bridge.
• The Les Paul - I hope this thing isn't a lost cause...
• The Strat - Last on my list of priorities...
Everything I do is rooted in the late 70s - the 80s. Boston, hair metal, Def Leppard, classic early to mid 80s melodic metal, etc. I don't mess with drop tunings. I like lots of gain, but I'd like it to be as clear, open, and devoid of congestion, fizz, fuzz and harshness as possible. I also want a soft attack. I'm not expecting the pickups to provide all of that, but I want to avoid any that could contribute to it. I feel like I'm in the market here for boutique, lower output bridge humbuckers across the board, and I'd love to hear what everyone suggests. I'd like to get away from the DiMarzios. Should I be looking at A2, A3 and A4 magnets? Also, I'm probably going to just go with PAF Pros in the neck position across the board, unless someone has any better suggestions.
Thanks!
