496 r and 500t

im a day away from getting the gibson 496r and 500t off a friend and them put into my gibson sg.im getting second taughts though thinking that they are going to be to high gain for classic rock.or even to play clean or blues.my other option is to pay and get two seymour duncan alnico pro II.what do ye guys reckon.

Will your friend allow you to try them out and then return them if they aren't what you're looking for?

no man he wont.hes giving them to me for 50 euro for they both and they have never been played with when he baught he's guitar a gibson explorer he bought an emg 81 and 85 and they installed them before he left the shop so there brand new.i never have played the seymour duncans either but i heard clips and to me sound great.

The 496 r and 500t will be fine in your SG, they won't be to much gain at all. I have had those pickups in older LesPauls I have owned and they served me well. The '57s are still my favorite Gibson pickup with the VM.

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I am sure the Gibson pickups will ork fine. If you have the money go for the Alnico II. They are my favorite pickup period. They even make a couple of cheaper ESP/LTD guitars I have sound great. They are lower output. I can tell the difference compared to when I used a P-rail or a JB into my Vintage modern. I could definately notice the lower output. They sound fantastic though. They are very musical and warm sounding. Plugged into a Vintage Modern they still have balls though. They are what Slash uses consistently. He stated, " I let the gain come from my amp not the pickup " In other words plug some nice tone into your amp and if you want more edge just turn the pre or the power amp up. I used these almost 20 years ago and have tried much since then and finally back to the alnico II's straight into a Marshall. If you go to the Seymour Duncan website you can see how they relate and differ from other models. Tone is subjective and there are no guarentees, but I really like them. They also work well on my fender reissue Super Reverb for real clean sounds. That amp starts to breakup real early when using higher output humbuckers, but with the Alnico II"s I Have a little more headroom with real nice clean tones. The Alnico II's are 4 conector if you want to coil tap them for sigle coil tone also. They will not sound like a perfect single coil but it gives more options, all you need is 2 push/pull pots and you canfind the wiring diagrams by googling --guitar wiring diagrams---you can also get 4 push pull pots and do the Jimmy Page full wiring mod. I had that on a JP Les Paul Copy by Edwards/ESP, that was cool. Good Luck!

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I just removed my 500T and 496 R pickups from my Les Paul and replaced them with Lollar Imperials. The Lollars are much clearer, smoother, more open and brighter, I can finally play blues withour too much distortion. If you into hi gain, the 500T and 496r are ok but to my ears (and my band mates) they are one trick ponies. Just IMHO.
Smile

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Thank ye all for yere input.i also heard else where that 496r and 500t are one trick ponys so i say i will go with either 57's or alnico ll's.which can give me an all round greater sound and still play with hign gain if i choose.

I think you will be happier with either of those, both great pickups.

I used to have the 496R and 500T in my LP classic. They were great for lead and solos on the higher gain side but that was about it it. I didnt like how they would not clean up at all if you rolled back the guitar volume. When I rolled back on the volume I would just lose clarity and have mud. They are pretty good pickups for zeppelin and they can scream, but I think the 57s are the best all around. The burstbucker pros are great as well. I think the 57s sound better than the alnic IIs imo. Good luck, also check out WB pickups, I heard they are stellar if you have the money to spen.

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so i decided today i was going to go for the alnico pro ll's instead seen as i have the money to spend on them.so i go into the shop to buy them and they have two pick up's left in stock so when i say is one a bridge and one a neck he say's there universal pickup's they can be fitted in both position's.is this guy right or is he just trying to flock them off to me.as i taught there would need to be a seperate neck and bridge pup over the output.

Some pickups are position specific, but the Alnico IIs are the same for both. Checked SDs website to be sure I was right.

But i have seen them on sale on online store's sold as two seperate pickup's a neck and bridge and some place's even charge different price's.

Here's the link to the Duncan info:

http://www.seymourduncan.com/products/electric/humbucker/vintage/aph1_alnico_ii/

The "trembucker" is position specific since it has special spacing for Strat style guitars or guitars equiped with tremolos but you wouldn't want this for a Les Paul or similar.