Pickups for an Epiphone Les Paul

[akiller]

Hi All,

I recently bought an Epiphone Les Paul Custom which I love but when playing the lower frets the sound is very muddy compared with my strat copy - the tone I get from higher up the fretboard is great for solos though.

Unfortunately I like lots of different music styles; from Led Zep and Black Sabbath to Metallica, Muse and lots of Indie which means I'm looking for some pick-ups that will suit everything - awkward, I know :).

So far I've been looking at the Mule and Black Dog pick-ups - are there any other 'all-rounders' I should be aware of? I'll be using them with my Vox Valvetronix if that helps.


Cheers :).

[Doadman]

The Mule is vintage; the Black Dog is vintage hot so I guess you want something vintage in tone but something that can really rock if you want to do Black Sabbath too. Go with Cold Sweats. Nobody will say it's a bad pup for the neck though the bridge isn't as commonly used. My bridge Cold Sweat cleans up quite nicely, is incredible when overdriven and will take as much distortion as you can throw at it. The tone is classic Gibson in my opinion and it is based on the tone of the Gibson Dirty Fingers pup used by John Sykes in his 78' Les Paul Custom. Tim has a set of Cold Sweats in his Les Paul and rates it very highly indeed.

[ericsabbath]

maybe crawlers?  :?

[akiller]

Thanks for the replies- I've just listened to an Iron Maiden style clip from the Cold Sweats (here) which sounds great. Decisions! :D.

[Ratrod]

maybe crawlers?  :?

That would work for the styles mentioned by akiller.

[akiller]

I'll give those a look as well then, thanks :).

[_tom_]

Mule or Rebel Yell I'd say. The Rebel Yell is a bit hotter with more mids, so it seems to cut a bit better (may work better in Epi LPs, due to the lack of maple cap, so its not as bright as a typical lp?).

I'm going to try the Rebel Yell in my own Epi LP Custom some time, I think that it might sound better than the Mule, as I said before, because of the lack of a proper maple cap - its alder instead apparently, which isnt as bright.

I have Mules in it at the minute, and its a really versatile guitar - I play anything on it, mostly older hard rock such as ACDC, GnR, Zeppelin etc., but its also my main guitar in the cover band I'm in - playing anything from Oasis/REM up to GnR and Sabbath  :)

[viking]

I would like to know which magnets are used for the Rebel yells   and how much is the Dc output ?  :?:

[akiller]

Wow the rebels sound great, thanks for pointing them out. I think at the moment I'm only looking to replace my bridge pick-up (I don't use the neck one that much) so maybe that's a better match for it.

[MDV]

I have crawlers in an Epi LP and their versatility is remarkable. They can do all the things you want very convincingly.

[Catalyst77]

I have two Epipone les pauls, one has mules in it and the other has Rebel Yells.

I always thought I wanted a High Output pickup or at least something with a bit of welly and only bought the mules by chance of ebay after picking out the Rebel yells after talking with Tim.

Honestly; the mules are the best pickups ive ever played; I always find myself reaching for the epi with the mules in rather than the much cooler looking black epi with the Rebel Yells - and the Rebel yells rock.

[Catalyst77]

I have two Epipone les pauls, one has mules in it and the other has Rebel Yells.

I always thought I wanted a High Output pickup or at least something with a bit of welly and only bought the mules by chance of ebay after picking out the Rebel yells after talking with Tim.

Honestly; the mules are the best pickups ive ever played; I always find myself reaching for the epi with the mules in rather than the much cooler looking black epi with the Rebel Yells - and the Rebel yells rock.

[akiller]

Sorry for the late reply - this week has gone way too fast.

Thanks for those suggestions. Unfortunately I still can't decide as all of the pick-ups mentioned sound good - but I do keep coming back to those mules. I think I'm going to have to spend some time with lots of samples :).

[_tom_]

I have two Epipone les pauls, one has mules in it and the other has Rebel Yells.

I always thought I wanted a High Output pickup or at least something with a bit of welly and only bought the mules by chance of ebay after picking out the Rebel yells after talking with Tim.

Honestly; the mules are the best pickups ive ever played; I always find myself reaching for the epi with the mules in rather than the much cooler looking black epi with the Rebel Yells - and the Rebel yells rock.

hmmm. I was tempted to try my Rebel Yell (currently in my Charvel) in my LP, as my Charvel sounded awesome at band practise last night.. Are both your epiphones the ones with alder/mahogany body (like mine) or do either have a proper maple cap?

[Catalyst77]

I'm pretty sure the one with mules has a maple top while the one with Rebel Yells doesn't.

The sound in general is just much better balanced and more articulate, through my amps the Rebel Yells sound a little nasal.