31

The Pickup Place / Re: Goodbye HFH

« on: August 07, 2023, 11:57:24 AM »

I posted about my Tele with an Area Hot T in the bridge a month or so ago. It ended up with an EJ Custom Neck and I’m very happy with it.

The HFH never went in the Tele but I swapped between the Tele and the guitar that had the HFH to get an idea about how it would pair and I didn’t care for it. The guitar with the HFH is brighter so had I put the HFH in the Tele I probably would have liked it even less; the reason being that it will sound deeper and more full in the Tele, further detracting from the Area Hot T. I imagine the HFH would work better with a Chopper, but even then I’d want to try an EJ Custom Bridge in the neck position.

As was suggested to me earlier, the Full Shred Neck has the makings for a great pickup in an SH Tele. I once had one in the guitar that had the HFH. The FS was tighter and more aggressive. It’s an excellent mate for the Screamin’ Demon and I would still be using it except that it doesn’t provide the clean tone that I want from this guitar.

32

The Pickup Place / Goodbye HFH

« on: August 04, 2023, 05:36:24 PM »

I gave the HFH another chance for several months this time around. It was nice at first but I grew tired of the bass response and lack of mids.

I replaced it with an A3-loaded Seymour Duncan 59N. I’m using a stacked pot as a PTB control in order to further manage the bass.

The bridge pickup is my usual Screamin’ Demon which is no match for a stock 59N. The Demon is leaner and weaker than a Duncan 59B, despite Duncan classifying it as a mid-gain pickup. Itself, the 59B in the bridge isn’t all that well balanced with a 59N to begin with. For those not familiar, the wire in the Demon is 43AWG and very under-wound. For reference the DCR is of the Screamin’ Demon is 10k while the Duncan Custom is 14k. In my opinion a Custom 5 pairs perfectly with a stock Duncan 59N.

With the with the bass set to minimum the 59 is able to balance tonally with the Demon. Turn it up and you get all that PAF goodness. The Demon has its own tone control and the output is controlled by a master volume.

33

The Pickup Place / Re: Is the Virtual Solo discontinued?

« on: July 28, 2023, 01:14:09 PM »

I don’t know what country you’re in but they appear to be readily available in the US.

34

The Pickup Place / Re: The Area Hot T and EJ Custom Neck

« on: July 11, 2023, 11:45:30 AM »

I find the 46 tubby sounding and the 42 too loose. I try to adjust everything so that the notes on the 10th through 12th frets don’t collapse using the neck pickup while still having enough gain for the guitar to sing at club volume primarily using preamp gain and overdrives.

Ignoring single coils and rails I normally don’t stray beyond a vintage output humbucker in the neck. I do like the PAF Pro and LiquiFire though I don’t like anything hotter than a hot PAF in the bridge which doesn’t leave many candidates for those two pickups.

I don’t think I would ever use the EJ Custom Neck for anything other than this application simply because it’s too weak for a humbucker; though for this application it gets an enthusiastic endorsement. In addition to working well with the Hot T it should work well with the Chopper T, perhaps even more so.

35

The Pickup Place / Re: The Area Hot T and EJ Custom Neck

« on: July 10, 2023, 10:37:23 AM »

You mentioned the Full Shred before. I remember it being extremely tight but sounding more like a humbucker than either the HFH or EJ. Admittedly, it’s been almost 10 years since I used a stock FS. It would be interesting to throw the EJ Bridge into the mix since it should be closer in output to the HFH.

I don’t know what gauge strings you use but I moved away from a 46 as a low E because I never liked the way it sounded on a 25.5” scale guitar. 25.1” is better but I’m still happier with a 44. I tailored my string set to my liking: 10, 13, 16.5, 26, 34, 44.

36

The Pickup Place / Re: The Area Hot T and EJ Custom Neck

« on: July 07, 2023, 06:31:27 AM »

The EJ neck is quite a bit brighter, more open and not at all chewy like the Vintage Minibucker neck. It is brighter than the HFH as well and is a lot leaner in the low end. It is very clean like the HFH, cleaner still because it is weaker, but it has a  more focused top end and doesn’t have the acoustic/piano quality of the HFH. It has a similar frequency response to a  single coil but is louder and more full. I’m not familiar with Filtertrons so I can’t comment on that, but I will say that the EJ doesn’t really sound like a humbucker.

37

The Pickup Place / The Area Hot T and EJ Custom Neck

« on: July 06, 2023, 01:43:14 PM »

This is my third topic on my Telecaster experience, apologies. I could have added this to either of the other discussions but I believe it warrants its own subject line.

This all started with me purchasing an Area Hot T for a friend which I had paired with a Vintage Minibucker Bridge in the neck of a $200 Squier. The Hot T sounded thin and the output was slightly low relative to the minibucker, but I could tell it was a great pickup. We ended up replacing the Area with a Chopper T and also replaced the die-cast saddles with steel ones. A set of 500k pots and we called it a day. He’s happy.

I was so impressed with the Area Hot T that I bought a Mexican Telecaster to put it in. It was initially paired with a Vintage Minibucker Neck but it didn’t cut enough. I exchanged the Minibucker for an EJ Custom Neck and am quite satisfied.

The volume control is 500k with a treble bleed. The tone is a dual 250k/500k concentric pot. The neck and middle position are using the 500k portion of the control while the bridge position is using the 250k portion.

With the tone rolled back a bit on the Area and after some minor height adjustments which include adjusting the fillisters on the EJ, the tonal balance and relative output between the two pickups are right on the money.

The EJ is indeed very lean and bright, but it still sounds best with 500k controls. With an additional capacitor and two resistors on the tone control I can warm it up nicely with it rolled back. With this modified control the EJ is very useable for jazz.

Between the treble bleed and the larger value volume control the Area Hot has more than enough Tele snap and spank. I opted for the dual control because the Area has so much bite that the EJ can’t keep up unless the tone on the Area is rolled back as I already mentioned. This would likely still be the case even if the Area were using 250k controls. I think this has more to do with pickup location than anything and is exacerbated by the fact that I have the Area up fairly high. I know I can load down the Area with a resistor, but with a separate tone control there’s no point; besides, it’s better to have too much than not enough.

38

Guitar Lounge / Re: Out of phase, half-out of phase, power-out of phase

« on: July 06, 2023, 12:38:54 PM »

I think as guitarists we tend to gravitate toward the tones which were recorded from yesteryear. If it weren’t for Peter Green I would never appreciate the sound of out of phase humbuckers. I read that it happened by accident.

The 3-pickup Les Paul Customs were originally wired with the middle pickup out of phase combined with the bridge pickup in the middle position. This wasn’t my bag so I put mine in phase and lowered it. The middle pickup is the stock T-Top with a Duncan Custom in the bridge. It makes for a nice clean tone without much quack as it’s mostly loading down the Duncan. This was a bit of a departure as the original bridge pickup was also a T-Top. As an aside I’ll also mention that with the stock wiring you don’t have the ability to blend controls as the middle position uses the same volume and tone as the bridge position and the neck position gets the other pair of controls. This never bothered me so I didn’t change it.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that 6.2 is a standard value in the 10% series along with 1,1, 1.3, 1.6, 2.0, 2.4, 3.0, 3.6, 4.3, 5.1, 7.5 and 9.1, in addition to the values in the 20% series. The values used in the Kinman treble bypass are 1nF and 130k IIRC. A 10% change in components is audio circuits is normally noticeable so I recommend getting them.

39

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

« on: June 15, 2023, 09:18:41 AM »

I’ve always liked the idea of a Lace Sensor Purple/Emerald Dually in the neck position.

There isn’t much in the way of demos of the humbucker-sized Fantom P90, but based on one by Phillip McKnight it sounds really good. The spec suggests it’s a bit hot but if the sole reason is to get a noiseless P90, I think it might be the better option.

40

The Pickup Place / Re: HFH vs EJ Neck vs EJ Bridge

« on: June 06, 2023, 11:41:27 AM »

The Full Shred Neck is a good idea. I use their coils to make hybrids. I think I have a couple  lying around to cobble one back together.

I think I’ll get an EJ anyway seeing that I can exchange the mini rather than sell it at a loss.

41

The Pickup Place / HFH vs EJ Neck vs EJ Bridge

« on: June 06, 2023, 03:40:46 AM »

I’m emailing back and forth with DiMarzio but want to get some additional input while I wait for the next reply.

I’m currently using a Virtual Mini Neck with an Area Hot T the relative output is good but the mini is too warm.

I compared the Tele with another guitar that has an HFH and thought it could also be a good pairing, albeit a little fuller and a bit scooped compared the mini. The extra midrange of the mini compared to the HFH makes it seem almost as loud as the HFH.

The specs suggest that the EJs will be leaner than the HFH which will bode well for the Hot T. I’m wondering where the HFH sits relative to the EJ neck and bridge in terms of output and EQ. Based on demos the EJs seem to have quite a bit of push in the top end. This was particularly apparent in one that compares them to Burstbuckers, where the EJs cut right through.

Backing up a bit, I’m after a neck pickup that keeps the low strings bright and can cut like the Hot T. I fear that the neck version of the EJ will lack body and sound too uneven. At the same time I worry that the bridge version will be too hot.

I floated the idea in my last email about swapping in an Alnico 2 in order to drop the level and sweeten the highs of the EJs but haven’t heard back about it. I have reservations that an A2 could weaken the neck version too much, or warm the bridge version up too much, putting me back into the position I’m currently in with the mini.

42

The Pickup Place / Re: Area Hot T/Minibucker Pairing

« on: May 29, 2023, 01:38:20 PM »

I got a Chopper T to put in the Squier with the Bridge Minibucker in the neck. It has a little more output and is wider sounding than the Hot T but also has less emphasis in the upper midrange. I imagine this is no surprise to anyone who has used both pickups. Unfortunately it’s still too small against the minibucker. It’s clear that a Super D T or a Tone Zone T will be the best pairings. I guess the Tone Zone is fatter through the mids, but YouTube demos aren’t very helpful with these, ignoring the fact that they have to translate over to the thin sounding Squier. The Chopper does sound good, likely due to the 250k pots that are taming the high end. Tone-wise it seems like it’s more in line with the Super D than the Tone Zone because it’s more neutral(?). Any thoughts?

The Chopper may end up going in the Ultra at which point we’ll have to choose a neck pickup. The Twang King isn’t going to be a good fit for the owner. The Neck Minibucker is obviously a good choice, but I was just looking at a Duncan Quarter Pound Neck, to which DiMarzio has no equivalent. From what I heard it sounds very nice, but the problem is it’s going to be noisy which will be a non-starter. One demo compares it to a Jazz Neck, at which point the EJ Custom Neck came to mind. Spec-wise the output is on-par with the Bridge Minibucker, which I already know is too hot, however the EQ is quite different. Are there any thoughts on this one?

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The Pickup Place / Re: Area Hot T/Minibucker Pairing

« on: May 25, 2023, 02:45:31 PM »

Sounds like an awesome choice to me!

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The Pickup Place / Re: Area Hot T/Minibucker Pairing

« on: May 21, 2023, 03:30:54 AM »

So I just bought a Tele and will be putting the Area Hot T in it. I said earlier that I’d rather have a Twang King in the neck over a neck Minibucker. The reason being I think I’d prefer a single coil in the neck, but I’m not 100% sure that I want to go in that direction as I fear there being a large discrepancy in output.

What are you using in the neck with an Area Hot T, Stephan?

45

The Pickup Place / Re: Area Hot T/Minibucker Pairing

« on: May 17, 2023, 12:06:27 PM »

In general I don’t like the sound of split humbuckers (parallel wiring even less, more often than not). Split humbuckers work ok in the neck position because of the location; and up to the point of losing too much top end, the hotter the pickup the better. I don’t think the neck version of the minibucker would have enough sauce to split for my tastes.

In order not to sound contradictory, the discrepancy in level between a split bridge minibucker in the neck and a Super D T in the bridge is the reason why I wouldn’t find splitting the minibucker worthwhile. I think the Super D in parallel would be a better option, though I don’t think it’s the type of tone he would use.