Gibson Burstbucker 1

Pickup features: Humbucker
Impedence or other specs: pfffoooeeeeiiii dunno...

Model of guitar or bass: 70's Aria Pro II PE- ProPE-180 jazzguitar (high quality L-5 copy)
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: The last ones were Gibson P-90 dogears
Other pickups on guitar: Burstbucker 1 at both positions
Artists using this pickup: I wish I knew
You musical style(s): 40's 50's jazz, jumpblues, swing, rock-a-billy and so on....
Reason for pickup change: I bought this guitar 20 years 20 years ago with
the original Alnico VII pickups. The neck was sounding decent.
The bridge sounded awfull tinny and lifeless like almost all bridge pickups on archtops do. So I lived with it for more than 10 years. After that my tonequest began and it turned out to be a neverending story. Untill now...

Perceived output level: Less than a normal Gibson PAF I guess. But enough to push my tube-amps into a nice smooth drive.
Tone: A bit middy sounding. A bit bassy but not too much for an archtop. And not trebly at all.
Sonic evaluation: I play only archtop guitars for my style of music.Like I have ' 51 Gibson ES-300 with two original P-90, A '52 Silvertone H-53, a DeArmond x-155 with 2k's single coils and this Aria Pro II PE-180 (L5 copy).
I have grown to be a bit of a vintage Gibson nut since I decided that my old Gibson guitar needed an old Gibson tube amp. So now there are
a GA-75 ('65), a GA-30 ('51) and a BR-1 ('47?) looking at me every day in my music room. For gigs I use mostly a Polytone Minibrute VI.
Almost no effects. Sometimes a teeny bit of delay through a Boss DD-3 and a little boost from a Zinky master Blaster pedal. But that's it. Just the guitar, the tubes and my fingers. I like it that way.
Well back to the pickups. The Aria archtop allways was a kind of problemchild to me. It is an excellent built quality archtop that comes close to the real Gibby's. However the stock pickups didn't do it for me. So one rainy day my experiments began and through the years I changed them out for Schallers Golden 50's, Kent Armstrong HPAN's, Seymour Duncans Jazz and JB's, DeArmond Goldtones, DeArmond 2k's, Gibson '57's, Gibson and Kent Armstrong P-90's, Gibson Burstbucker Pro V's and now finally: a pair of Burstbucker #1 pups. All the pups I tried came close more or less but never hit it for that true , warm , vintage, real acoustic electric jazz and blues sound. However I liked the P-90's very much but they sounded very bassy. The Schallers sounded dull. The Kent Armstrong PAF's were nice but more on the blueside than suited for smooth jazz.The SD's were, how shall I put it, too much balanced. Too sweet, too processed. Can you imagine that? They sounded good, but somehow did not inspire me at all. The Gibson Classics were nice, but a bit middy. And still horrible on the bridge position.
Then along came... the Burstbucker. Just for an experiment I tried a #1 I got fairly cheap from Ebay. I didn't expect miracles but when i first hit the .13 flatwounds...wow...I knew these were it! A warm , somewhat dry, very airy, smooth jazzsound. And a very subtile grain in the sound. Maybe a wee bit muddy in the lower chordal work, but hey, that's vintage, ain't it? Instantly the sound of the great jazzguys from the 50's and 60's. The burstbucker let the natural acoustic woodsound (I try to avoid the the word woody, The W-word) of the hollowbody come through splendidly. And they respond very natural to your attack on the strings (I play with a pick). Very much like a single coil. And the best part of it: the bridge pup sounds great too. More trebly tan the neckpup ofcourse, but still warm and smooth and airy. Did i say I like airy? Anyway, maybe it is because the #1 is slightly underwound. They make a jazzguitar sound very natural. As all the other humbuckers I've tried, made my archtop sound ...too electric. Including the Burstbucker Pro alnico V! Which i thought would be another step up from the #1's.
But heck no. The same day I tried it i put back the #1 again. Great sounding though, nice thick single notes. Just too much elctric and colouring the sound.
The Burstbuckers 1# really sound great pushing a tube-amp (low wattage)
into overdrive. They tend to get a littlebit muddy sounding however. Depending on your style of playing, your tonesettings and the stringgauge you use. But that is the only minor thing I can think of.
Almost all reviews on these pups are about Gibson LP's. But I think the Burstbuckers are excellent for big hollowbody jazzguitars too!
Let me tell you. If you are into vintage jazz and play archtops like I do and play lot's of low-gain gigs and your thinking of a pickup change, you must give the Burstbuckers a chance. My tonequest has ended here. I love these pickups. My holy grail.

[For which styles and positions

Comments: If they were broken or stolen I'd immediatly replace them again.
I have played guitar since the mid seventies, ? 30 years or so.
I several other gear i mentioned above. All with different tonal characteristics. The Aria sounding real Gibsonesque and the DeArmond very much Gretschy sounding. The best sounding git I ever had is the Gibby ES-300. Nothing even comes close.
There is nothing i really hate about it. Except for taking me such a long time to discover them, spending all the precious greens.
For now I am really satisfied with them. I'm sure there are other pups that sound better. Even for the tone I want. But who's going to tell me?
Maybe some other rainy day i 'll bet my luck on some Seth Lovers. But I'll keep the Burstbuckers within close reach.
The Burstbucker #1 is a big 10 for me. Must be some pickup that can beat that.

Pickup features: humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: 58 les paul custom shop
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: 57 classics
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): blues and rock n' roll
Reason for pickup change: thought they wpuld be better

Perceived output level: same as 57
Tone: to dark, no cut what so ever
Sonic evaluation: they were in my guitar for 1 hour and I had them taken out and but my 57's back in. might be ok for lead but they suck gor rythem

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: not good for blues

Comments: would not buy again!!!!!!!

Pickup features: Humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Gibson Les Paul Standard
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Gibson Original Humbucker
Other pickups on guitar: Burstbucker 2
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): jazz-rock-folk-new age
Reason for pickup change: Old pickups - Original Humbucker from 1979 - were very good, but was a little to muddy and a little to dark.

Perceived output level: Medium
Tone: Burstbucker 1 are a little dark sounding, but when you hit the the strings hard, it will come alive with a nice treble response.
Sonic evaluation: Using Yamaha DGstomp and Yamaha DG60-112 amp. I'm using delay and reverb, and the Burstbucker shines here. It has a very good definition when you are using delay. Much better than the Original Humbucker.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I think, that Burstbucker primary is for rock, but also (with a jazzguitar) for jazz. You can hear every note in a chord.

Comments: I'm only into Gibson-pickups, because Seymour Duncans and Dimarzios are noisy. With those I'm transmitting a russian radiostation. Gibson-pickups are very quiet. I don't think a burstbucker are better than a '57 classic, and are not as bright as a real 1957 PAF. But it still is the best choice for me. Burstbucker 1 in the neckposition sings, and the burstbucker 2 in the trebleposition screams, so those two together are a very good choice. I have writen a opinion on the Burstbucker 2 as well, and here we're up to 10.