Hi Everyone, new to the forum.
A few months ago I bought my first "proper" Les Paul, a 2008 R9, and it quickly became my number one (after being mostly a Tele guy for almost 3 decades). It actually came as a surprise, because although many of my favourite recorded or live tones were played on Les Pauls (Page, later-era Knopfler, too many and too different to mention), it took me many years to find one that made me go "wow!" (even before plugging it in, I knew I liked this one better than most, if not all of the others I have played). So although I could barely afford it, I bought it on the spot.
Now, the pickup topic, which this post is about. Although I don't think I have ever been as much in love with a guitar as with this one, I have a suspicion that the Burstbuckers might be holding it back (or not - let's find out). Don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with them, but I like the guitar so much that I think it "deserves" to try different pickups. You know, if I end up liking the Burstbuckers best anyway (most people don't seem to, but we're all different), no harm done, they will go back into the LP and live there happily ever after. I simply don't have much to lose, except a bit of money and time.
I have never really considered Throbaks, because they always seemed too expensive to try them out on a whim. But I have the chance to buy an SLE-101 MXV set used and if I end up not liking it, I can recover most of my losses.
What difference should I expect going from the Burstbuckers? Have you ever gone Burstbuckers to Throbaks in the same guitar and care to describe the tonal change? Note that I am not asking whether they are for me - the only way to find out is to try them. But if you, for example, told me that the Throbaks are a lot darker than the Burstbuckers, I might not even bother trying them out, because coming from Teles, I like my guitars fairly bright. Luckily for me, my R9 is inherently bright (in a sweet, non-icepicky way). I play a lot of clean or rather cleanish stuff, so a good bit of sparkle is a must for me. Of course, I like to rock out as well, just like the next guy. I never understood why some people called LPs "Teles on steroids". Well, I get it now. Anyway, any input regarding the Throbaks appreciated. Of course, I am aware of OX4, Wizz and most of the other popular winders, but it is the Throbaks I have a chance to buy used near where I live (Europe) - a good chance to find out what the fuss is about. New OX4s cost less than used Throbaks round here, so they are very high on my list too.
A few months ago I bought my first "proper" Les Paul, a 2008 R9, and it quickly became my number one (after being mostly a Tele guy for almost 3 decades). It actually came as a surprise, because although many of my favourite recorded or live tones were played on Les Pauls (Page, later-era Knopfler, too many and too different to mention), it took me many years to find one that made me go "wow!" (even before plugging it in, I knew I liked this one better than most, if not all of the others I have played). So although I could barely afford it, I bought it on the spot.
Now, the pickup topic, which this post is about. Although I don't think I have ever been as much in love with a guitar as with this one, I have a suspicion that the Burstbuckers might be holding it back (or not - let's find out). Don't get me wrong, I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with them, but I like the guitar so much that I think it "deserves" to try different pickups. You know, if I end up liking the Burstbuckers best anyway (most people don't seem to, but we're all different), no harm done, they will go back into the LP and live there happily ever after. I simply don't have much to lose, except a bit of money and time.
I have never really considered Throbaks, because they always seemed too expensive to try them out on a whim. But I have the chance to buy an SLE-101 MXV set used and if I end up not liking it, I can recover most of my losses.
What difference should I expect going from the Burstbuckers? Have you ever gone Burstbuckers to Throbaks in the same guitar and care to describe the tonal change? Note that I am not asking whether they are for me - the only way to find out is to try them. But if you, for example, told me that the Throbaks are a lot darker than the Burstbuckers, I might not even bother trying them out, because coming from Teles, I like my guitars fairly bright. Luckily for me, my R9 is inherently bright (in a sweet, non-icepicky way). I play a lot of clean or rather cleanish stuff, so a good bit of sparkle is a must for me. Of course, I like to rock out as well, just like the next guy. I never understood why some people called LPs "Teles on steroids". Well, I get it now. Anyway, any input regarding the Throbaks appreciated. Of course, I am aware of OX4, Wizz and most of the other popular winders, but it is the Throbaks I have a chance to buy used near where I live (Europe) - a good chance to find out what the fuss is about. New OX4s cost less than used Throbaks round here, so they are very high on my list too.