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Gibson 490/498 vs boutique ThroBak Pickups on Gibson Les Paul Zakk Wylde

belensky

New member
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
12

Trying some other pickups for my Zakk Wylde Les Paul, still can't decide which I like more, gibson or ThroBak.
basically I'm very happy with 490/498, but as far as Clarity and openness ThroBak Is whole other league, but because it's PAF repro, im not sure if it's right fit for my Gibson Les Paul Zakk Wylde, this guitar intended to be most for metal and hard rock.
which one do you like more?
Gibson 490R, 498T – were taken from old Les Paul Custom from 90's
Neck – A2 magnet, 7.8K
Bridge – A5 magnet, 13.8K
ThroBak Dick Wagner Signature Set
Neck – 8.3K (long A5 Unoriented),
Bridge 9.2K (short A5)
 

zacknorton

Active member
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
731
With that much shred flavored gain the throbak’s are kind of a waste of money.

If you haven’t tried them, I’d suggest dimarzio super d’s. Made for GAIN, and They sound surprisingly good clean too.
 

belensky

New member
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Messages
12
With that much shred flavored gain the throbak’s are kind of a waste of money.

If you haven’t tried them, I’d suggest dimarzio super d’s. Made for GAIN, and They sound surprisingly good clean too.



for me, higain rhythm stuff is the place where things starts to fall apart. any decent pickups on clean crunch will sound ok.

I had Dimarzio SD on couple guitars, on some of them I really liked it, on some it didn't work. if I find one ill try it for sure
 

zacknorton

Active member
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
731
So many crazy options these days. I hope you find something that melts your face and makes you smile at the same time !

If I was looking for definition under extreme stress I’d look at structural differences in pickups first.

Like: pole pieces as magnets in the humbucking format

filtertron style full sized humbucker construction. Those narrow coils do some different things. And have a crazy amount of string definition.

Alternately....the difference between coils in series and coils in parallel is paradigm shiftingly large

more subtle but equally important...swapping magnets in your existing pickups might be able to get you where you want to be.

You’re probably already aware of all this, but good luck on your quest!
 

El Gringo

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 8, 2015
Messages
5,657
I play my Les Paul's thru a high gain Marshall 2555X and IMHO my Throbaks compliment the Marshall so well and that would be my recommendation and the ThroBaks that I use are MXV-SLE-101 Plus which have A5 magnets and you should hear them scream in the Les Paul , because to me it is never enough gain and sustain and it is such a rich creamy sound . Major Kudos to ThroBak !!!!!!!!!
 
Last edited:

thejaf

Member
Joined
Oct 27, 2006
Messages
527
Throbaks.

There's a staleness to the 490/498 combo that I'm hearing even through computer speakers :##
 

Deus91

Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2019
Messages
52
You should also take a look at the EMG 57/66 set.
They are not as strident sounding as a 81/85 set.
 
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