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Video Comparison - Wizz vs ReWind vs Doyle Coils vs CustomBuckers vs Righteous Sounds

yeatzee

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
66
I posted on here a comparison of the stock custom buckers to the righteous sound RAF's. Well that original video sent me down the rabbit hole and I ended up collecting 3 additional sets to compare making for 5 total. Same as the last video, they are all compared side by side with no gap in playing so you can hear the differences directly. Ran through a bunch of different base tones to give some variety like before.


Let me know what you think this time around, and what your favorites were! I found it very interesting, but want to keep my opinions to myself so that I don't influence what anyone else hears. I'm going to do a separate follow up video where I pick a set to stay in the guitar and I'll also talk about my impressions more in detail in that one. For now I want to hear from you guys!
 

LeonC

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2002
Messages
799
Great job. I'm sure that was a lot of work. I know you tried playing a lot of different things through different amps and stuff. There are one or two things I would have liked hearing that weren't there (ya can't please everybody, heheh!)

- Play a couple simple, slow cowboy chords through your basic Fender clean, letting each one ring
- Play a simple jazzy chord progression with some chords that have a little dissonance/harmonic complexity. Again, clean Fender amp. I want to hear how the dissonant notes interact.
- Play a few simple single note riffs in each general "area" (lower notes, middle notes, higher notes) using clean, edgy and dirty amp settings. I'm listening for clarity and definition.

I don't know if anyone else feels this way but to me, the thing I often find lacking in humbuckers is clarity in the neck pickup. Bridge too...but often less of an issue there. So when trying a guitar with humbuckers, I like trying some "Stevie Ray Vaughn-ish" single note riffs on the lower strings...from clean to edgy to dirty. I want to see how much clarity or mud there is there. In my view, "Joe Shmo" humbuckers will all sound the same in this scenario...kind of mushy and indistinct, where the humbuckers (or guitars) that I tend to prefer will demonstrate some clarity and note definition.

But anyway...all I could really pick up over the net was that I didn't care for the Rewinds that much. They sounded kind of harsh to me in a couple places. I generally liked the Custom Buckers and Righteous Sounds neck in particular. The Doyles sounded good to me in places. But most of them were marginally different and I couldn't say I truly preferred one over the other. Very hard on youtube.

One last thought...I've got three Les Pauls with Custom Buckers and they all sound a bit different. Some have more clarity than others. The resistance on each set is somewhat different. I've been collecting data on the pickups used in various Collector's Choice LPs and you can see that Gibson was apparently trying different things with different models (most of which used Custom Buckers)--presumably, attempting to "model" the pickups in the guitar they were replicating. So...it appears to me based on this evidence that not all Custom Buckers are created equal.

Anyway, thanks for your effort.
 

rockabilly69

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 29, 2001
Messages
2,872
I posted on here a comparison of the stock custom buckers to the righteous sound RAF's. Well that original video sent me down the rabbit hole and I ended up collecting 3 additional sets to compare making for 5 total. Same as the last video, they are all compared side by side with no gap in playing so you can hear the differences directly. Ran through a bunch of different base tones to give some variety like before.


Let me know what you think this time around, and what your favorites were! I found it very interesting, but want to keep my opinions to myself so that I don't influence what anyone else hears. I'm going to do a separate follow up video where I pick a set to stay in the guitar and I'll also talk about my impressions more in detail in that one. For now I want to hear from you guys!

To me all of the pickups had their moments and I could easily record a fine Les Paul guitar song with any of them. The one thing I noticed was a lot of low mid in the Wizz pickups that would maybe transfer to punch on bright amps or mud on a dark amp. I think the one I heard the most cool tones from was the Doyle Coils but that's splitting hairs. Good job! I like that it wasn't just a bunch of blues licks, as I'm more of a song oriented rock guy.
 

yeatzee

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
66
Great job. I'm sure that was a lot of work. I know you tried playing a lot of different things through different amps and stuff. There are one or two things I would have liked hearing that weren't there (ya can't please everybody, heheh!)

- Play a couple simple, slow cowboy chords through your basic Fender clean, letting each one ring
- Play a simple jazzy chord progression with some chords that have a little dissonance/harmonic complexity. Again, clean Fender amp. I want to hear how the dissonant notes interact.
- Play a few simple single note riffs in each general "area" (lower notes, middle notes, higher notes) using clean, edgy and dirty amp settings. I'm listening for clarity and definition.

I don't know if anyone else feels this way but to me, the thing I often find lacking in humbuckers is clarity in the neck pickup. Bridge too...but often less of an issue there. So when trying a guitar with humbuckers, I like trying some "Stevie Ray Vaughn-ish" single note riffs on the lower strings...from clean to edgy to dirty. I want to see how much clarity or mud there is there. In my view, "Joe Shmo" humbuckers will all sound the same in this scenario...kind of mushy and indistinct, where the humbuckers (or guitars) that I tend to prefer will demonstrate some clarity and note definition.

But anyway...all I could really pick up over the net was that I didn't care for the Rewinds that much. They sounded kind of harsh to me in a couple places. I generally liked the Custom Buckers and Righteous Sounds neck in particular. The Doyles sounded good to me in places. But most of them were marginally different and I couldn't say I truly preferred one over the other. Very hard on youtube.

One last thought...I've got three Les Pauls with Custom Buckers and they all sound a bit different. Some have more clarity than others. The resistance on each set is somewhat different. I've been collecting data on the pickups used in various Collector's Choice LPs and you can see that Gibson was apparently trying different things with different models (most of which used Custom Buckers)--presumably, attempting to "model" the pickups in the guitar they were replicating. So...it appears to me based on this evidence that not all Custom Buckers are created equal.

Anyway, thanks for your effort.
Definitely can't please everyone! ;)

It's a fine line, making a comparison not completely boring to 90% of the viewers while still being informative is a difficult task. I think I walked it pretty well, but happy to take your 2 cents into consideration for the next time.

To me all of the pickups had their moments and I could easily record a fine Les Paul guitar song with any of them. The one thing I noticed was a lot of low mid in the Wizz pickups that would maybe transfer to punch on bright amps or mud on a dark amp. I think the one I heard the most cool tones from was the Doyle Coils but that's splitting hairs. Good job! I like that it wasn't just a bunch of blues licks, as I'm more of a song oriented rock guy.
Thanks!

I also edited the demo's I shot for each pickup individually without any of the cuts which gives a better more holistic view of the pickups tonality when combined with the side by side comparisons in the full video posted in my original post.


 

yeatzee

Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2016
Messages
66



The conclusion to my 5 pickup comparison video is finally up. I go into my thoughts on the stock custombuckers, Wizz premium clone pafs, Doyle Coils Tru-clones pafs, and ReWind Electric t-tops as the player, offering some additional perspective on things that didn't necessarily come across in the video. For those that followed along thank you! I'm already itching to do a pt2 with my es345 so comment below what sets you think I should try in that video. So far I'm hoping to get a different set from rewind, and something from lollar.
 
Last edited:

CK6

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 5, 2020
Messages
449



The conclusion to my 5 pickup comparison video is finally up. I go into my thoughts on the stock custombuckers, Wizz premium clone pafs, Doyle Coils Tru-clones pafs, and ReWind Electric t-tops as the player, offering some additional perspective on things that didn't necessarily come across in the video. For those that followed along thank you! I'm already itching to do a pt2 with my es345 so comment below what sets you think I should try in that video. So far I'm hoping to get a different set from rewind, and something from lollar.

Cool comparison! I have the Wizz in my CC13 and the sound really cool. Cheers
 

Sol

Active member
Joined
Oct 26, 2001
Messages
775
I was surprised to find the Rewind T Tops standing out so well. A great clean sound, and excellent definition under high gain. That amounts to a Versatile pickup option.
Nothing here I didn't like, and also surprised at Gibson's Custombuckers.
 

EXPLRGAB

Active member
Joined
Jul 4, 2020
Messages
108
Wildwood Spec....2019 Gibson Custom Shop Les Paul, R8 Custombuckers ON MY BRAND LES PAUL, PURCHASED IN JULY 2020 ARE UNPOTTED. They sound great thru Boogie Mark IV; Vibrolux; Clark Piedmont. I am not chasing a tone....very satisfied with the R8 with CBs. it is an inspiring and spectacular instrument. The CBs have a definite nasal honk quality and tone. The kind of esoteria ones reads about describing the various desirable characteristics of underwound...nasal sounding...woody perhaps..... PAF style humbuckers. How close to replicating a PAF.....?... I cannot speak to that.
 
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