The Vinnie Vincent Forum - Where Freedom Rocks!

What kind of pups did Vinnie have in his white and gold Washburn?

This is as much info as we've got LJH! Duncan Distortions or Super 2s are the best bet!

http://vvforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=709

I am not really the guy to ask but what vv said is he used duncan paf's .. not sure the name of the duncan models in the late 80s. He switched from emg because he liked the paf sound. I think he said he did miss the hotness of the emgs a little but obviously not enough to choose them over duncsns.
In the new versions he used lynch model duncans which are a hot paf so I am told.

This not fact just calculated guess from a jigsaw of information but its more than possible that vv used an rr v for firsr vvi album. If not all for sure rhythm parts. He may have not even taken delivery of his vv model until after the album was made. One report was that vv actually liked the sound of his rr v for rhythm work over the vv model. Its also more than likely asg was recorded with duncan pafs and not emgs but again its calculated guess work.

Also vv had said his carvin played the best of all his 80s guitars and he didnt care for the ibanez . I have seen pictures of him recording gfh with the the washburn so he must have liked it but I did hear reports that the washburn wasnt to his liking either but again its just reports from different people.

I've seen the same pictures from GFH sessions provided by Andre LaBelle on Facebook of the engineer with Vinnie's Washburn. It was also to my understanding that the current consensus was that they were Duncan PAF's. Maybe I'm just too young to be able to tell the difference, but what is the difference between a PAF sound and just a regular pickup sound, like, for example, a Duncan JB or Dimarzio Super Distortion.

I suppose its closee to a late 50s les paul than some of the others to state the obvious .. others are better for this than me.. but I am guessing it has that classic tone .

I suppose its like having a new car with a vintage engine installed . You get a modern look with an old hairy chested sounding engine.

Duncan "Custom" and "Custom-Custom" I would say fall within the PAF´s category.
Duncan JB and Distortion are hotter pickups with somewhat less definition, less of a "PAF"..
in my opinion anyway... Who knows what was used...Duncan 59 is too weak for hard rock, better for blues.
Ive had them all. haha..
Id say you´d get pretty close rythm-wise with a Duncan "Custom" and a mega cranked Marshall from that era. late 80ties. perhaps a boost pedal/eq here or there if you find somethings lacking, but usually at the expense of the "true sound" so to speak, from the guitar. Hot pickup are cool but tend to mush things up, so, the RocknRoll and "string" in the sound gets lost.

Lil' Jack Horny wrote:I've seen the same pictures from GFH sessions provided by Andre LaBelle on Facebook of the engineer with Vinnie's Washburn. It was also to my understanding that the current consensus was that they were Duncan PAF's. Maybe I'm just too young to be able to tell the difference, but what is the difference between a PAF sound and just a regular pickup sound, like, for example, a Duncan JB or Dimarzio Super Distortion.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/comparetones

http://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/humbuck ... distortion

Pafs have a different eq curve and,basically were the blue print for the other models born afterwards.It is a matter of preference about materila- some of the ones you've mentioned are made with ceramic magnets instead of Alnico,and this already makes quite a difference- output,eq and attack.Some people like hotter output pickups for rock and metal, but sometimes such pickups aren't great for play clean.Also,often high output pickups give a muddy sound when there's too much disrtortion.Lower output pickups need an extra kick to push the amp into overdrive but you get a lot of clarity.

For example, Zakk Wylde did state that paf's are great for rock blues, but when you play through distortion and platy fast 16th notes, you need the clarity of EMG's .(don't forget that also he uses different ouput tansformers and EV speakers in his marshalls)

Ace has used both the super distortion and also the JB.Bruce liked the JB as many rock players do.The super distortion was designed to help push the older amps into the crunch/overdrive area

For me, the difference is also in the attack of the note, the dimarzio-in painting with broad strokes,here- seems to have more attack.Personally,i prefer the Duncan's.

I loved the 80s schaeller pick ups too. Like a mix of emg and paf

the schaller golden 50 was rumoured to be one of the best PAF around.Even MIcheal Schenker made a blind test with many humbuckers iftted into one of his guitars aand the best one for him was the shaller.

I'm also very fond of the Shadow eq 5 pickup.

Yeah. They are such underated . Nitros ofr was all schaller pick ups too.

I think this is drews but like most ritz guitars they had great schaller pickups. I dont know what model they were without asking wayne charvel but maybe similar to shadow ones.

I was told that vv had a real vintage paf in his rr v in kiss.

doublev2 wrote:

I just jizzed a little...

Thats owned by a vvforums member.

doublev2 wrote:Thats owned by a vvforums member.

Yeah but that's the only guitar he owns though!

I actually got to play one of the Ritz Rockets(as well as the circuit board DOUBLE GUITAR) when I followed Nitro around for a few shows. Michael and his tech , Wally, were ultra cool.

I'm new here and just saw this old thread. Around 1988 I called the Seymour Duncan company to inquire about Vinnie's Duncan pickups. After being on hold for a bit they came back with the answer of Duncan JB in the bridge & a PAF in the neck. Not sure how accurate they were but wanted to share this with you guys. I use JBs & I can tell you my ears agree.

there is an interview somewhere where he explains his switch from EMG back to Seymour Duncan PAF. Its hard to tell. my memory was a SD Jazz and PAF. 100 percent he has a SD PAD. JB would make sense but don't know why i wanna say jazz. I think its the interview he did for the guitar world cassette recording he mentioned it. I can look where that is but its for sure on this forum somewhere.

would love to see a VV model pick up. would be interesting at least.

when vv re-sprayed his pink double v guitar from pink to silver he switched pick up from EMG to SD PAF. Now what I do know is he sighted that he loved the PAF sound which is why he changed the pick up. Later he added a second humbucker to the same guitar but at the time of the first ASG pictures that guitar had one bridge position humbucker that I would say 99.99999% was a Duncan PAF. So when he added a second humbucker I am unsure if he would have moved the PAF to the neck and added a jazz of JB in the bridge.. my feeling is he would have had the PAF in the bridge. But certainly when it was first sprayed the only pickup in the Jackson was a PAF. If Seymour Duncan said PAF and JB then it could be correct.

EMG 81 and Seymour Duncan PAF were his two favourites. I believe EMG he likes both still but depends on what he needs it for. This is what I was told. Obviously the question would be better asked to VV. The second humbucker is quite a mystery