Gibson 490R

You know the specs by now! About 8k output, humbucker for the bridge position.

I have this in a Gibson Les Paul studio, Gibson Les Paul Classic 1960 (replaced the stock 496 (?) pickup which was harsh), Epiphone Sheraton II, and Epiphone Les Paul Custom (three of them).

This is a really nice sounding neck pickup - nicely balanced, low to mid output, nice round but NOT overbearing lows and sweet high end chime.

For those complaining about the booming bass on these, I wonder if they have lowered the bass side of the pickup to allow it to better balance? On my guitars it is warm with some sparkle and not muddy or bassy at all.

I haven't found a neck pickup that I like better so far.

Really like these pickups esp in combination with the 498t.

This pick-up has been described to death. But I'll tell you what I have found out about it. In SGs and other Mahogany bodied electrics. Even maple top LPs? These leave a LOT to be desired.

By chance I decided to route out the neck of my Fender Telecaster and I dropped in the 490R Gibon pick-up. I have to tell you I am BLOWN AWAY by this pup in this Telecaster.

My Telecaster is basically all bright woods. Alder bodied, Maple neck with a Maple fretboard. This pick-up is so touch sensitive and the Tones are so complex and addictive I'm sinply amazed by it.

As a gemeral rule I would pull the 490 on any gibson it came in and sell it on E-bay and then buy a BB-Pro. The BB-Pro added along with the 498Bridge gives you two Alnico V humbuckers and they work extremely well together. Why Gibson has never offered this? Is beyond me!

Fender MIA telecaster, the bridge pick-up is a overwound Modern/Vinatge GFS Rail and along with the Gibson 490 the two pups sound great together.

Doesn't get any better in combination with BRIGHT Tone woods;

In Gibson Les-Pauls and SG Standards and the likes this pick-ups gets a Fat Zero from me. But drop it in a ASH/Maple body-neck guitar or a Alder/Maple guitar and LOOK OUT. You will be impresed with it!

Measured at approx 7.85 ohms
Two wire factory installed?!?!? :( ( new is 4 wire )
Humbucking, passive
Gold Covered (plated)

Installed in a black 80's Dean Z (with all gold hardware, sick)
Neck position
Replacing a Dimarzio zebra super distortion
Friend bought Les Paul with same pickups,I liked them...
Was happy with DM Zebra SD but this one is GOLD!!! lol

Sounds great!
Warm tone, not too bassy, smooth sustain with distortion.
Vintage character, powerfull output
I play blues,metal,jazz,rock,etc
Metal heads might not like it, it has character....lol
Compared this to active EMG's, like I said, this has character.
Will never go back to active EMG's again!

Rating is an 8 because its only 2 wire.
Bought it used for an awesome deal!!!
Love the tone, interesting character, sounds like tubes, not transistor like an active EMG. (even through an all tube setup!)
Hey guys keep selling off these P/U's from Les Pauls, guys like me will buy them from you dirt cheap mwuahahaha

Passive Humbucking

Model: 1985 Les Paul Studio

Position: Neck

Other Pickups: 498T

The sounds this pickup can produce are incredibly frustrating as it can sound very nice but if you bump knobs it seems to take another ten minutes of searching to make it sound listenable again. At worst it sounds incredibly muddy when used to strum open chords in standard tuning and is virtually unusable for that purpose as the big boomy bass sound completely drowns out the mids and makes your chords sound like a passing lorry. If you want to play really fat bass lines it sound ok with the tone cranked to ten, so at least if your bassist dies or loses a string no one in the audience will likely notice.

Through a fender DeVille it sounds worst and will only work "dirty" for power chords and is often too unpredictable to sound decent "clean" unless you want to turn the volume way down.

The pickup sounds good on old Vox AC-15's or 30's if you crank the high gain all the way to compensate for the drunken stumble bass noise this pickup can produce. Raising and lowering the pickup itself or the individual pins produces essentially no change.

The pickup is matched somewhat well with the 498T that comes stock with most Gibsons that include the 490R (ie... LP Studio, LP Custom, SG Standard...) But even so you can really get any of the sound of the mid position from the 498 by itself.

If you were to be playing this pickup in any Gibson (or even Epiphone) guitar I would recommend changing it. In my experience you can make a $1000 Gibson sound like a $3500 one simply by pickup swapping until you find something you're comfortable with. I really don't see any point in having this pickup, even though it could be passable in some circumstances I can guarantee you that you will find something better suited to your sound.

The one thing you could maybe try with this pickup is Clapton's "woman" tone from the Cream years (see 'We're Going Wrong' from Disraeli Gears) but again, the same tone can be achieved from the front pickup if you are willing to turn the tone knob...

All in all this pickup sounds like a very very low-budget stab at some of the 'classic' Gibson sounds of early Santana, Clapton, Zappa, etc... Why Gibson would waste the time putting this pickup in to the $3000+ custom is beyond me.

GIbson 490r, and you might as well apply the same ideas to it's little sister, the 498t.

I've had these stock in an SG Special and a Les Paul Menace. They've both been swapped out. The menace received the Seymour Duncan Hot Rod treatment, which is effectively a GOOD version of this overly-mass-produced crap.

The sound is only what you make of it. These are the most boring, quiet pickups I've ever encountered. Compared to the Gib ceramic pair, these are in a far-passed second, and I don't like the 498/500 pair either.

I had to get this review here for one reason, and it's not to beat on the product. Looking over the first page, there's ONE quality review (something like a 6 of 10). Most of you reviewers didn't even submit a number in the "Rating for this category" section, ya stupid pigs.

HONESTY; These pickups are stock by Gibson because they are CHEAP. If you don't want to have a real distinct sound; if you only want a basic output that you can mold through effects and amp settings, then feel free to keep these pups in your gitbox. If you want something with personality, particular tone, or balls for that matter, get something better and solder it in yourself.

Typical H-C questions.
No I wouldn't buy more (I have 3 sets lying around).
I've been playing a few years. I have 5 guitars, three amps and a pedal or two.
I've compared these to a few different models from Gibson, Fender, Seymour Duncan, EMG, whatever crap they use in Jackson, B.C. Rich and ESP, and about every other option out there (though not every pickup by every manufacturer).
I wish they had quality control, or were worth keeping. I'll never use a pickup with standard Gib stock. These just aren't worth keeping.

Stated elsewhere

In the neck position of a Les Paul Studio with the stock caps and pots, this pickup just kind of goes 'thud.' It's not terrible, I lived with it for years. But rather than mess with switching pots or caps, I just swapped it out for a Seymour Duncan '59. The '59 is way better for me. Everything is just a lot clearer with the Duncan, but still nice and strong sounding. I can't really imagine going back. I also tried a Duncan Alnico II, and it was better than the 490R, but not as good as the '59. The Duncan Alnico II kind of has a smear in the highs to my ear, maybe it's the softer magnet.

This pup came standard on my Gibson SG Special Faded in the neck position, along with a 490t in the bridge spot.

I've also reviewed the 490t (bridge) pup, so I'll keep this short (because I'm tired of typing).
It's a great pickup! Seriously good tone out of this thing. I've owned a Duncan Seth Lover, Dimarzio Virtual PAF, Dimarzio Air Classic, and Gibson Burstbucker Pro, and these 490s compare favorably. The key is to use your tone controls to roll off the treble a little bit because these pups have plenty of highs, but that is a good thing! The clean sounds are wonderful, with clarity and richness. The distorted sounds have bite without being thin. It's a definite keeper.

8.2K-ish

1st used as a bridge pickup in a Squire '51, now the bridge pickup in a heavily modified MIM Stratocaster, replacing a myriad of pickups this poor thing has housed. Most recently replaced an EMG 85 which I liked, but kind of got bored with in this guitar.

Nice balanced medium output. Lots of treble, but a nice warm treble, not shrill, good mids, good bass without being boomy. I can imagine it may be a little muddy in a dark-sounding guitar, but this Strat's always been a shrill pain in the butt, and this pickup tames that down very nicely. I'm using it in the bridge position with half of an RS wiring kit and an Orange Drop cap.

Not sure why the dislike of this pickup with a lot of people, my sister has an SG special with those pickups, the sound just fine in there. Granted, it's more modern sounding than a PAF or even a 57 Classic, but it's a pretty decent all-around pickup. It ain't no Fralin, but it's a whole lot better than an Epi!

Only thing it's not great for is chimey-glass like cleans, but it's not too bad. That's what single coils are for! It's not good for uber-distorted death metal either, but I hate that stuff anyways, so it's not an issue.

Would certainly replace if lost, nice pickup. Again, it's no boutique-quality pickup, but it sure as heck sounds pretty darn good in this old Strat.

Pickup features: Passive Humbucking
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Stock on swamp ash Les Paul Studio
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: 498T Bridge
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: Guessing it to be in the low/medium range
Tone: In it's stock form I found it to be rather dark with not enough highs coming thru. To fix that all I did was to change the stock 300K volume pot to a 500K. This cleared the 490R up beautifuly. It still needs to be set somewhat low to the strings but now it's not boomy and it comes thru very clear. Matches well with the 498T in the bridge position.
Sonic evaluation: Playing my guitar thru a Peavey Classic 30. To me, this is how a neck humbucker should sound. Smooth, not to bassey with a nice clear top end. Has a nice "smokey" vibe to it when used for slower things. Combined with the 498T it works great for a rockabilly thing.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I play rock, blues and cleassic rock. Works great for all.

Comments: If it quit working I would definatley replace it. For those who find it to be muddy (as I did) I would highly recommend changing the stock 300K volume pot to a 500K. It really helped to open the sound up a lot. I thought I might have to change to tone pot as well but I really don't think it will be needed. Great pickup.

Pickup features: humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Epiphone Les Paul Custom and Gibson Les Paul Studio
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: Stock Epi- neck / Gibson 500T - bridge
Other pickups on guitar: Gibson - Seymour Duncan "Seth Lover"
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s):
Reason for pickup change: Change in tone

Perceived output level: low to medium output
Tone: Very dark and muddy in the neck, but better and more balanced in the bridge.
Sonic evaluation:
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: This is a dual review for the 490R used in different positions in two different guitars, so is difficult to fit into the standard review and rating format above, but here are my impressions:
I first bought it as a upgrade for the stock neck pickup in a Epiphone Les Paul Custom. In some ways, it was actually a downgrade. When I first fired it up after the installation, I was shocked at how bad it sounded. It was incredibly dull and muddy, totally lacking in clarity and note articulation. It definitely did not sound better than the Epiphone pickup. It sounded like playing with a blanket over the amp speaker. I eventually decided to sell the guitar to buy a Gibson and pulled the pickup out and re-installed the stock one.
Part two: I purchased a '92 Gibson Les Paul Studio Lite (see my review on Harmony Central). Still wasn't crazy about the stock pickups, so I put a Seymour Duncan "Seth Lover" in the neck position. In deciding about the bridge pickup, I thought about it and decided to try an experiment of putting the 490R in the bridge to see if being in that position would give it enough high-end bite and clarity. Even though the 490R is traditionally a neck pickup, it actually works quite well in the bridge - especially paired with a lower output neck pickup like the Seth Lover (which is designed after the original 1955 PAF). The 490 read slightly higher on the meter than the Duncan, so is a more balanced match than the super high output 498T they are usually paired with - at least for the kind of music I play. I don't really care for the 498T or 500T as they are too high output for vintage tone.
I've been playing guitar for over 30 years (mostly Fender) and play a wide range of styles from classic rock (Hendrix, Santana, Clapton, etc) to more experimental Robert Fripp-type stuff and ambient electronic. I generally use the neck pickup more, but switch to the bridge for a more bite on rock leads. The 490R works well for that, and I'm satisfied with it - for now. However, there's a good chance I'll eventually replace it to find that ultimate tone.
As far as other gear, for recording I generally go directly into the board through a Mesa Boogie tube pre-amp. For live I mostly run a stereo rig with Mesa Boogie Studio 22+ and Fender Blues Jr. with lots of effects - V Wah, TC Electronics G Major, DigiTech RP10, Addrenlin II, Vortex & JamMan, Sonic Maximizer, etc.
As far as rating, I'd give it a 3 in the neck position and an 8 in the bridge.