hey i have a epiphone les paul gibson model i was wondering what pick ups you would suggest for it for a more heavy sound but still a nice clean tone when i want to use it and what else you guys would do to it other then swaping out the pick ups.sorry if this has been talked about already thanks for the help

I assume it has the Gibson USA p/u's in it now. I've played an Epiphone LP w/those pick ups and it sounded great. To me anyway, but you probably aren't into the vintage shit, and you would like a more modern sound.
From what I've heard, people use EMGs to get a bottom heavy, modern tone. EMG 81s are good. I've played guitars that come with EMG 85s stock and they sounded like shit. EMGs are active pickups which require a 9 volt battery, and will make your guitar somewhat heavier. They will be much louder than the stock pickups though, because active pickups have a preamp circuit that amplifies your signal before it even hits the amp, so you won't have to crank up your amp as much. I personally prefer Seymour Duncan or, if you're cheap like me Duncan Designed pickups. I've heard people talk trash about Duncan Designed pickups but I can honestly say only great things about them. Great tone all the way. You may prefer the EMGs to Duncans because Duncans give you a somewhat vintage tone, which is what you already have. My suggestion is to seek out a guitar similar to yours or the same with aforementioned pickups, play it, and see what you like better.
It may be tough to find a LP with anything but Gibson USAs, but plenty of other guitars come with EMGs, Duncan Designed, or Seymour Duncans. Play 'em, and see what suits your ears the best.
As far as other modifications go, most people don't fuck with much else besides the pickups. Some prefer Floyd Rose Tremolo bridges to stock ones. If you don't know what a tremolo is, you don't need a Floyd Rose. Also, some people like to replace their stock tuning machines. I've heard good things about Shaller, (or Schaller, I'm not sure), tuners, but have had no experience with them myself, so I couldn't give you any good firsthand advice.
I hope this helps.

if it were me... id get a new guitar... i hate LPs and i dont really care for epiphones...

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You seem like you're quite nice, so I wont try to sound rude, but I want to say a few things.
1. Searching (on this forum) will probably give you quite a few more opinions, so try that. Don't resurrect any old threads though (since you've already started this one, you can ask your questions here).
2. I'd appreciate better grammar and punctuation (though you're not half as bad as some new people around here).

And, to try and answer your question:
I haven't got much experience with various pickups (only played stock stuff and EMGs), but my opinion is that EMGs will probably give you what you want. I've got a Jackson with an EMG 85 in the neck and an 81 in the bridge, and the 81 gives a nice, crunchy, heavy sound, while the 85 gives a rounder sound. Both are nice for both clean and dist, but I think the 85 is better for clean, and the 81 for dist. The 81 sounds a little shrill when I run it clean, but that can easily be avoided by cutting some highs. The 85 on the other hand sounds a bit muddy for rhythm when distorted. But I feel they complement eachother well. Keep in mind though, I've got experience with the pickups you're talking about (or at least I don't know I do), so try to get to try some EMGs before deciding.

As for other things to do, I don't think there's much you'd want to do, unless you've got some specific problem.

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Yeah, I like the sound they arleady produce, but they're not as heavy for some of the stuff i play. They are pretty good when i want to play mellow stuff. I'm thinking about just saving up for a new guitar, mabye a jackson or ibanez. I have played guitars with floyd rose bridges, but im ifffy on them. I like the fact your guitar stays in tune longer but i like tuning my guitar lower sometimes for different styles of music and i dont want to have to go get it set up every time. Thanks for the replys and next time i'lll search for them, and if you have any recommendations for a nice guitar in the 700 or less$ range let me know. Thanks again.

If you like using the whammy bar then there is no problem learning how to set it up yourself, it really aint that hard.
But if you have no need for a whammy bar then just get a guitar without it
You could also if you don't like the whammy but like the better tuning stability get a guitar with a floyd and then block the floyd.

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You don't even need a Floyd Rose for tuning stability. My ESP stays in tune forever, no Floyd Rose. If it does go out of tune, it is very slightly, almost insignifficantly. I wouldn't recommend ditching the Les Paul man. Those are good guitars. However, if you got a really cheap ass LP, then it's probably not that great. For $700 you can get the Epiphone of your dreams. Then again, as far as I can tell, LPs were not made with tuning down in mind. Most people out there that play LPs play them in standard tuining.
One thing you might want to consider is your amp. What kind of amp do you have? If your amp is a piece of crap, it's gonna make your guitar sound shitty as well. I've played some Crate solid state combos, and they are very cool. I think you would like the sound you can get straight out of the amp, no pedals, no nothing. They have a really heavy, modern sound. They're also pretty cheap. I paid $250 for a 30W Marshall. I could have thrown in another $50 and probably gotten a Crate that was twice as powerful. These are not official figures, just rough estimates from vague memories of how much these amps cost. You can even take your guitar to a guitar store and plug it into different amps and see which one gives you the best sound. Then, you can maybe try a different guitar on that same amp, maybe one with EMGs, and see how it works out.

I've got an EMG in one of my guitars and if you still wants the cleans I'd say look into getting some good passives.

I have an Epiphone Les Paul Classic (one of the ones with that birdseye maple top), I play it in drop b (drop d down a step and a half), and it sounds totally brutal with insane harmonics. Just have 11s with a wound G string and it works out good. Has way more oomph behind it than my ESP Maverick with the active EMGs in the same setup and tuning or my old Ibanez RG7420. I have it set up so it plays awesome now too. Never had any tuning problems. I think mine may be some kind of freak, because I haven't heard of these being THAT great, I mean they're a nice intermediate guitar, but I keep gravitating to mine because it sounds and plays great. When I tried it out new, I compared it to a bunch of guitars and nothing else sounded like it. I don't have coverered pick-ups though, mine are open coil, so it may be I have better ones than most.


As for the question, check out some of the DiMarzio pick-ups, they are another good option, them and Seymour Duncan make higher output models based on the Gibson design.