Sounding out: Gibson pickups

So I recently re-installed the 490R/ 496T into my SG Standard. I disliked them to begin with. They were replaced almost immediately after I bought the guitar. I had good results (tone-wise) with the Firebird's mini humbuckers recently & those were off my radar. I had no experience with them prior to the purchase. It was a hit/ miss. It was a miss at the store but after a good set up at home coupled with my choice of amp/ pedals, it was an unmistakable hit.

One of the reasons my Gibson tones sound likeable lately (with Gibson pickups) - my amp. It occured to me that the 490R/ 496T were never plugged into my current lineup of amps; the Blackstar/ EVH/ PRS. This led to the re-installation of those pickups into the SG Standard & they turned out to be splendid.

While at it, I managed to revisit the Burstbucker Pros which are in my LP Standard. These are definitely likeable pickups. In fact, I rank them above the 57s which are supposedly some of the more outstanding performers in the Gibson catalog. I hear lots of vintage vibes from the BBs but they aren't restrained by any attempts to make them historically familiar in terms of voicings. They are simply good-soinding pickups, nothing high output though. OK so this basically provided some reconciliations between having a preferred amp & letting the not so preferred pickups do their thing resting in the knowledge that a good amp will make almost any pickups sound good. Almost because those faulty one don't count. 😅