811

The Pickup Place / Re: Virtual solo/ Area 58/ Area 67?

« on: December 16, 2016, 04:08:45 AM »

Sure, you're welcome.

Differences between Chopper and Virtual Solo: think of thee Virtual Solo as a strat bridge pickup that (1) does not have the typical ice-pick and (2) is not underpowered compared to the neck and middle pickups. The Chopper is more like a PAF type humbucker in a single coil rail format. It is a bit louder than the Virtual Solo but does not overpower the neck and middle pickups.

In both strats I use 250k pots. The Virtual Solo is set quite close to the strings (almost kissing them) whereas the Chopper is close but not that close. I did not have any problems in getting a good balance between the Chopper and the other two.

So I would say if you want a vintage strat set up without the icepick in the bridge, get the Virtual Solo/58/67. If you want more something like a HSS set up where the bridge pickup still balances well with the other two and still gets a decent quack out of the bridge+middle combo, get the Chopper/58/67.

Luckily for me I have both sets already!

Cheers Stephan

812

The Pickup Place / Re: VPAF Neck or...?

« on: December 15, 2016, 04:59:53 AM »

Difficult question as I have never played a Virtual PAF, only the Virtual HOT PAF, and that one not in combination with the Bluesbucker or even in the same guitar. I used the Bluesbucker in the neck spot in combination with the Chopper T and the AT-1 (in different guitars). Both bridge pickups were a good match to the Bluesbucker in the neck, both volume and tone wise.

Did you ever play a Les Paul with a PAF set (not necessarily original ones from the 50s)? These pickups were either identical for both positions or the bridge pickup was just a bit hotter wound (say 8.2k vs. 7.5k of the same wire). If you did and were not bothered by the bridge pickup being much brighter than the neck pickup, then the combination VPAF bridge/Bluesbucker neck would likely work for you. But if you were thinking, that bridge pickup is just too bright or the neck pickup is too dark (depending on the amp settings), then you would either want a hotter bridge or a brighter neck pickup.

Cheers Stephan

813

The Pickup Place / Re: Virtual solo/ Area 58/ Area 67?

« on: December 15, 2016, 04:50:58 AM »

Hi,

I have the exact same combination in one of my strats, and Area 67 neck/Area 58 middle in another strat  with a Chopper in the bridge. To your questions:

67/58 neck/middle or vice versa: I tried it both ways, and 67 in both positions, and 58 in both positions. 67 neck/58 middle emerged as my clear favorite. Did not like the 58 in the neck as much, and did not like the 67 in the middle as much.

Virtual Solo in the bridge: still sounds like a strat bridge pickup but does not have the ice-pick highs. It will not overpower the other two pickups. Not even the Chopper overpowers them in the other strat, and that pickup is a good deal hotter than the Virtual Solo. The hotter output in the bridge is beneficial because the string movement is more shallow over the bridge pickup than over the neck pickup. 

I second the idea to use separate tone controls for the neck and bridge pickups, especially the bridge pickup will benefit from that since you can warm it up further if so desired.

Cheers Stephan

814

The Pickup Place / Re: DiMarzio PAF Pro vs Seymour Duncan Full Shred

« on: December 06, 2016, 04:09:45 AM »

I still have a FSn at home not installed in anything yet but I have a candidate for it. I will chime in once I get around to putting it in the guitar.

815

The Pickup Place / Re: Virtual Hot Paf or AT-1

« on: December 06, 2016, 04:06:29 AM »

It acts like a very over-wound PAF type.

Just to make it clear, you are referring to the Norton, not the AT-1, correct?

Thanks, Stephan

816

The Pickup Place / Re: Pickups for bright guitar

« on: December 05, 2016, 03:54:38 AM »

I have a telecaster style guitar with the exact same wood combination as yours. That guitar has an AT-1 in the bridge and a Bluesbucker in the neck. Both pickups can be split by the push-pull switch in the tone control. That pickup combo does everything I want it to. The AT-1 fills the midrange of this guitar nicely - no more thin plain strings.

If you are not looking for a hyped midrange but rather for a beefed up PAF tone, Duncan Custom 5 is good for that.

But before changing any pickups I would make sure that the pickups are not set too close to the strings - otherwise the magnetic pull could drag the strings and cause dissonant overtones.   

Cheers Stephan

817

The Pickup Place / Re: Murky sounding but great playing basswood squire

« on: December 05, 2016, 03:47:27 AM »

do you have experience with injectors???

Only with the neck model, and in the neck and middle spots. They have enough single coil character to me (I used 500k pots with them).

Cheers Stephan

818

The Pickup Place / Re: Mag swapping in 1st gen superdistortions - is it sacrilege?

« on: December 02, 2016, 08:19:19 AM »

It's always good to hear success stories. Congratulations!

819

The Pickup Place / Re: All purpose pups for HH guitar

« on: December 02, 2016, 08:17:48 AM »

AT-1 in the bridge and Bluesbucker in the neck work very well indeed.

Cheers Stephan

820

The Pickup Place / Re: The Tone Zone vs Air Zone (bridge)

« on: December 02, 2016, 08:16:29 AM »

The Breed bridge sounds nothing like a PAF - much more output and midrange. Maybe with the coils in parallel, with a 250k load but with the coils in series - no.

Cheers Stephan

821

The Pickup Place / Re: The Tone Zone vs Air Zone (bridge)

« on: November 30, 2016, 03:56:46 AM »

Seems like you are looking for a PAF-like tone (i.e. what you currently have) but with a bit more beef. In the DiMarzio line that would be the Norton, which I have not personally played, however. If it does not have to be a DiMarzio, Duncan Custom 5 would be a good choice for that.

Cheers Stephan

822

The Pickup Place / Re: All purpose pups for HH guitar

« on: November 29, 2016, 05:33:35 AM »

I've been looking at different pups, like the EJ Classic and the Bluesbucker, which I've heard have very interesting sounds. Does anyone have experience with them?

With the Bluesbucker, yes. I used it in the neck spot only so far but it works well there, especially in guitars with 24 fret necks. The asset that differentiates it from all other humbuckers is its split sound, which is almost as loud as the humbucker sound and not thin at all. When you use it that way be sure that you have a load close to 250k to it, otherwise it will be quite bright split. However, for the full humbucking mode, 500k pots work better, so it is best to add a 470k resistor in the single coil mode.

Cheers Stephan

823

Guitar Lounge / Re: Ibanez RG 970 pickups

« on: November 25, 2016, 04:08:52 AM »

AT-1 is a good choice for the bridge - love mine.

Since I have not played the 36th Anniversary I cannot comment on that. I have the AT-1 paired with a Bluesbucker in the neck spot, and that combination works well. But I guess the 36th Anniversary or the Air Classic neck would work equally well.

Cheers Stephan

824

The Pickup Place / Re: Anyone have experience with DP191 in Neck and DP193 in the Bridge?

« on: November 24, 2016, 08:35:46 AM »

Never used the Air Classic but I have used the Air Norton in the bridge position of two different guitars. One was a strat in HSS format where I used the stock 250k pots. In that context the Air Norton worked very well - fat single notes on the top strings and still a bit of twang on the low strings. The other guitar was a Les Paul with the standard 500k pots where it worked OK until I changed the bridge for a brighter sounding one. The neck pickup (at that time a Bluesbucker) benefitted from the change but the Air Norton became thin sounding. I could potentially have solved the issue by adding a resistor to the bridge volume pot but I swapped pickups instead. So I would say it depends on the guitar and the application.

Cheers Stephan

825

The Pickup Place / Re: Neck pickup for LP to complement 36th Anniversary PAF

« on: November 15, 2016, 03:55:21 AM »

In fact, the Bluesbucker is the only one of those listed I have tried. It could work for what you want.

Cheers Stephan