Recommendations for new pickups in a Peavey Wolfgang

MARCO · Post by **MARCO** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 1:58 pm

I have a USA Peavey Wolfgang Deluxe and I am starting to realize that these PV pickups are NOT that great. I am looking for a nice set of humbucking pickups that are well balanced. Any thoughts guys ???

St August · Post by **St August** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:55 pm

you could go with smits handwounds you can give him a pm here in the forum Im using them and Flames has some too really nice pups

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 2:59 pm

Well if you dont like the stock pick ups, I would stay clear from higher output alnico 5 magnet pick ups, which are wha those Peavy's are. If you stay with a 5 magnet go for lower output, like a 59' or other paf type knockoff. Maybe get a pearly Gates. To my ears those guitars would do well with a 59' in the bridge.

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 3:02 pm

The PG's are bright for a 2 magnet , but may be a bit to "soft" in the attack dept. for a guitar like the Wolfgang, which is a very resonant guitar, but lacks a bit of the attack of other guitars.

MARCO · Post by **MARCO** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:55 pm

I am looking for a more responsive pickup with a little more cut but alot of power in the bass, mids and highs. Like I said, a well balanced pickup that is clear, cuts thru the mix and not "plate" sounding. Somewhere between a 10k and 15k. I am talking bridge humbucker....the neck pickup will be next.
MAYBE.....a Custom Custom/59 Hybrid by Seymour Duncan right ??

St August · Post by **St August** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:10 pm

My Smits is 13k very clean and responsive and hot output.. sound clips in my sig

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Sat Feb 24, 2007 10:32 pm

I sorley lack in the pick up dept., since I've concluded that the bridge, scale length, and wood contribute more to the tone of a guitar. S. Duncan, within reason , has a comparable P. up to all the "boutique" companies. Lets face it, a pick up hasnt evolved to the point that say, amps have. You know, cheap pcb, computer "ribbon" wiring, poor component selection etc. Pick ups from say big companies like Duncan and Dimarzio are still very comparable to the boutique companies like Bareknuckles and Holmes. I know a basic formula for calculating a PU/guitar relationship based on Seymour Duncan pick ups. I am well aware that all the boutique companies have PU's that are maybe 1-5% better, but hell, IMHO it aint worth the chase. I like "bright" in a guitar, based on wood and bridge (as well as frets, which are steel, that last 3 times longer) I like the S.Duncan Custom Custom the best. Marco, based on a Basswood/Basswood maple top wolfgang, which is bright/dull sounding guitar, I would get a comparable P.up to a 59'/C. Custom hybrid. Maybe Duncan offer's this in its custom shop. JD knows how to do this.

Star*Guitar · Post by **Star*Guitar** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:00 pm

I own a Wolfgang and replaced the pups in it too. That being said I thought those pups to be one of the best...it was just that they were too hot and the pups would not clean up well when rolled back.

I went with a Custom Shop Alnico Pro II in the neck and a EVH trembucker in the brigde...It sounds perfect...

You probably want to keep the pup you choose under 11-12k....That way it will have the clarity you are looking for. Do not choose a hot pup.

The Seymour 59 is a great choice as previously mentioned.

One of High Orders custom pups are a great deal and kick arse...I would give him a call.

MARCO · Post by **MARCO** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:18 pm

I already have Jeff @ H/O making me a Alnico-III asymetric wind 8.5k pickup for my Warmoth EVH-II Korina strat.

That being said, I would love to find a set from him. Here is what I am looking for in my PV....I dont want it to sound like my EVH-II axe so.

How bout a Maximus wind 9.7k A-5 in the bridge and something to compliment the bridge p/u........the twist is that I want to have the PV so I can split the coils like a PRS, where I can switch between 5 different sounds. What do you guys think?? The tone knob now would be changed to a 5-way rotary switch and the volume knob would then be the master vol/tone knob. The exterior cosmetics would be the same but know I would have the flexibility of getting 5 sounds instead of 3....makes more sense to me and saves me the time of getting another guitar!!
Thoughts??

Tone Slinger · Post by **Tone Slinger** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:51 pm

Damn !, you really gonna be needin' all that ! Keep it simple brotha ! Within reason the 2 and 4 on a strat 5 way are decent ( only with a fairly clean sound, still, very SRV) I find that with a guitar with a bridge humbucker, that having a neck single coil works well. You get a strat blade selector, but instead of the 5 way , you get the origional 3 way and wire it like this, 1- bridge humbucker, 2- split bridge with neck single coil (cool tele tone), and 3- neck single coil ala Hendrix, Roth, Malmsteen, SRV, etc. Those, to me, are stronger tones, especially when using moderate to full blown clipping.

Devon8822 · Post by **Devon8822** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 12:34 am

Barekuckles... nough said, they are fantastic, you should checkout the site and forum, very helpful. When u try these pups they make u think everything else is junk.

Star*Guitar · Post by **Star*Guitar** » Wed Mar 07, 2007 1:03 pm

I just bought the predecessor to the EVH Wolfgang. It is called the HP Special....

It looks different and sounds different but in a great way...

It is a real shreadding machine.

It is set up like you want your Wolfgang set up...with coil taps to split them....

The tone options are unreal....I get so many sounds out of it.

The best thing is the pups....the kick arse... I like them way more then the stocks Wolf pups.....

So I say...go ahead and do it. There is nothing wrong with wanting guitars to sound different from each other.

saborthw · Post by **saborthw** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 2:01 am

I put a matched set of custom wound Seymour Duncan EVH Pickups in mine ( Trembucker in the bridge ) very versitile set of pickups mine read 7.8K in the neck 9.0K in the bridge.

Scott

Krinkle · Post by **Krinkle** » Wed Jun 04, 2008 9:26 pm

I just built a 12000 series and while I can tell that the sound is there, my Wolfgang sounds like a mess through it to me. I keep hearing that Plexi's don't have enough gain but with the WG I seem to have plenty. It's not high gain by any means but I'm getting lots of distortion. Is the bridge pickup in this guitar that hot?

I only got the amp running yesterday and I haven't had enough sense to try my Les Paul, I keep trying to make the WG sound good. The amp is new so maybe it's not burned in yet, and I am diming it. I have to admit, I'm having a hard time. The WG plays like a charm and it sounds okay with my other amps but with this one it sounds flabby on the low strings and harsh on the high ones. While I'm used to high volumes, the tone of the WG just doesn't feel right to me. I've been playing for 30 years, am I out to lunch?

jester · Post by **jester** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 7:14 pm

Hey dude, still got the wolfgang? I had a USA Goldtop serial 9100002381 and replaced the buckers with Rio Grande BBQ bucker bridge and Genuine Texas neck 4 conductor with a push/pull tone pot for the coil split! These pickups are beefy PAF style, a lot of power but with clarity!

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Recommendations for new pickups in a Peavey Wolfgang

Recommendations for new pickups in a Peavey Wolfgang

Is my Wolfgang going to cut it?

humbuckers for the wolfgang!