[Pixel_Jockey]

Hello

First time poster here.
I decided to order some new pickups for my Genesis RG550. This guitar will be used almost exclusively for classic metal covers (Dio, Ozzy, Scorpions, etc). I went with a PAF 36th in the neck and a Super Distortion in the bridge. For the middle however, I went with a Chopper. I was going to go with a True Velvet but decided for this guitar I did not care at all about having any 2nd/4th position "quack" (I have a start for that). I was thinking that on this guitar I'd rather have another humbucker-like pup in the middle for some more high gain options.

I realize with standard wiring (unless I get a push/pull or a toggle) that in positions 2/4 I'll have 2 humbuckers on at once (As the Chopper is a stacked single coil/noise cancelling). I am wondering if I made a mistake by ordering the Chopper instead of a true single coil? I have never played a guitar setup this way. In my desire to make this guitar a fire breathing dragon, it sounded good in the moment. Does anyone have any experience with a single coil-sized humbucker in the middle on their RG? Will I be able to get good usable tones (I know this is subjective) with this configuration in positions 2/3/4? I'm curious to hear from anyone who has a similar setup. Thanks!

[DavidSchwab]

It will still do the 2 and 4 sounds. It doesn’t have to be a single coil. However if you are coil splitting the humbucker it won’t noise cancel with the middle pickup, since it doesn’t have noise in its output.

Also the chopper is not a stacked pickup. It’s a regular humbucker. You can split the chopper for the 2 and 4 positions.

I have two guitars set up like this. I just leave the humbuckers in humbucker mode in 2 and 4. Gets stratty enough for me.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[greenlion]

I have tried a lot of Dimarzio noise cancelling single coils in my RG's. The True Velvet will, of course, not be noise cancelling by itself. The Area pickups, Virtual Vintage pickups, and rail type pickups like the Cruiser will be noise cancelling. In order to make the single coils sound like single coils while using the 500k tone/volume pots, you will need to make the single coils "See" 250k tone/volume pots by wiring a resistor from the hot switch lug for the single coil to ground. That will lower what the single coil "sees" from 500k to 250k, which the singles need. You can use resistor values from 620k down to 560k, 500k, or even 470k depending how warm or bright you want the single coil to sound. The higher values like 620k will leave the singles brighter, while the 470 will make them extremely warm. I use 560k resistors. Without the resistor, the singles will sound extremely bright, and often too thin especially on clean settings compared to the humbuckers. You also need to consider volume drop when switching between humbucker and single. Any single below about 140 in output will have a big drop in volume. My favorite singles in my RG's are the Virtual Vintage Blues, VV 54 pro, Cruiser Bridge, and Area 61. I would guess the Virtual Vintage Heavy Blues would work well too. Haven't tried that one. The video below shows how the resistor works.

https://youtu.be/SJZ2Do7Ywx0