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Doyle Coils TRUE CLONE PAF pickups...Opinions


Grayzgrey

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Well, another boutique pickup.

I'd like to see objective reviews and comparisons. Is the guy trying

to get on the boat using the Les Paul name?

Are they any better than Bareknuckles or other high priced

pickups?

ProGuitarShop advertises them - but of course they are in the

business of selling stuff in the first place.

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Well, another boutique pickup.

I'd like to see objective reviews and comparisons. Is the guy trying

to get on the boat using the Les Paul name?

Are they any better than Bareknuckles or other high priced

pickups?

ProGuitarShop advertises them - but of course they are in the

business of selling stuff in the first place.

 

The issue you raise is a real one. Some of these boutique pickups are undoubtedly good (maybe most or even all of them) but how would you know? YouTube vids will help a little but are nothing like actually hearing the things for real through your own guitar and amp.

 

But unless we are very wealthy (or know someone with a set fitted) we can't just purchase a set to try them out. The guitar magazines reviews I simply do not trust at all (not a word they say).

 

For what it is worth I have a set of (four conductor) Bare Knuckle "Mules" fitted to my Yamaha SG2000 and they are very good indeed.

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Thanks to you all! Very good advice...$500 for the whole shebang...even the fancy box. I have to admit all the videos are pretty convincing... even to a sceptic such as myself.

I've been on the fence for a while about an upgrade on my Lp classic. Looking for that beloved 59 tone I've been dreaming of most of guitar playing life.

So many choices... so many options...Un-even wound, slightly under-wound, matched and unmatched pick-ups, orange caps, bumblebee caps, oil filled caps. etc...etc

I do realize even the best possible 50's style wiring and pick-ups for an up-grade on my classic may not give me what i'm looking for it being a 2014 model....

just trying to get closer to the neighborhood is all.

 

Cheers!

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Thanks to you all! Very good advice...$500 for the whole shebang...even the fancy box. I have to admit all the videos are pretty convincing... even to a sceptic such as myself.

I've been on the fence for a while about an upgrade on my Lp classic. Looking for that beloved 59 tone I've been dreaming of most of guitar playing life.

So many choices... so many options...Un-even wound, slightly under-wound, matched and unmatched pick-ups, orange caps, bumblebee caps, oil filled caps. etc...etc

I do realize even the best possible 50's style wiring and pick-ups for an up-grade on my classic may not give me what i'm looking for it being a 2014 model....

just trying to get closer to the neighborhood is all.

 

Cheers!

 

 

Let us know how they work out for you?

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I understand the question.

 

When it comes to "boutique" pickups, the only way to actually know for sure how they sound is personal experience. A substitute for that is hearing from another what their personal experience is.

 

Of corse, the problem with using someone else's experience and opinions is you don't know exactly what they hear, or what is important to them.

 

Even something as simple as a description like "vintage '59" for a pup that is supposed to sound more like a "'59" pup is completely determined by the maker's personal taste. Reading design descriptions only tells you what the designer is shooting for, not what it REALLY sounds like.

 

So...where does that leave us?

 

Personally, the ONLY way to describe a pickup to others is to compare to each other, and describe the differences. If a guy is familiar with one of the pups in the comparism, them he may get an idea what to expect.

 

I say all this because in my personal experience, 9 times out of 10 pups that I have tried sound different than what I expect from the descriptions or the advertising. But there ARE a lot of good aftermarket pups out there.

 

And...lastly, what separates a "good" pup from a fair one can NOT be heard from a recording, in particular over a computer.

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I understand the question.

 

When it comes to "boutique" pickups, the only way to actually know for sure how they sound is personal experience. A substitute for that is hearing from another what their personal experience is.

 

Of corse, the problem with using someone else's experience and opinions is you don't know exactly what they hear, or what is important to them.

 

Even something as simple as a description like "vintage '59" for a pup that is supposed to sound more like a "'59" pup is completely determined by the maker's personal taste. Reading design descriptions only tells you what the designer is shooting for, not what it REALLY sounds like.

 

So...where does that leave us?

 

Personally, the ONLY way to describe a pickup to others is to compare to each other, and describe the differences. If a guy is familiar with one of the pups in the comparism, them he may get an idea what to expect.

 

I say all this because in my personal experience, 9 times out of 10 pups that I have tried sound different than what I expect from the descriptions or the advertising. But there ARE a lot of good aftermarket pups out there.

 

And...lastly, what separates a "good" pup from a fair one can NOT be heard from a recording, in particular over a computer.

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I am convinced that tone has a lot to do with a players touch and technique. The only way to know what a boutique pickup is going to sound like is to play it in a similar or identical model guitar to yours. Listening to a sample on a PC set of speakers to someone else playing it through a different guitar and amp is not going to tell you anything about what it will sound like in your guitar in your hands. You say you're searching for something closer to the '59 LP tone, but fact is even if you had an actual '59 it might not sound like you think it should in your own hands due to your style/touch of playing compared to the guys you've heard play real '59s.

 

I'm not saying your search for "the tone" should be abandoned - we all do it. But $500 is an expensive experiment. Not sure what PUPs are in our LP now - probably 490s or Burstbucker type. A set of 57 classics will be less expensive and probably bring you closer to what you're looking for. The best situation would be to go to one of the big box retailers (Sam Ash, Guitar Center) and play a bunch of differnt LPs with different PUPs through your brand of amp and see which one comes closest to the tone you're looking for and then go with those PUPs. Probably not going to find one with these Doyle clones there however. [unsure]

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Look, P90's respond VERY WELL to tweaking of the height screws and pole pieces...a little adjustment can make a big difference in how they sound.

 

Before spending big bucks on pickups that might not be what you want anyway, spend some time with your guitar and amp and a screw driver. Forget about the suggested height and start with which ever pup you use most and adjust it till it sounds like you want, then get the other pup - if there is one - to sound similar. Might take an hour or two, but that's a good rate of return.

 

Humbuckers also respond well to this, but IMO P90's are the champs.

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The issue you raise is a real one. Some of these boutique pickups are undoubtedly good (maybe most or even all of them) but how would you know? YouTube vids will help a little but are nothing like actually hearing the things for real through your own guitar and amp.

 

But unless we are very wealthy (or know someone with a set fitted) we can't just purchase a set to try them out. The guitar magazines reviews I simply do not trust at all (not a word they say).

 

For what it is worth I have a set of (four conductor) Bare Knuckle "Mules" fitted to my Yamaha SG2000 and they are very good indeed.

The best way to demonstrate differences in guitar sounds, I think, would be to send the raw signal into the computer with minimal or no gain, which allows the end user to jack the signal into their preferred amp under whatever settings they choose. The audio would need to be at least 44KHz, 24 bit, I would think, to minimize noise and provide an accurate signal.

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