1

The Pickup Place / Re: PAF pickups that are close in brightness to singles?

« on: September 29, 2024, 10:29:14 PM »

Both Air Classics play well with singles.  They have the good kind of bright with good clarity. In my experience, the neck model was never muddy even in mahogany. They really work great with high gain amps, too.  The Bridge version has more real world output than the mv specs would lead you to believe. It can wail, but switching to middle and neck singles was not too big a jump in the typical setup. Once again you won't find better picking dynamics.

The 36th, both models, have a charming bell like chime rarely found in an off the shelf PAF clone, so they could also integrate well with singles tonally. The mids are clear but not empty.  The 36th bridge splits great.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio Super Distortion Review

« on: September 29, 2024, 09:56:06 PM »

I have used the Super D in several guitars over the years. It always sounds good. Maybe not specifically what I wanted for a particular guitar, but never bad. And it doesn't play overly hot. It works for a variety of genres. It splits good and sounds good in parallel. 

I tend to prefer the Tone Zone in most applications where I need more beef and output. But the Tone Zone can be picky about guitars. Same with the JB, even more so.

3

The Pickup Place / Re: Air Classic Neck Review (DP190)

« on: September 29, 2024, 09:47:38 PM »

They balanced perfectly in that guitar as I recall.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Dimarzio LiquiFire Review

« on: May 03, 2024, 10:56:52 PM »

I know it's designed for the neck position, but it might be an interesting bridge pickup if you want a bit more power than the 36th bridge without the typically more congested lower mids of many higher output pickups, and you find the PAF Pro too bright in the bridge position. Maybe the regular Norton fills that niche, though?

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The Pickup Place / Re: PAF Pro Review

« on: March 06, 2024, 02:22:18 PM »

I could be wrong, but seem to recall that originally the PP was developed for Jazz/Rock guitarist Bill Connors.  Connors played with all the fusion heavy weights, such as Return to Forever, during the 70's usually using a Les Paul Custom.  But during the 80's he started using Charvels. He had a brown sunburst single Hum Charvel strat, with a vintage style trem, and ebony finger board. He needed a pickup which could drive through a lot of processing, but still retain clarity and pure harmonics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX7F3n8kuOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40XNBq-vPXo

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The Pickup Place / Re: Air Classic Neck Review (DP190)

« on: January 26, 2024, 10:55:39 PM »

Having used the Air Classic neck, and the bridge model, and AC sets in a wide variety of guitars, I agree with just about every aspect of your review. 

I installed an air classic neck in an all mahogany, hard tail, strat with rosewood board, for somebody, so a fairly close match to your test guitar. We used the 36th neck in the bridge. The perfect set for that particular guitar. The AC neck in neck gave a lot of clarity and tonal balance. Plenty bright, but not in a bad way. Not a hint of mud or boominess. It balanced out well with the 36th "neck" used in the bridge.

A lot of people over look the ACs maybe because they don't think they will have enough power based on the published specs? In my experience they don't play weak though. And you would be hard pressed to find a pickup set more responsive to picking dynamics.

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The Pickup Place / Re: My Dimarzio Al DiMeola Neck (DP201) Review

« on: January 07, 2024, 09:46:24 PM »

Thanks for posting Race. It's been awhile.  Great player and he got great tones, even live.

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The Pickup Place / Re: neck humbucker (or BB) to complement PAF type bridge HB

« on: November 19, 2023, 10:25:28 PM »

OP: thanks for the clarifications.  If I am understanding correctly the concern is the middle position quack sound of both pickups together. I thought of something but googled the Axis Super Sport first.  The current controls features are a master volume, a master tone, and five way super switch. So that kind of shot down my line of investigation.

My idea was based on that I noticed on Les Pauls with a volume and tone for each pickup that you can enhance the middle position quack sound by tweaking the volume and tone control of each pickup, essentially making the bridge pickup brighter and louder than the neck pickup.  With master volume and master tone I have found it more difficult to get that to happen, although it's more ergonomic while playing live.

Maybe your other guitar gets this naturally or accidently? The ESP Les Paul in the video has a master volume but tone controls for each pickup, and I noticed that the demonstrator adjusted the tone controls when changing from both pickups together to one or the other indvidually.

But it might just be that it's two different guitars and therefore different pieces of wood from different trees.

Does yours have a super switch? I get the idea that it doesn't and your using a three way switch. But of course by splitting you can get more of those types of quack tones more easily.  I built an HH guitar once with a five way super switch. The positions were if I recall correctly:
Bridge Hber, coils in series.
Outside coils of both pickups in parallel. Rather Tele middle position like.
Both full pickups in parallel. Not that much quack with master volume and master tone.
Inside coils of both pickups in parallel. Sorta Strat notch position like.
Neck pickup, coils in series.

Maybe install a concentric tone pot so each pickup can have it's own tone control, if limited to two knobs, and see what happens?



 

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The Pickup Place / Re: neck humbucker (or BB) to complement PAF type bridge HB

« on: November 15, 2023, 12:12:12 PM »

Spend some time experiementing with the height of the 36thN in the neck position.  Also experiement with the height of the screws.  Lowrering the pickup itself and then raising the screws can help getting that bell like tone in the neck position. The 36th N can get bell tones.

I don't know if your guitar is 24 frets or 22 frets, but the position of the screw coil in relation to the scale length matters as far as getting a bell like chime out of the neck position pickup, in my experience.  Ideally, you want one of the coils under where the 24th fret harmonic would be. If its a 24 fret guitar, maybe try putting the pickup in backwards to move the screw coil closer to the bridge after the screws are adjusted higher than the slugs.

With the Duncan Designed, or even the 36thN, you could try an A3 magnet. A3 bar magnets under humbuckers give more chime. I actually learned that from somebody here.  A3 is low output but that's not really a concern in the neck position. Just adjust height to balance the bridge position, and then tweak the screw adjustement.

Did you try a BB? The BB in the neck with a Tone Zone in the bridge really worked for me on a bright superstrat. I think the screw coil is the  active coil on it. Be aware that the BB plays like it has more output than listed, at least in my experience. In parallel, it can sound almost Fender SC like.

I also built a mahogany guitar for somebody a few years ago and used the 36th N in the bridge with an Air Classic N in the neck. I was surpized how chimey the neck postion sounded. That set was perfect for that guitar

10

Everything you wanted to know about .... / Re: The Bluesbucker

« on: November 12, 2023, 01:26:17 PM »

If you have one of these in the neck location of a guitar, do yourself a favor and try playing SRV's version of Little Wing. 

11

The Pickup Place / Revisiting the Super D

« on: November 09, 2023, 11:16:59 PM »

So I have this early 2000 PRS SE that I have never been sure what to do with. The neck is little cramped feeling around the first frets.  When I got it as just a beat up project guitar it had epiphone pickups which sounded like mud bombs.  It sounded pretty good with a set boutique PAF clones, but I decided to maybe try and sell it, so I bought some inexpesive a2 pickups to load in it. Not great sounding.

But I had a late 70's Super D and a 36th neck in the parts drawer and thought I would see how that set sounded in the guitar before sending it down the road.  I wasn't in love the Super D in this mahogany guitar by its self. Maybe a little too thick and grindy?

But I decided to see how it sat in rock mix. Oh boy, it rocks. It just sits in a rock mix so nicely. The harder you flog it, the harder it rocks.

The 36N sounded very good too. It is rapidly becoming my favorite neck humbucker.

I'm probably going to keep the guitar now and keep the Super D in it. It gives me a great option for a hard rock/metal application.

12

The Pickup Place / Virtual Solo for the win

« on: October 24, 2023, 10:11:48 PM »

I finally tracked down a VS about a month ago. 

I was afraid it would not sound stratty based on the B/LM/UM/T charts, but to my delight it sounds very stratty. The good kind of stratty, too. I dare say it sounds more stratty than some overwound true singles I tried.  It's an excellent bridge position solution if you need a traditional strat bridge pickup only with more power-and without too harsh treble.

I'm very pleased. I have HSS strats and Charvels, so I wanted to keep my SSS strat with a set of boutique true singles traditional sounding. The bridge single of the set sounds great but just did not have enough power. The VS was the solution. And the VS sounds great in its own right.

Also the notch position with the middle pickup has great "quack." It's also nice to not have the buzz on the more used bridge position when running through a hot amp. The middle pickup is RWRP, so I just moved the hum canceling from the bridge and middle together to the bridge position alone.

13

The Pickup Place / Is the Virtual Solo discontinued?

« on: July 19, 2023, 03:50:35 PM »

Seems to be out of stock everywhere. One place say's it is no longer available.

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The Pickup Place / Re: Low output humbuckers for distorted tones

« on: July 07, 2023, 12:01:31 PM »

Maybe a little late to the party, but the Air Classic would be the one in my opinion based on the original post. It's a little scooped, and loves high gain amps. It cleans up decently with healthy gain and retains PAF type picking dynamics. Never flubby in my experience. It's listed at about 225 mv output but it plays like it has more, especially once you get the height dialed in.

The 36th bridge has a bell like chime, which I love, but you say you don't want that. It's also denser in the mids.

I haven't tried the Fortitude yet, but as a tweeked 36th for hard rock it might be something to consider.

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Gear Closet / Re: Marshall DSL15H project

« on: March 20, 2017, 10:05:20 AM »

Yes, you should replace C34 not just snip it. C34 just snipped can be a source if back ground hum and noise as well as hiss.