Some nice PAF tone

[kevinT]

I assume he has some original PAFs in his 59.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y2_12Ler9B8

[SkinnyWire]

Yeah, that's nice. I wouldn't mind having that amp and cab.

[JGundry]

Personally I think lower gain tones are the best way to showcase a PAF. At lower gain settings good PAF's can have a kind of clucky metallic tone.

Here is a clip of a narrow spaced PAF neck pickup of mine. I'm just messing around with the playing but you can kind of get an idea of the range of tones you can get out of PAF by varying pick attack and volume pot adjustment. This pickup has a short A2 magnet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yer-XGyZoYk

[mick]

Sounds very " old "...is the amp a silverface or a clone you built ?

Mick

[David Schwab]

Personally I think lower gain tones are the best way to showcase a PAF. At lower gain settings good PAF's can have a kind of clucky metallic tone.

Yeah! I love that sound. It's very similar to a fat single coil.

I was surprised how bright the couple of PAF's I made were.

[kevinT]

Yeah, that's nice. I wouldn't mind having that amp and cab.

+1 on the amp setup. There is another boutique amp maker right around the corner from me called VVT (Vintage Vacum Tube) that makes some killer handmade amps. They actually make Fralin's amp that he sells.

www.vvtamps.com

Their Earthquake line is awesome. I know a guy that has a 100 watter head and using a Marshall stack (cabs) and it's a dream in terms of tone. They do really nice custom work too e.g., snake skin face plate, etc....

[kevinT]

Sounds great Jon,

One thing about PAFs is that they can generate a variety of tone and can sound great using different amp setups. I know a guy that has 3 PAFs and all three sound different.

Personally I think lower gain tones are the best way to showcase a PAF. At lower gain settings good PAF's can have a kind of clucky metallic tone.

Here is a clip of a narrow spaced PAF neck pickup of mine. I'm just messing around with the playing but you can kind of get an idea of the range of tones you can get out of PAF by varying pick attack and volume pot adjustment. This pickup has a short A2 magnet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yer-XGyZoYk

[kevinT]

Yeah! I love that sound. It's very similar to a fat single coil.

I was surprised how bright the couple of PAF's I made were.

I think i might have something to do with Stew Mac's magnets. When i did my tests the Allstar and Magnetic Hold A5s came with a lower gauss level and when fully charged they still had lower strengths than Stew Macs. StewMacs mags, initially had a stronger charge when i received them and when charged fully,...the SM mags could hold more of a charge. The SM mags were in the 800s and 900s. Where as the AS and MH were in the 700s and 800s. Probably have more of one element(s) than of the other(s) in that particular batch or maybe stewmac has thier's specially made.

[David Schwab]

That's interesting to know. I have one more of their kits here I haven't used. Think I'll try some 43 gauge with it.

[JGundry]

Sounds very " old "...is the amp a silverface or a clone you built ?

Mick

The amp is a late 70's Silverface Princeton Reverb with the Pull Boost volume. If you never pull the boost function it is a great little amp. I did blackface it which only required changing a couple resistors and changing the rectifier tube. I also put in a Deluxe Reverb output transformer. In addition I put in a 100 watt 10" Sammisound speaker. This speaker is not real efficient so the amp is really no louder with it but it has a very nice round clean sound that is not at all harsh. JJ6V6 power tubes and 7025 preamp tubes also help keep this amp tighter at high volume than a typical Princeton Reverb. The amp has volume bass and treble on 10. There is a touch of reverb added.

[mick]

Sounds great....might have to look for something like that...( not taking anything away from your pickups of course..)

Mick

[JGundry]

Sounds great....might have to look for something like that...( not taking anything away from your pickups of course..)

Mick

Just to be clear the pickup in my youtube clip is an original Gibson vintage PAF.

[Possum]

....

That video is cool but with all that gain, I agree, those pickups could be anything, just listening I never would have picked them out as being PAFs. Actually maybe they aren't

[Spence]

Well it's not my cup of tea. The clean sounds are OK but I wouldn't want that amp or cab. I do like drive and distortion but more in the vein of the Reverend Willie G.

[kevinT]

That video is cool but with all that gain, I agree, those pickups could be anything, just listening I never would have picked them out as being PAFs. Actually maybe they aren't

I agree, they may not be PAFs that is why i stated that i was only assuming that they were since it's a 59 LP that he has had for 30 years. They could be anything....maybe a set of yours dave

I like both sounds. IMO a good PAF should be able to handle both applications and sound great....because in reality they were used for such musical situations.....60s and 70s rock, country, blues, jazz, etc....