The Clapton Bluesbreaker tone is quite possibly the ‘voice’ that started the whole Les Paul P.A.F. craze in the first place... and also, since the guitar housing those immortal pickups has virtually been MIA since those seminal 1966 recordings, it is also one of the most difficult voicings to nail down. However, the magic elves winding pickups for Wizz believe they have uncovered that secret buried which has been for decades.
For those out of the loop, Clapton apparently bought his legendary 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard at the end of May 1965, used it on the even more legendary "John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers' Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton" album recorded in July 1966, and found it stolen just a few months later while he was rehearsing with Cream... the guitar has never been recovered and Clapton has admitted that he probably wouldn't recognize it even if it were. Therefore, all we really have to go on are a few live recordings and the (originally engineered and remastered) album itself.
Beano Bluesbreakers (Creamy Clapton Set)
Our Beano Bluesbreakers differ from Gibson’s own interpretation of the P.A.F.s found in the Beano Burst (as well as that of other prominent winders) primarily in that we don't believe that particular ferociousness can be derived from a pair of AlNiCo 3 magnets, which were also quite rare in 1960. Hence our opting for a pair of fully charged AlNiCo 5s. These pickups allow for a fuller range of dynamics, yet retain all the creaminess, warmth and smoothness for which Clapton is best known (which in the case of the Beano album we attribute more to the KT66 Tubes and Greenback speakers found in the fabled circuitry of the Marshall Model 1962 Bluesbreaker Combo than the P.A.F. pickups themselves). And there’s the rub… if you are playing through a Bluesbreaker Combo and taking advantage of its built in creaminess and compression and want to stay as true to spec as possible, we recommend going with our choice of A5 mags. If you are playing through pretty much any other amp we would recommend going with the A3s if you want to access your inner Beano.
We are quite proud of our formula, but do try them out and judge for yourself... and don't forget to install a set of .022uf/.015uf caps for Clapton’s famous “woman tone”… you’ll be glad you did!!!
This set is without P.A.F. covers. M69 pickup rings are free.