Most versatile pickup set for a les paul

Zonular

For about 200 quid

So I've a Les Paul copy and I'm looking to change the pickups.
I have a jb/jazz in it. Quite like the jazz but find the job nasal and muffled when clean but good fun with gain.

All recommendations welcomd

meltedbuzzbox

Define what you mean by versatile.
Do you mean different sounds, coil splits taps? A 3 in 1 pickup like the seymour duncan p-rails?

A guitar is not versatile really, its the player that is versatile. 

Zonular

Good point. Not a pickup that's good for clean playing alongside hard rock stuff. 

ICBM

Duncan ‘59 neck and Custom 5 bridge or something with a similar spec - PAF-type neck pickup, roughly 50% hotter bridge pickup, both Alnico V.

For me the most versatility is from pickups that complement each other rather than being too different in voicing. I don’t like the Jazz/JB combination at all, I think it brings out the worst in both pickups. The JB is a bit too hot and midrangy, although if you go too much lower it won’t do the hard rock sounds as well - and the Jazz is too soft and thin-sounding, which exaggerates the difference, so you can’t set the amp up ideally for both of them. In fact I would avoid Alnico II for the neck pickup at all unless both are - it makes an A5 or ceramic bridge sound too aggressive by comparison.

Crazyblue1779

I had an Epiphone Les Paul with an Iron
 Gear Hot Slag in the bridge and a Rolling Mill in the neck and it sounded fantastic. 

For the money Iron Gear are hard to beat.

Although at the moment I have a Vintage (brand not age!) Les Paul with Tonerider pickups in it ( I think it’s a Rocksong in the bridge and an Alinco 2 Classic in the neck) and it also sounds bloody lovely! The neck pickup in particular has real clarity.  

normula1

I've got ICBM's suggestion in my Epi LP and they're a good combination. The Custom Custom (which is the same as the Custom 5 with an a2 magnet) sounds too honky for my ears.

rlw

Buy the Stormy Monday set in the classifieds.

skunkwerx

I’ve got a phoenix (not a les paul but mahogany + mahogany thru neck). 

Has a Duncan custom in the bridge thats splittable and a Duncan Phat cat p-90 in the neck (humbucker sized). 

Barquentine

What kind of sounds are you aiming for ? Do you want low output or a bit more ?

skullfunkerry

Crazyblue1779 said:

I had an Epiphone Les Paul with an Iron
 Gear Hot Slag in the bridge and a Rolling Mill in the neck and it sounded fantastic. 

For the money Iron Gear are hard to beat.

Although at the moment I have a Vintage (brand not age!) Les Paul with Tonerider pickups in it ( I think it’s a Rocksong in the bridge and an Alinco 2 Classic in the neck) and it also sounds bloody lovely! The neck pickup in particular has real clarity.  

I had a set of Tonerider Generators in an Ibane RG450 years ago - they were both great, but I remember telling anyone who was vaguely interested that the neck pickup gave me "the sweetest lead tone I'd ever heard". I know that I'm prone to hyperbole for things like that, but it was very very nice indeed...

thegummy

The P-Rails is surely a good for for versatility. It's 3 separate pickups in one.

If you want to stick with a normal humbucker I find that a vintage output pickup can be gained up, EQ'd and compressed to sound like a high output pickup but not vice versa.

And I think my favourite pickup - the Bare Knuckle Mule has a lot of versatility from being vintage output and also has a balanced frequency response, partly from using alnico iv, so you can sculpt the tone without having to fight a strong inherent character.

Seziertisch

The new Alegree budget models are probably worth a look

ICBM

normula1 said:

I've got ICBM's suggestion in my Epi LP and they're a good combination. The Custom Custom (which is the same as the Custom 5 with an a2 magnet) sounds too honky for my ears.

In a Les Paul it is, yes. It’s great in a brighter or more scooped-sounding guitar like a PRS or a Superstrat, where the C5 can be a bit too bright.

FelineGuitars

leave the Jazz in the neck and team it up with a BKP VH2

Humbucked

Good suggestion from Jon at Feline. That combo works well. I've had good results from BK Mule in neck and VH2 in bridge. They both split very well, too. I have a pair if you're interested.

TTBZ

I used to play everything from blues up to modern metal on my LP with Bare Knuckle Mules. Probably wouldn't pay that much these days but the Irongear Blues Engine or the new Alegree PAFs would be pretty similar in spec I think. I was also a big fan of the Bare Knuckle Black Dogs in my old LP, maybe more so than the Mules as they had a bit more punch and character to them - the Oil City Airship Trooper looks to be a similar sort of thing and is much more sensibly priced!

The 59N/Custom 5 bridge is probably a good suggestion too, considering this in my SG for a general purpose rock and metal guitar. I have found the C5 a bit scooped but if I match it with a 59 it'll probably balance better than my current pickups and I can just EQ in more midrange at the amp.

xscaramanga

I think PAFs are the most versatile Les Paul pickups. If you get ones that balance nicely in the middle position you can play funk with them, and obviously they go through blues to rock and at least as far as Ozzy-style metal territory. I wouldn't use them for anything tuned lower than C# but they'll do everything else.

I've had A4 PAFs (8.4k bridge, 6.9k neck) from Bare Knuckle and Mojo and, unsurprisingly given the specs were the same, they sounded well nigh identical. The Bare Knuckle bridge was a hair fatter and the Mojo neck a hint smoother, but we are talking minute differences.