Info and Opinions Please?

SIx String Chef said:
PAF and JTM45?
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My good friend, Fil Oliveri, has done more to document Angus's tone than anyone. Here's his research paper on the subject:

solodallas.com

Angus Young’s Marshall Amplifier(s) & the “Back in Black Tone Project”

Update of Mon, Oct the 4th: our own headwhop26 has posted info from a reliable source stating the following: Angus has frequently recalled the use of a 100-watt late-60s Marshall JMP100 Super Lead amp with EL34 output tubes in the early days of the band, while Malcolm often played through a...
solodallas.com solodallas.com
 
Robert Herndon said:
My good friend, Fil Oliveri, has done more to document Angus's tone than anyone. Here's his research paper on the subject:

solodallas.com

Angus Young’s Marshall Amplifier(s) & the “Back in Black Tone Project”

Update of Mon, Oct the 4th: our own headwhop26 has posted info from a reliable source stating the following: Angus has frequently recalled the use of a 100-watt late-60s Marshall JMP100 Super Lead amp with EL34 output tubes in the early days of the band, while Malcolm often played through a...
solodallas.com solodallas.com
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Impressive...
 
T-tops (and T-types) are great for cleans and classic rock crunch. Excellent definition because they're a light wind.
But they absolutely don't drive an amp the way many modern humbuckers do.

Lest we forget, T-tops were almost single-handedly responsible for the explosion of aftermarket pickup sales in the 70s.

Not that they can't do high gain, as evidenced by all the great music that's been made on them over the years.
But they do require different treatment. This is fine if it's your only guitar, less convenient when switching guitars.

I sure can still love a T-top in neck position though.
 
SIx String Chef said:
PAF and JTM45?
Click to expand...
I know that Angus has called the pickups he was using in the early years PAF's, but knowing that he always used the stock pickups that the guitars came with, if you look at the year model SG's he was using, it's T tops. If we read other SoloDallas articles, Robert's buddy Fil comes to the same conclusion. Cheers
Edit:
Interesting in the earlier linked SoloDallas article that Angus basically says Bon didnt have lyric input into Back In Black. Amongst those in the know, it's pretty well known that a few days after Bon's passing, the Young brothers broke into Bons flat to get the book that he wrote his lyrics material in. Cheers
 
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eclecticsynergy said:
T-tops (and T-types) are great for cleans and classic rock crunch. Excellent definition because they're a light wind.
But they absolutely don't drive an amp the way many modern humbuckers do.

Lest we forget, T-tops were almost single-handedly responsible for the explosion of aftermarket pickup sales in the 70s.

Not that they can't do high gain, as evidenced by all the great music that's been made on them over the years.
But they do require different treatment. This is fine if it's your only guitar, less convenient when switching guitars.

I sure can still love a T-top in neck position though.
Click to expand...

Dude,

Very good points here...
 
eclecticsynergy said:
T-tops (and T-types) are great for cleans and classic rock crunch. Excellent definition because they're a light wind.
But they absolutely don't drive an amp the way many modern humbuckers do.

Lest we forget, T-tops were almost single-handedly responsible for the explosion of aftermarket pickup sales in the 70s.

Not that they can't do high gain, as evidenced by all the great music that's been made on them over the years.
But they do require different treatment. This is fine if it's your only guitar, less convenient when switching guitars.

I sure can still love a T-top in neck position though.
Click to expand...

Agree with Robert - very good points.

My view: In the era T-Tops were made and stock in Gibsons gain was relatively hard to come by. Players started using things like Super Distortions, etc to drive the amp harder to get more gain but at the expense of dynamics and clarity. In the end, seemed like everyone using those high-output ceramic humbuckers had the exact same, squashed, undefined tone. This extended into the early era of "high gain" amps like JCM-800's, Pro-Tube's and the like.

For at least the last 25 years (more really if we're being honest) gain has been plentiful and cheap. Nobody needs high-output pickups to have all the gain and saturation in the world, and therefore no need to compromise on dynamics and clarity. That being the case, after years of trying untold combinations of pickups in various guitars I ended up settling right back where I started: T-Tops. They have the perfect combination of sensitivity, clarity, dynamics and punch for high-gain applications. Plus, they are dead-ass quiet with heaps of gain. I really don't personally have any issues switching guitars since all of the pickups in my guitars are "modest" output.

Over the years the one thing I have seen most written about T-Tops is people rediscovering how great they sound and regretting ever pulling them out of their guitars in favor of high-output pickups.

Again, just one man's experience and opinion.
 
ivan H said:
I know that Angus has called the pickups he was using in the early years PAF's, but knowing that he always used the stock pickups that the guitars came with, if you look at the year model SG's he was using, it's T tops. If we read other SoloDallas articles, Robert's buddy Fil comes to the same conclusion. Cheers
Edit:
Interesting in the earlier linked SoloDallas article that Angus basically says Bon didnt have lyric input into Back In Black. Amongst those in the know, it's pretty well known that a few days after Bon's passing, the Young brothers broke into Bons flat to get the book that he wrote his lyrics material in. Cheers
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Interesting, indeed... I remember hearing about that a very loooong time ago in my early radio years, but never really gave it much credit. Thought it was mostly just another "urban legend" adding mystique to Bon's sudden death...
 
But now that you mention the whole T-Top vs PAF thing... I have a couple of pickups that I would appreciate your help with to identify and figure out if they are as legit as I think they are...

A little background: I bought this as a pair from a guy in a local blues/rock band back in the very early 80s (no later than 1982 as I recall), to install in my Hondo II "Paul". I believe he had pulled them out of his Gibson LP to install a DM superdistortion and another one, if memory serves right.
 
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SIx String Chef said:
But now that you mention the whole T-Top vs PAF thing... I haver a couple of pickups that I would appreciate your help with to identify and figure out if they are as legit as I think they are...

A little background: I bought this as a pair from a guy in a local blues/rock band back in the very early 80s (no later than 1982 as I recall), to install in my Hondo II "Paul". I believe he had pulled them out of his Gibson LP to install a DM superdistortion and another one, if memory serves right.
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Sorry, hit the ;post button before I should've... I'll post the pics in a sec and my questions...
 
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