FIND the PAF... the Poll. RESULTS ARE IN

[Classic]

I remember listening to the sound clips when they were first posted. Amazing effort and great playing by Roadrunner.

Also the pink elephant in the room that not many have addressed is how absolutely SIMILAR these pickups sound, and what subtle, if not infinitesimal, differences there are between all of these pickups. I know some will say that they have the discerning ear to be able to pick out obvious differences, but I suspect that many, if not most, are more struck by the incredible overall similarity. In many ways I was surprised to actually prefer the Burstbucker at times.

I think this thread ought to prove that instead of wringing our hands with interminable obsession over which "holy grail" pickups to put into our guitars, we should realize that all of the above offerings sound good enough to sound fantastic, if our playing (and perhaps amp) is up to it! Yes even the much criticized Burstbuckers

Again, I agree that we should realise just how good some of the PAF clones out there are, I'm also interested to find out just how close some of the other are, too. I have the Dr V's I have the Legends and I have a set of DT-102's on the way so I know (or will know) how good they sound but it's more about how good they sound in direct comparison to original PAF's.

 

[In The Light]

Great thread, RoadRunner - well done! And, well said: "pick your flavor of the month and rock out". They all sound great in their own ways and not a single one is clearly better than the other.

Goes to show how much PAF, etc tone myths get perpetuated. I've said this many times: put ANY guitar/pickup into the hands of a truly great player, and you will likely be asking "what gear is he using!?". And conversely, put the greatest vintage gear into the hands of an uninspiring player, and Tone will not stand out or leave you asking anything...

 

[roadrunner]

Great thread, RoadRunner - well done! And, well said: "pick your flavor of the month and rock out". They all sound great in their own ways and not a single one is clearly better than the other.

Goes to show how much PAF, etc tone myths get perpetuated. I've said this many times: put ANY guitar/pickup into the hands of a truly great player, and you will likely be asking "what gear is he using!?". And conversely, put the greatest vintage gear into the hands of an uninspiring player, and Tone will not stand out or leave you asking anything...

Funny to see this old thread pop up!:lol Thanks I.T.L....


What with all the new PAF types of pickups out there... might be time for another shootout?

 

[korus]

Unfortunately only PAF clip is still up, but this one is even better:
http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121619&highlight=true

If you ever find some more will & time for another one please make it more this way - no one would elaborate how similar these 3 sound like - by playing them without backing track.

And if you still have Dr.V and True60 clips, please re-up them - it is IMO both better tone and better playing and serves it's purpose better so more people that are new to this thread can learn a thing or two.

Thank you very much for making first competent A/B/C with proper PAFs that I'm aware of and helping many of us to learn why PAFs are so ... you know what. Hopefully some Throbaks, Skatterbranes, Sheptones ... or some others will move you to this ... again.

 

[Dino_k]

What with all the new PAF types of pickups out there... might be time for another shootout?

+1

Would love to see the different Throbaks in a side by side with some of the other PAF-types in a comparison!

 

[Guitar Whiskey]

How about throwing in a set of JM Rolph too?

 

[Skydog1]

I know this is dragging up an old thread, I got linked to it by another thread.
Anyway, I want to thank RoadRunner for all the effort you put into that. That really was enlightening. :jim

 

[Overdriver]

Yes. Great work! But to most people on here real PAFs are the Holy Grail. Even if they can't tell which one it is!:salude

 

[kingsxman]

Great thread. Just found it. I am amazed at how good all of these pickups sounded. Thank you very much for doing this RR. Took lots of time I'm sure.

I'd love to hear another done with Sheptones. I have Sheptone tributes in my 81 Les Paul and think they're great. I'm curious as to how they'd compare to the real thing or these others.

Dragging up an old thread I know...

 

[roadrunner]

Well... thanks again everyone, lol!:hee

Yeah, the Sheptones and definitely Rolphs needed to be included. I just got the R8, that I did these clips with, back after selling it by mistake a couple of years ago. It's got some Rolphs in it now and they're mighty impressive. I'll have to do a little shootout between the Rolphs and some ThroBaks that I have laying around here.
I'll line up some Sheptones as well. I'm sure there's a few more new(er)pickups that would be fun to compare as well.

I'll get back on it...

 

[Overdriver]

Well... thanks again everyone, lol!:hee

Yeah, the Sheptones and definitely Rolphs needed to be included. I just got the R8, that I did these clips with, back after selling it by mistake a couple of years ago. It's got some Rolphs in it now and they're mighty impressive. I'll have to do a little shootout between the Rolphs and some ThroBaks that I have laying around here.
I'll line up some Sheptones as well. I'm sure there's a few more new(er)pickups that would be fun to compare as well.

I'll get back on it...

Those are the three pickups that most interest me. I know that Tokai use Rolphs in their top-of-the-line model and they know a thing or two about Les Pauls.....so I look forward to the challenge of picking out (or failing to pick out) the real PAFs.:salude