68 reissue les paul custom pickup swap

[fr33man1]

I got this black babe till two weeks and I can't resiste to put some BKP's in it.

I do love the grain and character of those Classic 57 pickups but the output is just low and the sound is muddy and lacks clarity and the trademark BKP note separation.

I won't detune it or maybe just a step lower in D. I'm more looking for an uber boosted vintage pickup with more character. I' dont want uber tight sound, think SOAD first tunes, massive but still grainy and organic.

My only problem is that I went through on the whole comtemporary line (except the pigs and C bomb). The MMan was too smooth for me, the nailbomb is a too easy choice, I love them but I had like 4 sets of nailbombs already.

Also tried the cold sweats and even if they are balanced and cool pickups I'm finding the bridge too crispy with too much high end for my tastes.

Endly I had RYells too and I'm sad to say they were the BKP I disliked the most, too Steve Stevens for me to sum up.

Oh forgot the Holy divers that are awesome pickups but my les paul was dark so it did not match very well with my ex custom.

I'd like to be schooled on Crawlers and Emerald (maybe black dogs). I'd rather go alnico with clear, tight but not surgical pickups. Good output, nothing crazy, for a solid heavy rock/metal sound. I think saying I'd like a warm thick sound with good balance of frequencies that does not go messy when dialed with some gain would sum it up the best.

I was about to forget infos for the neck pickup, as long it shines in clean (not too sparkly nor too dark) and can pull out some creamy thick lead sounds with some balls and output (more in the 8/10k zone, i tried alot of pickups below this output and was never really happy)

Many many french thanks if someone can read this  :P and more seriously help me out.

Cheers.

[Twinfan]

I think Emeralds may be just thing - inbetween vintage PAFs and very hot modern pickups?

[AndyR]

I'm wondering whether you should consider Abraxas as well?

Not tried them myself, but there was a little period when several people got them and posted a lot of enthusiasm on here. I got quite interested at the time.

The impression I was getting was that Abraxas are "PAF+" - you get the vintage PAF with more. I'm imagining they can cover vintage tones and push things a bit further.

[PhilKing]

Crawlers are very balanced pickups, the Abraxas set is more of a hot PAF tone.  I like the Abraxas (I have them in 2 guitars).  I have Emeralds in my all mahogany Les Paul Custom, and they give a great rock sound, with very good lead tones from both the neck and bridge pickups.  They have a punchy tone with a ton of harmonics.

[fr33man1]

Think i'll go with an emerald bridge and vhII neck  for thick a5 vintage vibe sounds. Should fit the bill for some E and drop D heavy riffage.

[brian_ward]

Think i'll go with an emerald bridge and vhII neck  for thick a5 vintage vibe sounds. Should fit the bill for some E and drop D heavy riffage.

make sure you reply with your findings with the emerald vhII findings.

[fr33man1]

I'm awaiting for some hunter knowledge, hes tried many of  those vintage bkp's. When mvd and eric get along on a high output pickup I usually go for this one or I shift mind to a nailbomb set (never disapointed me in any guitar). I'm just in the mood of something different. I'm kinda liking the overall old school feel and tone of this reissue les paul but I wanna treat it with good pickups.

[BigB]

Don't know how Crawlers might sound in a LP, but if it's rather on the bright side they might fit your requirements: alnico, clear, tight yet organic, enough output to drive your amp but still clear and open sounding, warm and thick, bridge stays well defined under heavy distortion, lovely warm cleans and distorded tones on the neck, plus a really nice quack in the middle position. But once again, this is on bright guitar with tight lows and lot of mids.
 

[Telerocker]

Crawlers or Rebel Yells.

[Alex]

The Black Dog is kind of hotter, meatier, but still vintage.
I'm not 100% sure about how bright it is - I feel it is a very balanced pickup with lots of mids. Maybe other people have more experience on that. It just works in my guitar.

[ericsabbath]

I do love the grain and character of those Classic 57 pickups but the output is just low and the sound is muddy and lacks clarity and the trademark BKP note separation.

I won't detune it or maybe just a step lower in D. I'm more looking for an uber boosted vintage pickup with more character. I' dont want uber tight sound, think SOAD first tunes, massive but still grainy and organic.

The MMan was too smooth for me, the nailbomb is a too easy choice, I love them but I had like 4 sets of nailbombs already.

Also tried the cold sweats and even if they are balanced and cool pickups I'm finding the bridge too crispy with too much high end for my tastes.

Endly I had RYells too and I'm sad to say they were the BKP I disliked the most, too Steve Stevens for me to sum up.

Oh forgot the Holy divers that are awesome pickups but my les paul was dark so it did not match very well with my ex custom.

I'd rather go alnico with clear, tight but not surgical pickups. Good output, nothing crazy, for a solid heavy rock/metal sound. I think saying I'd like a warm thick sound with good balance of frequencies that does not go messy when dialed with some gain would sum it up the best.

I was about to forget infos for the neck pickup, as long it shines in clean (not too sparkly nor too dark) and can pull out some creamy thick lead sounds with some balls and output (more in the 8/10k zone, i tried alot of pickups below this output and was never really happy)

damn... PAF character + output, less smooth than a miracle man, not as bright and crispy as a cold sweat, tight, alnico, warm, thick

VHII set?

as a Nailbomb fan, maybe you would enjoy the Riff Raff
it has a similar voicing (thick bass, not too much mids, biting top), but in an authentic PAF format with more bite
I can't comment on the output cause mine has a thicker magnet, so it sounds as punchy as the Nailbomb, but without all the compression
you can ask Tim if he would make another one like mine (8.47k, 4 mm alnico 5 magnet), but I doubt that
it was his own suggestion after I described what I wanted (a thick and biting PAF style pup) and that I needed something capable of pushing the amp HARD

[fr33man1]

I'm thinking custom riff raff , emerald or crawler. Dunno yet. My les paul is not really dark, its very light for a custom (under 4kgs) and very resonant.

Oh I think I'll give BKP a call, they might know it better as they produce them after all.  :P

thanks for the thoughts, I'll keep ya tuned and try to make decent sample with that pod engeenery machine.

[fr33man1]

just dropped a lonely nailbomb bridge laying on my desk and well it fits the job as usual. Tight, clear, growly, bkp trademark. The neck seems really 'poor' now.

dunno which neck pickup to choose now and bothered by the fact the aged covers looked cool and its a black nailbomb.  Is there any neck pickup with a sweet clean tone and nice overdriven push in the nailbomb outpout 'park' ? I know vhII is a nice neck pickup too, the cold sweat as well. What about that a5 afermath neck pickup ? how does it sound ?

[HTH AMPS]

defo Abraxas, thats a great pickup in a Les Paul, here's one in action... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e-vNNMyWMU

[fr33man1]

Sounds nice indeed, any idea of the output in kohms ? I kinda like the nailbomb neck but if there is someway to get the same output but with a more creamy deep tone I'd be way pleased.