121

The Pickup Place / Re: Output and EQ-wise, which noiseless single is closest to a Fast Track 1?

« on: January 16, 2020, 12:25:13 PM »

So will an HB2 in the neck have enough balls to go beyond edge and into full-on crunch without using so much gain that The Chopper in the bridge isn’t saturating?

122

The Pickup Place / Output and EQ-wise, which noiseless single is closest to a Fast Track 1?

« on: January 15, 2020, 09:16:52 AM »

I agree that the A61 can be quite bright, even in the neck with 250k pots. However upping the pot values increase the Q, giving you more of a treble spike rather than increase the extension of high frequencies. The latter will happen when you remove the series inductance of the dummy coil.  I’ve used an Injector Neck in the bridge with a Lace Gold in the middle; 250k volume and single 250k tone.  The combo sounds nice but the quack is lackluster, in my opinion. I’ve heard the HB2 in the bridge with A61s in the middle and neck, 250k volume, 1M tones for the neck and bridge. The middle was wide open. Quack was again lackluster, but this is also subjective of course.

I don’t expect to be getting the kind of quack you get with a pair of A67s, and that’s OK considering the bigger picture.  That said, I use only ~1n in the tone and a 330p treble bypass on the volume, so I still want some air/shimmer/high end sparkle with which to work.

Regardless, this doesn’t really address the heart of my question.  To restate, I’m looking for a single coil in the neck which will be flanked by a Satch Track.  I was originally interested in feedback regarding a Lace Sensor Silver. I’m now considering an HB2. I don’t want a large boost in volume when switching from the single coil to a Chopper in the bridge when playing clean. I also don’t want to have to add gobs gain to the point where the Satch Track or Chopper become overly saturated in order to get the HB2 to sing.  I don’t want to have to hit 100db SPL to get the HB2 to sing either.

For further context my rhythm is mid-gain Marshall (think AC/DC) and I normally roll back the volume for cleans  The amp is pushed with a TS (level set high, gain set low) for leads and I’ll sometimes stack a second overdrive for additional saturation. I also love full warm jazzy cleans, which I get using a dedicated clean channel. I play shreddy hard rock and also dig Hendrix/Trower/Uli/Blackmore for Strat tones but the Fender/TS SRV stuff, as much as I love what he does, isn’t my thing.

PS: I changed the topic title since it specifically mentioned a Lace Sensor which I’ve moved away from.

123

The Pickup Place / Re: Which Lace Sensor is closest to a Fast Track 1?

« on: January 15, 2020, 02:28:54 AM »

Thanks for that.

Lace Sensors also have nearly zero dynamic range which I would find intolerable if I'm being honest with myself.  I really like the tone of the gold as well as the 6k hot golds, don't get me wrong.

Would a VV HB2 be a better choice?

Position 4 quack would then be a concern.  Combining the HB2 and the A61 has consistently sounded pretty lackluster based on the few demos I've heard and this really doesn't (shouldn't?) come as a surprise.

Assuming the HB2 gets noticeably brighter without the dummy coil, would quack be improved combining it with an A67? (also split, if only to get hum cancellation since the A67 is RW/RP)

To account for the level difference a treble shelf will be applied to the HB2 before combining it with the middle pickup.  I've used this method successfully on both an A61 and a VV54P when combining either with an A58, FWIW.

I'm -->||<-- close to pulling the trigger on a flangeless HB2. I just don't want to blindly and impulsively drop $100 for a solution that turns out being a disappointment. Running the Satch Track either split or in parallel just isn't cutting it.

124

The Pickup Place / Output and EQ-wise, which noiseless single is closest to a Fast Track 1?

« on: January 13, 2020, 09:54:42 PM »

I love the Fast Track 1s that I own.  I was wondering which Lace Sensor has similar output but still belongs in the Strat camp rather than taking on P90 characteristics.

I'd like to put one in the neck position with a Chopper in the bridge.  The goal is to have the neck position not be completely swamped by the Chopper on the clean channel.  I'd also like to be able to use it with medium gain to the point where it crunches nicely without the Chopper sounding saturated.

It seems to me that the Lace Silver might get it done.  Fatter and a tad bit warmer is just fine, in fact it's probably necessary in order to get a Strat tone using gain and EQ settings skewed to favor the Chopper.

I know the Fast Track 1 can do it, but I'm interested in a single bobbin rather than the texture resulting from phase cancellations that result from the use of two side-by-side coils.  Specifically, this pickup will go in the traditional neck position and will be flanked by a Satch Track placed closer to the bridge.  For this reason I want a pickup without a flange, that has  low magnetic pull and will not be influenced by the magnetic field of the Satch Track.  For these reasons a Lace Sensor will be a no-brainer.

Middle spot will be populated with an Area 61 or a matching Sensor.

I'm aware of the fact that DiMarzios can be custom ordered without flanges, but this isn't a road I want to go down at present.

Think of it as a Lace Dually meets a DiMarzio Multibucker.