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The Pickup Place / Pickups for guitar with just master volume and toggle switch

« on: January 23, 2017, 12:03:46 PM »

I have an HH mahogany guitar with 24 frets, neck through body, rosewood board and Double locking tremolo. It only has a master volume and toggle switch, so tonally it's a bit lacking (hehe, get it? No tone knob; tonally lacking ... ) but at the same time I don't want to drill another hole for it. It also has Dimarzio Evolution pickups in it at the moment, which makes it kinda a one trick pony (great at high gain, kinda brittle and a tad ice-picky for medium gain,  low gain and cleans)

I was wondering what some versatile pickups (that sound good relatively good through both a Fender DRRI and a JCM800, despite having no tone control). I'm currently looking at the Dimarzio PAF Master set, PAF Pro set, or Air Norton Neck and Tone Zone Bridge, but I'd like some input on good neck bridge combo's that are usable with a single master volume and no tone knob.

Thanks in advance!

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

« on: December 17, 2016, 01:59:11 PM »

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

How do I do this?

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

« on: December 17, 2016, 01:55:46 PM »

So far, I plan on going with the bluesbucker in the neck with the screwcoil facing the fretboard. I'm not sure about what bridge to pair it with yet, but I'm looking for something that has a nice split sound (so that in the middle position I get a noise cancelling, almost teleish tone when both pups are split) and has a nice balance of body and clarity in humbucking mode for playing higher up the board.

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

« on: December 17, 2016, 01:19:55 PM »

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

Thank you so much! I'm definitely pulling the trigger on the VS/58/67. I'll probably get the chopper for another guitar somewhere down the line.

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

« on: December 15, 2016, 12:00:54 PM »

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

Thank you so much for your input! I was also looking at getting a chopper, so before I pull the trigger on buying these pups, I'd like to know your experiences with the chopper vs the virtual solo, in regards to the differences, the clean sound of each, how the chopper balances with the  67 and 58, what kind of height (or distance from the strings) you have in order for them to balance well, etc. (Basically, if you can find the time to tell me your FULL experiences with each, that would be amazing, and I would love you forever )

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

« on: December 14, 2016, 09:53:50 AM »

Hey guys!

I've been thinking of replacing the pups in my strat to noiseless singles.
I've heard good things about a 67 in the neck and a 58 in the middle, instead of vice-versa as Dimarzio advises. I intend to wire the tone controls to neck and bridge, so middle is wide open and dropped close to to the guard for maximum quack. This way I have more control over the brighter pickup (the 67) and it gives me a greater range of tones for neck pickup (since I only use the middle pickup for quack... pretty much never by itself).

I want more vintage sounding neck and middle tones, but a little more kick and sustain in the bridge position, while retaining singlecoil-y flavour. The only thing is I hope the Solo won't overpower the neck too much (a little is ok, as it's to be expected considering its higher output, but I'm hopping to be able to get them close by raising the neck pup and dropping the Solo a touch from it`s optimal height (really hope I don`t have to do this part).

I was wondering if anyone had tried the Virtual Solo with either Area 58`s, 67`s, or a combination of them, and could give me their thoughts, advice, experiences, etc.

Thanks in advance!

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The Pickup Place / All purpose pups for HH guitar

« on: November 26, 2016, 11:20:26 PM »

Hi guys,

I'm new to the forum (this is my first post) and I've been looking to put new pickups in my guitar. It's an Ibanez with an OFR (I switched out the edge 3 with it) and HH routing. I currently have Dimarzio Evolutions in it, as I used to be a metal only guy (evo's came with the guitar).

As I've gotten older however, I've found that I like to play more jazz and fusion in addition to metal, so I feel lower output pickups would suit my needs better. 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? What are some versatile pups that you would suggest that sound great from sparkly Fender clean to high-gain Marshall JCM800?

Thanks in advance!