Pickup Swaps In 3 Guitars

[Charvel1975]

Hello all, new member here I have 3 of my guitars right now that I've been thinking of swapping pickups on to better suit the classic/hard rock cover band I'm in. We play 70's/80's classic rock/hard rock in standard E tuning and are a 2 guitarist band. My primary rig right now is EVH 5150 III 50 Watt 6L6 head thru my Marshall 1960A w/2 WGS Retro 30's and stock celestion g12t75's in xpattern with my pedalboard: Korg Pitchblack tuner, ZOOM MS-70CDR and ModTone Clean Boost. As we are doing more shows, the EVH rig will be for live shows and right now my other guitarist is letting me use his Blackstar HT5R 1x12 Combo running through the matching Blackstar 1x12 cab and my aforementioned pedalboard is running through the effects loop.

Guitars:

MIK Epiphone Les Paul Custom has the Seymour Duncan Hot Rodded pickup set: JB/Jazz with 50's wiring, 2 CTS push/pull tone pots 500K strung with D'Addairo .010-.046 strings.

1998 Gibson Les Paul Special, factory Gibson saddles swapped out with Graphtec graphite string saver saddles pre-notched a long time ago, factory Gibson 300k pots changed out to Gibson 500k pots, Dimarzio super distortion p90 in the bridge and factory Gibson p100 pickup in the neck.

Charvel Model 5fx with active EMG pickups, 85 in the bridge and slant SA (I believe?) in the neck with original floyd rose and has the Kahler locking nut after the lsr roller nut, strung with with D'Addairo .009-.046 strings.


Anyone have any suggestions or input? Thank you

 

[South Park]

The Epiphone could use some dimarzio 36 pafs bridge neck air classic. Les distortion more tone. You can coil split to

 

[Charvel1975]

The Epiphone could use some dimarzio 36 pafs bridge neck air classic. Les distortion more tone. You can coil split to

Yea that's what I was thinking too, the Seymour Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid for the bridge position in the Epiphone as well as the Charvel has kinda caught my attention. I'm almost positive I'm going to passive pickups in my Charvel. I also spent some time tonight at practice playing the Gibson les paul special and have come to the conclusion that it most definitely needs new pick ups ... Im just not sure what ones to get?

 

[South Park]

You should get something with single coils

 

[ricksdisconnected]

i wouldnt touch that epi. leave it alone.
whats the rig your running this through?

 

[Charvel1975]

My primary rig right now is EVH 5150 III 50 Watt 6L6 head thru my Marshall 1960A w/2 WGS Retro 30's and stock celestion g12t75's in xpattern with my pedalboard: Korg Pitchblack tuner, ZOOM MS-70CDR and ModTone Clean Boost. As we are doing more shows, the EVH rig will be for live shows and right now my other guitarist is letting me use his Blackstar HT5R 1x12 Combo running through the matching Blackstar 1x12 cab and my aforementioned pedalboard is running through the effects loop.

 

[Dogs of Doom]

i wouldnt touch that epi. leave it alone.
whats the rig your running this through?

Maybe put the Gibson 300k pots in the Epi?

That will tame down the JB, which I think is a very trebley pickup...

 

[ricksdisconnected]

Maybe put the Gibson 300k pots in the Epi?

That will tame down the JB, which I think is a very trebley pickup...

that jb/jazz should give him plenty of tonal options to cover the yrs hes talking about.
plus its in a LP style guitar, what more could a guy want ya know? now i dont know if the
hot rodded versions of these pickups in question sound anything like the regular versions
or not but the guy has a crap ton of options between those pups and the LP style arrangement.
he could be running to much gain, the wrong pedal, god knows. i would think it should be smoking for 70/80s
classic rock with ease. im thinking that if the "hot rodded" series adds more to the pups over the standard
versions of this fantastic combo then thats the problem.

ok he did state his rig. i would try pulling all of that stuff running through the loop and hit the front end with it
and of course a nice EQ pedal in the loop. im a stickler for a eq pedal in the loop. ive had rigs go from mild to wild
with an eq pedal in the loop. i wont run a rig w/o one nor will i try out gear like amps w/o one either.
yes it makes that much difference.
the HT isnt really a classic rock amp but you can make it get close. i have the HTR-1h. killer head, sounds very different than the combos.
it would not be my first choice for classic rock honestly. more of a metal thing in my opinion.
both of those amps are higher gain than classic rock was. play with those gain settings on the amp too
with the removal of the effects in the loop.
me i would try a few things and the EQ pedal suggestion before i would start replacing pickups. thats a lot of dang money in pickups
that might be for nothing. could very well be just the wrong gear altogether for classic rock tones.
just my opinion. been through something similar myself before.

 

[Adieu]

that jb/jazz should give him plenty of tonal options to cover the yrs hes talking about.
plus its in a LP style guitar, what more could a guy want ya know? now i dont know if the
hot rodded versions of these pickups in question sound anything like the regular versions
or not but the guy has a crap ton of options between those pups and the LP style arrangement.
he could be running to much gain, the wrong pedal, god knows. i would think it should be smoking for 70/80s
classic rock with ease. im thinking that if the "hot rodded" series adds more to the pups over the standard
versions of this fantastic combo then thats the problem.

ok he did state his rig. i would try pulling all of that stuff running through the loop and hit the front end with it
and of course a nice EQ pedal in the loop. im a stickler for a eq pedal in the loop. ive had rigs go from mild to wild
with an eq pedal in the loop. i wont run a rig w/o one nor will i try out gear like amps w/o one either.
yes it makes that much difference.
the HT isnt really a classic rock amp but you can make it get close. i have the HTR-1h. killer head, sounds very different than the combos.
it would not be my first choice for classic rock honestly. more of a metal thing in my opinion.
both of those amps are higher gain than classic rock was. play with those gain settings on the amp too
with the removal of the effects in the loop.
me i would try a few things and the EQ pedal suggestion before i would start replacing pickups. thats a lot of dang money in pickups
that might be for nothing. could very well be just the wrong gear altogether for classic rock tones.
just my opinion. been through something similar myself before.

Hot rodded isn't a series

It's the name for a JB-bridge Jazz-neck box set

 

[ricksdisconnected]

oh ok so they are the old tried and true then.

 

[El Gringo]

that jb/jazz should give him plenty of tonal options to cover the yrs hes talking about.
plus its in a LP style guitar, what more could a guy want ya know? now i dont know if the
hot rodded versions of these pickups in question sound anything like the regular versions
or not but the guy has a crap ton of options between those pups and the LP style arrangement.
he could be running to much gain, the wrong pedal, god knows. i would think it should be smoking for 70/80s
classic rock with ease. im thinking that if the "hot rodded" series adds more to the pups over the standard
versions of this fantastic combo then thats the problem.

ok he did state his rig. i would try pulling all of that stuff running through the loop and hit the front end with it
and of course a nice EQ pedal in the loop. im a stickler for a eq pedal in the loop. ive had rigs go from mild to wild
with an eq pedal in the loop. i wont run a rig w/o one nor will i try out gear like amps w/o one either.
yes it makes that much difference.
the HT isnt really a classic rock amp but you can make it get close. i have the HTR-1h. killer head, sounds very different than the combos.
it would not be my first choice for classic rock honestly. more of a metal thing in my opinion.
both of those amps are higher gain than classic rock was. play with those gain settings on the amp too
with the removal of the effects in the loop.
me i would try a few things and the EQ pedal suggestion before i would start replacing pickups. thats a lot of dang money in pickups
that might be for nothing. could very well be just the wrong gear altogether for classic rock tones.
just my opinion. been through something similar myself before.

What about a box of knobs ? I still can't stop laughing about that ! Also , I am getting a 2nd half stack of "box of knobs " with the matching cabinet as well , which I currently waiting on as it's on order ,probably crafting the knobs for it and such . I can't wait to blast both of those suckers thru a pedal that someone on here recommended to me where I can switch from one amp to the other not that I will use that feature , it also has a feature that will run them in phase which I like . That was a head scratcher for sure when I first got my 2555X and 2551AV cab as I was paranoid that I would blow the speakers or something else by not running it correctly .

 

[ricksdisconnected]

keep us posted when those knobs come in. need some pics too.

 

[AlvisX]

I agree with "less distortion"....especially in a 2 guitar band ,unless you're Boston 1976

But seriously, IMO , it doesn't hurt to use cleaner pickups
I like the 36th anni PAF in the bridge of humbucking guitars

LP Special , my recipe in a two p-90 guitar goes...
Duncan SP 90 1b in the bridge . This is my go-to P-90 .I have it it all my p-90 Les Pauls

Gibson p-90S (slug pole) in the neck
It's a pickup they were using on p-90 guitars the last 4 or 5 years ago . Alnico slugs ,like a tele/strat pickup ,for a snappier tone. very good in the neck ,so you don't sound like Santana
(I love Santana , but I dont wanna sound like him all the time)

Well, you axed,so I tol' ya.....

 

[El Gringo]

keep us posted when those knobs come in. need some pics too.

The pedal I mentioned is a Radial Big Shot ABY True Bypass Pedal (which was recommended to me by someone here on our forum ) , which will run both amps in phase and I also would be able to switch between amps if I wanted to set one up for clean and the other for lead . I can't wait to blast those two suckers together and they are aimed at my favorite next door neighbors . I seriously cant wait to use both amp heads and cabs together , because I want to find out how Loud it will be ? I have a rough idea but when I see a band in an arena or stadium that's one thing but in my home I bet it will sound huge . Right now when I play at home there is a noticeable rumble on the floor at my feet when I play and I can feel air as well . This will be major fun for me ,which is what it all is about !

 

[ricksdisconnected]

Radial makes some cool stuff man. gotta keep an eye on them. you never know
what they will bring us next.
sounds like its gonna be fun indeed. watch those ears bro.

 

[custom53]

I changed out the pick ups in my Gibson Les Paul Axcess because for some reason I didn'tlike the white ones so I changed them to Black ones. But I wish I had left the white ones in.

 

[axe4me]

 

[Charvel1975]

So here is what I was thinking for upgrades, improvements, etc. for my Charvel model 5fx. I want to put the 90's Gold Floyd Rose original back on the guitar and hang on to the black Original Floyd Rose for another project guitar, I attached a pic of the Gold floyd rose that used to be on my Charvel. I don't know if I want to have an EVH D-Tuna professionally installed or not?

Upgrades:

On the Gold floyd rose: Titanium String Lock Insert Blocks, Noiseless Tremolo Springs, Gold Replacement Saddles for the low E and A strings and Original Fat Brass Tremolo Block
Seymour Duncan Cool Rails neck, & 59/Custom Hybrid or JB trembucker pickups.
USA CTS volume pot, 047uf Orange drop, and upgraded wiring.
USA CTS tone/push-pull pot, (to coil-tap or go to single coil on both pickups).
Switchcraft 3-way toggle switch.
Switchcraft input jack
Graph-Tech Tusq Nut.
Strings: D'Addario EXL120 .009-.042 strings.
Complete fret level and setup.

What are your thoughts?

 

[lordquilton]

So here is what I was thinking for upgrades, improvements, etc. for my Charvel model 5fx. I want to put the 90's Gold Floyd Rose original back on the guitar and hang on to the black Original Floyd Rose for another project guitar, I attached a pic of the Gold floyd rose that used to be on my Charvel. I don't know if I want to have an EVH D-Tuna professionally installed or not?

Upgrades:

On the Gold floyd rose: Titanium String Lock Insert Blocks, Noiseless Tremolo Springs, Gold Replacement Saddles for the low E and A strings and Original Fat Brass Tremolo Block
Seymour Duncan Cool Rails neck, & 59/Custom Hybrid or JB trembucker pickups.
USA CTS volume pot, 047uf Orange drop, and upgraded wiring.
USA CTS tone/push-pull pot, (to coil-tap or go to single coil on both pickups).
Switchcraft 3-way toggle switch.
Switchcraft input jack
Graph-Tech Tusq Nut.
Strings: D'Addario EXL120 .009-.042 strings.
Complete fret level and setup.

What are your thoughts?

Titanium String Lock Insert Blocks - that should work well with the brass block, titanium can be great but needs to be used sparingly like you would be here.
I'm finding it hard to imagine a Floyd Rose bridge without a locking nut though.

Coil tap would probably be better on a mismatched coils humbucker like the 59/Custom Hybrid.
You may also want to check out the Parallel Axis Trembucker (PATB-1b).



There's nothing wrong with a Switchcraft jack, but these days all my guitars get a Pure Tone Multi Contact jack.
I just did this mod with a new guitar this week, and actually remembered to record the results. There's no question it's an improvement over a stock factory jack, but I haven't shot it out with a Switchcraft jack yet.

Strings are whatever takes your fancy, but for 24 fret trem guitars I like to go a shade heavier - EXL120+ .0095 to .044, but I usually get the NYXL version.

 

[Charvel1975]

I forgot to mention that the Epiphone already has a bone nut on it already and the nut on the Gibson les paul special is the stock nut. I know I need to get rid of the Fender LSR roller nut that I had a friend put on my Charvel model 5fx some years ago. I still don't know why I had him do that, it did have the factory ungrooved phenolic nut before he replaced it with the LSR