I use gibson classic 57's and i like them very much. Infact, i like them so much, i still havent replaced them with dimarzios or duncans which i have on my other guitars. i have an Epiphone Les Paul ES which has them 57's and i thinks it's one of the better and most versatile pickups out there- you can play just about any style with these pickups whether rockabilly, jazz, blues, or classic rock. It has a nice distorted sound- great for blues and classic rock (just to note, Angus Young uses a 57' classic in his SG) but I wouldnt recommed it for that metal tone because it lacks that rich, thick, tone. It's just a low output pu. When it comes to clean tones, I love the clean tone of this pu- which is the most important part for me because i like to play clean a lot and i crave for that nice paf tone. Just to give you an idea how nice and smooth the clean tone of this pu is, i can do a very good and accurate santana tone just by playing my guitar clean on an old transistor fender amp with these pu's- and it also sounds nice when you play chords! Most of my jazz musician friends use this pu in their guitars. I really think this pu is a very versatile pu and can play just about anything except that rich, thick heavy metal tone. if that's the sound you want, you might want to look for dimarzios or duncans. Personally, although this pu isn't made for the heavy metal sound, i have no problems with it. To get that nice thick metal sound, I just use my korg ax1500g effects processor to beef my tone up a bit. You'll be surprised how my guitar can go from a paf sound to a beefy mesa booger sound using my rectifier patch in my korg- but that's another story. Anyways try it in your local music store and see if you like it. I can only give you my opinion. Certain ES 335's, SG's, and gold top's use the Gibson classic 57's.