Pickup recommendations for my Agile

[Eric]

Hello good people-

As much as I like my Agile AL-3100, I've been considering a pickup swap, mostly just for kicks. I'm not dissatisfied with the tone of it, but I'm curious what it would sound like with different pickups.

I'm considering a few different options. I've never had P90s and wouldn't mind trying some out, but I have no idea whether I'd like them or not. Other safer options would include some typical humbuckers; people generally seem to be happy with DiMarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs.

I've tried EMGs once before and couldn't really wrap my head around them, but they're another option.

So...what do you think?

WARNING: just because I come to a conclusion on what I would like doesn't mean I'll actually do it. I'll have to think about whether I want to spend the money for a while first.

 

[NWBasser]

I think it would be good to have some sort of tone goal in mind. For example, you might want a sound similar to Jimmy Page's Les Paul which leads to <insert brand> pickup.

Without some idea of a tone direction, you may be chasing your tail so to speak.

 

[Eric]

Fair point. Let's start with Noel Gallagher.

Other tones would be stuff from AC/DC, Led Zep, GNR, Collective Soul (yeah, I know...), Alice in Chains, maybe some King's X and Phish.

 

[kidsmoke]

Trey loves him some '59's in his Languedoc guitars. So does Harper. Any of the SD style pups in the bridge would give you that Slash style tone for leads. I had a JB in the bridge of a 335 style that was awesome, much fuller than the Custom Custom in the bridge of my Idol.

The good Revered made the comment in another thread recently that any good PAF style p'up can do the metal thing, letting the pedals and the amp finish the job, and he's a confirmed metal head. I don't care for that glassy high gain stuff, for those reasons, the EMG active stuff would be out for me.

Duncan p'ups are solid, and "cheap". I'd think they do well in the Agile.

Wait....don't you have duncans in your Godin LG??

 

[Eric]

Wait....don't you have duncans in your Godin LG??

Yeah, Jazz and Custom Custom. I like them all right, but it's a different guitar altogether than a Les Paul, so it's hard to compare apples to apples.

I'm heavily leaning toward the DiMarzio 36th if I get humbuckers, but I thought it would be worth it to see what others thought.

It's weird when it comes to tone. I would hardly call myself a tone snob -- I'm happy with lots of tones...as long as they don't suck. I highly doubt I could tell the difference between a WCR or Lollar pickup and something like a stock import pickup unless I really tried.

Maybe that means I should just leave them as is.

 

[Commodore 64]

I'm leaning towards the actual guitar not making much difference in tone. Maybe that's blasphemy. I dunno. But with that said, I'd go with some P90s. I like P-90s quite bit. I've only really played these stock P90s that came in my Samick jazzmaster, but I did relocate them into an Epi Strat. I love the tone of them with a little bit of dirt.

Oh yeah. I also have a P-100 in that SX tele you traded me. I like that too.

 

[Eric]

I'm leaning towards the actual guitar not making much difference in tone. Maybe that's blasphemy. I dunno. But with that said, I'd go with some P90s. I like P-90s quite bit. I've only really played these stock P90s that came in my Samick jazzmaster, but I did relocate them into an Epi Strat. I love the tone of them with a little bit of dirt.

Yeah? Hmm...maybe the smart money is on sitting tight for the time being and maybe putting some P90s in a future guitar or something. I'm very curious about them.

 

[oldguy]

I bought my AL-3100 (used) with WCR's already installed. I bought my AS-1000 w/ the stock pickups, new. I believe the amph and the way you play has a lot to do with tone.
I'm sure the WCR's are great pickups, but in all honesty I can get just as good a sound out of the stock pickups in the AS-1000. I change the amph settings a bit, but the balanced sound (not too bassy or tinny/shrill) can be had from either guitar. Maybe I'm getting tone-deaf with old age, but that's my two cents worth.

 

[Eric]

I bought my AL-3100 (used) with WCR's already installed. I bought my AS-1000 w/ the stock pickups, new. I believe the amph and the way you play has a lot to do with tone.
I'm sure the WCR's are great pickups, but in all honesty I can get just as good a sound out of the stock pickups in the AS-1000. I change the amph settings a bit, but the balanced sound (not too bassy or tinny/shrill) can be had from either guitar. Maybe I'm getting tone-deaf with old age, but that's my two cents worth.

Aren't WCRs like $300+ pickups?

I just finished playing a bit with the AL-3100, and I'm not really dissatisfied with the tone. I'm generally more of a ballpark person when it comes to tone; pickup swaps to me are probably more about keeping up with current style than anything else, if I'm to be perfectly honest.

I think I'll probably keep them in there for the forseeable future, but I'd still like to know what people think, for future considerations.

 

[marnold]

My $0.02 as someone who has been there, done that, is to say that unless you have some specific, compelling reason to change, don't. Having said that, I've heard nothing but good things about those Dimarzios. It seems like it would be a very flexible pickup.

I'm just really glad I like my JB and Jazz so I don't have to wrestle with this. Pickup choosing has to be the single biggest PITA in guitar geekery. You can get advice and listen to clips, but how will those pups sound in my guitar through my amph? The only way to know for sure is to try. Thankfully both SD and Dimarzio (and probably others) have very liberal return policies, as long as you are exchanging them for a different pup from the same manufacturer.

 

[FrankenFretter]

I say P90 in the neck, and an alnico II or IV humbucker in the bridge, maybe with a coil split push/pull pot. Good tone variety with that setup.

 

[otaypanky]

Aren't WCRs like $300+ pickups?

I just finished playing a bit with the AL-3100, and I'm not really dissatisfied with the tone. I'm generally more of a ballpark person when it comes to tone; pickup swaps to me are probably more about keeping up with current style than anything else, if I'm to be perfectly honest.

I think I'll probably keep them in there for the forseeable future, but I'd still like to know what people think, for future considerations.

I swapped Jim a couple of straps for a set of his American Steel pickups. I got one of his wiring kits too. The pups alone were over $400 and a wiring kit is $90.
No question, they sounded great and turned a Les Paul that felt great but didn't 'do it' tone wise for me into one of my favorite guitars. About a year later I was reading a thread somewhere and the guy was raving about how great his stock Gibson pickups sounded. Just for fun I put the stock pups back in for a listen, but I left the WCR wiring kit in. WoW! That's when I learned how much of a difference the caps and pots can make, the stock pups did sound great. If I had done the wiring kit in the first place I would never have felt the need to replace the pickups.

 

[Duffy]

Pups

I really like the sound of the pickups in my 3100. I don't plan on changing them.

I have some Seymour Duncans in two Epi LP's. I like the covered JB bridge and 59 neck the best that I put in my Plus Top Standard. My LP Standard has the uncovered "hot rodded" set of the JB bridge and Jazz neck, and I think the 59 sounds a lot more clear and articulate than the Jazz neck pickup. I like the JB/59 covered combination so much that I had a set put into my Schecter C-1 electric/acoustic hybrid stereo guitar along with new pots. In these guitars the SD pickups made a definite improvement in sound, as perceived by me, but they didn't sound as good as the 3100 pickups do to begin with.

So, I would not mess with mine because I really like the stock pickups.

You have to do what you want to do, when you want to, needless to say.

I have two guitars with P90s in them. My observation is that the P90s have a definitely special sound that is great for me for "some things". I don't find them to be the almost universally great pickups that full sized humbuckers are, with their very pleasing full and powerful sound. My P90s will twang or roar depending on how you use them and your amp, but they are very NOISY, except the one that noise cancells in the middle switch position. But still, I think they are sound good for "some" things, but not for all. In fact, I would like to try some really good Lollar P90s in one of my P90 guitars. I would expect that these would sound better, but I'm not sure that they would be good for everything.

I would suggest getting a completely new or used P90 guitar that you find at a great deal and see if you like the sound, preserving the Agile.

I'd say the stock pups in mine are very much like the SD pickups in my upgraded guitars.

I have the Rockfield widefield direct mount pups in my Michael Kelly Custom Patriot that sound different but great. I don't think they have as great a sound as the SD's in my other guitars or the Gibson 57's in my Tribute Epi LP.

It is a definitely subjective type of thing though. What is pleasant sounding to one person's ear may be quite different than what another thinks.

I like the warm sound of the stock pickups in the 3100 and don't want to mess up a good thing. I'd hate to wind up with a real brittle sounding, super hot guitar. But then again, someone else might want more bite.

I voted for leaving it alone and getting some great SD or other pickups for a guitar that doesn't sound that great to you. I'm sure you'll get one of them someday. Or even buy a "project" guitar.

I've also noticed that, to me, there is often a big and very noticeable difference between cheap import pickups and real good SD's or other great pickups. I also have experienced that P90's have a sound of their own that you will probably notice immediately if the guitar sound isn't drownded out by effects or lots of gain. Your amp might have a built in noise suppressor though, and that would really help with any noisy pickup like a P90.

 

[Eric]

Thanks Duffy. Very useful info in there, particularly the bit about the applicability of P90s.

I'm sure I'll get a chance to try P90s in the future; I just don't know when.

 

[Duffy]

Yeah Eric. No rush necessary. Especially since I think I saw you mention a couple time that you have not been "burning" to get a strat or tele with noisy single coils. I really like strats and tele's myself, but they don't have that full, driven humbucker sound. My P90's are probably as noisy as my noisiest tele, or noisier. It is something that some people ignore, and some people even really like the noise, so much so that on the Line six HD five hundred they even have sixty cycle and European frequency hum effects available to be turned on for those who want that sound - which is kind of beyond me why anyone would "want" to inject sixty cycle hum into their sound. Maybe for feedback at high volume or something I don't know about. Then, there are those extremely serious affectionados.

I'm wondering how great those Godin's sound. I have a Seagull with a solid spruce top and quilted maple back and sides that is my best sounding acoustic, so much so that I'm thinking of selling my other ones. It has a full, rich tone. The other two sound really bright compared to the Seagull, even though one is a Samick Jumbo. Is this because I have light gauge strings on the Seagull?

 

[wingsdad]

... I think I'll probably keep them in there for the forseeable future, but I'd still like to know what people think, for future considerations.

That's how I cast my vote, amigo... you're OK with the guitar the way it is, so swapping pups for swapping's sake is just a matter of satisying curiousity that would only drain a chunk of cash better served by stuffing it in a jar labeled "P-90 Guitar That Suits My Tastes and Fills A Void". To that potential end, IMHO, from what I've perceived, you might research a single-cut smaller-bodied thin hollow or semi-hollow dual P-90 axe in your price range....something like an Epi Wildkat comes to mind as a candidate, since it would also give you a Bigsby to fart around with, although I'm not too sure that twist interests you...

 

[Childbride]

i like P90's... but then sound, like taste, is very personal.

 

[street music]

I have a few pickups laying around that I would gladly let them have another home and maybe a pair of 90s in them.

 

[deeaa]

I'd test p90s...they rock in lp styles....because you haven't dug actives much, passives probably work better for your setup...and no sense putting a 59 or a beck or whatever in, as the change will be very small if any really...and I think you have normal bucker axe already? Yeah Id try the p90s. Easy to rever back too, and sell if not good...BUT they do have a great rock sound of their own.

 

[Eric]

I'd test p90s...they rock in lp styles....because you haven't dug actives much, passives probably work better for your setup...and no sense putting a 59 or a beck or whatever in, as the change will be very small if any really...and I think you have normal bucker axe already? Yeah Id try the p90s. Easy to rever back too, and sell if not good...BUT they do have a great rock sound of their own.

I'd like to try actives again one of these days on a guitar with more than just a single volume pot. I feel like I didn't really give them a fair shake. Good input, anyway.

I just realized that for all of the non-P90 options, I didn't really specify humbucker, though that's what I was assuming.