n00b, no-nothing, call me what you will, i need advice =)

[gorny]

hello all. what im tryin to accomplish is an all-around great sounding rock guitar. i'm starting with an epiphone lp standard playing through a fender '65 twin reverb. the original intention was a seymour duncan '59 in the neck an JB in the bridge but while in conversation with a friend of mine he mentioned bkp and here i am. im just lookin to end up with a dynamic guitar with great tone that will sound clean and beautiful when its time to get up but heavy and full when its time to get down. i guess a few examples be foo fighters, incubus, muse, and the juliana theory but i also get down to a lot of get up kids, unwritten law, and jimmy eat world. tom petty's tones and of course led zeppelin go without saying. i just love all types of rock music past and present and ive been playing casually for years and i finally have a few extra bucks to get a little more serious about playing and actually becoming a guitarist rather than just a guitar player. i dont have any good understanding of the technicalities of different woods and such so i'm open to any and all comments and suggestions. thank you for any insight.

[HJM]

Welcome :)

I'd start by thinking about a set of Mules - they sound great in Les Pauls through clean Fenders, lots of harmonic detail with just enough weight  in the mids and bass to be nice and fat, not muddy like most LP pickups.

Dirty they can handle the lot, with tone to die for. What they don't do is help you allong like a Warpig or Miracle Man, those pickups almost playthemselves with distortion, but they've not got the all-round tone of a Mule. The Mule works with you, it's dynamic so when you dig in and play loud the Mule responds and grinds, when you pick light it cleans up - a great pickup, very versatile, check the clip in the  players section!

[Skybone]

I'm in love with the Black Dog sets. They sound awesome in an LP-a-like IMO, great for all sorts of rock tones. Great mid definition.

[Ratrod]

I'd go with Mules. Somehow I think black dogs won't work too well with Fender amps.

[_tom_]

I like my Mules in my Epiphone LP Custom. I kinda wish the neck one was a bit less smooth though and had a bit more "edge" to it.

[PhilKing]

I'm going to be the odd one out here, just becasue I have a set that I think might be more interesting.  If you love the raunchier end of the humbuckers (as in the JB), go with a Riff-Raff/Stormy Monday combo.  I have this and I love it.  For real classic rock tones, the Abraxas IV set is great.  Lots of sustain and push.  Sweet treble when you need it, but they can bite too!

They are not written up yet in the Products page, but I put some soundclips up and they should give you an idea of the sound.

Welcome to the forum.

[carlaz]

For real classic rock tones, the Abraxas IV set is great. [...] They are not written up yet in the Products page, but I put some soundclips up and they should give you an idea of the sound.

Please feel free to put up more Abraxas clips! :) :guitar4: :)