Les Paul classic pickups suggestion. Currently muddy

Fortheloveofguitar

Any suggestions on which pups to brighten up my Gibson les Paul classic

Its a weighty beast and sounds muddy as hell. Even worse since I now have a 2017 Tribute T that is very bright which I really like 

I swapped out the original pups to a Joe Perry custom in the bridge and an Irongear blues engine in the neck but still no good

I like high output bridge pups and a smoother lower output in the neck for more blues like tones 

Any ideas on how to really brighten this bad boy up?

Thanks 

Legionreturns

Paging @Alegree ...

crunchman

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Its a weighty beast

I suspect this might be part of your problem.

What does it sound like acoustically compared with your Tribute T?  If it's darker acoustically, then that will part of the problem.

Having said that, there are things you can do.  Converting it to 50's wiring will help, and a quick Google suggests that at least some Les Paul Classics have 300kOhm volume pots.  If they are 300kOhms, then replacing those with 500kOhm pots would help.

You can check pot values with a £10 multimeter.  Everyone should own a multimeter.

Fortheloveofguitar

crunchman said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Its a weighty beast

I suspect this might be part of your problem.

What does it sound like acoustically compared with your Tribute T?  If it's darker acoustically, then that will part of the problem.

Having said that, there are things you can do.  Converting it to 50's wiring will help, and a quick Google suggests that at least some Les Paul Classics have 300kOhm volume pots.  If they are 300kOhms, then replacing those with 500kOhm pots would help.

You can check pot values with a £10 multimeter.  Everyone should own a multimeter.

Yes it does sound darker unplugged 


Should've mentioned that I swapped the pots to 500k already and although a little brighter it's not made a massive difference

guitars4you

hand wound Oil City 4 Night Fighter pick-ups with alnico 4 magnets - via Ash - have them on a Classic in the store - can still scream but far less harsh - more tasteful and better clarity

guitarfishbay

Duncan Distortion bridge Duncan 59 neck

Alegree

Legionreturns said:

Paging @Alegree ...

Sounds like the idea behind my Death Valley set.  

Kinioo

Well,
I was after a new set of pickups for my PRS SE...I was after a nice warm / beefy tone with nice lows and mids but with some high gain kick etc....was (originally) after a set of Gibson Classic '57s, but....after some discussion here I opted for hand made / bespoke made pair of Oil City.
After telephone conversation with Ash (he recommended) and I poted for:

Bridge: Nightfighter A4 (nickel cover)
Neck: Forces Sweetheart (nickel cover)

They arrived today, will be fitted over the weekend - thus dont know how they sound.

I also got 10% forum discount!

Chris

DannyP

I have a pair of Forces Sweethearts and I can't get over how great they are. I lose hours playing my LP!

Certainly not high output as per your bridge position requirement, but great for the bluesy, neck pick up thing that you want. 

So maybe the set that @Kinioo has bought?

Moltisanti

I had a LP Classic that sounded awesome with Suhr Aldrichs in it, i would also get a Mojo 50s LPL harness kit, it will remove that blanket you're hearing

sweepy

I fitted a set of OX4 PAF pickups to my LP Trad and they are brilliant, the best PAF s I have heard in years. More than welcome to try them out as you aren’t that far from me 

FelineGuitars

Before throwing money at buying pickups I would check/swap

Pots to 500k if they have 300k ones in there
Tone control to 50s wiring

Also I can recommend
Fit earvana nut - guitar will get more zingy as well as being much more in tune.

swap zinc tailpiece to aluminium one

The ceramic p/ups on the Classic should be pretty bright so I would look to these other things first , otherwise you may find that new pickups also lack top end sparkle too.

Afyer that you can experiment with pickup choices.

jeztone2

Which Les Paul Classic is it? 

The originals had ceramics in and were hot and quite good. The newer recent ones are 57 Classic / 57 Classic Plus'. Which I detest. These have alnico II magnets I think.

i swapped mine out for Lollar Imperials as mine was a very loud acoustic sound. But as Mr @FelineGuitars says it may be something else. 

rico

FelineGuitars said:

Before throwing money at buying pickups I would check/swap

Pots to 500k if they have 300k ones in there
Tone control to 50s wiring

Also I can recommend
Fit earvana nut - guitar will get more zingy as well as being much more in tune.

swap zinc tailpiece to aluminium one

The ceramic p/ups on the Classic should be pretty bright so I would look to these other things first , otherwise you may find that new pickups also lack top end sparkle too.

Afyer that you can experiment with pickup choices.

I can say that since my trip to Jon, the exact changes above were done and it has transformed my LP Standard. The sustain is fantastic, the 498T bridge pickup now sounds very powerful which I actually kind of like but I still think ill swap the neck pickup eventually. 

The Earvana incidentally is brilliant. 

ab2017

As others have said 500k pots. I personally like 300k in bridge and 500k in neck and then re-eq amp settings. Other than that Duncan 59 set or Alnico pro 2 humbuckers if you want something smoother but still brighter. I had a classic back in 2004 and detested those gibson ceramics that was installed stock, others love them though.

impmann

Deffo check the pots out - 500k is a big improvement.

I had a 1960 Classic for a while - and apart from it weighing the same as a medium sized hatchback, it suffered from overwound, overmiddly, muddy output. I never got around to changing anything on it before I traded it for something else, but I've played a couple of others (and seen a couple of others played) where the original pickups have been slung out in favour of low-wind units (with better pots) and they've been transformed - much nicer sounding to my ears.

I'm really not a fan of the standard Gibson humbuckers of recent(ish) times (490/498/500 etc) as they are geared toward gain and mids - yes the ceramic pickups can be 'bright' but they are still wooly in the mids making their clean to low gain breakup be really lacking in sparkle and that 'magic' that a good Gibson brings. Depending on the amp, this can also lead to a real lack of dynamics. Ironically they are pretty lousy at super high gain stuff too - as they lack definition and focus. 

 I also hear plenty of hatred of the Classic 57 but tbh, they are much closer to a 'vintage' pickup than the others mentioned - usually by guys who crave the Clapton/Cream/Kossoff/Moore thing, which I find ironic. I've got them in two of my Gibsons (SG and 335) and love them - never muddy and are really dynamic/responsive for my playing.

Fortheloveofguitar

I've already swapped the pots to 500k and there is a difference but still not enough 

A lot of love for Oil City pups so will have a chat with Ash and see what he says 

As always thanks for your input

crunchman

57 Classics are ok.  If I bought a guitar with them in and liked the sound I wouldn't swap them out, but if I was looking for replacement pickups they wouldn't be top of my list.

The best Gibson pickup I've tried is the MHS.  I'd put Burstbuckers ahead of 57 Classics as well.

If I was replacing pickups, I'd probably go for something like Oil City though.

Alegree

Despite what everyone here has said, from your description you want to stay away from PAFs.

Cols

Just to go for the no-cost option, have you tried lowering your pickups?

wrinkleygit

I always turn the neck p'up on a les Paul thro 180 degrees, contrary to popular belief this doesn't put it out of phase the idea is that it brings the pole pieces closer to the bridge thus giving a brighter sound, cost you nothing to try it out.