Tober Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 hi, I have a SG menace. It's a really cool guitar and very comfortable to play while sitting. I use it mainly for learning new songs. The only issue I have with it is the pickups. There the 490R and the 498T with the smoke coil covers, It really looks cool. The issue I have is that there isn't enough gain/output from them. I find that I have to really crank the gain on the amp to get it where I want. I play in a Metallica cover band so it's not insaine amounts of gain that I need. I have been reading reviews of the 498T and people have been saying that they are high output pickups and there good for what I need, but when playing the output is not there. I metered them out and got a 13.4 K ohm reading ( while in the guitar, I put the toggle switch in the neck position and took my reading from the volume pot). So the ohms are there. All of my other guitars have ceramic pickups in them. I guess there is a huge difference in the magnets. I'm thinking I want to swap them out and put a ceramic pickup in, but I love the look of the smoky covers. Does anyone know if they can be taken off and put on another pickup? Or can I swap out the magnets? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merciful-evans Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Have you tried adjusting the pickup height? What you have measured should provide plenty of output. As for the covers I feel sure you could use the covers on a similar pickup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. C.O. Jones Posted April 22, 2016 Share Posted April 22, 2016 Hello. Well Evans had a great idea, pickup height adjustement could help a lot. Personally I wouldn't mess with those pickups they are pretty unique, as is your guitar. And a good pedal could be a better solution than a pickup/magnet swap, and you could keep the guitar in stock condition. What amp are you using? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tober Posted April 22, 2016 Author Share Posted April 22, 2016 It's adjusted to spec, the amps I'm using are a Carvin v3, Mesa boogie DC5 and a line 6 XT pro. All my other guitars have the ceramic type pickups. Switching the magnet is cheaper than new PU. Plus I still keep the look. Going to try it, if it doesn't work out I can always put in the old magnet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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