[Chiliphil1]

Hey everyone.

I'm looking to replace the 490r/498t set in my les Paul custom. The tone of these is very fizzy, weak, and mushy. I've got an ibanez rg1570 with crunch lab/liquifire that absolutely slays the lp. I'd like to bring the lp up to that same level.

My amp is a mesa dual recto tremoverb and I also use a Friedman BE-OD as well. One thing I find is that the lp sounds better with the Friedman pedal as I think the CL just hits it too hard but the ibanez sounds much better with the recto. Go figure.

Anyhow, I've been on a quest and have narrowed my choices down to about 696,000 at this point. What I'm really looking for is more bottom end, nice fat tone that will retain clarity and have no fizz. I don't really play metal other than Metallica. My tone is more like a beefy muscular hard rock tone. The CL seems to handle it perfectly but it's too dark IMO for a les Paul and as mentioned it pushes the Friedman too hard and makes it mushy. I need something that's going to land in the middle. Big and fat without being too high output.

At this point I'm thinking either the super distortion with either a Steve Morse neck or a PAF pro neck. Or the dominion set. I think either of those would work based on the website descriptions.

I've also been looking very hard a bare knuckle pickups, namely the black dog bridge with a mule neck or a holy diver set. My think with them is that they're twice the price of dimarzio and I just don't know if they're worth it.

So, to recap, I have a les Paul that's too bright, fizzy, and puny sounding. I need more bottom and thickness, more overtones, but I don't want something so hot that it's going to muddy up the tone. The Friedman apparently is very sensitive to this. At the same time I don't want something weak like a PAF which is going to leave me wanting more. Something that gets close to the crunch lab but with a little more brightness and less output.

Very open to suggestions, thank you.

[greenlion]

Seymour Duncan Custom and a Jazz neck maybe. Its hard to say because I can't imagine the 498t being weak or mushy. I like the Super Distortion and Super 2 in a Les Paul better, but they are pretty full-on if you want to stay below high output metal pickups. The PAF Pro and Air Zone might be another combo to look into.

[KH Guitar Freak]

Super Distortion and 36th anniversary PAF neck combo 

[darkbluemurder]

Maybe I can add something as I am also familiar with some of the Bare Knuckles.

If the 498 is too fizzy you may want something with more midrange but not too much more output. AT-1 comes to mind. I would stay away from the Super Distortion as this pickup can have a fizzy tone in some guitars. The Breed bridge would be a better choice for a tone with lots of low end but it may end up too dark in the LPC.

The Bare Knuckle Holydiver would be a good choice for the bridge position - coincidently it is their take on the JB as well as the AT-1 is DiMarzio's take on that pickup. I have both (as well as a JB) but have not used them in the same guitar(s). The neck pickup is also nice - quite bright but not thin.

The Black Dog bridge is lower output, about the same as a hotter PAF type pickup. It has a strong midrange for a lower output pickup but I found it to be quite picky about the guitar it is in. It would not be my first choice for this application.

So for the bridge I would go AT-1 or Holydiver. From the neck pickups you mentioned I only played the Bare Knuckle Holydiver and the Steve Morse neck - both good but slightly different. The Morse neck is fatter and smoother whereas the Holydiver would be brighter and clearer. Another fine option for the neck pickup is the Duncan Full Shred neck if you want fat but clear and not muddy tones.

Cheers Stephan

[firstmiro]

Hi,

Super Distortion has killing output (can melt Terminator's circuits  ).

I will consider AT-1 for bridge (like Stephan suggested). That pickup can drive amps very nicely, while cleans up without problems also.
For neck I am using single coils, so will not help much here ;-)
(in the past I was using PAF, but not sure if they were not replaced by some other versions now)

Best,
Miro