Blues pickups
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jazzchief1
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:17 pm
Blues pickups
I have a G&L Legacy Special and I am interested in settinig it up as my primary Blues guitar. I would like to set it up with DiMarzios' or Seymore Duncans. I've read so many discriptions an reviews I'm pretty confused. I want an old Chicago style blues sound with the possibilities of Gary Moore sounding leads. Any info would be appreciated.
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louis cyfer
- Posts: 3011
- Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:58 pm
Re: Blues pickups
there are much better pups for that than seymours or dimarzios. much better pups period actually. try the fralin blues specials with a steel pole 43 bridge pup. or the klein epic 56 with an s8 bridge pup. seymours and dimarzios are pretty much the last choice in pups imnsho. the smaller custom winders provide much better quality.
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RickT
- Posts: 191
- Joined: Wed Feb 10, 2010 5:41 pm
- Location: North Carolina
Re: Blues pickups
Can you give an example of the Chicago style blues tone? My recollection of Gary Moore is usually associated with a Les Paul hum bucker tone. If that is what you are trying to get, I'd suggest going with a good set of P-90 pickups. I had a set of Seymour Duncan P-90s in my Hamer Newport 90 and I liked the tone of that. But that is a totally different guitar than the Legacy. Grosh was using Lollar P 90s in their Electrajet series guitar and those sounded fantastic.jazzchief1 wrote:I have a G&L Legacy Special and I am interested in settinig it up as my primary Blues guitar. I would like to set it up with DiMarzios' or Seymore Duncans. I've read so many discriptions an reviews I'm pretty confused. I want an old Chicago style blues sound with the possibilities of Gary Moore sounding leads. Any info would be appreciated.
You might consider staying with the current pickups and looking into a clean boost pedal or a harmonic overdrive to get you that tone you want.
RickT
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louis cyfer
- Posts: 3011
- Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:58 pm
Re: Blues pickups
that is why the bridge pup i recommended is basically a p90 in a strat pup shape.RickT wrote:Can you give an example of the Chicago style blues tone? My recollection of Gary Moore is usually associated with a Les Paul hum bucker tone. If that is what you are trying to get, I'd suggest going with a good set of P-90 pickups. I had a set of Seymour Duncan P-90s in my Hamer Newport 90 and I liked the tone of that. But that is a totally different guitar than the Legacy. Grosh was using Lollar P 90s in their Electrajet series guitar and those sounded fantastic.jazzchief1 wrote:I have a G&L Legacy Special and I am interested in settinig it up as my primary Blues guitar. I would like to set it up with DiMarzios' or Seymore Duncans. I've read so many discriptions an reviews I'm pretty confused. I want an old Chicago style blues sound with the possibilities of Gary Moore sounding leads. Any info would be appreciated.
You might consider staying with the current pickups and looking into a clean boost pedal or a harmonic overdrive to get you that tone you want.
RickT
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jazzchief1
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:17 pm
Re: Blues pickups
I appreciate you turning me on to the Fralins. It would be nice to have one of Gary Moore signature Gibsons. I'd have to sell my car to buy it. It would really be nice to play like him, but thats' probably not going to happen . Luther Alisons" sound is another sound I would like to have. I'm replacing the set because I have a couple of dead pickups. I just want a soulful blues sound with a little growl added in.
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Boogie Bill
- Posts: 793
- Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2010 1:16 pm
- Location: Portland, Oregon
Re: Blues pickups
Too bad about the dead pickups. I think the Gotoh Dual Blades in the Legacy Special are WONDERFUL! I can get Gary Moore "Still Got The Blues" tone out of my LS-into-Mesa combo probably even easier than I can with any of my Les Pauls, lol! If you get a chance, there are some YouTube vids of Guitar Shorty playing the blues with his LS--you should check out his tone. Listen to how it has more sing and sustain than most of the strats played by the blues guys.
I checked out some videos of Luther. As I originally thought, in most of them he's using a Les Paul--a Gold Top with 'buckers and another one with P-90s. He was also known to use a Strat at times. He gets a downright "nasty" tone--it has a lot of grit, but there's a cutting edge to it. His strat tone is understandably thinner, but it still has that aggression.
The Gotohs will do that. They are meatier and thicker sounding than a typical alnico single coil--close to PAF territory, with a little more string-to-string clairty--what I'd expect from a narrow aperture strat pickup. The PTB controls allows you to either have tone that is really close to alnico tone by dropping the bass and the volume; or you can embrace the dark side, and get really thick PAF tone that will sing like Santana.
My primary advice would be to get the stock Gotohs up and running in your LS, especially if you haven't really heard them. If it is a simple wiring connection issue, fix it, and you've saved yourself some bucks. And if you need to replace them, they are not that expensive. Once you know what you've got, it'll make it easier to go forward.
The Duncan Texas Hot Antiquitys that I have in one of my Legacys sort of split the difference between the thicker humbucking Gotohs and the stock Legacy alnico. They are darker, with this beautiful, savory and complex mid-range--yet they stay true to their single coil nature. The previous owner of that Legacy had installed the Antiquitys, and I really liked them--enough to buy a couple more sets of them--even though I am a big fan of the stock alnicos. The MFD pickups in the S-500 are another pickup that I like to use for blues. They are definitely single coils, but with high output and a real edge.
I think buying pickups can be a crapshoot. It's hard to rely on word-of-mouth recommendations. You have to find what fits YOU, not what the other guy thinks is great. Videos and clips help some; but it's not just tone--it's FEEL. There are a whole lot of variables that interact with your pickups.
The Mesa amps I use are really good at making every guitar sound good, but the reality is that some pickups don't work well with certain amps. I have two Les Paul Classics with Plus tops--gorgeous guitars--but they were driving me nuts because the 496R/500T "Hot Ceramics" were way too hot for my amps. Don't get me wrong, I liked the basic tone, but the output was just too hot. In my experience, those pickups work great with a lot of solid state amps and many vintage amps--they are super for hard rock tones with a non-master volume BF Fender or Marshall.
After a long search, I opted for a set of Duncan Antiquity humbuckers in one Classic and a set of Seth Lovers in the other guitar. I couldn't be happier with my choices. Seymour knows his stuff; he's been doing it for a long time. I trusted Duncan's return policy--and happily, didn't have to use it. Most guys--you buy it you're stuck with it. It's a pretty safe bet that you can find SOMETHING you like from Duncan or Dimarzio--they make and sell pickups to a lot of people. Those guys started the aftermarket pickup industry, and now all of a sudden they got stupid? Don't think so.
There's lots of choices out there. Be patient, listen a lot, and ask a lot of questions. You're sure to find something within your budget that will work for you and bring a smile to your face.
Good luck!
Bill
I checked out some videos of Luther. As I originally thought, in most of them he's using a Les Paul--a Gold Top with 'buckers and another one with P-90s. He was also known to use a Strat at times. He gets a downright "nasty" tone--it has a lot of grit, but there's a cutting edge to it. His strat tone is understandably thinner, but it still has that aggression.
The Gotohs will do that. They are meatier and thicker sounding than a typical alnico single coil--close to PAF territory, with a little more string-to-string clairty--what I'd expect from a narrow aperture strat pickup. The PTB controls allows you to either have tone that is really close to alnico tone by dropping the bass and the volume; or you can embrace the dark side, and get really thick PAF tone that will sing like Santana.
My primary advice would be to get the stock Gotohs up and running in your LS, especially if you haven't really heard them. If it is a simple wiring connection issue, fix it, and you've saved yourself some bucks. And if you need to replace them, they are not that expensive. Once you know what you've got, it'll make it easier to go forward.
The Duncan Texas Hot Antiquitys that I have in one of my Legacys sort of split the difference between the thicker humbucking Gotohs and the stock Legacy alnico. They are darker, with this beautiful, savory and complex mid-range--yet they stay true to their single coil nature. The previous owner of that Legacy had installed the Antiquitys, and I really liked them--enough to buy a couple more sets of them--even though I am a big fan of the stock alnicos. The MFD pickups in the S-500 are another pickup that I like to use for blues. They are definitely single coils, but with high output and a real edge.
I think buying pickups can be a crapshoot. It's hard to rely on word-of-mouth recommendations. You have to find what fits YOU, not what the other guy thinks is great. Videos and clips help some; but it's not just tone--it's FEEL. There are a whole lot of variables that interact with your pickups.
The Mesa amps I use are really good at making every guitar sound good, but the reality is that some pickups don't work well with certain amps. I have two Les Paul Classics with Plus tops--gorgeous guitars--but they were driving me nuts because the 496R/500T "Hot Ceramics" were way too hot for my amps. Don't get me wrong, I liked the basic tone, but the output was just too hot. In my experience, those pickups work great with a lot of solid state amps and many vintage amps--they are super for hard rock tones with a non-master volume BF Fender or Marshall.
After a long search, I opted for a set of Duncan Antiquity humbuckers in one Classic and a set of Seth Lovers in the other guitar. I couldn't be happier with my choices. Seymour knows his stuff; he's been doing it for a long time. I trusted Duncan's return policy--and happily, didn't have to use it. Most guys--you buy it you're stuck with it. It's a pretty safe bet that you can find SOMETHING you like from Duncan or Dimarzio--they make and sell pickups to a lot of people. Those guys started the aftermarket pickup industry, and now all of a sudden they got stupid? Don't think so.
There's lots of choices out there. Be patient, listen a lot, and ask a lot of questions. You're sure to find something within your budget that will work for you and bring a smile to your face.
Good luck!
Bill
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louis cyfer
- Posts: 3011
- Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 2:58 pm
Re: Blues pickups
seymour did not get stupid. i have heard a few of his pups he wound and they were not bad. but i think other people have surpassed him. both him and larry were good in the 70's, but now they don't make pups like they used to, it's all about mass producing at low cost. i have the anitquities and i like my fralins, d allens, andersons, kleins, lollars much better. try listening to some of those, you might be surprised.