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Are the burstbuckers better than pearly gates?


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Patience, Grasshopper. The likely hood of someone in this particular forum having done a side by side comparison of a particular set of pickups in a particular guitar for a particular style of music and replying within an hour and a half of your original post is not good.

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Tough call, but since I have Les Pauls with each of those pups in them I guess I should give it a shot... First I have to say that I like both quite a bit. However, here's what I notice about each...

 

The Duncan Pearly Gates are a great classic rock pickup. I love them. There is a slightly increased mid-range response over a standard PAF pup, and this is even more noticeable in comparison to the BB Pros in my other LP. I have used the Duncan '59 quite a bit also, and I like the extra mids in the Pearlys better. Gain wise they are similar to most PAF type pickups.

 

The BurstBucker Pros in my other LP have noticeably less mid-range than the Pearlys. They are smooth, but have a bit more treble bite. Initially, I didn't like them and preferred the other guitar with the Pearlys, but they have really grown on me over time.

 

The verdict... (sort of)... generally I grab the LP with the Pearly Gates pups for a rock sound and the LP with the BurstBucker Pros for a purer blues tone, but they both sound great on almost anything. I have vids of each guitar here - the gold top has the Pearlys and the faded has the Burst Bucker Pros. However, I used different guitars with different amps on different songs, so there is no direct comparison - sorry.

 

Hope that is helpful. Hit me back if I can be more illustrative.

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Patience' date=' Grasshopper. The likely hood of someone in this particular forum having done a side by side comparison of a particular set of pickups in a particular guitar for a particular style of music and replying within an hour and a half of your original post is not good.

[/quote']

 

fair point!

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i had a jb and 1959 in a special i had and they seem alot tamer, less treble, but also less overdrive..they seem to have a flat response compared to any gibson pickup i tried..

 

What i like about the BB is you can tame them down by lowering them down a bit and balancing the two pickups, then use the volumes to trim.......peace

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  • 11 years later...
19 hours ago, GerryB30 said:

Hey Guys, 

I have a Les Paul standard with the burstbucker 61r and t in it. I'm a big Billy Gibbons fan and also Slash, Angus etc. Would the Pearly Gates be a better choice for me? Thanks

 

Unless you're unhappy with your sound & have tried all the other options (pickup height / EQ / VOL / amp / pick / compression etc.) stick with the BB 

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 I think one of the problems is there are so many variables regarding the type of guitar, the type of amp , and even the type of cord that you use .

 

I think the burst bucker’s can get really brittle. They have a lot of treble.  The big question is are you able to tone down the treble and still get good base  tones  ? There is a sweet spot but sometimes evasive.

The Seymour Duncan pick ups as I said years ago seem to have a flatter response but the overdrive much better at loud volumes  with little to no brittleness .  But you are not getting that brown Gibson texture In sound.

My pick would be the 57 classic pick ups from Gibson because they seem to do more things better .  

I can get acoustic sounds out of my 339 with my Fender blues Junior 4 at most any volume.

 I can turn up the amp overdrive and just get that slightly over driven Brown Gibson tone really nice  .

 And I can also plug in a stamp box and make those pick ups roar  and I can  control the pick ups And not get brittleness or over saturation . 

 

 The Gibson 57 pick ups have gotten expensive but I think they’re worth every cent .

 

cheers

 

Edited by tom brown
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  • 2 weeks later...

The Pearly Gates set is tough to beat.  Even the gold covered ones are only $120  each compared to the Gibson.  For the neck, the PG is my favorite, and I've been through a few neck pu's.  The treble in the bridge pu is easily managed by the tone knob.  I have a set of 57=57+ from early 2000's that are quire nice as well.  I have a friend with BB in his but that is my only exposure.

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