J
jmath1677
New member
Bare with me, this is going to be a long one, but I'm confused and I don't know jack about "the guts" of guitars...I just play them, I don't fix them. About 6 months ago I bought an Epiphone Les Paul Standard Plus - I was disappointed and although I've gotten a lot more used to it since then, I still continue to be disappointed. Whenever I play with distortion, 90% of the time I will require the treble switch. When I play clean, I require Rhythm or both pickups selected but either way, I can't get a decent tone and have to go back to the treble which is always lackluster for a fat clean tone anyways. So I'm looking for replacement pickups and I can't spend more than $200, the rest below explains my predicament further:
1. I don't necessarily have a major issue with the treble pickup (bridge pickup right?), it has a nice bright tone with just enough lows to even out the sound. Too twangy for clean sound but I don't want to use it for clean tone in the first place so it's pretty good for distorted rhythm riffs. My one complaint is that it sounds slightly muffled either way, clean or not. I can live with it, but if there's something with the same attributes only a little clearer I'll take it. Any suggestions?
2. On the other hand, I have a major issue with the rhythm pickup (neck?) and it also affects how it sounds when both pickups are selected in the middle switch position. Whether, I'm playing clean or a little over-driven, or wildly distorted it's the same story - the higher pitched strings (g,b,e) - sound great - exactly how I want them for several of my songs (especially when clean...its beautiful). But the lower 3 strings (e,a,d), while there seems to be a good strong sense of low tone (a major reason for me buying a les paul copy in the first place)... at the same time that same low tone is extremely muffled and almost entirely unrelated to the nice clear tone of the higher 3 strings when all 6 are played together...it clashes majorly...I HATE IT. It is awful, it is disgusting. What should I replace it with?
As far as guitar tone goes - I like guitars to be either pretty bright or pretty low, in-between doesn't really ever suit my taste in any situation. I'm really into vintage sound: Beatles -White Album and Abbey Road, Elvis - "Hound Dog" solo, Jimi Hendrix "The Wind Cries Mary" solo, iconic Led Zeppelin I and II stuff...bla bla bla you get the gist. My fear in looking at pickups labeled as vintage is that I'll lose a lot of power or something, you know, that they'll be weak and too unlike the modern pickups that I've trained myself to get along with all these years. Because while I like playing vintage, that doesn't mean that I don't want to ever do a Radiohead or a Nirvana cover every once in a while.
I watched a before and after video comparing stock epi les paul pickups to the seymour duncan "hot rodded" package (extremely popular...overly recommended in my opinion) and it sounded worse to me. It sounded like he turned his les paul into some off-brand department store strat with a bright tinny....weak noise. I don't want that, even if it's the most recommended set up thus far.
And WTF are pots and caps all about? Should I change those too? If so, do I change those first or after the pickups?
Should I fix anything else while I'm at it? JEEZ.
THANKS...if you've made it this far, you're awesome!
1. I don't necessarily have a major issue with the treble pickup (bridge pickup right?), it has a nice bright tone with just enough lows to even out the sound. Too twangy for clean sound but I don't want to use it for clean tone in the first place so it's pretty good for distorted rhythm riffs. My one complaint is that it sounds slightly muffled either way, clean or not. I can live with it, but if there's something with the same attributes only a little clearer I'll take it. Any suggestions?
2. On the other hand, I have a major issue with the rhythm pickup (neck?) and it also affects how it sounds when both pickups are selected in the middle switch position. Whether, I'm playing clean or a little over-driven, or wildly distorted it's the same story - the higher pitched strings (g,b,e) - sound great - exactly how I want them for several of my songs (especially when clean...its beautiful). But the lower 3 strings (e,a,d), while there seems to be a good strong sense of low tone (a major reason for me buying a les paul copy in the first place)... at the same time that same low tone is extremely muffled and almost entirely unrelated to the nice clear tone of the higher 3 strings when all 6 are played together...it clashes majorly...I HATE IT. It is awful, it is disgusting. What should I replace it with?
As far as guitar tone goes - I like guitars to be either pretty bright or pretty low, in-between doesn't really ever suit my taste in any situation. I'm really into vintage sound: Beatles -White Album and Abbey Road, Elvis - "Hound Dog" solo, Jimi Hendrix "The Wind Cries Mary" solo, iconic Led Zeppelin I and II stuff...bla bla bla you get the gist. My fear in looking at pickups labeled as vintage is that I'll lose a lot of power or something, you know, that they'll be weak and too unlike the modern pickups that I've trained myself to get along with all these years. Because while I like playing vintage, that doesn't mean that I don't want to ever do a Radiohead or a Nirvana cover every once in a while.
I watched a before and after video comparing stock epi les paul pickups to the seymour duncan "hot rodded" package (extremely popular...overly recommended in my opinion) and it sounded worse to me. It sounded like he turned his les paul into some off-brand department store strat with a bright tinny....weak noise. I don't want that, even if it's the most recommended set up thus far.
And WTF are pots and caps all about? Should I change those too? If so, do I change those first or after the pickups?
Should I fix anything else while I'm at it? JEEZ.
THANKS...if you've made it this far, you're awesome!
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