Is the SD Pearly Gates really the right humbucker for the classic Billy Gibbons tone?

[TheGoodTexan]

I'm rebuilding my Les Paul. It's a 1998 Custom Plus. I haven't played it in years, and it needs a bit of work.

One of the things I'm going to do is install new pickups. Currently has no pickups in it at all.

The last time I had the guitar up and running (many years ago), I remember trying out a Pearly Gates and it didn't sound anything like classic Billy Gibbons to me at all. It lacked a high end sizzle, and did not seem to hit the front end of an amp very hard.

I'm thinking that I would be better served to just find a good PAF+ design. What I mean is, a PAF that is on the slightly hot side of the scale, rather than just down the middle.

Thoughts?

(PS, As he is one of my favorite players of all time, I'm familiar with Billy's guitars and set ups over time. I know that for a while now he runs everything through a rig that makes all guitars sound the same. I'm mostly interested in the Les Paul tones up to and including Eliminator. ...that "Les Paul into a Marshall" tone, which also falls into AC/DC territory, and even a slight EVH brown sound tone.)

 

[ab2012]

Much of that early tone is a Fender Brown Deluxe...great amp

 

[Peegoo]

How a pickup sounds totally depends on the specific guitar, the amp, technique, etc. You can take a pickup and swap it between three Les Pauls and it will sound different in each one. This is one of the primary reasons why the aftermarket pickup market is so huge: it is a bit of a crapshoot; you try different things until you zero in on the sound you have in your head.

Despite all that good news the Pearly Gates is a pickup made to by Seymour to mimic the specs of the units in Billy's famous '59. It's as good a place as any to start.

One other thing you have to do to get that grind and 'bloom' is crank the amp really loud or use an attenuator. Driving just the preamp stage doesn't do it; you have to push the power stage hard too.

I prefer the sound of the standard-power Parsons Street humbuckers from Stooge Mac.

 

[Middleman]

My son put the Pearly Gates into a low end Les Paul and they made that guitar come to life. It sounds absolutely amazing to my ears and almost rivals my Custom Shop R8. 50s type pickups including the famous original PAFs were low output pickups so you have to get your drive from a pedal or amp front end. Billy was using 50 and 100 watt Marshalls back in the day.

 

[Golem]

I've got second @Peegoo's comments about how a guitar can sound right in one LP and not in another. I usually like 57 classics but they sounded a bit odd in one guitar I had. I put in BB Pro and a BB 1 in it and it shined.

 

[Dismalhead]

My Lone Star Strat came with a Pearly Gates in the bridge. IMO it's nothing special, just a kinda generic sounding lower output humbucker. It does blend well with the single coils, and I'm guessing that's why they put it in the bridge. I've left it in there for that reason alone, but I can say I was definitely disappointed because I thought it was gonna sound awesome.

I think you're on the right track looking at PAFs. I prefer Alnico 2s over Alnico 5s. I think the Gibson '57 Classics are Alnico 2.

 

[2HBStrat]

Well, it depends on WHICH Billy Gibbons' sound you are trying to recreate...that said, I do not care for the Pearly Gates + pickup...I much prefer the Seymour Duncan '59...

 

[schmee]

My experience with HB's is most wont change the tone that much. Just subtleties. But I think you are on the right track with a hotter pickup. And keep it not too close to the strings. Pearly Gate, Seth Lover, '59 etc just aren't that different really. Now if you go into a hot pickup, like a Custom Custom at 14.0 k ohms, things change a bit.. JMHO, I think it's more about pickup/tone control/amp. Bridge pickup, tone rolled down....
I often wondered if he used Ceramics for that tone... Not really into HB's much anymore so, never researched that but assumed he doesn't. But I can tell you, a cheap Epi LP Jr with cheap ceramic HB's can sound just like that easier than a nice LP and boutique low wind HB's!

 

[Antigua Tele]

The Pearly Gates is just a balanced PAF set, barely any different from the Seth Lover or Antiquity models. They say it's modeled after a set in a '59 Les Paul, but PAFs were not balanced sets, it was a craps shoot if the neck or bridge would be hotter, and so for that reason I find it hard to believe that it was genuinely modeled after an actual PAF set. If you want authenticity, buy two neck pickups or two bridge pickups, and use them in both spots, or reverse the neck and bridge pickups, and discover that maybe vintage is overrated, or that form adversity comes creativity.

They're also wax potted, which is inauthentic. Everyone seems to like a 5 henry bridge pickup and a 4 henry neck pickup the best, so they seem to just duplicate that recipe over and over and give it different names. Even the boutique makers that everybody raves about don't steer too far from those specs.

 

[carpenter]

I have one in the bridge of my 73 tele I love the sound.

 

[TheGoodTexan]

The Pearly Gates is just a balanced PAF set....

Thank you for your post. But I'm not speaking specifically of a set. I'm just talking about what a Pearly Gates sounds like in the bridge position of a Les Paul.. which, IMO, doesn't really sound much at all like Billy's known "Pearly Gates" tones. Yep, he used a stock Strat for several classic tones, and yep, he used other amps too. But his main, go-to tone during the time frame I noted above, was an old Les Paul into a full-tilt Marshall.

And @Dismalhead ... I worked at a music store when the Lone Star Strats were released... and I agree with your assessment 100%. I never understood why they put that humbucker in that Strat... since Billy himself has never been known for using that humbucker in the bridge of a Strat. It was an odd pairing, IMO.

 

[TheGoodTexan]

I have one in the bridge of my 73 tele I love the sound.

You have the full humbucker in the bridge of your 73 Tele... or the smaller, single-coil sized version of it?

 

[bftfender]

I have 1 guitar soon as plugged it in that spit out that type lead tones first time i played it...14 Gibson SGJ with the Zebra alnicos..they are a crisp bite that can find the edge of that what i call the raspy sound..also light 9's are on that guitar..it seems to push fender or marshall or vox right at the edge with grit but so controllable. It goes with me everywhere cause of that control & particular sound

closest on LP is my Orville Goldtop, has the stock pups..very PAF like..lighter sounding than most of my hums with a trebly type sound & a slight dif in the mids..little clearer that the zebras but can be pushed with a lil juice

 

[blowtorch]

I've got one in a hollowbody archtop, and it was initially pretty quiet and thin-sounding, I had to crank it up pretty close to the strings to match the output of the generic humbucker that was in the neck position. Sounds pretty sweet now

 

[Bruxist]

My Lone Star Strat came with a Pearly Gates in the bridge. IMO it's nothing special, just a kinda generic sounding lower output humbucker. It does blend well with the single coils, and I'm guessing that's why they put it in the bridge. I've left it in there for that reason alone, but I can say I was definitely disappointed because I thought it was gonna sound awesome.

I think you're on the right track looking at PAFs. I prefer Alnico 2s over Alnico 5s. I think the Gibson '57 Classics are Alnico 2.

IIRC, that is a Pearly Gates Plus in your Lone Star, which is a little bit different. I believe it is closer to the 59.

 

[jimbo735]

I have the Full bridge,I have not had any issues.

 

[Antigua Tele]

Thank you for your post. But I'm not speaking specifically of a set. I'm just talking about what a Pearly Gates sounds like in the bridge position of a Les Paul.. which, IMO, doesn't really sound much at all like Billy's known "Pearly Gates" tones.

My point is that neither the bridge nor the neck pickups are exceptional, they're almost identical to the Seth Lover set, and if you swap out the A2 for an A5, almost identical to a '59 set. Whether Billy Gibbon's tone is due to the pickups or the amp it's hard to say, because we don't really know if the Pearly Gates are similar to the pickups in his '59. Seymour Duncan says they are, but for the reasons given, I don't think it's especially likely that this is true. The way they pitch the pickup even give cause for doubt "captures all the mojo of the original bridge pickup from Billy Gibbons’ 1959 Les Paul" if they had made a perfect replica of that pickup, they would say so. That word "mojo" has come to mean "imaginary". Therefore I'd say, look more towards the amp.

 

[tele_savales]

Billy has used many different rigs over the years I can't imagine nailing his tone based on one item.

 

[Antigua Tele]

IIRC, that is a Pearly Gates Plus in your Lone Star, which is a little bit different. I believe it is closer to the 59.

Since the PG+ switches the AlNiCo 2 for AlNiCo 5, I think it would fair to say the PG+ definitely has more in common with the '59 than it does the Pearly Gates model. Why even call it a Pearly Gates? Not hard to guess.

 

[Bruxist]

And @Dismalhead ... I worked at a music store when the Lone Star Strats were released... and I agree with your assessment 100%. I never understood why they put that humbucker in that Strat... since Billy himself has never been known for using that humbucker in the bridge of a Strat. It was an odd pairing, IMO.

Seems like, in guitar marketing speak, Texas = more output, more midrange.

Kinda like how everything that is marketed to give you an SRV tone is high-output.