Rebel Yells or Painkillers for my Gibson LPC and RD Standard?

[gwEm]

you will definitely have to be careful with the RD, I can see why Tim suggests the Riff Raff, it will almost certainly work in it. I still go with my suggestion of the Cold Sweat, but only if you have the possibility to swap it with the Rebel Yells if it turns out to be too dark.

I was under the impression the Cold Sweat was on the bright side?   :?:
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its bright, with a strongish bass response.. it depends on the resonance of the guitar how that comes out.

[G-love]

I ordered a calibrated set of Rebel Yells and Cold Sweats, both with chrome covers.
They will be here any time soon...

I'm really excited!

[Prawnik]

those reissue dirty fingers sound pretty bad :( the originals are amazing pickups.

I have thankfully forgotten about the cheezy re-issue Dirty Fingers, so when I first read G-love's review I first thought "boy, those don't sound like the Dirty Fingers I know and love!" and then I thought "I wonder if he'll sell them to me?"

The original Dirty Fingers are something else. The musical equivalent of a hydrogen bomb, and actually sound decent clean, at least in my old 335.

[LP_LOVER]

it's bright, with a strongish bass response.. it depends on the resonance of the guitar how that comes out.

Agreed, it totally depends on the guitar. My old Custom with Cold Sweats is a no-nonsense rock 'n roll axe. It has a thick, woody blues tone with much tightness and attack in the neck position as well as a screaming, hot rock tone in the bridge position (without being over the top). There's also some kind of 'snap' in the tone.

[ericsabbath]

My old Custom with Cold Sweats is a no-nonsense rock 'n roll axe. It has a thick, woody blues tone with much tightness and attack in the neck position as well as a screaming, hot rock tone in the bridge position (without being over the top). There's also some kind of 'snap' in the tone.

that's exactly how my '73 custom sounded with the nailbomb set
thick and snappy with a ton of attack (a bit too much for what I was looking for)

[LP_LOVER]

that's exactly how my '73 custom sounded with the nailbomb set
thick and snappy with a ton of attack (a bit too much for what I was looking for)

Very nice to hear. Mine isn't too snappy since there isn't a maple neck (the neck is mahogany). That little extra snap in the tone comes from the ebony board and maybe the small, flat neck plays a part in this as well. It seems the more it gets played (even after all these years), the 'smoother' the tone becomes, which is especially noticable in the bridge position (the sharp edges around single notes seem to mellow more, in a good way).

[ericsabbath]

that's exactly how my '73 custom sounded with the nailbomb set
thick and snappy with a ton of attack (a bit too much for what I was looking for)

Very nice to hear. Mine isn't too snappy since there isn't a maple neck (the neck is mahogany). That little extra snap in the tone comes from the ebony board and maybe the small, flat neck plays a part in this as well. It seems the more it gets played (even after all these years), the 'smoother' the tone becomes, which is especially noticable in the bridge position (the sharp edges around single notes seem to mellow more, in a good way).

I like to test Les Pauls by their pure clean tone. Play an open E with your pick and you'll hear what kind of character the Les Paul has (I test this in all 3 pickup selections). Many Les Pauls have a tendency to sound overly big/dark here, because of their naturel bass response and neck pup position).

mine is mahogany neck too
3 piece neck, huge headstock and sandwich body with flatter top than the 80's ones
don't with the 80's have the same wood of the 70's, but mine definitely doesn't have the same honduran wood they use today
I've read they Norlin was using african mahogany to make the guitars heavier
it's less resonant and detailed than the new ones and a lot more dense and focused
definitely a different tone
new ones are more open and musical and very acoustically loud, while this sounds punchier, with a deeper low end, more plugged in sustain and less acoustic resonance
not sure if the snappy high end was only from the pickups and tailpiece (it's very lightweight) or part of the guitar tone