Gibson '57 Classic Plus

Pickup features: Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: ?

Model of guitar or bass: DeArmond X 155 fat archtop hollow body
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: DeArmond
Other pickups on guitar: Gibson Classic 57
Artists using this pickup: ?
You musical style(s): Jazz & Fusion (with this guitar)
Reason for pickup change: Looking for a better tone

Perceived output level: slightly hot
Tone: This pickup was not meant for this position on this type of guitar! It definiteley is midrangey with emphasis on upper mids week in the bass and highs are average.Inthis guitar in this position it sounds very anemic.I was looking for more of a bassy and middy sounding p/u for this position , and subsequently put an SD Invader which sounds pretty good, but now Im thinking maybe a SD Custom/Custom.This is a good pickup though , I stuck it in my Les Paul in the neck and it sounds great there.Ill write a different review for that.
Sonic evaluation: I use a Line 6 AX2 212 mostly on the Fender Deluxe preset clean.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: On this guitar jazz and fusion.

Comments: This p/u might sound good in the neck of this guitar , but the Classic 57 sounds awesome there,so it found its way into the neck of my Les Paul,where it sounds real good.This is a good sounding pickup, just dont stick it in the bridge of an archtop jazz guitar!!!!!!

Pickup features: Humbucking
Impedence or other specs: 9.3 Ohms

Model of guitar or bass: Fernandes Monterey
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Carvin C22
Other pickups on guitar: Both are now Classic +
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Rock, Soul, Blues
Reason for pickup change: Carvin Pickups had sweet tone but not enough output

Perceived output level: Slightly hotter than a normal PAF
Tone: Balanced tone, with emphasis on mids
Sonic evaluation: These pickups sounds very good through anything I've played them through. My stage rig is... Mesa Boogie Studio 22+ (EL-84's), Matchless Hot Box, Dan-Echo, Visual Sound volume. I've also tried them with my 65 Fender Dual Showman (6L6), 95 Fender Blues Deluxe (6L6), 63 Ampeg Mercury (6V6), etc. To be totally honest I've strayed away from the Gibson Humbucker Sound as it's usually to thick for the type of music I normally play, and the E string response was always a little to muddy for my tastes. Normally, I use Gretsch guitars and their Filtertrons are considerably lower in output (7.4 Ohms), they crunch nice, but lack for lead guitar lines. Well, I got these pickups for an unbelievable price so I slapped them in the only guitar I had with Humbuckers, a Fernandes Monterey. It's single cut, solid alder, bolt on neck, with Badass style bridge. These pickups make this guitar a player. I've been told the regular Classic 57' would have been better in the neck position, but I like the Classis +
just fine. The bass response is just right for me, and it blends perfectly with the bridge pick-up (I just had to balance the pick-up heights accordingly). When I crank the volume on these things the amp sings! The notes are distinct through the distortion. Other reviewers have said the Classic + can get harsh, but I like the raunch and this pickup reacts well with tone controls. This is a great pick-up for Mick Taylor era Rolling Stones. It sounds great for open tuning rhythm/slide guitar sounds. I'm sure it would be great for Allman Brother style leads too. It's funny but this pick-up reminds me of the mid range tone found in P-90s. I was playing Mississippi Queen and the pickups sounded great for that, didn't Leslie West use a Les Paul Junior for that song? Enough said, I like this Pick-up.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Rhythmic Rock, Soul, Blues.

Comments: Overall I like these pick-ups, and they will stay in this guitar. I've been playing pro and semi-pro for at least 20 years. I normally use Gretsch and Fender guitars and have learned how to get solid lead tones from clean guitars, but these pick-ups have opened my ears back up to PAF style tones. This guitar will now be incorporated into my stage rig. Not to replace, but to add to my tone choices. At their normal price these pick-ups would be worth the money, but I'm glad I found them at a clearance price, otherwise I wouldn't have tried them. Oh yeah, use 500K pots with these.

Pickup features: Passive Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: dunno

Model of guitar or bass: Epiphone Les Paul Custom Flametop
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Epi stock 'bucker
Other pickups on guitar: Classic '57 (neck)
Artists using this pickup: IRRELEVANT
You musical style(s): Lead Guitar!
Reason for pickup change: Epi stock pickups are microphonic in high-gain situations. They're too ordinary sounding, even on clean channel. Everybody replaces Epi stock pickups. Epi should just sell their guitars w/o pickups! ;-)

Perceived output level: These aren't especially hot. Who said it's necessarily a good thing, anyway? These are valued for sweetness, not "hotness".
Tone: Pure lead tone. More trebly than the neck position '57, but whadda ya want in bridge? Cuts through.
Sonic evaluation: I play my LP through my Tech 21 Trademark 60 amp, sometimes through friend's Fender Rock Pro half-stack.
This pickup sounds very well, sweet, lotsa [good] feedback and harmonics. Not as "liquidy" as the '57 in neck, but that could be position. Cuts through though. Still plenty of lows. Very complex sounding, musical, rich. Good sustain.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play lead guitar. These pickups are a great mod to my Epi Les Paul. As close to the real thing as it gets.

Comments: I've been playing guitar and bass about 4 years. I like everything about this pickup (except price, too expensive). This is a good replacement for guitars emulating Gibson Les Pauls, SG's, hollowbody jazz guitars, etc. Of course regular '57 would probably be a better match for hollows, the Plus is more for higher gain applications. Great pickups.

Pickup features: Passive Humbucking
Impedence or other specs: Not sure. I hear around 9.8 or 10k?

Model of guitar or bass: '98 Epiphone G-400 ('61 SG copy)
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock Epiphone piece of garbage
Other pickups on guitar: The other stock Epiphone piece of garbage
Artists using this pickup: No idea. Anyone using vintage LPs or SGs I guess
You musical style(s): Rock, Metal, Blues
Reason for pickup change: Stock Epi pickups blow goats

Perceived output level: MUCH hotter than the stock Epi pickup
Tone: Pretty balanced. A little more emphasis on upper mids.
Sonic evaluation: I put this in my Epiphone G-400. I play through a Line 6 Flextone. It eats the stock Epiphone pickup alive. I was looking for a vintage SG-esque tone for this guitar, and this pickup fits the bill nicely. It's very smooth, has good definition even when chording with gobs of distortion, and gets downright crunchy when necessary. It also cleans up very nicely by rolling back the volume. Using the Rectifier mode on the Flextone, it goes from a dirty growl to flat out saturated all to hell distortion with a roll of the knob. The tone doesn't disappear when you roll the volume off either. Nice.
I compared it to my 1988 Gibson SG which I think has a 490T at the bridge. The '57 isn't louder, but it is much stronger & smoother. Really well rounded.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I use this guitar primarily for classic rock, vintage metal, and bluesy stuff. It's ideal for that application in the bridge position. Probably too hot for the neck position though.

Comments: Would I buy it again? Damn happy right I would. I really like this pickup - at least for the application I intended it for. It isn't really well suited to modern metal, but that's why I have my Ibanez RG. I usually play a lot of Sabbath, Zeppelin, and some blues & general classic rock on this guitar so that's not a big deal. I have tried it with some really heavy distortion though, and it does a really good job if you're not looking for a really scooped tone. I kinda like it.
The only thing it doesn't have it 4-conduction wiring. But, it is a hot-wound vintage re-issue really, so that's cool. Made it a piece of cake to install at least. I didn't want coil splitting or phase inversion anyway in that guitar, so no biggie for me.
I noticed that a couple of previous reviews mentioned that this thing tends to squeal in high-volume situations when running heavy distortion. I haven't had that problem thus far. It definately doesn't squeal like the Epi pickup did (it would go microphonic at very low volumes with heavy dist).

Pickup features: This is a passive electronics humbucking pickup with an Alnico II magnet.
Impedence or other specs: 9.3K Ohms

Model of guitar or bass: 1998 Gibson LP Classic
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock Gibson 500T
Other pickups on guitar: Gibson 57 Classic
Artists using this pickup: I'm stumped
You musical style(s): Blues and vintage British Rock
Reason for pickup change: The 500T was just too ballsy with no sweetness. It belched midrange and really didn't have any "hi-fidelity".

Perceived output level: It is of a higher output but not to excess where all dynamics are lost.
Tone: It is very nicely balanced. It is definately not muddy, yet has a full bottom end. The midrange is very smooth without being overbearing. The highs are crisp and definately not tinny.
Sonic evaluation: The amp is a 1970 Marshall 100 Watt Super Lead (4x12 bottom).

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I've tried every decent pickup on the planet. Needless to say, the sound of the 57+ is a "maxi" Gibson PAF sound. It is great for the bridge with a 57 Classic in the neck and great for the neck with a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge. For the style(s) I play, you cannot get a more faithful pickup. The match is absolutely perfect. This pickup would not be suitable for newer rock and pop material however. It doesn't have the excessive low end and midrange chunk/crunch which appears to be the requirement for most of today's stylings.

Comments: If something happened to it, I'd replace it without hesitation.
I've been playing 32 years. I also own the 3 mini-humbucker Gibson SG Deluxe and a smaller Marshall. What I love about the pickup is the tone and output. What I hate about it is Gibson's nasty price for it and all their products. I've compared this pickup with predominantly Duncans and DiMarzios. The closest thing to it is the Duncan Pearly Gates Bridge Pickup. The P.Gates output and high end is slightly less and the midrange is slightly more. DiMarzio's PAF has much more bass and midrange and much less high end. Again, the 57+ has a hi-fidelity" the others just don't. The 57+ is one of the most versatile pickups I've ever owned. As a matter of fact, this pickup can be used for any style of playing with a little tweak of the amp's settings.
I've finally found the sound I was looking for and I've stopped searching.

Pickup features: humbucking
Impedence or other specs: 8.5 to 9.0 k

Model of guitar or bass: tested in 81 335dot and 95 les paul std
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock junk (dot heritage reissue pu's )
Other pickups on guitar: neck position 57 classic 8.0k both guitars
Artists using this pickup: who cares really,
You musical style(s): classic rock, play in a top 40 classic rock cover band
Reason for pickup change: stock pickups were dull muddy and lifeless
the guitars played great and intonated well and rang well unplugged so
a little sonic experimentation was in order
further last year i purchased a new 335 dot reissue
which came stock with 57 classics and sounded extrordinary

also note that
the standard les paul 300k volume pots
and the 335 300k volume pots and 100k (yep thats right) were replaced as well
"correct value for gibson volume pots is 500k, so why don't the guitars come with them???)
the lindy fralin was purchased based on rave reviews in a recent issue of vintage guitar
where testers prefered it to a real PAF and early patent # pickup

Perceived output level: stock PAF type output
Tone: wider frequency response than non paf type pickups of simmilar specs, more bass, more smooth treble, and most noticeably vast amounts of sustain
Sonic evaluation: tested the pickups, and a b'd them using
a 62 princeton, and a 59 tweed bassman, i also ran both thru a boss distortion pedal into the princeton
i have used the 57 plus (which has been in my main guitar for 6 months thru every possible set up)
the big news here is that the fralin and the gibson classic plus were almost indestinguishable ... the fralin appeared to have slightly more top and upper mid squawk when pushed hard the fralin also appeared to have a longer pick attack ...(see description below)
both pickups have "the magic" i associate with PAF tone
and it was easy to obtain
gary moore/ carlos santana sustain
cream era clapton sutain and squawk
and billy gibbons style harmonics
the pick attack of both pickups displayed that neat paf characterisitic of accenting both the attack and muting of notes
you hear this on the bluesbreaker recording

again if pushed to hear a difference i'd say the fralin was slightly briter sounding ie 1% to 3% but in fact both pickups dever the goods in spades ...
the only drawback to this type of pickup is that the traditional PAF design was not wax potted ...though both the fralin and the gibson display evidence of being potted they tend to squeal when subjected to
heavy heavy overdrive at extreme volume ... this has only been a problem once for me but a buddy who plays METAL loved the 57 classic pickup till he went to band rehearsal...
at "normal" real giging, and rehearsal volume these pickups are great
all in all i highly recomend both the fralin and the gibson 57 classic plus, (i also recomend the 57 classic for neck position)
i have been using the regular 57 classics for 2 years
i liked them so much i installed them in my other gibsons
i used the 57 plus in my 335 (bridge)
and the fralin overwound (bridge) in my les paul
in the past i had been unable to find a PAF style pickup that played cleanly enough to effectively gig with and produce a range of tones
many of my buddies have heard them in action and poped them in their guitars ...

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: i play top 40 classic rock in a professional cover band, my friends who are now using them play in a RAP METAL original band, and an EMO band so these pickups (57 classic plus) are versatile

Comments: i have made multiple purchases of this product, and highly recomend it to my friends .... i was surprised that the Lindy fralin PAF was not noticeably better than the gibson and unless time and further testing reveal a more noticeable superiority i will continue to convert all my gibson guitars to the 57 (neck) 57plus (bridge) configuration
don't forget to check your pots ... even those marked 500k might not measure UP !!!
pat

Pickup features: Nickel Covered Reissue Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: Mine measure 9.2k

Model of guitar or bass: 1993 Les Paul Standard (Vintage Sunburst)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: 490R and 498T (stock models)
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: Uncle Salty and lots of others I guess!
You musical style(s): Loud Blues/Hard Rock
Reason for pickup change: The stock pickups were powerful but they weren't "sweet"
enough for my tastes

Perceived output level: A little less than the stock units but then again these "kick" a little different
Tone: The tone is Clear and very well Balanced ( I can finally hear the actual sond of my guitar!)
Sonic evaluation: I use Les Pauls and JMP era Marshalls etc..These pickups are the sound I was wanting from this guitar. The stock ones were fine for a
few years but as your ear gets pickier you can really start to pick out/ recognize the sound of a newer les paul.I think the stock pickups were a large part of that "wet" sound the newer guitars have.
These new pickups really made this guitar sound "older" and now my
guitar sound is clearer than it's ever been.They sound great clean
(i.e. when I back of the volume pots)and they "melt butter" when I
wack the volume back up.These aren't hot pickups either - tone junkies know you should let the amp and speakers do the distorting -
they really complement the guitars natural sound well.These make the
stock units sound like shit so I can see why gibson puts 57 classics in the reissues,I've played old pafs and these pickups are damn close
to that sound - their only downfall is they have yet to age 30 years!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Take the nickel covers off if you're gonna use tons of gain or distortion(squeal piggie!)

Comments: These Pickups are staying right where they are! I've fallen in love with the sound of my guitar again!If you watch "Song Remains the- Same"video by Led Zepp, you'll get an Idea of what sort of sounds I
am getting from these pickups!

Pickup features: Passive Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: I don't know!

Model of guitar or bass: Les Paul Studio
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock 498T
Other pickups on guitar: stock 490R
Artists using this pickup: I don't know!
You musical style(s): Hard rock, alternative/Pop
Reason for pickup change: The stock pickup sounded good but wasn't warm or well balanced. It also had a little too much bite for my taste.

Perceived output level: Close to the stock unit.
Tone: Well balanced and warm.
Sonic evaluation: I play a Les Paul through a Peavy 5150 head and cabinet. This pickup gave new meaning to tone! It overdives very nicely and played clean it is wonderful!

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play Rock and Pop. This pickup is IT! Great tone, not what you would want for heavy metal but it has a nice rounded, balanced sound!

Comments: I definetly would buy this unit again! I've been playing 18 years and have been through a plethora of pickups and if you want to get a PAF sound than get a 57 Plus it's the same as the Classic 57 just a little hotter! I tried a DiMarzio PAF Pro but it had no bottom end and was real midrangy. Also if you want to improve the tone of Gibson's stock 490R you can remove the original cover and put a real nickel/brass cover on it! I did this because the Classic 57 plus has a slightly "darker" chrome color I figured becuse it is real nickel or nickel plated but the 490R in the bridge has a bright polished aluminum look so I changed the cover for cosmetic reasons and the sound improved! I don't know what effect the type of metal used for the cover has on a pickup but it worked for me!

Pickup features: Passive Humbucking
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Nighthawk Standard
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock Nighthawk Bridge
Other pickups on guitar: Duncan Custom MiniHumbucker, Stock Single Coil
Artists using this pickup: ???
You musical style(s): Modern Praise and Worship - Rock, Gospel, Country styles
Reason for pickup change: I wanted a more PAF sounding pickup and this was the only choice available. I actually got the Classic Hawk Plus model, which is the 57 Classic Plus on a slanted Nighthawk style base.

Perceived output level: This is actually about the same output as the original, but with more highs and smoother sound
Tone: Sounds like a slightly hot PAF. Think old Les Paul or SG
Sonic evaluation: Gibson Nighthawk through either a Laney LC-50 tube amp or a Crate Vintage 30. This is a nice pickup. Before the change the neck pickup actually seemed to have more high end than the bridge. This gives the guitar just a little bit more versatility. The bridge clean sound is much clearer and the distortion is a great classic rock sound.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Modern Christian Praise music; musically it's Rock, Gospel and modern Country

Comments: Yes, I'd get it again. It really does the trick to make the guitar even more versatile.

Pickup features: Humbucker passive
Impedence or other specs: ?

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Les Paul Standard
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock pickups from 1977
Other pickups on guitar: Di Marzio PAF Pro
Artists using this pickup: ?
You musical style(s): Hard rock
Reason for pickup change: The stock ones' just didn't sound good.

Perceived output level: A little hotter than a '57 Classic
Tone: Balanced
Sonic evaluation: A modified Marshall. Sound something like the 5150 or a Boogie Rectafire, but better.... It's hot, but distinct and warm.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Hard rock. All positions

Comments: I'm not sure. I love the overall sound of the pickup, but I want more output, without messing up the tone. I've tried the PAF Pro and it works, almost. It hasn't got any bass, so you loose a lot of tone and "thump". For anyone who's after a PAFish sound but with a "nodge" more of everything. This is it!!