Finally found a pair of covered PAF's, vacuum potted, with classic 7-8k impedance, to replace the non-potted 490's in my 20016k Gibson SG T Series....I've used GFS before, just never a covered PAF....
I've replaced cheap stock pickups with much better budget GFS pickups but never had Gibson priced pickups before and swapped for a budget alternative. I am very interested in what you find. I have a budget set of Giovanni GVH-1 A5 PAF style pickups i have not tried yet ($35) but get very good reviews over at AGF. I suppose you have nothing to lose if you wanted to try potting the 490 set yourself.
I have potted pickups before but didn't notice a huge difference. Its the vacuum potting that is most effective and that's tough to do at home. I also want to use the pickup covers as Seth Lover claimed it rolled off the high frequency response to a degree. I am also wanting to leave the 490's intact...
I have no problem using Gibson pickups. My issue is most are overwound, which I do not like, and many are not potted....ir the information about them is vague or inconsistent.
Burstbucker pros are potted. I like them in Les Paul style guitars...including my all mahogany studio faded(that's the closest thing to an SG that I have them in, and that isn't very close to an SG really, so...). I only have one hum-bucker loaded SG, and it has 57s in it. Seeing your other posts, we play some similar material...Maiden etc(I just listened to one of your clips on another thread...nice). Jumping from EMGs to PAF style pickups is going to require some other adjustments down the line to keep gain, and eq structure up to expectations after playing with those EMGs. I look forward to your thoughts on those GFS pickups...I have a Fat Pat neck/Burstbucker Pro bridge set up in a LP style guitar that I giged with regularly a few years back. I've got a Crunchy Pat kicking around that's probably going to end up in a friends project guitar soon. Best of luck
I heard your Run to the Hills as well. Outstanding. I dont know what you are looking for in a PAF but damn Robert good luck. I was just wondering what type of pickup was used with Def Leppard High N Dry or Pyromania. Dunno but I love it. Sounds more PAF than hi gain / ceramic to me but its hard to separate from the amp tones.
Hey! Thanks for the reply, Man! I will keep you posted on the results. I really love my SG and I'm hoping the covered PAF's will have a little less treble on the g/b/e strings and less tendency to feed back at elevated volumes. I keep running back to the EMG'S when I get in trouble because I know I can count on them after 10 years....but I'm praying for a breakthrough on my Gibson...I agree with you, some EQ will be required...
Hey Buddy! I grew up on that tone! We know Clark favored stock Gibson's. On Pyromania, Collen was using the DiMarzio Super 70's in his Ibanez DT555, but all the rhythm guitar on Pyromania was laid down by Pete Willis on a Hamer Standard prior to Collen coming on board....
Robert, what is your opinion of Dean Deleo's tone or Mike McCready's LP, Flying V or Stone Gossard's Lester tones?
Pete was fired after nearly all the rhythm work had been laid down with his Hamer, so I'm guess a lot of what we hear on Pyromania are Duncan's.....
As in overall tone from their Gibbos and amps etc vs what say others who use similar gear might sound like. For Instance there is surely a recognizable difference between Albert King's V and Michael Schenker Albert Lee's ES335 and Alex Lifeson Pearl Jam's Lesters vs Billy F Gibbons I think you get the gist.
Wow...tone is so subjective! Albert King was very unique in that he played a right handed V upside down. His tone is very clean, and his attack very dramatic and he only played a few chords he could hold upside down. Michael, to my ear, has much more gain and a much lighter touch, but a much heavier tone. Pearl Jam seems to have much higher gain to my ear. GIbbons is cleaner, more traditional tube overdrive, almost clean, with all the overdrive coming from his attack. With Lee and Lifeson - I hear basically the ssme instrument, but the difference, to my ear, is style and phrasing. I'm not sure I can pick out Alinco 2 or Alinco 5, but I hear differences that I sometimes cannot define... What are your thoughts???
Nice reply, Robert. My ear is not as defined as yours, BUT I do hear differences. Maybe I just can't expound upon what I hear with the right worded terms.
Robert, check out this post by Biddlin. See how you like these tones, and try out the matching the guitar to the sound clip game and see how well you did. I can remember getting 00000000000000000000000000000 right http://www.everythingsg.com/threads/ok-all-you-golden-eared-i-can-hear-tonewoodies.28648/page-1
Some Gibson Solidbody playing I like here too. http://www.everythingsg.com/threads/ok-all-you-golden-eared-i-can-hear-tonewoodies.28648/
