Gibson vs. Seymour Duncan [Lateralus]

I decided I would like to replace my stock Gibson pickups with Seymour Duncan pickups.

So I made some videos to capture the sound for comparison.

I wasn't going for accuracy when playing Lateralus.

Hopefully this will be useful for other people considering a change in sound.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Gibson
• Seymour
• Duncan
• Lateralus
• TOOL

[AUDEPrecords]

This is interesting, and in this case, I'll agree the Seymour Duncans sound better. But I don't know if this is a great comparison test. Here's why: The 490R, 498T are not Alnico pickups (they're ceramic, I believe.) So this is an imbalanced test. At this point, we're not fairly comparing Gibson to Duncan, we're comparing Alnico to non-Alnico. And when Alnico wins, people are going to think Duncans are better, which they may or may not actually be. A better test would be Burstbuckers or 57s v SD

[DoubleSixx]

@AUDEPrecords I understand, you're correct. You've given more details. I simply stated what I swapped out. Someone more ambitious who wants to know the reason why they're different could do further research.

[mariosapm]

@DoubleSixx  You say that you replaced the stock pickups of your Gibson with Duncans. You also state that the guitar is a Les Paul from 2006. These guitars were normally fitted with burstbuckers AFAIK and not 490R and 498T unless the guitar was a Studio or Custom. CAn you please clarify this. Btw the 498 and 490 are alnico too and not ceramic.

[DoubleSixx]

@mariosapm I can only tell you what I know to be fact. My Les Paul had the 490R and 498T pickups. I'm including a zip file w/Gibson's specs from back then : doublesixx[dot]com/GLP2006.zip­. Unlike Studios from that year mine is unchambered. Plus Gibson stained my fretboard Ebony. All Studios I've seen back then had regular colored rosewood. I never stated ceramic pickups. You can Google and find out yourself.

[Dogedart67]

I think the seymours sound a little bit heavier. Both good. But I pefer the seymours.

[Redlabel0]

seymour duncans rock

[rjoz5150]

@AUDEPrecords The 490's are Alnico 2

[DylanBStringer91]

Yep, Seymour Duncans Are Going In My Gibson Flying V!!!

[mariosapm]

@DoubleSixx About the ceramic pickups, I was only referring to the other guys comment. And yes, the studios always had those pickups. The standards used to until up to 2001.

[melonheed3]

@AUDEPrecords not to be a stickler but i own a les paul custom with 490 and 498t and they are not ceramic. they are alnico V's.

[givemeajackson]

@DylanBStringer91 all you need is a sh6 or sh8 on the bridge ;)

[CitySkateboards]

I'm disappointed with the Gibson pickups, they sounded very cheap and twangy in this demo. The Duncans were quite nice though!