Replacement Pickup for Epiphone Emperor Regent

[pingu]

Great responses folks ,thanks .
To Swampguide,yes I've tried alll those settings... but the warmth is elusive .
I should have added the fact that I'm not soloing or playing chord melodies,only chords .. and I'm using flatwound stainless strings 12/54 .

I'd recommend some Ti jazz swings
(flats but not stainless steel)

Also get the guitar sounding as you want it
Acoustically first

Only when this is right move onto
Sorting out the electric sound

[jaymen]

Maybe you did not read my post fully, but I worked over the guitar first, then tried several amplifies, and even did mods to my Blues Jr.

In the end, it was a Blackface mid-1960s Princeton and/or a Deluxe Reverb that got me that Jazz sound.

Do flat wounds help? yes they do,
Do different speakers help? they sound different.
Does the action and setup help? Makes it easier to play.
Does the tone controls (pots and cap) make a difference? Yes, you can go darker, or brighter.

But it is the amplifier that makes the HUGE difference that none of those things listed above delivered.
Just for laughs and giggles, check out the survey on what brand of amplifier is most popular with Jazz guitarist...by a long shot.
No surprise, it's Fender. I should have test driven those blackface re-issues when they came out almost 30 years ago, but never did becaus e I could not afford one. Now, I cannot afford to be without one

[Rickco]

Well I just cant resist...old fart here "back in the day" the only thing between you and the amp was a cable and the favored jazz sound was most often a gibson into a fender usually a twin or deluxe. I dragged a twin around for years (no wonder my backs fu ed up) but you plug into it and everything sounds good. There were other very good amps using a variety of output schemes and I thought 6l6 was king but after tinkering now for a few years I think its the input tube and the rectifier if its tube. I recently rolled some AXs in my 65 reish and was amply rewarded for the effort. I was until recently convinced only old European or us tubes were any good and stocks are low prices high but I was happily surprised at how well some of the new tubes coming out of china performed although there were a lot of bummers. Its great to hear someone else is discovering this great sound formula now with current equipment. I might add Ive been experimenting with an early HR deluxe. I started by GBing it with an AT for the input. I also liked that you could split off the preamp but you lost the verb so a bud showed me where to tap an output so I could take an output right after the verb. This allowed me to listen to the pre separately and use different power amps. I put it into an FET power amp and Im pretty sure this could be the magic combo. I never overdrive so pushing the tube output isnt part of the sound I want. When I first heard this amp I thought it was one of the most horrible things ever now Im kinda diggin it. To be honest Im lost in the pedal and eq discussions never used them. For me the fun is finding that guitar amp combo the hits your spot. I had to trade my '68 twin bought new for a 65 reish cuase I couldnt lift the twin anymore.
Great thread

[jaymen]

I hear that Rick,
I never used pedals back in the day. You basically had to find the right combo of guitar and amp, or if that was not happening, the best compromise.We did not have the huge selection of strings, pick-ups, and effects, not to mention boutique and modeling amps, or re-issue amps. You had to work with what you could afford, or more often, what was handed down to you, and try to make the best of it. I think that made us all better players until we got spoiled and a bit lazy when the 80s came around. I got rid of my tube amps for lighter, more reliable solid state amps but went backwards with the sound and could never make any sense out of all the knobs on the newer 2-3 channel amps with too many confusing features.
By the 90s, I went back to tube amps but by that time I had taken up playing standup bass and played it un-amplified, or played jazz on my L-50 acoustically. In addition, Fender Blackface amps by that time had skyrocketed in value, mainly due to "that sound".


The newer JJ Tesla EL34, 6L6 and 6V6 tubes are very good, but you need to get them from a supplier that properly matches them, such as Groove Tubes. If you are lucky enough to have a stash of New Old Stock USA, or UK tubes, they last much longer. Depending on who made them, 6L6 and EL84 tubes can vary quite a bit sonically. There were big bottle, and tall bottle versions of them, each with their own distinct sound. USA Marshalls, with 6550 tubes sound quite different than UK Marshalls with EL34 tubes. It is all a matter of taste and what style you want to play.

And I hear you on that boat anchor Twin Reverb, in fact my Deluxe Reverb at 42 pounds is about all I want to handle. But there is nothing like these classics, which is why Fender continues producing a design that dates back to the mid 1960s. I have tried pedals, but if the amp does not sound good plugged straight into your guitar, then pedals will not help. There is one exception, and that is if you have really crappy pick-ups. Fortunately, the Epiphone Emperor Regent has a decent pick-up that sounds very good through the afore mentioned Blackface series Fender amps.

I am glad I found this out as opposed to getting another pick up, or speaker, only to find out I still sound like I'm playing Country music!

BTW, my Epiphone MIK 1996 Epeiphone Emperor Regent has a solid top, as I used calipers to verify it has a graduated top, meaning it is thicker in the middle and gets thinner at the edges where it joins the sides.