VG PAF Shoot-Out 2005

By: Tony Nobles
Posted On: 2/5/2009

Given the unwavering popularity of the humbucker pickup, the constant injection of new builders, and the popuarlity of our 1998 comparison feature, we thought we'd note the anniversary of the design of the humbucker with another "shoot-out."

We started our test with the pickups in the 1956 Gibson Les Paul Model before beginning the arduous swapping of pickups into our test mule Les Paul Standard with Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. All pickups were tested without covers and in the bridge position with the same set of SIT .010-.046 strings, chosen for their upper harmonic clarity. We removed the covers so the differences would be more apparent, because nickel covers reduce treble response and output, while adding focus.

Our test amp is a Laney AOR 50 from the mid 1980s with a 12AX7/EL34 tube complement. We disconnected the negative-feedback tap from the output transformer and re-capped it with Orange Drops. This reduced compression in the signal chain and added a degree of "tweed-ness."

We set the amp to slightly favor high-end response, which favors the true tone of the pickup. The speaker is a Celestion G12-85 from a Peavey Butcher, in a homemade cabinet. Our pick was a Fender Heavy, which also tends to the bright side.

To make sure our thoughts and hearing were good, we recorded each pickup to its own track in ProTools, using the same amp settings, a Shure SM-57, and the same mic preamp (Digi001 interface). We recorded over the course of a few hours.

All of these units are very good - there truly are no bad choices. But there is some nice variety, and all do something (or even a few things) really well.

We lead with our impressions of the hand-wound PAFs in the '55 Les Paul test guitar.

FROM:http://www.vintageguitar.com/