Wolfgang Neck Humbucker Pickup - Chrome Review

A great neck pickup to match the EVH Wolfgang Bridge

As way of background, I've been playing rock guitar for over 40 years. During that time, I've mostly played Les Pauls though I've played a Strat HSS, SG, and BC Rich Warlock two. During this 40 plus years, I've swapped out many pickups. So, I've played all the standard Gibson humbuckers, 490R, 490L, 498, Burstbucker, Burstbucker Pro etc. etc. I've also played many of the DiMarzio… read more rock style humbuckers i.e. Super Distortion, Super II, Super III, PAF Pro, Mo Jo PAF, 36th Anniversary PAF etc. etc. I've tried Fralin pickups and Bill Lawrence pickups. Overall, I've swapped out a lot of pickups in search of a creamy high distortion with a clarity for some clean brightness. EVH was an amazing guitar player and he put his name on these pickups. I have no idea if he really played these, or designed these, or even heard them. I've read that these pickups are made by Fender, which could be good or bad. Fender makes great and average guitars in my opinion depending on the model you buy. Fender is not known for their humbucker experience and prowess. EVH is known for his tone and his passion for tinkering his designs to get them where he wanted his tone to be. If EVH did that with these pickups, that explains why they are so great. This review is for the EVH Wolfgang neck pickup, but I own both the bridge and the neck pickups. Of course I noticed them because of the EVH brand and the traditional Les Paul chrome covers. These also come in black, but I like my Les Pauls fully dressed. Also, although I'm a huge fan of DiMarzio's Super Distortions and PAFs. Although the other pickups listed above are all good, I haven't found them to be up to the task of matching the EVH bridge pickup. In my opinion, if you install the EVH bridge pickup, you need to get this one to match it. For the EVH Wolfgang neck pickup, I found it to have a great output level without being muddy. It's not as loud as the EVH bridge which is desirable but it distorts as well as my DiMarzio's with better styling. It also has a punchy clean sound which is just as nice as the Gibson or DiMarzio PAFs in my opinion. If you are using a Gibson or DiMarzio bridge pickup, I think this will be fine. However, I find it to be a great match for the EVH Wolfgang bridge pickup. I've been playing it for several months through several amps and cabs and I have several Les Pauls with Gibson and DiMarzio pickups to compare it too. The wiring is color coded differently than Gibson. So, if you are installing this yourself and splitting the coils you should do some research. It wasn't hard to figure out, but you need to understand that the colors are different. If you take it too a shop for installation, I would mention this to them, but they shouldn't have any problem. In summary: It was a surprise, but I love this pickup!

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