NPUD! Planet Tone Blues Heritage set for my Les Paul

[Music&Chaos]

Hello all,

These beauties just arrived

They look great. The measurements are also custom fit for my Gibson LP.

The neck measures 49.2 mm pole spacing and the bridge 50, should match up perfectly.

Looking forward to wiring these up and seeing how they sound.

 

[Music&Chaos]

I am definitely a lead player but love some gnarly nasty rhythm guitars.

To describe the way my music sounds - emo, heavy, jazzy, funky, weird. Does that help?

I go between crushingly heavy, to snappy clean, odd timed fusion rhythms and melodies.

For whatever reason, i was inclined to tune my Les Paul guitar to D standard to try these out.

My first 40 minutes with these pickups were really...fun? Surprising. Not as expected.

Brief initial description, further in depth detail and review to come.

Neck:
The neck pickup is so surprisingly vocal it is unreal. A certain woody/snappy nature, but still full and controlled. I found the pickup to feel balanced but open and airy in a way.

Middle:
This is really woody and poppy. Like, I did not think a Les Paul could get here. This reminds me of something like a strat if it were super fat or something. I don't know how to quite explain it but the cleans in this position are really beautiful. The lead tones are really fun and usable here.


Bridge:
Definitely in the vintage territory, so I keep thinking. it definitely is. Liek a classic PAF but with more. It still has this 'woody' nature to it that I initially thought I may not like. I was thinking "Uh oh. I may want something more modern, more aggressive or pushed."

This thing takes gain amazingly. It doesn;t really 'push' your amp, it just pushes the frequencies that you want if that makes sense?

I could NOT stop doing vibrato and pinch harmonics and laughing my ass off for whatever reason because they sounded so good.

Again, will not super punch your amp but is full, rich, but somehow woody and snappy and vocal.

Absolutely eats up gain and keeps up with dropped tunings.

I wonder what they would sound like in a 7 string.....?


Definitely the opposite of pickups like my Dimarzios or even something like Burstbucker (III).


Took me a bit to get used to them, but so far, I am very happy with my decision


More to come!

 

[Music&Chaos]

These kill for drop tuning! I have been ripping this Les Paul in D standard and these pickups are just screaming and chugging along. Had no clue a classic PAF with a bit 'more' would be so damn wonderful.

Played these again with fresh ears this morning. Absolutely killer pickups. I am very glad I took a risk on these. The vocal nature is just ridiculous, and the guitar focuses on the portion of the note you want and is very articulate, without picking up extra 'noise'.

These make your guitar have the ability to absolutely "wail".

I do not use that term often, if ever.

Really cool set and Jose is great to work with.

Highly, highly recommend.

I wonder if they would work well for a 7 string....?

 

[Deleted member 8175]

That's great that you're very happy with those pickups. I've always heard good things about their products.

 

[Music&Chaos]

That's great that you're very happy with those pickups. I've always heard good things about their products.

I have been impressed with the sets I have tried. Some aren't my thing, but they are the thing described.

I have a buddy into 50s style pickups and he loves theirs.

I am more into modern music but love something that is not compressed and sterile.

These work really really well with a .015 value in the neck and .022 in the bridge.

If you wanted a bit more punch and top end, the .015 works well in the bridge as well.


With sales hitting all the time, pretty reasonable entry to try me out.

 

[Music&Chaos]

As a further update:

I LOVE these pickups in my LP.

I honestly think they're perfect.

Kudos to Planet Tone.

 

[Music&Chaos]

After extensive playing since getting this set - I have realized I prefer the overall EQ curve of A4 mags compared to A5 in general. These pickups were great with A5s but man....they seem to be on another level with A4s...

I swapped a Polished A4 mag into the neck and a Rough Cast A4 into the bridge....accents the mids a bit better than A5 magnets tend to.

A5s have a certain scooped-ish nature to them I can't shake. Sometimes I dig it, sometimes not.

The Polished in the neck isn't moving - took a pickup I already adored and turned into something outta sight.

The Rough in the Bridge has a raw and throaty nature to it that it so sweet, especially for Blues - thinking a Polished mag would tighten and brighten it up a touch more and push it into more metal territory.


Either way - this is a killer set to experiment with magnets with if you get an inkling.

 

[chumbucket]

After extensive playing since getting this set - I have realized I prefer the overall EQ curve of A4 mags compared to A5 in general. These pickups were great with A5s but man....they seem to be on another level with A4s...

I swapped a Polished A4 mag into the neck and a Rough Cast A4 into the bridge....accents the mids a bit better than A5 magnets tend to.

A5s have a certain scooped-ish nature to them I can't shake. Sometimes I dig it, sometimes not.

The Polished in the neck isn't moving - took a pickup I already adored and turned into something outta sight.

The Rough in the Bridge has a raw and throaty nature to it that it so sweet, especially for Blues - thinking a Polished mag would tighten and brighten it up a touch more and push it into more metal territory.


Either way - this is a killer set to experiment with magnets with if you get an inkling.

Was there a noticable loss of output in switching to A4 from an A5?

 

[Music&Chaos]

Was there a noticable loss of output in switching to A4 from an A5?

That is a good question. There are more mids in certain places, so it fills out the sound - seems just as loud to me overall - for sure on the neck. The neck is still nice and thumpy it seems. Going from a RC A5 to a Polished A4 - won't be a crazy difference. There is definitely a larger reduction in top end content and edge when swapping to the rough cast A4 in the bridge, though there is a certain low end that fills it out. I am not certain - that may have lost a touch of output, but the mids hittig in different spots fills it out in a way. I am going to swap to the polished A4 in the bridge to test for sure.

By feel in the hand - the RC A5s I have feel the slightest bit weaker in terms of how easy they are to pull apart from one another when stacked than the polished A4s. That has to be incorrect tjough, as the A5s should be far stronger overall. Must just be the scattered field.

 

[Music&Chaos]

I swapped the A5 back into the neck and bridge. These pickup sound the way they were intended to with the rough cast A5s. It really is an awesome neck pickup - I think I just want more from a bridge than slightly hot/vintage. I like the A5 bridge with gain - it still stays clear and open and never gets muddy or congested sounding or feeling. If you are looking for something that is a slightly hotter vintage PAF with an open bridge and some nice bite and snap - this is the set. It really is great and nails what it is after. If I want something with a bit more juice to it - I may check out one of their 'full throttle' or the like for the bridge position.