Quacky Pickups

Hello All,

I'm new to the forum. Please be patient with me.

Just received my brand spankin new Mark V head this week. I am amazed!! The thing is a monster.

I do have an issue though. My main playing guitar is a 2007 Les Paul Standard with BurstBucker Pro pickups. I didn't like the pickups with I first purchased the guitar. Everything sounded quacky and brittle. At that time I was playing through a Marshall 50 watt JVM head. I replaced the pickups with Duncan JB and Jazz. I thought I was happy with the way they sounded until the Mesa arrived this week. I am back to the quacky sound and no bass. I switched back to the BurstBucker Pro's and the sound is still quacky with no bass. The other guitarist I play with uses a 1994 Standard Paul. He has the original 490/498 pickups and it sounds absolutely amazing. Big sound. Sweet smooth highs. The mids are perfect. Now I realize I could just replace my pickups with the same configuration as his but I am concerned that I still won't get THAT sound. I worked with the EQ settings for two hours last night trying to get the sound my friend's Paul was getting. It ain't happening. Have any of you out there experienced this issue? Is the resolve as simple as finding the right pickups? I know this really is a broad post that has many answers as everyone has different tastes in sound. All I know is.....my $2500 Les Paul sounded like a $100 Rouge from Musician's Friend in comparison to my buddy's 94 Standard. Any help would be appreciated.

Lyle T.

His guitar sounded good through your amp or his amp?

If yours. then probably a pickup change is in order.

Did you play his guitar through your amp? Maybe it's your technique?

Thanks for the response. I personally played his guitar through my amp.

Lyle T said:

Thanks for the response. I personally played his guitar through my amp.

Click to expand...

Then you need no better confirmation, get the 490/498 and that's that.

The pickups are a good bet. Could also be the guitar itself, especially since you said 2 sets of pups sound quacky in yours. Nothing quite like the consistent inconsistency of tone you get from Les Pauls...

Gibson's Burstbuckers pickups are kind of peculiar. Correct me if my info is misleading but I read somewhere or I thought I read somewhere that Burstbuckers were exported to Japan. Their coils winding were mismatch for some "inconsistecy winds" for a vintage vibe.

Somehow they made their way to US market and were selling like hot-cakes. So Gibson started to market them in the US and else where. But they also changed the design a little to accomondate the large volume.

Some say they "original" Burstbuckers are great pickups but the newer burstbuckers are "hit and miss".

A Vintage Guitar Magazine shoot out PAFs the Gibson 57 reissues were up with the Holmes and Fralins. ( this is a while back because someone here are going to mentioned their favorite boutique pickups are superior to the ones mention here : Bar Knuckle, Lollars, etc ...)

The 490/498 are fine pickups. I think my Les Paul has stock 490s (original stock). I changed pickups from SDs, Bill Lawerence, EMGs and I went back to the stock pickups.

Don't get me wrong, the other pickups had their niche, but the best "Les Paul" sound what I wanted was the stock pickups. I suppose I could have went "boutique" but why not just used the Les Paul stock pickups since they're in the drawers gathering dust. :lol:

Thanks to all who posted. I appreciate the help. I've decided to replace the pickups. It seems as though the Mark V wants a hotter pu to hit the Mark IV and Extreme modes correctly. I'm looking at the PU set John Petrucci uses, or the EMG 81/85 combo. We'll see what happens. Thanks again for the support.

Also, consider Bare Knuckle pickups if you can afford them. Amazing pickups.

Bill Lawrence Wilde L-90's.

2h, and 6h.


that is the biggest bang for buck humbucker i've heard.

i have a L500 in a bridge of a super strat, another awesome choice.

I don't know which has more snake oil, pickups or guitar cables. Save your money and just get a set of DiMarzio 36ths or Duncan SH1 '59 PAFs and thank me later. :lol:

I'd take look at how your pickups are adjusted, the height can make a big difference in tone; BB Pros should smoke through your V.

You also might want to try changing the tone caps to vintage PIO; that could help too.

"Sometimes, it's the little things..."