Gibson Burstbucker Pro pickups...

  • Anyone have these pickups and any opinions on them?


    I have a Les Paul Studio with Burstbucker Pros and have tried to bond with this guitar for years. Since I got the Kemper I feel my ear is more "in tune" to guitar tone and I'm more dissatisfied with these pickups.


    The Neck is okay but no matter what height I set the Bridge Pickup it has a "harsh" sound with Distortion. Clean they sound quite chimey and nice, but I got this guitar to crank it up!


    My "fix" is to ride the tone around 7 but still not what I want.


    Just curious if there are other opinions on these Gibson Pickups and maybe some good replacements. I play early Hard Rock and Metal with this guitar, I was thinking of the 57 Classic Plus in the bridge.

    You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools
    But that's the way I like it baby
    I don't wanna live forever

  • I had them in my Standard and they were ok, but as you described. I changed them out to 57/57+ and never looked back. You can always set your amp hotter. With pickups if they are too harsh you have no wiggle room. I have even used Dimarzio 36th ann on another standard. I find 57's to be a good fit for me. I do still have 36th ann in my PRS Santana.

    "More Guitar in the Monitors" :thumbup:

  • Had them in a Studio as well. If I remember correctly, they had a very narrow finite height that they were useable in. Alnico 5 in Bridge can sometimes get Harsh like you mentioned.


    Some options you could try.


    Check the tone pot, and move to a 300K pot if it's 500K (Can't remember which it is on a studio, stock). That will mellow it out a little, even at 10 on the tone.


    Replace the bridge pup magnets with A2.


    Lower the pup a little and try and reduce harshness you hear, then raise the poles to get volume back.


    Replace the pickup.


    I too, notice the Kemper exposing some tone issues on a few guitars.

  • FWIW, Lots of folks on the Les Paul forum don't like them.

    Yes it's hard to find any positive reviews of Burstbucker Pro's.


    I'll have to find a way to deal with them until I can get the bucks for a replacement. A shame because I do like the sound of Alnico 5 humbuckers, GFS has some that sound pretty good.

    You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools
    But that's the way I like it baby
    I don't wanna live forever

  • I liked them for metal but rock they didn't work well. They're not very clean sounding pickups. @cybermgk do you think alnico 2 would work for metal? I have Slashs Alnico 2 and it's difficult to get a thick tone out of that one for me.

  • I liked them for metal but rock they didn't work well. They're not very clean sounding pickups. @cybermgk do you think alnico 2 would work for metal? I have Slashs Alnico 2 and it's difficult to get a thick tone out of that one for me.

    Not really a metal guy. But, probably not your best choice with this pup. BB Pros are so mid heavy, with not a lot of bottom end, not sure they would ever be good for that scooped mids, tight bottom end metal tone. Perhaps something like A8 magnets in them. But likely just different pups is best. Hair metal, 80s 90s stuff is within it's grasp though.

  • exactly the same happened to me. moving to the KPA and the finese of its sounds at low levels for home use has made me realize burstbuckers pro are not satisfactory pickups. the neck is always too much on the bass and low mids and whatever you do the sounds gets dull. the bridge is even worse and always sounds harsh.


    so I started my journey with pickups. [skipping the boring part]. I decided to get boutique pickups, this quickly became an evidence. I also made the choice of Alnico 2, much sweeter than Alnico 5 which have too much of everything. with the KPA, better use low level output pickups they are very subtle and balanced and are still able to raise the gain or add a booster if you look for something hotter. Alnico 3 is also interesting and maybe more promising but there are less choices. true hystoric gibsons are fitted with alnico 3.


    I ended up with hysteric bar 59' PAF, they are described as the graal to PAF pickups even though I did not try much. they are absolute bliss for blues, blues-rock, rock, or big rock.


    my recommendation is: go for local boutique pickups, there are many more than what we think and if you discuss with them, they can make the perfect set for you


    cheers

  • When I got my 2012 Gibson Les Paul off the Internet I was told it was a Traditional Plus (and the model says LPTD+LHSCH1)


    From the specs I've read it has the 57 Classic and 57 Classic+ which are fantastic sounding.


    And on the Kemper Bluesbreaker (from TAF) I can get authentic Beano tones from it, so, winner for me.


    I read the Standard has Burstbuckers. I have one (Prob Burstbucker I maybe) in my locally made cedar guitar and it's a very hot pickup (i.e. metal) a bit too hot for me. IDK what it would sound like in a Gibson, but if I can replicate classic LP tones I like (Clapton, Angus) with the 57 Classics I don't want anything else.

  • I just realized that my Tweedy SG has Burstbucker 1's in it. I assume they must sound pretty different than the BB pros because they sound great. I also own a few guitars with real PAF's in them and I wind my own pickups too. I've made some Alinico 5's with unbalanced coils like the BBP's and have really liked them, but mine were lower winds with 7.5K DCR's. I wonder what Gibson is doing wrong on these, perhaps they are unbalancing too much, which can make them strident.


    I've been meaning to make a test pickup with true coil taps on one coil (not the coil shunt that often gets called "coil tap"). I would put a 6 way rotary with 5 taps to dial in the amount of imbalance. This thread has gotten me curious again. Maybe it's time to fire up my winder. In. my winding experience, coil balance has more effect on tone than even magnet type (but magnets are very important too of course).

    I hate emojis, but I hate being misunderstood more. :)

  • I just realized that my Tweedy SG has Burstbucker 1's in it. I assume they must sound pretty different than the BB pros because they sound great. I also own a few guitars with real PAF's in them and I wind my own pickups too. I've made some Alinico 5's with unbalanced coils like the BBP's and have really liked them, but mine were lower winds with 7.5K DCR's. I wonder what Gibson is doing wrong on these, perhaps they are unbalancing too much, which can make them strident.


    I've been meaning to make a test pickup with true coil taps on one coil (not the coil shunt that often gets called "coil tap"). I would put a 6 way rotary with 5 taps to dial in the amount of imbalance. This thread has gotten me curious again. Maybe it's time to fire up my winder. In. my winding experience, coil balance has more effect on tone than even magnet type (but magnets are very important too of course).

    BB Pros ARE different than BB 1, BB2 and BB3s.


    All are uneven winds, BB1-3 are A2, and BB Pro is A5. However the BB Pros are wound to give more high mids, less lower mids with more top end sizzle. Meant to be a 'modern' version of the BB 1-3s. BB1 and 2 are more the classic Les Paul tone. fatter, smoother more mid honk, gets a little too loose in the bottom, when super high gain.

  • I had several of them when they came stock with LP's and always exchanged them for something better.
    Too bright and flat sounding for me. They have lot's of highs, especially with 500k controls.
    I do like the regular BB's with A2s better.

  • BB Pros ARE different than BB 1, BB2 and BB3s.
    All are uneven winds, BB1-3 are A2, and BB Pro is A5. However the BB Pros are wound to give more high mids, less lower mids with more top end sizzle. Meant to be a 'modern' version of the BB 1-3s. BB1 and 2 are more the classic Les Paul tone. fatter, smoother more mid honk, gets a little too loose in the bottom, when super high gain.

    Yes, I got that from the Gibson web site. I was speculating about the degree of coil imbalances between the models. It takes more than an A5 to ruin a pickup. My real PAF's are short magnet A5's with most likely some degree of mismatch inherent in the old Leesona winders and they sound great. I also used to own some older PAF's with long magnet A2's that didn't sound as good.

    I hate emojis, but I hate being misunderstood more. :)

  • exactly the same happened to me. moving to the KPA and the finese of its sounds at low levels for home use has made me realize burstbuckers pro are not satisfactory pickups. the neck is always too much on the bass and low mids and whatever you do the sounds gets dull. the bridge is even worse and always sounds harsh.

    Yeah the only acceptable tone to my ears was dropping the pickups real low. I actually like the neck because I usually drop them down all the way and the BBpro has a nice treble tone. The bridge Pup just sounds "fuzzy" when you are palm muting some bass stuff.


    It's hard shopping for Pup's online because I don't get a lot from the sound samples, but the ones that really stuck out to me were the Duncan Seth Lover Alnico 2 bridge and Gibson 57 Classic bridge (also Alnice 2), I think I'll keep the BBpro neck.

    You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools
    But that's the way I like it baby
    I don't wanna live forever

  • there are thousands of PAF replicas out there, many local shops all around the world, I found some great ones here in South France as well while France is not famous for its music gear. they all can make the utmost custom gear, especially if you look for something based on PAF specs


    I'd try something else that SDs or dimarzios if I were you. not that there are bad but you could get lots better for a similiar price

  • Same here I have a Les Paul with BB Pro. One day I read that custombuckers, which I liked a lot, were in fact BB with A3 magnets (true or not , I don't know).
    So I swapped the A5's for A3's and it definetely improved the sound to my ears, but I don't think it'd be suitable for metal.


    FWIW, my other - very - successful magnet swap, was a A8 in a classic 57+ bridge. That one was good for metal.

  • Not a fan of Burstbuckers at all! Recently took mine out of my LP Standard, and replaced them with Dimarzio 36th anniversary PAF!

    Played the guitar a bit today and my immediate reaction was "this doesn't sound like a Les Paul". I have some inexpensive (but good sounding) Alnico II pups from GFS that I'm going to put in for a while. I think they are Classic 57 copies with coil tap.


    Gibson is still using these pickups in high end guitars!
    I found this beautiful Les Paul Standard that has BB Pros.
    I can't imagine paying $2800 + for a standard and getting BB Pro's

    You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools
    But that's the way I like it baby
    I don't wanna live forever