Need recommendation - Epiphone Les Paul Goth

[morchiant]

Can someone please give me pickup recommendations for my Epiphone Les Paul Goth model for both bridge and neck?  My style is post-metal/post-rock - atmospheric with some heavy parts.  Influences include Isis, Neurosis, Year of No Light, etc.  So I need to get good distortion and nice and bright clean tones.  I play in drop D tuning.  Thanks!

[gepetto33]

Can someone please give me pickup recommendations for my Epiphone Les Paul Goth model for both bridge and neck?  My style is post-metal/post-rock - atmospheric with some heavy parts.  Influences include Isis, Neurosis, Year of No Light, etc.  So I need to get good distortion and nice and bright clean tones.  I play in drop D tuning.  Thanks!

Hello and welcome. I used to play that style about 10 years ago and am certainly familiar with the tones. Something to note though - those bands you mentioned tune down far lower than drop D for their playing, which obviously contributes to their sound. That being said you'll certainly need the right artillery in the rig/amp department to achieve the same effect with standard/drop D. What are you playing through currently?

[morchiant]

I'm playing direct through a Line 6 POD 2.0 into a recording interface.  I don't play through an amp.  I'm able to get a lot of the clean and distortion tones I need through the POD, but if you have a better recommendation, let me know. 

[gepetto33]

I'm playing direct through a Line 6 POD 2.0 into a recording interface.  I don't play through an amp.  I'm able to get a lot of the clean and distortion tones I need through the POD, but if you have a better recommendation, let me know.

Yikes. Well if you don't play live with a band, then i suppose that suffices ok... but as it stands now you'll have 2x-3x as much into the cost of your pickups as you do with your amp rig. It seems a little lopsided, as i don't know how huge a difference $300 pickups will make in a $100 amp/preamp setup. Again, if that works for you then all the better... but you can be sure bands like that are running real gear, which they more than likely spent some serious cash on. Granted you can certainly achieve something similar, without spending exactly what they did, for a fairly reasonable price. I'd look into that first before upgrading to high-end pickups... it just won't make that big a difference otherwise.

Edit: That big a difference towards achieving ISIS/Neurosis/Post-metal tones.

[gwEm]

Those Epiphone Goth guitars are really dark, at least the few I've played are. I would go with a set of Rebel Yells.

[morchiant]

gepetto33 - Of course those bands are using real gear.  I'm well aware of that, and I'm well aware of the sound I'm trying to simulate.  That's why I play through a POD because it allows me to play through a variety of modeled amps and cabinets.  I was just asking for a recommendation on pickups, not a lesson on what works for me.  I didn't realize there were so many "rules" involved in creating music.  But thanks for the education:)

gwEm - Thanks for the recommendation.  Everyone else seems to be recommending the Nailbomb, but I'll check out the Rebel Yells because it sounds outside the box - which I like;)

[Dave Sloven]

You might also like the Cold Sweat.  The bridge is quite bright with crispy highs and a fat low end, and should should good in your guitar for the styles you play.

[gepetto33]

if you have a better recommendation, let me know.

You asked for recommendations, so i gave you one. ;-)

From playing and recording heavy music for the past dozen years my suggestion was to upgrade your rig first. Getting those sounds from a $100 guitar rig seems like an uphill battle... but again, i assumed if you were happy with your rig and if it "works for you", then you need not heed my suggestion. You opened things up to give recommendation, and that is mine 

[AndyR]

Can't help much with the pickups and music style - I'm more of a blues, pop, and old school rock kinda guy...

But I can say that (in my experience, anyway) BKPs make just as much difference with kit like PODs as they do with real rigs at gig volumes.

Years ago I gigged a lot with valve amps. Over the last ten years or so I've come back to music and have been noodling at home, recording, etc. Over those ten years I've been using various Line 6 stuff, Vox modelling stuff, and a couple of small valve amps. Right now I'm using a Yamaha THR10 (a miniscule practice amp that uses modelling - best "living room" solution I've come across so far).

When I started getting interested in BKPs years back, I was worried that spending that much on pickups in cheap guitars going through a modellor and cr@ppy studio monitors was a little, er, daft... I was using a POD 2.0 at that time, btw.

I'm really glad I decided not to be worried about it. HUGE difference when I started putting BKPs into guitars... unbelievable difference, so much more tonal possibility opened up from the same guitar. What I've found is that this increased tonal possibility is, if anything, more valuable when using modellors than when using the amps they're impersonating. In my experience, get a decent amp (in the ballpark that you're looking for) turn it up to gig volumes, then most reasonable pickups are going to give you a sound you can get quite happy with. Yes, I've found BKPs can put that bigger smile on your face in that situation... But in the modellor situation, the difference seems to be bigger... I can go from "sorry about my naff rig" sound with stock pups to "IN YOUR FACE, LOSERS!!" sound (and playing) when I'm using exactly the same guitar and rig but with BKPs.

I'm really not convinced I'd use Line 6 or whatever in a live gig situation (I could live with it, though). But if you're not gigging, and you need a bunch of amp flavours, without killing the neighbours, even the lowly POD 2.0 is a mighty powerful beast (I've never got rid of mine, it's not my favourite, but in some situations it's the one that does the job). I personally do not believe you need to spend loads on the amp end of things if a tool like that does the job for you.

Once you've got the "amp rig" that does the job you need, high-end pickups do make a difference, no matter what your rig might be.

(Of course, none of us are ever entirely happy that any part of our kit is doing exactly what we want, that's why we keep searching for more, different, and better stuff )

[morchiant]

AdyR - Thanks for the info.  The THR10 looks interesting.  Would you say its better than the POD products for recording?  I live in New York City, so I can't play loud without the neighbors absolutely hating me.  That's why I'm not a proud owner of one of those giant Orange amps, or whatever you call them.

[AndyR]

I haven't tried it for recording really - well, I recorded one small clip via USB with the free cubase, seemed OK and definitely felt as good as the PODs and Vox Tonelab I use - but I don't usually record with a DAW, I've got a BOSS BR1600 standalone machine. My intention is to try mic'ing it like a real amp when I next do some recording - I think that will be interesting. The main thing I use it for is practicing and noodling in the living room. I can get it to a volume where I like the vibe and you can still hear the TV over it (well, I can... the missus isn't so sure!!).

I've got the THR10C by the way, the bluesy one. I actually wonder whether I should have got the original - I'm no gain monster, but I could do with a bit more on most models on this version! But I have a jolly little trick - when connected to the PC, the software lets you play with some other stuff, and there's a studio compressor patch you can switch on. It's pre the "amp" so I can set it as a clean boost with no compression. Works VERY well!

They do have a "design fault" - internally, one of the signal wires can go too close to the power supply (I guess), it can cause a nasty whine. But there's a fix involving a cable tie that I found online - everything fixed in 5 minutes.

I'd say that of my two PODs (2.0 and XTLive) and my Vox Tonelab, this guy gets me a better "just breaking up valve amp tone" better. The others are fine for recording and sticking in a mix, but sometimes they don't feel as "satisfying" to play like that. This THR10 seems to give me the "valve amp rocking in a bar" sort of vibe while I'm lounging on the sofa and watching history docs on the tv! No idea how the high gain models on the other types (the original THR10 and the THR10X) behave - but on the other hand, I've never got on with playing through a real high gain valve amp. I like late 70s rock overdrive controlled with the guitar's volume control - I can see the attraction of the high gain, but never wanted it enough to learn how to use it!