Gibson Pickups - is it just me?

guitarfishbay

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

Moltisanti

i love the stock 498/490 combo in my SG, and in my V i tried a few pickups before realising that the 500T sounded the best.

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

FelineGuitars

I rather like the 500T - especially through a marshall sounding amp

TTBZ

I've tried loads of pickups in my SG and gone back to the stock 490r/498t. I may replace them with the BK Black Dogs if I get my LP sold though as they did sound really good - "cleaner" clearer sound with better lead tones. The gibsons are not bad pickups though, at least in an SG. They just have a slightly grainy quality to them I don't like and the lead tones are weak compared to the Bare knuckles. Apparently the SD Custom 5 is like a refined and hotter 498t, any truth to that? 

TimmyO

I am a big fan of the 57 Classic.

guitarfishbay

TTBZ said:
 Apparently the SD Custom 5 is like a refined and hotter 498t, any truth to that? 

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.

dindude

I've never felt the need to change any pickups in any of the Gibsons I've had, whereas I change pickups in almost all other guitars. One of the things Gisbon does rather well IMO. 

olafgarten

Playing my Epiphone with 57 Classics through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe in GuitarGuitar made me really question how much better these 'boutique' pickups are. I couldn't really imagine a better tone than what I was hearing then.

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.

SquireJapan

Huh. 

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. 

olafgarten

SquireJapan said:

Huh. 

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. 

I've found the 500t only really works with a Marshall. It sounds decent with other amps, but can get a bit buzzy. Pretty good through a fuzz as well.

SquireJapan

olafgarten said:

SquireJapan said:

Huh. 

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. 

I've found the 500t only really works with a Marshall. It sounds decent with other amps, but can get a bit buzzy. Pretty good through a fuzz as well.

It was good for that later 80s metal sound though, but that was about it. 

Brize

I like most Gibson pickups - the only ones that I can't stand are the Burstbucker 1 and 2s.

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.

Deadman

57 classic/classic+ for me. Completely stock in my Les Paul and not going anywhere because they produce the best sound I've ever heard. So much so that I've gone off single coils after all these years.

SteveRobinson

I like most Gibson pickups - and especially the Burstbucker 1 and 2s.

impmann

I'm sorry but the ceramic things that came in my SG were incredibly one dimensional. Great for drive/Marshall stuff but hideous for anything else. My phrase "Chewbacca with a head cold" was coined to describe the sound.

Ive swapped them for Classic 57s and the guitar was transformed.

Blueingreen

I liked the 490/498 set in my Les Paul Axcess less than the stock pickups on any half-decent guitar I've owned.  I swapped them out for Bareknuckles.  I like the 57 Classics though and the one time I got the chance to play a set of Burstbuckers I quite liked those as well.

stickyfiddle

I had a 500T in an explorer and it did widdly tones very very well. 

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.

guitarfishbay

SquireJapan said:

Huh. 

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. 

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. 

siraxeman

When I had my SG I LOVED the stocky 490/498T pups. Much more than my LP's 57 Classics. Not saying they aren't good - they are. But the old'er combo was meatier and creamier to my ears. The 57 + in the bridge on LP Trads can be a little harsh in the top end and lack some of the mids of the 498T IMO. The pre 2002 LPs just seemed to have more oomph to em which I liked and whenever I compared my SG to my LP I was always left wanting to get some of those pups for my LP.

sweepy

I have Classic 57's in my 335 and they suit it perfectly 

usedtobe

The 500's in my Explorer didn't really suit me, but I like Gibson pickups, generally!