Crawler Bridge Tone with Low Output?

[darkbluemurder]

Title says it all - does it exist?

The background is that I loved the tone of the Crawler bridge in my Les Paul but found that its output flattened the dynamics too much. The more authentic PAF types in the bridge (not BKPs, e.g. the Voodoo 59 and 60 and a few others) were too bright and lacked beef. Some of the hotter PAF types I tried (Wolfetone Marshallhead, Grosh G4) were better in that regard but they still had too much of what I consider a "tele tone". I don't want my LP to sound like a tele.

You can rule out the VHII bridge for this one - I had it in this particular guitar and did not like it at all because to my ear it lacked the midrange warmth I wanted.

Many thanks,
Stephan

[FRockStar]

You could try the Black Dog which is, supposedly, like a beefed up Mule. I have one in a LP-type guitar and it is surprisingly punchy, but still has nice cleans. It brings out the somewhat lacking mid-range  in my guitar.

If you want hotter, the Rebel Yell excels in Les Pauls & still cleans up well.

I've not played a Crawler in a Les Paul, (only a Strat,) so I'm not entirely sure what that sounds like. But it is certainly very versatile in a Strat, if a little compressed sounding.

[Telerocker]

The Crawler is indeed a little less dynamic then a Mule. In a bright guitar - say an alder/swampash strat with maple neck - it still has enough dynamics, but I can imagine that it can get too flat and smooth in mahogany.
I like Mules. The bridge has a quite flat eq, but the crispy highs dominant a little the midrange, so that's probably not what you're looking for. Btw, I like the way Mules handle serious gain.
Maybe the middy Black Dog? Sounds less PAF-ish though bec of the polysol wire.
Abraxas? You're Mule with enhanced mids and a tad more compression.
Or get a Mule and use a booster with a good eq (at least bass and treble) to finetune your bridgesound.

[darkbluemurder]

Thank you both very much.

You came up with the most likely suspects (Black Dog and Abraxas).

In fact I had tested the BD in this guitar, too - liked it but was not quite there. So the Abraxas is the hot candidate right now.

Cheers Stephan

[Telerocker]

Edit: I tend to roll back the tone on the Mule-bridge a bit, bec my Saint Blues sounds snappier than a Les Paul due to it's construction (Les Paul-tele-hybrid). With the tone rolled back a bit the Mule sounds amazing in this guitar. It will be fatter and smoother in a Les Paul, I guess.

[FRockStar]

The Abraxas could well be a goer.. I had it in the same guitar I now have the BD in but marginally preferred the BD. The Dog had a bit of extra spank in the mids for rock tones (to my ears) that I felt the guitar needed, but the Abx was a very good all rounder and cleans were very nice. It had quite an even eq IMO. I now have the Abraxas in an SG special & like it a lot.