software

I got myself a new epiphone about 6 - 7 months back. I love the guitar, but the pickups are a bit flat. Any suggestions for possible upgrades would be greatly appreciated. I play blues primarily, and I'm looking for something with more punch than I can get out of the stock epiphone pickups. I've listened to some of the online examples (seymour duncan) to get some idea what I'm looking for . I think I'm leaning toward either the JB SH4 for the bridge, and the Jazz SH2 for the neck, or the Pearly Gates. Has anyone tried these on a semi-hollow body, and if so, how'd it work? I have no experience at this kind of stuff and would greatly appreciate any help.

JB might be a bit harsh - the '59 is more rounded i think, and I REALLY like the cleaner sounds I get out of my 59. You'll still get a decent blues growl out of that if you put your amps and pedals right. What setup do u have at the moment?

I can only tell you what works for me in my Hamer Monomo Super Pro alnico 2...neck Seth Lover and bridge Custom Custom. Really sounds great. You don't see to many players using the JB in a semi hollowbody guitar. Seems like excess bass can be a problem in semi hollowbodies and alnico 5 pickups like the JB do generate more bass than alnico 2. In any case, a set of Seth Lovers (or Antiquitys) for vintage 50's tones or the Seth/CC set I use if you want a vintage output neck pickup and hotter alnico 2 pickup for the bridge position would be looking into.

All I've got right now for an amp is a tiny little marshall practice amp, so that could be a part of the sound problem. However I also have a '66 telecaster that I play thru the same amp, and it sounds fine. So I'm thinking it's probably the pickups on the sheraton that are making the biggest difference. I also looked at quite a few reviews of the sheraton online, and the pickups came up fairly regularly as a weak point. So I was figuring on changing them out anyway. My next purchase, after the pickups, will probably be a small (20 watt) traynor tube amp. I don't need LOUD, I want the best tone I can get without going bankrupt.

Thanks!! I'll check those out. It's too bad there isn't a way to plug in all the variables and see what it would sound like. Like I said, I have no real experience with this stuff. Up to now my only electric guitar purchase was a '66 telecaster that I bought about 30 years ago. I've been perfectly happy just to play that thru whatever little amp I could find.