Hello! Got myself a new Doublecut, beautiful guitar! It has the 498T/490R pickups.. Although they sounded quite good in my massive Les Paul Custom, this one is a lot thinner and lighter (about 3,2kg). The 490R is alright, but it sounds a little bland and boring. The 498T on the other hand sounds brittle and sometimes fizzy, and I think it lacks body. Not a fan of the upper mid spike either. The guitar was made in 2001, so I could not get it right that they started chambering that early. I contacted Gibson and they said that it is weight relieved (swiss hole), but it is still very light and on the verge of being neck heavy (heavy Grover tuners do not help, haha). Like all Standards it is made of mahogany and a (beautiful) maple top! When it comes to tone and timber I would say that it is quite bright, somewhere between an SG and a regular Les Paul Standard. I am also planning on changing pots to the BKP 550k pots, as the stock pots do not clean up very well. Taking all of this into consideration, the high end can easily get overwhelming! So, over to what I want from these pickups.
Important things first: it has to be tight! The Crawler is not tight enough for example, but other Alnico V pickups like Rebel Yell, Riff Raff and Holydiver are plenty tight. It has to be aggressive, although not overly bright. I like a bright tone and can always use the tone knob, but not overly bright and brittle. I have a Riff Raff/Mule set in a Les Paul and I really love the tones, but that guitar is not comparable (solid singlecut LP Standard). The DC is also thinner, the mahogany part of the body is probably the same thickness as an SG or maybe a tiny bit thicker, and a maple top at about 3-4mm. I think the Diver sounds nice, but maybe a bit compressed for what I want from this guitar. And yeah, versatility is important! All of my present BKPs (Nantucket, Riff Raff, Boss) are freakishly versatile, so I would like something like that for this guitar also. I would also like them to be quite close in output to the ones I already have, the 498T is too hot.
When I listen to the classic rock clip of the Emerald I really like what I hear, almost P90-like mid range and great bite! However, the modern metal-clip concerns me a little bit… At about 0:45 it does not sound as tight, but I guess when BKP write in the description that it is tight, it really should be! I also have experience with them in a McCarty, but that was years ago and I am willing to give them a new chance even though I did not love them that time. Not a huge metal player anymore, but I like to jam to some Metallica and heavier stuff once in a while. I will order it with covers by the way, so that might tame the most intense treble(?) I also considered the Rebel Yell, as I have great experience with it but that was also in a massive singlecut Les Paul Standard, and I did not think it was quite as versatile as the BKPs I have now. The guitar has 24 frets, so the neck pickup is moved a little bit towards the bridge. I think it sounds a bit clearer there compared to the standard 22 fret Les Paul, but a little bit darker neck pickup would probably not hurt. The Emerald neck is not the brightest one from what I have read.
I was recommended the Riff Raff by the BKP team, but I am afraid it will be too bright. It is more than bright enough in my massive, really dark singlecut LP Standard. I also tend to go for brighter amps (Marshalls with V30 speakers). In advance, thanks a lot for your answers! And finally, a picture of the beauty!
