Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates vs Gibson 498T in a Les Paul Studio
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 พ.ย. 2024
- Swapped the stock 498T in my 2006 Gibson LP for a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates. I recorded DIs and reamped them using my helix using identical patches and no post processing. What do you think? Worth the swap?
For me, this swap has breathed new life into an axe I had rarely touched in the past few years. The gain is smoother, the mids are less boxy, the bass is less boomy and all around clarity makes it a joy to play. The guitar sounds more like a LP than ever!
2006 Gibson LP w/Pearly Gates - Helix LT
#gibson #seymourduncan #pearlygates #zztop #lespaul #pickupswap #guitar
They both sound great .. you could EQ them a little differently and you'd never notice the difference
I agree but I here dramatic difference, both are perfectly fine. The SD wins by a few key frequencies and output but as you said, set up your amps and pedals adjust pole pieces. Find that sweetspot with your rig and I dont think anybody would notice much. Only tone snobs would hear it, and they would be right but nobody else in the crowd would care. The 490’s just have a basic generic Gibson tone thats just, ok, get the job done. The SDs have just a bit more of the good stuff and less of the bad, and a hint more interesting to my ears and seem higher output, more of that mid hump classic PAF hard to explain. In fact I ordered some but, I might send them back if I can dial in the 490’s. If it sounds good. It is good. And if I can get the tone out of the 490’s why waste the money on an upgrade thats not needed.
If I had these two sets of pickups sitting in front of me, and a Les Paul Studio without pickups, I'd definitely go for the Pearly Gates, but mainly these pickup comparisons go to show that pickup swaps are mostly for when you have a set of pickups that sounds bad. These pickups are a knob twist away from each other and they're not even considered to be very similar.
Pearly Gates are Alnico 2 PAFs and sound better to my ear. Much more clarity and better string separation. I think the 498T's Alnico 5 magnets sounds dark and muddy. I'd say it's worth the swap.
The little 'why georgia' made me smile ;), great vid the pickups both sound great the pearly gates is just more detailed probably due to lower output.
I think the 498 is a great pickup, but when listening to them side-by-side there was more clarity in the Pearly Gate.
498T a piece of art
I didn't hear a big enough difference between the 2. The SD is definitely tighter, but the 498T sounds a little darker to my ears. Both great pickups you can't go wrong with either.
I don't know how this was recorded, but the difference always seems more dramatic when your playing in real life.
Agree with both. My SG with 490s does bug me at times because I know I prefer 57s, yet after messing with pup height and pole pieces I likely couldn’t tell the difference in a blind test.
Then my Slash SDs sound brittle clean, but play the November Rain solo and they’ll blow you away. So no pickup is perfect for everything.
I honestly don't think I've ever heard such a clear difference in any pick up shoot out I've ever heard. Those P.G sounds amazing and there 498T sound pretty bad, it could be that the pickups are suited to his playing their more responsive to what he's playing or how he plays inturn making his playing better IDK but man it's a huge difference.
im with you ben her
pg sounds very open and rich. I like that. sort of a tube screamer or a cocked wah kind of focus which I like. very articulate and clear. 498 sounds like pg with a blanket, some may like it
Pearly gates, less muffle
Cool “. I just put a set in my pine caster tele build . Like them a lot . Bought a open box special from reverb for 60 bucks .
Yes more character to the PG's!
Thanks for this. Good n clear reference
The pearly gates sound tighter and more defined
I have a stock 01 L.P Classic with this and the 500T and I will be changing them to BFG Bangers from Cream T or a set of SD pearly gates. Still on the fence. 498T is darker sounding, which this demonstrated to me .
@@glenh2752 agreed. I had the 500T in the bridge, and it measured 16k resistance. (too much) I returned the pearly gates because i realized the pickups i had in a box which came from a 1986 Pre Re issue R9 that was stolen were Tim Shaw made pickups, which people were replacing back in the day not realizing what they were throwing out. Mine sat in a box for 20 years, and the guy who i bought the guitar off included those originals but had put in classic 57's. I had no idea what i had until last week.
@@robotp5543 ha great story, so good when things turn out that way. I’m sticking with my pearly gates for now, they’re so sweet especially when you roll off the volume.
498 sounds like a tone pot rolled off. or a player with a weaker attack
My Fender Strat has Pearl Gates, which I love. But I'm eyeing a Les Paul with 498T. To me, neither is better. They're both great in their own way.
Great content!
It's not worth the swap in my opinion. I think gibson make great pickups and it puzzles me why people swap them.
It depends on what you swap them for, if you go for Seymour Duncan you won’t see much of a quality or sound improvement, unless you go custom shop which is a bit better.... if you swap Gibson’s go for Ox4, throbak, Wix, Doyle Coils, or something along that line, then you will hear a night and day difference.
Can't you hear the difference?
the difference is staggering here. use your ears
because pearly gates are clearly better sounding. just read the comments. the sound difference is like night and day
I'm not a fan of the 498T. Tried them in two guitars, and wasn't impressed. Gibson has a few good pickups though.
I've recently gone through a similar swap on my 96 Les Paul. Standard. 498T/490R's swapped out for Lollar Imperials. The 498T's are way too hot and unfocussed... the Imperials do a similar job to your PGs. Great comparison.
Where was the spacy music at the beginning?
Almost identical in sound. Everyone posting how one “sounds so dramatically different” than the other is full of stuffing. Guarantee you wouldn’t be able to tell one from the other live. 💯
I didn’t notice much difference. Would not hear any difference in a mix, especially after an audio engineer has done their magic in the studio.
I own a 2002 Studio Premium Plus with a seriously sweet flamed maple top. And I really do not like the 490/498 pickups. Especially the bridge pickup, it's so raw and ear splitting. I'm definitely going to replace them!
Opinions are like a**holes , everyones got one... they both sound great ! surprised the 498t sounds almost like & almost as good as the PG..
Agreed!
In real life, the 98's sound FULL, deep and LOUD. The PG's are very articulate, and sound great, but don't have the same "WOW" fullness. C add 9 with PG's sound unbelievable, the Gibson's don't like that chord.
Well worth it imho
One of each in the same guitar.
Isn’t a 498t 16k output and a pearly gates is only 8.2?
burstbucker pro or 61 zebra sound great
498t is better 😍
I agree with you with all my heart \o/
Duncan Custom blows both away
Not worth the swap......498T sounds better
Pearly gates more stable
to me 498t and especially alnico 5 all day long - even better yet go with no pickup cover
good video. imo, It sounds Gibson is more vintage
Gibson is better as usually always
PEARLY GATES
Pearly has more clarity
The 498T have a lot of caracter, like raw power/ hot rodded PAF. Not the taste of eveyone, clearly, not versatile, very acid pickup-up. I don't find the PG really convincing. Would try a 57 or a 490 instead
Two VERY DIFFERENT humbuckers. A Pearly Gates bridge pickup has an Alnico 2 magnet, while a 498T has an Alnico 5 magnet. The output of a 498T is about 14K while the Pearly Gates has just a bit over 8K. Comparing them and saying one is better than the other is just stupid and lazy. It's clear that the PG will sound less "muddy" and with more clarity, just because its output is quite lower. The 498T is a pickup for pure power, although it can be split/tapped to deliver clearer tones.
Me quedo con la gibson suena mejor con el overdrive
Not worth the swap based on what I hear IMO.
lmao they sound the same
Magnets and wire no magic just major BS
No difference...
As usual gibsons sound trash
Tesla's Frank Hannon plays all stock Gibson pickups. He is a great player.