Thoughts on Gibson 490t bridge pickup

jtcnj

jtcnj

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I'm thinking of putting one of these in my Epi G400 SG.
I have a set of Guitarmadness 59er in there now. They are pretty good.

But, since I am liking the BB Pros in my LP Studio, I might try this.

I'm seeing them used around $80.
 
I had some 490t/490r in an SG. They were OK but just that. I replaced them with some GFS PAF clones that sounded much better. I put them in a strat where they sounded fantastic. I have had other 490s in a couple of Les Pauls and another SG where they sounded great. The moral: It depends on the guitar and the pickup. The 490s seem to vary quite a bit. You won’t know until you try it.
 
I've owned and played quite a few of those pups. I think it really comes down to what kind of music you're doing.

If you play rock or blues and just delve into metal once in a while, then these pups are great.
Gibson does a "pretty good job" at matching pickups to the instruments they build.

If you are a metal riff guy, you'll want something tighter and hotter.

My 2 cents worth
 
I not a fan of those I've had a few Les Pauls and one Robot SG (There was a review I wrote about that on ETSG, but it disappeared when Alex took over.) with them, I always swapped them out.
 
I pulled one recently out of my SG (rather dull and lifeless to my ears) and replaced it with a Duncan distortion.... It was light years better.

I took that same 490t and slapped it in my buddy's ec1000 and it sounds great in that guitar!
 
Headache said:
I pulled one recently out of my SG (rather dull and lifeless to my ears) and replaced it with a Duncan distortion.... It was light years better.

I took that same 490t and slapped it in my buddy's ec1000 and it sounds great in that guitar!
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I have a Duncan Distortion in one of my Prestiges and while nice distortion it seems to lose a bit o punch. The LP Custom has I think a 500 or 490 and sounds great in that guitar.
 
Jethro Rocker said:
I have a Duncan Distortion in one of my Prestiges and while nice distortion it seems to lose a bit o punch. The LP Custom has I think a 500 or 490 and sounds great in that guitar.
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The 500 is the only Gibson pickup I really love. They are dynamic and harmonic rich. Just enough grit to sound great under high gain.
 
Looks like the Axcess is a 498t. I should try a 500 in something sometime. Not sure it would be any better than an SD if getting aftermarket.
 
jtcnj said:
I'm thinking of putting one of these in my Epi G400 SG.
I have a set of Guitarmadness 59er in there now. They are pretty good.

But, since I am liking the BB Pros in my LP Studio, I might try this.

I'm seeing them used around $80.
Click to expand...
I still think that Gibson PUs are one of the best overall.
Duncan, Demarzio, does not impress me.
For an SG I would try to get a hold of Gibson Angus Young PUs.
JBE Gatton is a very good choice for strats and tele radios. However I am tainted since Danny Gatton was my guitar teacher.. ..
Lollar Charlie Christian is very impressive sounding....mount 3 in a strat and it's amazing.

But still I am not convinced that there is any better humbucking PU than a Gibson.
 
I completely missed and forgot about this thread.
Thank you for all the replies.

I put a used pair in my EPI G400, a used 490R with a swapped short A5 magnet (T-top mod) in the bridge of my Firefly V, and they came in the SG Tribute I got yesterday. I like them just fine, but I dont have vast experience with aftermarket pickups to compare them to.
 
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