Thick Les Paul - Which BKP set to choose?

[youshy]

Hello there!

After all the years, I finally grew up and bought myself a nice 2009 Gibson Les Paul Trad. Heavy as hell (both in weight counting at 5050g and sound), I'm looking for an upgrade from the Classic 57s I have in there. NGL, I kinda like how these are sounding but here are my problems:

* The neck pickup might use a tad better clean sounds, the current ones are, well, meh to say the least
* The bridge pickup lacks definition; although it's great under gain, anything that contains more than a third and a fifth in the chord - dies.

Output-wise, I'm thinking about medium to hot; this LP wants to riff so I'm not going to pretend it's a Nashville-bound Tom Bukovac LP that needs to do all edge-of-breakup sounds great. I don't play metal on it, I intend to use it for big chords, big riffs and a lot of muscle in the sound - think Kvelertak (the riffs), Genesis (the complex chords), Jared James Nichols solos and a world in which Mastodon plays Foo Fighters songs. The guitar lives in D standard all the time, rarely going down to Drop C to chug a note or 0.

My current choices are:
* Rebel Yell - from what I get from the page, it's almost like Nailbomb (which I love) but not so hot; not exactly sure if it'll be a good choice for the neck
* Mule - but then, I'm worried it might be too cold for the use here; brightness might be good for this guitar
* VHII - PAF on steroids?

Anything else I should think about? Mixed sets? Thanks!

[timmy_b]

The Rebel Yell is certainly a versatile option for the styles that you listed. If it helps with your search, the majority of our humbucker soundclips on the website are recorded using a Les Paul Custom, so they should be a really good representation of what to expect in your own guitar.

[youshy]

The Rebel Yell is certainly a versatile option for the styles that you listed. If it helps with your search, the majority of our humbucker soundclips on the website are recorded using a Les Paul Custom, so they should be a really good representation of what to expect in your own guitar.

Thanks!

I've added yet another one to the shortlist - Black Dog - from all the samples, it sounds like it might cut really good in D standard and have that P90 muscle to it

[ericsabbath]

rebel yells are absolutely amazing unless you hate mids

[youshy]

rebel yells are absolutely amazing unless you hate mids

Mids are my game! Even more good reasons for RY!

[Ventanaman]

The Polymath is great for definition, even in lower tunings like D standard. For a more vintage vibe, the Mule can handle this as well - always impressed with its ability to handle lower tunings and higher gain.

Good luck!

[frater106]

The Cold Sweats are actually underwound Nailbombs, if that appeals to you.

[darrenw5094]

The Cold Sweats are actually underwound Nailbombs, if that appeals to you.

The Rebel Yell is an underworld Nailbomb

[rbg]

I thought RY have more midrange like HDs, no?