What's your favourite pickups for a Les Paul?

veldt666

Jim Rolph in my R8.
BK Stormy’s,(Neck & middle), + a SD JB in the bridge of my R7.

xscaramanga

jonnyscaramanga said:

Never used a JB in a Les Paul but I've got one kicking around so I might try it today.

I tried it. S**t the bed that sounds good in my LP Custom. Why isn't this thread full of people praising the JB? I've read that it doesn't always work in Les Pauls but holy cow, when it works it really works. Loads of push and fatness, but mega clear. I tried tuning down and didn't run into the loose low end some people complain about.

I now have a problem, because yesterday I got carried away on eBay and bought a Slash bridge pickup, which gives me more good Les Paul bridge pickups than I have Les Pauls. This can't end well.

WiresDreamDisasters

The JB is a great pickup to be sure, but for it it's not quite punchy enough in the lows. That's why I prefer the Duncan Distortion. The DD is ceramic and the JB is Alnico 5.

My Oil City is a BLACKBIRD ‘Ulfberht’ - I asked for an Alnico 5 overwound, based on @OilCityPickups suggest, and it's cracking! More sparkle than the DD, but similar low-end punch.

OilCityPickups

WiresDreamDisasters said:

The JB is a great pickup to be sure, but for it it's not quite punchy enough in the lows. That's why I prefer the Duncan Distortion. The DD is ceramic and the JB is Alnico 5.

My Oil City is a BLACKBIRD ‘Ulfberht’ - I asked for an Alnico 5 overwound, based on @OilCityPickups suggest, and it's cracking! More sparkle than the DD, but similar low-end punch.

Not only is the Duncan Distortion ceramic, but it has a double depth (5mm) ceramic magnet which pushes the lows even further. The JB ... being alnico 5 has a naturally scooped mid-range. This scooped mid-range is added to by the use of thinner 44awg wire that further compresses the sound (the Duncan Distortion like the DiMarzio Super Distortion uses 43awg wire). The pickup I built for you was designed to sit bang in the middle between the two designs :-)

EvanEvanNorth

I am currently on my 6th Les Paul, ( 2012 model ).
This one has Burstbucker Pro pickups and the 4 push/pull knobs which give a very usable pallette of sounds.
In the past my fave Les Paul pickups were classic 57s.

WiresDreamDisasters

OilCityPickups said:

WiresDreamDisasters said:

The JB is a great pickup to be sure, but for it it's not quite punchy enough in the lows. That's why I prefer the Duncan Distortion. The DD is ceramic and the JB is Alnico 5.

My Oil City is a BLACKBIRD ‘Ulfberht’ - I asked for an Alnico 5 overwound, based on @OilCityPickups suggest, and it's cracking! More sparkle than the DD, but similar low-end punch.

Not only is the Duncan Distortion ceramic, but it has a double depth (5mm) ceramic magnet which pushes the lows even further. The JB ... being alnico 5 has a naturally scooped mid-range. This scooped mid-range is added to by the use of thinner 44awg wire that further compresses the sound (the Duncan Distortion like the DiMarzio Super Distortion uses 43awg wire). The pickup I built for you was designed to sit bang in the middle between the two designs :-)

My ESP Evertune LP has a JB in it too. It sounds great to be sure, but I still prefer the OCP and DD.

Henrytwang

I’m reasonably happy with the original pickups in my Les Pauls. I would however love to try a set of Thro-Bak PAFs, they cost the earth but sound amazing.

Schnozz

No one has mentioned Iron Gear, so I'm guessing they're a bit more cheap and cheerful...?

OilCityPickups

Schnozz said:

No one has mentioned Iron Gear, so I'm guessing they're a bit more cheap and cheerful...?

Even though I manufacture pickups myself ... I will say that Irongear are not cheap and cheerful ... they are easily up to the tone standards of Duncan and Dimarzio.
There was a point where I would have said the US makers had the edge on quality of construction ... until in the last couple of years one of the popular US brands became my 'third most often repaired' pickup after 60's Hofner and Rickenbacker!