Riff Raff vs Emerald?

[AnnunakiMassacr]

I wa sthinking about this over the weekend. I recently have just sold me Riff Raff bridge as I think I wanted something fatter and slightly hotter. So I ended up ordering a Black Dog bridge. But last week, I gave my Riff Raff a thorough playing, and I found out I did in fact quite enjoy it. It definitely didn't have that Les Paul "chunk" I was looking for. But it got me thinking. How do the Emerald and Riff Raffs sound. I'm thinking if the Black Dogs are too boomy, and don't possess the harmonic goodness I like, are the Emeralds thicker and more powerful than the Riff Raffs? It's more curiosity as I said:)

[Chris Rowberry]

The Emerald will still have a vintage vibe to the tone bit will also drive harder than the Riff Raff. Have you considered the Mule? The Mule has a fatter mid range so will add some more body but retain the detail and articulation as you'd expect from a pickup of its ouput .

[Serratus]

I used to have a Riff Raff, which in the end I decided was just too light in the bottom end for me. I currently have an Emerald and Black dog in different guitars, the Emerald is definitely hotter and more full than the RR, and has really smooth upper mids and highs - very well balanced. The BD is more low mid focused and slightly more open than the Emerald.
I think if you're looking for more output and thickness than the RR, but not as much bass/low mids as the BD, then Emerald would suit you. It does feel like a slightly less vintage pickup though, due to its higher output, so a mule might actually suit better if you still want that real vintage output/dynamics, etc (not that the Emerald is super high output or anything, it's just not quite as pure vintage in feel imho)

[Telerocker]

Les Paul-chunk and -sustain mainly comes from the construction and the timbers, not from the vintagesounding pickups which most CS are equipped with. Mind you that BKP's are clearer and Gibson uses most of the time 300k pots, where BKP suggest 500/550k. I would go Mules here and let the amp do the rest. If neccessary, use the toneknob on the guitar to tailor to topend.