Pickup recommendations

E

ElNumero

New member
I would like to swap the pickups in a 150. They are currently the Schallers that came stock. They sound too tinny to my ears. They didn’t before but I have hearing aids now. I would love to try the Thro-Bak PAF’s but they are over $700 out the door. Any recommendations?
I love the tone Clapton had with Cream. 

 
I do have a few things. Let's chat on Wednesday. Working as an election judge tomorrow so I'm tied up. 

 
Will, if you are interested, I have a WCR Crossroads humbucker set I can sell you. Jim Wagner designed these to sound like Clapton's Cream era humbuckers. They are uncovered with zebra coils. If I have a set of covers, I can install them. $250 shipped for the set.

 
8 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

Wolfetone Legends in neck and bridge for classic PAF tone. Or Legend in neck Marshallhead in the bridge for slightly harder rock.

For even hotter, Legend in the neck, Fenris in the bridge (my personal favorite)...

https://www.wolfetone.com/product/legends/

https://www.wolfetone.com/product/marshallhead/

https://www.wolfetone.com/product/fenris/

legend/fenris combo here

rockin....

https://soundcloud.com/daniel-weldon-1%2Fid-rather-go-blind-etta-james-cover-wolfetone-demo
Click to expand...
I second the recommendation for wolfetones. Big fan of the Dr vintage (or legend, essentially same pickup) in the neck and marshallhead in the bridge.  Or can always email/call Wolfe to talk through what your looking for, he won't steer you wrong. He recently made a custom set for my daughters ibanez, and absolutely nailed them (subtle/sweet forgiving neck, paint peeling rock from the bridge). 

I think he's still doing 25% off too with coupon code covid25.

 
I have a set of unpotted Legends iny H-150 Standard. I just ordered a set of Marshallheads for my Gibson LP Tribute. I am getting rid of the quick-connect PCB crap it comes with. That give me a set of P-90s, a set of A2s, a set of A3s, and a set of A5s. That should cover all the bases...

 
Yes, I would absolutely recommend that you have pickups in your guitar.

More than that, your decision should bee based upon what kind of music you want to play, whose pickups are good at doing that tone and pairing that with the right amp to accomplish that one goal. I think SD Pearly Gates pickups are the safest set of pickups to go into a Les Paul style guitar not knowing anything else about what you are trying to accomplish.

 
ElNumero said:
I would like to swap the pickups in a 150. They are currently the Schallers that came stock. They sound too tinny to my ears. They didn’t before but I have hearing aids now. I would love to try the Thro-Bak PAF’s but they are over $700 out the door. Any recommendations?
I love the tone Clapton had with Cream. 
Click to expand...
First, replace the harness with an RS Guitarworks.  Then, drop the volume and tone settings when you play. ~$100.

If you still don't like the sound, I'll take the Lollar Imperials over the throw-ups every time.

 
Someone above recommended the Dimarzio Super Distortion. It was a little too high gain for me in an H-150. Cool if you are after a Slash sound. However, in my H-150 and 170's I have put Larry's 36th Anniversary  PAFs. Just a totally smooth sound and through the right amp it gets that perfect edge of break up sound. I also had an H-150 with a pair of WCR Fillmore's in it. It was strange but as expensive as they are, they measured out the same as the Super Distorion and sounded exactly the same. There is also one called a PAF Pro that is between the Super Distorion and the Anniversary. I have Seth Lover's in my 535 and they sound great like the other classic PAFs. I guess my two cents is any of the vintage sounding PAFs will do nicely and to my (perhaps rock and roll damaged) ears, the boutique pick ups sound the same as the Dimarzio or Duncans for half of the price.

 
Steiner said:
First, replace the harness with an RS Guitarworks.  Then, drop the volume and tone settings when you play. ~$100.
Click to expand...
This or get accustomed to hearing the full spectrum (over 8,000 HZ - not me) and better tonepots with the ability to bleed in smaller increments. Volume pots also could be 250k rather than 500K. Seeking recommendations from boomers that can't hear up to 13,000 hz is like me asking someone six foot 5 inches how to dunk.

 
To me,  the Schallers tend to have more of a "smile" response compared to my Seth Lovers, Alnico Pro IIs and Sheptones.   The bottom end can be boomy if you have a speaker with a boosted low end like some Jensens.

FWIW,  most guitar speakers are down about 15dB by the time they get to 5-7kHz.    This includes classics like the Jensen C12n, P12n,  Celestion Vintage 30,  G10 Greenback,  G12H,   Eminence Texas Heat,  Swamp Thang and Cannabis Rex.   So not hearing 13,000 Hz isn't really a problem for electric guitar.     

Cannabis_Rex_1024x1024@2x.png


Cymbals are a different matter entirely.    I miss hearing the shimmer of a good cymbal.

 
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