New guy with my first Les Paul

G

Grand funk fan

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Hey fellas, new to the forum. I've been playing strats and teles since the 70s and I just bought a Les Paul I'm figuring out. I play through tube amps with a Timmy overdrive and a spark boost. So far the Les Paul kinda leads me into playing overdriven stuff. I haven't found the sweet spot for cleans. I did adjust the pickups to tighten up the bottom end a little. I've been working on "I'm memory of Elizabeth Reed" clean with the neck pickup but it's still not as sweet as it could be. Suggestions?
 
Grand funk fan said:
Hey fellas, new to the forum. I've been playing strats and teles since the 70s and I just bought a Les Paul I'm figuring out. I play through tube amps with a Timmy overdrive and a spark boost. So far the Les Paul kinda leads me into playing overdriven stuff. I haven't found the sweet spot for cleans. I did adjust the pickups to tighten up the bottom end a little. I've been working on "I'm memory of Elizabeth Reed" clean with the neck pickup but it's still not as sweet as it could be. Suggestions?
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Welcome to the forum!

Can you give us some details about your Les Paul, like what model it is and maybe a pic or 2? We love pics!! LPs come with several different pickups depending on what it is.

Maybe make a new post in the Gibson section. Gibson - Epiphone
 
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DirtySteve said:
LP neck pickups seem to sound best set really low. I set mine about even with the pickup ring or maybe even lower (depending on the guitar) to get that sweet sound. Took me a long time to learn that. YMMV.
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That's where I have mine. It came with the neck pickup a quarter of an inch above the ring, I don't get that. It makes it muddy and the treble was way harsh. I bought online but who grabs one off the wall with the pickups jacked up like that and digs how it sounds? If I'd have played one like that I'd never have bought it. Luckily it was an easy fix, but I bet a lot of people are turned off by it and keep walking
 
DirtySteve said:
LP neck pickups seem to sound best set really low. I set mine about even with the pickup ring or maybe even lower (depending on the guitar) to get that sweet sound. Took me a long time to learn that. YMMV.
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I forgot to ask, did you set your bridge pickup as low as the neck? I set my neck pickup to where it sounded good, about flush with the ring, and then matched the bridge pickup volume wise but it not as low. I tried to get it to where it blended well with the neck and thought having it a little higher might keep the lows from the neck pickup from taking over. Of course some of that I can get from adjusting the individual volume knobs.
 
Grand funk fan said:
I forgot to ask, did you set your bridge pickup as low as the neck? I set my neck pickup to where it sounded good, about flush with the ring, and then matched the bridge pickup volume wise but it not as low. I tried to get it to where it blended well with the neck and thought having it a little higher might keep the lows from the neck pickup from taking over. Of course some of that I can get from adjusting the individual volume knobs.
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Personally I don't really try to balance the pickups with each other, though it usually does work out that way. I set my neck pickup where it sounds best and I set my bridge pickup where it sounds best and it usually works out ok, but I don't play clean much where it might matter more. My bridge pickups almost always end up at 1/8" below the strings, it just seems to be the sweet spot for me with all my bridge pickups no matter if they're hot or not.
 
First of all, welcome to the forum!

When I play cleans with my Les Paul or SG, I often use both pickups, but I’ll back the volume off a bit on them. I also will often use just the neck pickup, but adding a little of the bridge helps to brighten it back up a bit.

Of course, neither will sound just like my Strats; we’re dealing with the difference between humbuckers and single coils. The humbuckers will almost always be warmer, but backing off the volumes will let it hit the amp less hard.

You can get the LP to play clean, meaning without overdriving the amp, but it will not have the same timbre as a Strat or Tele.
 
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