Earlier this week I stuck a 500T in my Les Paul, replacing the Burstbucker 3 that was in there. I didn't dislike the BB3, in fact I absolutely loved it in this guitar, but I wanted something a bit more aggressive for the time being.
The 500T has proved to be the first high output ceramic passive I actually genuinely like - despite the fact the internet is full of people saying it is rubbish, or XYZ Duncan/Dimarzio/Bareknuckle eats it in its sleep. It was between that or a 498T and I found the 500T first on this forum...
Finding a decent, well recorded clip of the 500T, and also in a comparison with other pickups was difficult and in the end I just decided to try it. But you don't struggle to find well recorded clips of BKPs, or Duncan Distortion VS etc... So one possible reason is people who like Gibson pickups aren't as bothered about recording and or recording comparisons and that is a big part of how people choose pickups these days...
I'll caveat that I'm not such a fan of the 300k pots that come with some Gibsons and prefer 500k, but other than that I can't see what is wrong with Gibson pickups? 57 classic sounds lovely in the neck of an LP, SG, or 335 IMO... Particularly some US forums seem to be full of people who have decided the stock pickups are being removed before they've even had the delivery of their instrument.
#rambling
Comments
I found that ceramic pickups work well with Marshall style amps with pronounced mids as they are more neutral than a JB for example.
i know what you mean though, maybe Bareknuckle take the time to make better pickup demos than Gibson
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The Custom 5 sounds clean and refinied, but with a lot of bass on the wound strings, so I'd only use it if your guitar is very middy and lacking a bit of bass. It isn't crunchy like a hotter Gibson pickup, and has that cleaner Duncan kind of sound to the high end (if you know what I mean). Some people call it scooped, I just think it has too much bass, the rest of it sounds ok. I didn't gel with it in various superstrats (Mahogany, poplar, basswood) and preferred the ceramic Custom - in fact the 500T I just installed reminds me of a custom only beefier.
I understand that places like Oil City, Mojo, The Creamery and Bareknuckle make great pickups but they always are advertised as better than Seymour Duncan, Gibson and Fender.
We we can't all be the same, as they say.
Really not a fan of the 500t. I found it really buzzy and nasal ... clean was okay, but anything driven wasn't my bag at all.
Interestingly though, that is through a Mesa ... so would make sense people might like it more through a Marshall.
Will have another good long "bonding" session or two with it before I go swapping.
Might be moving it on anyway, so we'll see.
One of the best-sounding Les Pauls that I've ever played had a 57 Classic in the neck and a BB3 in the bridge.
Ive swapped them for Classic 57s and the guitar was transformed.
FWIW I have 57 classics in 2 guitars and liked the 498 set in my SG for rock, although they're a little one-dimensional for anything else.
It might be too high? Worth playing with pickup height a bit.
I agree it doesn't have as nice cleans as the 57 classics but it's a hot ceramic and that's not what it's wound for.