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

[G-love]

I have a Gibson Les Paul Custom Silverburst (490R & 498T) and a Gibson RD Standard Silverburst (Dirty Fingers) and want BKP's in them! Woods: Mahogany body & neck, maple top and ebony fretboard for the LPC, full mahogany body & neck and ebony fretboard for the RD.

Music I play: metal/post-rock/progressive, sometimes bluesy hardrock stuff so a little versatility is important.
Bands/sounds I like: Mastodon, Isis, Baroness, Neurosis, A Perfect Circle, High on Fire, etc.
Tuning: Drop D most of the time, occasionally drop C
Amps: a 2ch Dual Rectifier (main amp), a JCM 800 2203

I actually like the overall sound of the stock pickups in my LPC, but I want a little more output, punch/tightness and clarity. I like the vintage feel of Alnico's and love the fact that they clean up so nicely...

The Dirty Fingers in the RD are rather dark and dull sounding. Great output, very tight and lots of low end, but when it comes to tone...  :? The cleans aren't that great too.

Tim suggests Painkillers or Rebel Yell's (if I really wanted to stay Alnico), but I am afraid the Rebel yells won't be hot enough for me. How does their output compare to the stock 490R & 498T's? And won't the Painkillers be too much for what I want/need? How do they sound clean? Are they versatile?

Any suggestions?!

[shaman]

I am a HUGE fan of the REbs....they are much better than the 490r/498t in every sense-they are hot enough,esp. going thru a rec...I play Mesa Mark amps,and the Rebs are perfect for these beasts...great open,harmonically rich sound/pich harmonics with ease/-the cleans are beautiful/everyone always asks me about my pups(In a LP Standard)-if Tim recommended,then you really do not need much more interms of advice-he is always right :D

[gwEm]

are those 80s or reissue dirty fingers?

rebel yell bridge sounds excellent in my les paul :)

[Dmoney]

I am a HUGE fan of the REbs....they are much better than the 490r/498t in every sense-they are hot enough,esp. going thru a rec...I play Mesa Mark amps,and the Rebs are perfect for these beasts...great open,harmonically rich sound/pich harmonics with ease/-the cleans are beautiful/everyone always asks me about my pups(In a LP Standard)-if Tim recommended,then you really do not need much more interms of advice-he is always right :D

+1

I use a les paul custom with RY's. easily hot enough for what you want and they sound awesome.
they'll do what you're after for sure. I play mine through a Bogner Uberschall or Soldano Avenger. but they also sounded great through my old JCM 800 2205 and my 3ch Dual Rec.

[G-love]

Thanks guys!

What I want for my LPC is actually a 498T-like Alnico V humbucker but hotter, tighter and with more clarity. So based on what I've read on this forum I think the Rebel Yell's might be a good choice. Or are there better alternatives?!
For my RD I want something similar but maybe a little more output and tightness. I guess Painkillers could work, but I'm afraid they will be to much. I like versatility...

I am going to use both guitars live with the same setup, so it would be handy if they don't sound completely different. I don't want to change the EQ and Gain every time I switch guitars...

gwEm @ The Dirty Fingers are reissue's, it's a 2007 Silverburst Gibson RD Standard Reissue (guitar of the week - 48)... I don't like the DF's, they really lack mids, brightness, clarity, "character" & "lifeliness"

All help is welcome!!!

[gwEm]

gwEm @ The Dirty Fingers are reissue's, it's a 2007 Silverburst Gibson RD Standard Reissue (guitar of the week - 48)... I don't like the DF's, they really lack mids, brightness, clarity, "character" & "lifeliness"

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

the rebel yells and cold sweats are the ones i would look at for you. painkillers might be 'too much', though cold sweats are a hot, yet classic sounding and balanced set

what i would do is fit rebel yells in the Paul, and a cold sweats in the RD. i have the feeling the RD might be an awkward guitar tonally.. cold sweats would be good if they work in it, since they were inspired by the original dirty fingers from the 80s. if the RD is still too dark, swap the sets around, and put the rebel yells in the RD, and cold sweats in the paul... thats almost certain to 'work'

they are both reasonably bright pickups, so hopefully would work with similar eq

tim told me the rebel yell is broadly similar to a 498t.

[gwEm]

futhermore, i like the sound of the cold sweat in drop d or drop c#.. it gets rather modern sounding then

[Dmoney]

What I want for my LPC is actually a 498T-like Alnico V humbucker but hotter, tighter and with more clarity. So based on what I've read on this forum I think the Rebel Yell's might be a good choice. Or are there better alternatives?!

Thats what i wanted.
a good 498T a-like i thought was the Emerald. I had a set in my LPC before i went to the RY. Tim told me the RY kinda sounds like a higher o/p emerald, which is what i was wanted. the emerald was real full sounding. very nice! it was one of the two BKPs i first tried. the other pup was a black dog. and i didnt like that. so 498T to Emerald to Rebel Yell was my path of progression.

[G-love]

So Rebel Yells for the LPC, that's for sure...

I'm still not sure which BKP to pick for the RD though. The RD sounds rather dark, but I think it has more to do with the pickups then with the guitar itself. It's an all mahogany guitar (Explorer/firebird-shaped) with an ebony fretboard...

From the last e-mail with Tim:

The RD Standard sounds quite dark and mid scooped. Don't like the ceramic Dirty Fingers, lots of output, low end and mud... Not much tone! I would like a more balanced sound. It would be nice if both guitars had the same output (approximately)... > Cold Sweat's?

Cold Sweats are ceramic-not as powerful as DFs and smoother in the mids-if you don't like a scooped or smooth mid I would again go for Alnico powered humbuckers and if the RD is dark then the Rebel Yell humbuckers would be perfect. Of course you could always go lower output-something like Riff Raff humbuckers, plenty of mids and alot brighter and cleaner too.

[Twinfan]

Gotta disagree with Tim here - Riff Raffs have plenty of mids?  He's been smoking crack again  :lol:

I think Cold Sweats would work for you.  They work best with lots of distortion and are nice and tight.  Not so good for the lower gain stuff in my opinion, but you'll have the LP for that.

[IntenseJim]

What I want for my LPC is actually a 498T-like Alnico V humbucker but hotter, tighter and with more clarity. So based on what I've read on this forum I think the Rebel Yell's might be a good choice. Or are there better alternatives?!

Thats what i wanted.
a good 498T a-like i thought was the Emerald. I had a set in my LPC before i went to the RY. Tim told me the RY kinda sounds like a higher o/p emerald, which is what i was wanted. the emerald was real full sounding. very nice! it was one of the two BKPs i first tried. the other pup was a black dog. and i didnt like that. so 498T to Emerald to Rebel Yell was my path of progression.

Curious what you didn't like about the Black Dog compared to the Emerald. I have  BD in a Les Paul bridge position: sounds like a hot PAF style to me.

I have RY in one LP feeding a Soldano SLO: I  my band  and I love it.  
I probably will pull the trigger on Cold Sweats soon for an incoming Les Paul Custom; variety you know?
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[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.

[ericsabbath]

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.

+1

[Dmoney]

What I want for my LPC is actually a 498T-like Alnico V humbucker but hotter, tighter and with more clarity. So based on what I've read on this forum I think the Rebel Yell's might be a good choice. Or are there better alternatives?!

Thats what i wanted.
a good 498T a-like i thought was the Emerald. I had a set in my LPC before i went to the RY. Tim told me the RY kinda sounds like a higher o/p emerald, which is what i was wanted. the emerald was real full sounding. very nice! it was one of the two BKPs i first tried. the other pup was a black dog. and i didnt like that. so 498T to Emerald to Rebel Yell was my path of progression.

Curious what you didn't like about the Black Dog compared to the Emerald. I have  BD in a Les Paul bridge position: sounds like a hot PAF style to me.

I have RY in one LP feeding a Soldano SLO: I  my band  and I love it.  
I probably will pull the trigger on Cold Sweats soon for an incoming Les Paul Custom; variety you know?
.
.

i didnt like the tone of the black dog. to me it didnt feel as full sounding as the emerald. I did play them in two different guitars, and both where different to a LPC though. The emerald was more my thing as prior to BKP's my choice of bridge pup was the 498T. I dont think the 498T is like a black dog.

[IntenseJim]

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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