After wondering about these pickups for almost 2 years and reading the reviews, I couldn't resist it anymore! I bought a set and installed them in my Gibson LP Studio.

I'll admit that these are dark sounding pickups. To be honest someone who plays metal might not like them, and someone who plays classic rock will not find satisfaction with the tone of these if they are installed as straight up humbuckers.

I also didn't want to take the 1 meg pot option because that comes at the expense of volume control.

IMHO if someone really wants to get the tones out of these pickups, GET COIL TAPPING. I can't state this enough. I installed a full Jimmy Page harness against them and in this configuration the pickups shine brightly. With the humbucker tones you'll get a nice, thick lead tone that as advertised sounds better as the amplifier increases in volume and gain. Coil tap the pickups and you will get this nice, beefy rhythm tone that delivers a punch reminiscent of a P-90 pickup. The pickups will not lose string separation no matter how high you set them, but at the same time once the coil tap is installed and these pickups are installed at a regular height, it is in this way that the pickups live up to their expectations.

(Otherwise, I wouldn't recommend these vs. other Gibson pickups for classic rockers and active pickups for metal players.)

These pickups have great sustain, but they lack in the high end range. If you strike the low open E string, you'd swear you were playing a bass guitar, especially if you're using the neck pickup. I've heard others talk about how much better they sound with 1K pots. I guess I'll have to try that route. I just wish they had a more open tonal range instead of just that deep dark sound.

First off these are the best pickups I've ever heard and I've played dimarzio, emg and seymour duncan for two decades. Second, they're very expensive but if you have the money and a solid body guitar then you have to go for it. These damn things will invade your guitar and you will feel like you're playing tony's guitar in black sabbath yourself. I was blown away at these things! I have them in my sg and now I'm gonna put them in my les paul and get rid of the blackouts that I have in it. Gibson hit a heavy metal homerun with these!!!

I bought this PU back in '99 and wasn't terribly impressed with it. It sat in my closet for years unused until I read Chuck Burnam's review on this page about using 1meg pots with it(see below) I decided to try it out in an Sg special with a 1meg vol. pot. Man I'm glad I did. I now lovingly refer to this thing as my EMG Killer. Chords are thick and huge, leads are sweet and articulate, and harmonics are easy and natural. This pickup was designed to be played on high volume with very high gain levels. I run it through my JCM 2000 Dsl 100w on Lead2 with the gain maxed (which is normally too intense for stock Gibson PUs) and this thing just screams. It LOVES gain. The more you can slather onto it, the more responsive and dynamic it becomes, and you can still easily control the feedback. Unlike many high output PUs, this one has its own unique voice; its very distinctive, with a dark low midrange character. Its also much warmer and organic sounding than EMGs. Many Thanxs to Chuck B for helping me rediscover this amazing pickup.

I have the Epiphone version of his signiture guitar and it has these pickups in it. They have no gain at all. I was excited to get the guitar for these overpriced pickups. I have a Dimebucker in my 81 custom Les Paul. THAT pickup kills. These just die.