Recommend a Pickup for My Les Paul Custom

[Vrad]

Dimarzio PAF 36th bridge... Let's not complicate this...

I can't say enough good stuff about this pup...

 

[shred-o-holic]

I've got a BKP Nailbomb in my RG hard tail but that's basswood and so far it doesn't impress me. It's a weaker tone wood and I'm actually going to move it to my heavy mahogany RGT Ibanez. It's a real grindy and compressed pickup to me personally. It might work in your LP. People like to crow about BKP's being super tight and clear. Yes they are but I don't consider them to have a ton of output...this one needs some balls in my basswood RG. That's why I just orderd a War Pig for it........which is my 4th and probably last BKP experiment. So far Duncans sound more full and have more balls in my passive pickup experience. The Duncan Distortion SH-6 is on my want to try list as well.......So yeah the Nailbomb might work for you Stevo but to me it's very compressed and modern sounding.....

 

[ericsabbath]

I don't agree with the output statements made...I own a bunch of different BKP high output pickups and I do not like them in my NMV Marshalls at all, I think low output pickups sound much better through them. I loooooove my high output BKPs through my high gain amps though.

And also, let's be factual here, my Painkiller is wound to 15K, my Cold Sweat is wound to 14K, and my Aftermath is wound to 14.7k. None of those are even as high output as a Duncan Distortion or JB.

and that's why I recommended the cold sweat as mid term option
it's not as high output as expected, definitely not really a true 50-60's tone, but does an amazing job from late 70's to 90's rock/metal tones, and works for modern stuff just as well
and it also has some resemblance with the tremonti pickup he already loves

I'm enjoying the riff raff in my lp custom better for everything, but he doesn't seem to be looking for something that "clean"

but recommending really dirty pickups like the duncan distortion, gibson 500t and dirty fingers just wouldn't make sense, or he would just buy another tremonti treble

the crawler is quite a cleanish, round sounding pickup and would make more sense to order a real vintage hot model with some bite like the vhII than a fatter and more compressed paf

 

[shred-o-holic]

And also, let's be factual here, my Painkiller is wound to 15K, my Cold Sweat is wound to 14K, and my Aftermath is wound to 14.7k. None of those are even as high output as a Duncan Distortion or JB.

Yeah that's what I was saying in my post above and hadn't read this one. That is on the money to my ears as well.....

 

[mightywarlock]

You won't like the Afwayu nor the Nailbomb.
Afwayu feels scooped and muddy, Nailbomb is close, but not enough output, and a little bright/thin.
Painkiller would be too smooth I think.
Solution will be too bright.

as crazy as it sounds, try a Ceramic Warpig.
You didn't like Aldrich, so I would suggest the Warpig. It's clearer and tighter.

 

[Ricky Rockhardo]

Solution will be too bright.

In my '77 Custom I don't find the Solution to be too bright. I don't know how it would sit in a 57 though, but it might be an option.

MCP's are a little funny in terms of optimal pickup height so they take some tweaking.

I agree with the posts above that the JB is really a great fallback.

 

[metalmaniac93]

I think you should take a look at the BKP Cold Sweat or Motor City Angel Dust. If the Aldrich was too much and the MC 2nd Degree wasn't enough....those two sit somewhere around the middle. Plus they both have some teeth on top that really seems to balance out on a Les Paul.

I agree with Jerry on this. You also might want to check out the BKP Rebel Yells!!!!

 

[threadkiller]

Dimarzio PAF 36th bridge... Let's not complicate this...

I can't say enough good stuff about this pup...

I agree. I put a Dimarzio Norton in my Explorer just recently and it really opened the guitar up. I loved the way it played and felt and now I love the way it sounds. Not a pickup you hear a lot about but Dimarzio recommends it for Mahogony set neck guitars so I took a chance and I'm glad I did. It will sound like the PAF but with a little more output and a lot more color/harmonics/etc. Great, under hyped pickup IMO.

 

[shred-o-holic]

You also might want to check out the BKP Rebel Yells!!!!

Heard alot of great things about that pickup. Some say like a JB but tighter?

 

[Ventura]

I think you should take a look at the BKP Cold Sweat or Motor City Angel Dust. If the Aldrich was too much and the MC 2nd Degree wasn't enough....those two sit somewhere around the middle. Plus they both have some teeth on top that really seems to balance out on a Les Paul.

I agree with Jerry on this. You also might want to check out the BKP Rebel Yells!!!!

DING DING DING we may have a winner.... These are high output pups but still retain a lot of authenticity of the ax's woods and tones.

 

[metalmaniac93]

You also might want to check out the BKP Rebel Yells!!!!

Heard alot of great things about that pickup. Some say like a JB but tighter?

Yes, they are much tighter than a JB. Great pickup even in alder/poplar Super Strats, but they really shine in all mahogany guitars/Les Pauls!!!

 

[joepete77]

I had the same situation with a 57 ri custom so I swapped out the 57 classic with a burstbucker 3 which seemed a touch hotter but still wasn't what I wanted. More recently I had to swap the stock shaw par out of my 84 custom for noise issues and decided to go with the Duncan websites suggestion of the custom custom which is an alnico 2 version , basically a paf on roids. I have to say that overall I prefer the extra output over the stock shaw paf and my guitar still retains some classic lp spank. I also have a motor city blister bucker that I may try out. You say you want to retain some classic lp tones but the two choices mentioned are definatly more modern high output with not much classic left in them. Being that u r using a diesel in your rig and or a 5153 you can get plenty of gain through the amp so a super output pickup isn't needed to puSh the amp. For a hot pickup try a Gibson 500t, they are underrated and are killer yet still fit nicely with a lp.