Favorite NON PAF type pickups for Les Pauls

[Big Al]

I was wonderin' which pickups you greasy bast ids prefer and use that are not an attempt to dupe the PAF thingy? Myself I really like the Duncan JB and still have a couple Seymour did for me from his very first production run and a few from a little latter in the early 80's. I have an old HI-A that is so cool sounding but I'm not sure which model it is.

My current favorite is the Duncan P Rails and I have sets in a couple of Les Pauls all wired up to do all the crazy combos. The P90 coil sounds killer, the rail coil, (which I was sure I wouldn't like), sounds pretty cool and I like the hum bucker tone a lot. The series/parallel and phase thing works cool and I'm finding that I am really liking this mutant pickup.

I have a pair of early P94's that sound very cool for the single coil P90 tone in a Humbucker mount and I want to try an Alnico version for some cool 54 Custom style. All the ones I've found so far are pretty pricey but I'm hoping someone will do an affordable one like the staple P90 I have.

Soooo

what's yer go to non PAF type pickup??????

 

[67SLP]

SD Distortion Bridge
SD Jazz Neck

 

[Thundermtn]

I'm running a MJ wound SD Custom from the 80's with a mag flip for OOP in the middle. Pearly Gates in the neck.

I'm playing on the low end of high gain and do some Sabbath tunings and I'm really happy with it. It's a pretty good tone and I don't sound like most other LP players. A few knob twists & switch flips and I can get back to normal tones though if I want.

 

[goldtop0]

I had a Les Paul Classic years ago and really liked the stock 496R in the neck......it had a woody airy tone to it.

 

[J.D.]

+1 on the P-Rails.

The JB bridge was always a good alternate.

Before they were popular, I made my own "hybrid" (42AWG screw and 43AWG slug) humbucker that sounded pretty good.

 

[Wilko]

I liked the SD JB an also the Dimarzio Super D dual sound. I ha pairs of each with switches mounted between the knobs, like we did in the late 70s!

 

[Big Al]

I liked the SD JB an also the Dimarzio Super D dual sound. I ha pairs of each with switches mounted between the knobs, like we did in the late 70s!

I have an old Rickenbacker solidbody I went al hippy nutso on in the early 70's. I refinished it in natural to show of the figured maple and put a DiMarzio Duo Sound in. I wired it for series/parallel and later added a RA Gresco Tone Cube and now it is used as a 5 string open G tuned slide guitar with brass nut and bridge and a doubled octave G string for the root. So it has 6 strings with a 5 string spacing with the added high octave on the lowest string.

I like the tone. I had a 77 Standard with the Super Distortion/PAF pair so common then. I loved it.

 

[deytookerjaabs]

Haven't tried it in a Les Paul but one of my favorite pickups on a Gibson in general has been the (sometimes maligned, lol) solid pole piece P90 type they put on some different models. I couldn't get a bad/harsh tone out of the guitars I've played with those pickups, a few juniors/specials and, if they're the same, those blues hawk guitars had them too iirc. I'd consider swapping them out for a normal P90 if I had a guitar they'd fit in.

 

[P.Walker]

Dirty fingers
SD Custom
SD Custom custom
SD Distortion
Dimarzio super distortion
498T/500T
p-90:hee

 

[PressR9]

I like SD 78's bridge and neck
I did use SD Distortion for years when I was using an old Marshall
Also dig Fralin 8k - 10k but I guess those are kinda hot PAFs

 

[latestarter]

P90's - I can gig all night on a good set of those in a Les Paul! Humbuckers, well, I do like TV Jones standard size for something different. Nothing with them in at present though.

 

[ntotoro]

Guilty pleasure set: Duncan Custom/'59 combo.

The Custom is a bit hotter and more compressed/tighter than the typical PAF-inspired pickup and the '59n really seems hotter and has more low-mids than most PAF-type neck pickups I've used. Pushes a bit more. Wonder how it would sound with an AlnicoIII magnet.

Nick

 

[MeHereNow]

:couch

 

[El Gringo]

Well I am interested in the ThroBak SLE-101 Plus and the ThroBak MT-102B .

 

[Triplet]

60's Guild humbuckers are pretty sweet. They are still affordable if you run across them.

 

[stevelazo]

I prefer the Gibson Custombuckers. I think they are way better than any of the boutique pickup companies, I've tried them all and I always put the Custombuckers back in. I currently have a CC#33 Jeff Hanna, and I flipped the magnet in the neck pickup to get the out-of-phase sound. They kick so much ass!!

 

[Tommy Tourbus]

The Gibson Tony Iommi signature pickup

 

[Big Al]

Guys, Custombuckers, Duncan 59's, Pearly Gates etc.. those are PAF varieties. The Gretsch style hums are killer, IMO. That Tele bridge pickup is so cool, as I think that they are quite possibly the best bridge pickup ever made and work great with a hum bucker neck. I agree with Latestarter that a P90 in the hum bucker mount is an all night long kinda deal. I do love the P90 sound and feel. I have been using the P94's but lately I must confess the P Rails have been scratching my P90 itch and giving up so many other possibilities that I am kinda wild about them at the moment.

I have the good fortune to have amassed quite a few guitars over these many decades and I don't want to just have a dozen duplicates, you know? I try to set up all my various Les Pauls a bit differently and though I do have the 50's type Standard well covered I'd like to have other options too.

I like some of the nasty ass high output nose bleeders. Duncan Distortions are my favorite and I have one Seymour wound for me in 79 on an old Ttop before he was making his own that is magical. I also like the DiMarzio Super D and Duo Tone. Don't care what others think, I like 'em. The old Hi-A pickup I have is a thing of beauty and I need to find another for a pair. I used to have an old 59 Jr that had been refinished and I put a HI-A mini hum bucker Beast pickup in with a rotary tapp and, OMG that little guitar was a rainbow of tone!!! The HI-A I have left is a powerful and very high fidelity sound with amazing clarity!

The old Guild Humbuckers are wonderful and they are a favorite of mine. We really should keep that quiet.

I also like some active pickups, though I prefer the older cleaner styles before everything became all Heavy Metal sounding. Surprised that the EMG hasn't shown up more as it is the HM pickup combo with a Les Paul! Not for me but I know there are some of you here.

The one thing I have found hard to find, and something I have great use for are classic High Fidelity Low Z Humbuckers. I do a lot of recording and the ability to interface with my gear would be great along with the the extra wide frequency response and dead quiet sound. With my studio EQ's and a clean full frequency pickup I could craft any tone I desire and save it in my EQ library. I have used a borrowed 70's Les paul Recording, (but I don't own one), and quite honestly I found it to be the most versatile guitar I've ever used. Once I learned the controls it was easy to use the guitar into an amp and I had no problem getting most tones I'd want. I really don't get the knock because I found I could get my amps to overdrive just fine using the High Z output and I never had effects sound so good!!!!

I LOVE PAF'S I like almost every variety of them or all the many versions. I found the ones that work best for me and stick with them. BUT, I never felt that the apex was 1959 and I think there are many, many types of Humbucker alternatives that may be more valid and rewarding for those of us who can see beyond 1959. I've always ben a tinkerer and modifier and adapting non hum buckers to fit in an existing hum bucker rout a cool thing. That is great at widening the ol' tone pallet don't ya think?

So keep 'em coming, but no need to revisit the old PAF thang, OK. I'm looking for alternative types not different flavors of the old PAF. Lord knows there is a gazillion PAF type threads, This isn't one of them!:teeth

 

[P.Walker]

EMG 81/85. There, I said it. One trick pony, but what a pony. Btw, shouldn't this be in the tone zone (pun intended )?

 

[Hamerfan]

My favs are MJ's DD (No pun) and SD Screaming Demon. Recently i swapped in an Alnico 8 and afterwards an UO A5.This gave me 2 new flavors, but the jury is still out what will stay. Nevertheless the Screaming Demon is great hummer, which reminds me of Single Coil parallel sound with more attitude.