Pickup Help: Gibson Les Paul

glpg80

glpg80

Well-known member
Long story short, the pickups in my 2019 sea foam green les Paul, along with the dip switch boards, all need to go.

I’ve narrowed it down to Aldrich pickups or Duncan EMPTY active pickup set.

I’m not sure I’m a fan of the flat EQ sound of the Aldrich pickups. How’s the low end on the AHB3 pickups?

I’m literally torn between them.

Tuning is Eb, music is ozzy/zakk wylde influenced.
 
I'd say Aldrich all the way. I had one in my last Les Paul Standard and got a great tone when I was gigging. Cleans up really well and has great sustain, etc. You mentioned Zakk, who is a Marshall guy, and the Aldrich sounds great thru that type of tone.

Just a side note, I have Motor City 2nd Degree Blackbelts in my Les Paul Classic and those Motor City pickups are awesome!
 
Yeah I just don’t like the EMG 81/85 tone. They sound outdated and I feel anything active today sounds better, IE fishmans for example.

I’ll look into motor city as well! I just know these stock ones aren’t cutting it. Just very bland and uninspiring.
 
The problem I have with the Aldrich set is that they seemed tuned to do still of the night and nothing else. Just seems tonally limited?
 
glpg80":2iz46wr4 said:
The problem I have with the Aldrich set is that they seemed tuned to do still of the night and nothing else. Just seems tonally limited?
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LOL!! That is a classic comment.
 
glpg80":13f4zeo8 said:
Can you elaborate?
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I felt that I could never get the pickups far enough away from the strings to get the clarity I look for.

I have an Aldrich in my Charvel and it sounds great, but I have it set about 1/8 inch (or more) away from the strings.
 
I use a Duncan Custom 5/59 set in all my Les Pauls. Hot enough good modern hard rock but you still can get classic rock tones when you need them.
 
glpg80":4ev918lx said:
The problem I have with the Aldrich set is that they seemed tuned to do still of the night and nothing else. Just seems tonally limited?
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Haha that’s funny. I have one in my 2011 standard that was too bright. That pickup mellowed the high end, maybe too much. I woulda thought a brighter, fuzzier pickup would be more appropriate for a John Syke’s tone. I wanna try a JWP Iron Man in it next. I like hot pickups.
 
The Lace Aggressors in my Halcyon are pretty good. Extreme clarity & very tight. Was expecting a more sludgy, spongy kind of pickup being a Mastodon signature but they are actually great modern sounding pickups. Very bright though and not a lot of low end surprisingly. They are brighter, sound more forward and have less low end than the JB/Jazz in my H-157.
 
Look into Railhammer and Lace. Great stuff not super expensive, and not mentioned as much as they should be.
 
Love the Aldrich pickups! I have one in my Tele in the bridge and it is perfect in there.
 
LP Freak":335qkucm said:
I think the Aldrich sounds killer in my LP and I run it up pretty close to the strings.

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Man, listen to that Aldrich tone! I really enjoyed mine when I had it. Great cleans on "Holiday" man!
 
romanianreaper":3ltbpxf3 said:
LP Freak":3ltbpxf3 said:
I think the Aldrich sounds killer in my LP and I run it up pretty close to the strings.

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Man, listen to that Aldrich tone! I really enjoyed mine when I had it. Great cleans on "Holiday" man!
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Thanks brother :thumbsup: Here’s another

 
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