Pickups not cutting it for my les paul / swapping

[Keven]

Hey guys, this is a two timer so bear with me.

i fitted a set of HD's to my epi les paul custom, it's a rather solid piece of wood and I had it fitted with a set of Holy Divers, i tweaked with the height, removed the caps, did a bunch of tests but i gotta say they're a bit too dark for this particular guitar, the divers will most likely go in another guitar of mine, a bolt-on maple neck mahogany body godin with 24 3/4 scale, good idea? i currently have a set of dimarzio paf 36th in there and they're dull as heck, i'm hoping the divers will liven up the guitar. Opinions?

So for the les paul i'm looking for something else, I was tempted by a set of black dogs in there but i have 2 guitars with black dogs so i'd rather try something else. the problem with the HD's were the darkness, and the neck pickup always felt like the tone was a bit rolled off on the low strings, a bit of a wierd happening.. even with a screamer to cut down on the bass. it's a bit better without the caps but dammit I want to use them as the BKP jensen caps give such a sweet honky tone when you roll them down that i want to use that.

I'm looking at maybe a set of Rebel Yells, Mules or Riff Raff? the usual styles are heavy metal, blues, rock, jazz, fusion. I don't have any direction for this particular guitar, my metal needs are quite fullfilled with the C-Bomb and Blackhawk guitars i have, something clear but with a dirty blues vibe when you go for the neck pickup and double stops at the dusty end of the fretboard. the Epi is a custom so there's no maple cap

I guess if i listened to myself i'd buy black dogs for all my guitars but my experiences with the c-bomb and the blackhawk are so great i'm tempted to try other things.

thanks for any help!

[GuitarIv]

The advice I'm going to give you is based purely on my experience from reading through the forum a lot more than I probably should, so don't take my advice as granted until someone else pops in and confirms it; I'd go for Rebel Yells if I was you.

If you have the Black Dogs already you can always move them into the LP and see how much you like them in there, I imagine them to be rather similar to the Holydivers and having had my HD Bridge installed in my Jackson Fusion (Mahogany Body, Maple Neck, Rosewood fretboard, 24.75" scale) I found it to be a little bit too dark as well, now I have a Painkiller in it and it sounds huge, I know I could easily put a Rebel Yell into the guitar and it still wouldn't be too bright.

Lots of people have praised it here on the forum as a great rock/metal pickup that can do blues with ease as well and the fact that you like your Nailbomb will come in handy too: the Rebel Yell is from my understanding basically an underwound Nailbomb.

I imagine the Riff Raff and the Mule could work wonders as well, but as said I'd go for RYs. My Jackson Fusion is somewhere in the realms of a Les Paul based on it's spec and I wouldn't doubt for a second to order RYs for it ;)

As said maybe someone else chimes in, cheers

[richard]

I'me sure the Mules, Riff Raffs or Rebels would all work. I find the RY to be a great all rounder - it does everything well. Great cleans, fine for metal and superb at those middle ground vintagey crunch sounds. Totally suited for a darker sounding LP type guitar.

[Keven]

i guess it's all a matter of which direction i want to go, I'm really tempted by mules as a les paul loaded with'em is of course a no brainer.

[darrenw5094]

Yep......Mules are a no brainer, but the Rebel Yell would be an adventure i would love to try for myself. But the Mules are the business though in an LP.

[Telerocker]

I concur with Mules, they're great in mahogany, but did you also consider Mississippi Queens?

[fhn_lopes]

If you want your guitar to CUT and get the best of both worlds (modern and vintage), I think you should consider the EMERALD set too... bridge has a nice bright open tone, with tons of clarity even with high gain. Neck pup is smoooooooth all the way, clear and fat...

[Keven]

i'd like to avoid a fat neck pickup, and i do like my vintage pups.. so right now it's a toss between the rebel yell and the mule, which are 2 quite different animals.

[fhn_lopes]

The Emerald neck is fat and warm, but it doesn't get flabby at all, and it's one bright pup.
The EM bridge is also very open sounding, and it is very versatile but it is in the vintage hot range, even though it handles metal tones very well because of its clarity. Probably the brighter humbucker of BK, but it's not thin or loose.

The Rebell Yell is more modern sounding than the Mule, totally different pup. If you like vintage voicing, I'd go for Mules or Riff raffs though...

[Keven]

yeah i asked tim and he definitely recommended me a riff raff bridge and mule neck as it's his most versatile combo... quite tempted, in double white :)

[nickcoumbe]

I tend to use Rebel Yells in heavier/darker guitars.

I have them in an LP copy and they rock

[Telerocker]

yeah i asked tim and he definitely recommended me a riff raff bridge and mule neck as it's his most versatile combo... quite tempted, in double white :)

That combo would work quite nice, as would a set of Mules. I would follow Tims advice, he knows his pickups best.

[GuitarIv]

Don't forget to get back to us with results, no matter what you get  :P

[lewis_grey]

I just got a Riff Raff put in the bridge of my Les Paul and it is a seriously cool pickup. It's got a lot of clarity and attack, no worries about your guitar sounding dull or dark with one of them suckers in there!

[Keven]

So as a birthday present from the missus, i just pulled the trigger on a riff raff bridge/mule neck set in open coil double white (the LP is olympic white)

the HD's are safe in a buddy's guitar and they sound killer, so it was mostly a matter of matching the pickups to the right guitar.

i'll be sure to post pics and clips of that combination in action playing mighty iced earth riffs :)

thanks to all!