Peavey Wolfgang Stock Pickups

This is a set of passive humbucker pickups that come as standard fare on the Peavey EVH Wolfgang Series Guitars.

I don't have the exact impedance specs of each pickup but they are pretty hot, especially the bridge pickup.

These pickups are stock in my US Made Peavey EVH Wolfgang Special replacing no pickups. Artists using are Eddie Van Halen and anyone else who owns the guitar.

Pretty hot output levels on both pickups.

Using the guitar through my live rig which has an A/B amp switcher with the following... Sennheiser G2 Evolution Wireless/Modified Peavey JSX Head/Peavey 5150 Head/Marshall half G12T 75 watt Celestion half Celestion Vintage 30 Loaded 4/12 Slant Cabinet, and my pedalboard has a Peterson Strobostomp Tuner, Dunlop Zakk Wylde Wah, Dunlop Rotovibe, MXR Custom Audio Electronics Boost/Overdrive, MXR EVH Phase 90, MXR EVH Flanger, MXR 134a Reissue Stereo Chorus running in mono, a Maxon Vintage Series AD999 Analog Delay and a TC Electronics Vintage Delay pedal.

Tone: Just a huge helping of low end for starters. Accelerated mids and highs as well. More highs in the bridge than neck of course. They are perfectly matched. I noticed in alot of the Wolfies that the neck pickup tends to go harmonic the older the axe gets but still works fine. This is the case with not mine but friends of mine who own the same axe. One thing these pickups are though are very ballsy. Also very articulate.

I play in a top 40 cover band and they cover all the bases.

All in all this is the best sounding combo of pickups I honestly ever heard.

Unless you find em' on ebay good luck finding them. I am in constant search of these pickups particularly the bridge pickup.

Coincidentally I also own a Custom Made one of a kind Ernie Ball Music Man Axis which is the Van Halen model after Eddie defected to Peavey. To check out these guitars and some other gear I use gearheads can go to www.myspace.com/4dougbryan and check out the pictures. In comparison, I honestly like the pickups in the Wolfgang Special better than in that of my Axis. The main difference is that the stock Di Marzios in my Axis are at least to my ears too tinny and thin sounding. Almost no depth through my JSX at low volumes in particular but this could be the fact that alot of times my amp volume is kept low unless I am onstage. In the studio and live I crank the amp and it's a different story altogether but I still like the Wolfgang pickups better. Once I find them on ebay I'm swapping out the stock Di Marzios from my Axis for these no doubt.

If you can find them and can get over the fact that these are no Di Marzios, no Seymour Duncans, not Rio Grande's but in fact every bit Peavey made pickups you're going to find yourself and your ears very happy people when you find a set of these puppies you can drop in your own guitar.

The pickups (stock) in my Wolfgang are the absolute best I have ever owned or heard, period.

wolfgang, blue flame top

amazing!!!

awesome

Pickup features: Passive Humbucker
Impedence or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Peavey wolfgang special flametop
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: n/a
Other pickups on guitar:
Artists using this pickup: eddie van halen... they dont sell thesepickups seperately unless you buy directly from peavey parts dept...
You musical style(s): Van halen
Reason for pickup change:

Perceived output level: wolfgang pickups are hot! especially the bridge pickup! judging by my ears, i'd say the bridge is at about 400 mv, and the neck is about 300 mv. to make an analogy, the outputs of the bridge and neck pickups sound just about equal with the Dimarzio evolution (bridge) and the PAF pro
Tone: it has alot of mids and bass, as well as a sparkly/bright top
Sonic evaluation: i'm just usin' a cheapo fender 15 watt practice amp and the marshall JCM900 amp model of the digitech RP100, and some effects like delay, reverb, etc... to liven' up the sound..
To my ears, these pickups sound like a cross between the pickup eddie used in his kramers in 5150/Ou812, and the pickups on the ernie ball evh musicman guitar. they have the bright/sparkly and woody sound to it like the musicman pickups. but the wolfgang pickups have much more MIDRANGE and BASS compared to the EBMM pups. In that sense, the wolfgang pickups bears similarities to the dimarzio tonezone. but in addition to that, it retained the woody sound of the musicman pickups.
on a maple topped guitar, these pickups would sound a bit too bright. my wolfgang is a flametop special model. and it sounds too damn bright. i'm gonna buy a regular wolfgang special without the maple top, i think the pickups would sound better on that guitar.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: aside from van halen, these pickups would be great for Joe Satriani types of sounds. eddies and satrianis tones sound similar to me. the neck pickup would great for melodic instrumental solos while the bridge matches hardrock riffing riffing ala VH/ACDC/OZZY/Black sabbath

Comments: these pickups would be great in a bass wood body/maple neck guitar. they sound too bright for maple topped guitars...

Pickup features: Humbucking Passive
Impedence or other specs: Hell I don't know.. HOT!

Model of guitar or bass: Wolfgang Special..
Position: all positions
Pickup being replaced: None
Other pickups on guitar: All Stock.. Both pickups.. Two Humbuckers
Artists using this pickup: Eddie Van Halen, and many others I guess.. Me.. Hell I don't know
You musical style(s): Rock, Blues, Metal, Rock, Blues, Metal, Rock, Blues, Metal
Reason for pickup change: No reason.. Just bought the guitar.. and love these things

Perceived output level: Very hot..
Tone: Very balanced and clear even at high gain.. Not muddy at all even the neck p;ickup rocks!
Sonic evaluation: I love these pickups.. I am playing the wolfgang thru a Peavey Classic 30 tube amp and a Boss overdrive pedal.. I also use a cheap Digitech Modeling amp that is for delay and such, and I use the Digitech by it'self as a cheap way to record to my PC.. and to play thru my stereo speakers on my PC if I want to just jam quickly, or to play along with my CD player on my PC / LAP Top

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: Rock mostly.. Mostly stuff like Ted Nugent, Lynard Skynard, Ozzy, etc..Blues, original blues, etc..

Comments: I'd buy these pickups again in a second if I could.. They only come with the guitar, so if you don't own the guitar you can't get them new at least.. I guess they sell on Ebay from time to time.. Don't know how they would sound on another guitar.. Of course wood and other things matter too and the wolfgang is made in the US of quality parts and works like a great guitar should.. I like it better than my LP and it only cost 599 NOS with hang tags, etc..etc..
I've had a lot of pickups .. Everything from EMG's, Dimarzio's and a ton of Duncans.. The bridge pickup just screams and with the Wolf it's clear as hell even maxed with gain.. and you can get killer pinch harmonics.. Like Zakk Wylde or something.. I'm sure a lot of the reason the pinch harmonics are as good as they are is the guitar since it has a maple neck and killer 6105 dunlop frets polished to perfection .. This pickup reminds me of the EMG a little or the Duncan Distortion. I think it's very hot... Hell, my amp isn't a high gain amp, but this thing drive the hell out of those pre amp tubes! Man it rocks.. You can sustain a note forever (Guitar helps) and then it starts into this killer harmonic feedback.. Very controllable though! .. Clean it doesn't do so well unless you really back off the volume switch, but it still sounds ok.. Hell, who plays clean anyway totally unless you play jazz and you might as well have a pickup with the least amount of output you can and an EQ that is flat.. (No offense to the Jazz folks, but it's true!).. This pickup is also very sweet as well as being hot.. it has MOJO if you ask me.. It's like a Rio Grande I think as much as anything, only maybe hotter.. Not quite as toneful, but close and that's really good for a stock pickup as I really liked the Rio Grande pickups that I played in a strat..
It would be kinda cool if it were split by pulling up on the volume knob (since this doesn't have a tone knob) but I hear it's not that great in single coil mode.. So I can't complain..
I'm always looking for that sound.. Hell what musician isn't?
If anyone has tried any Rio Grande Pickups in their Wolfgang, especially the BBQ, Id' love to hear from you.. Please write me and give me your suggestions and opinoions.. Oh, by the way, this pickup is mounted directly to the body of this basswood bodied guitar.. Don't tell me it doesn't matter, because I'm sure it does.. I can tell it helps.. I've always believed it does.. Why not .. The pickup should be layed against the wood! Wood vibrates and the pickup "Picks up" signals generated by vibrating wood and strings, etc.. (Simple explanation) but true!
I'd love to try the dimarzio Evolution since it's used in Basswood guitars such as the steve Vai and I'd love to try the BBQ Rio Grande since I loved the tone of it in a strat.. Don't know how it would sound in this guitar..
Thanks
Tim