Hot-Muffin: Pickup Test


	Dave's Pickup Test page - Mahogany Strat Project - Bridge Pickups To return to guitars just click on a guitar above. For neck pickups click here. For the Mahogany Superstrat project I wanted to test out some pickups. Here are my test files. No I'm not a great guitarist...the clips at least should highlight how the pickups sound in various settings. Test axe was the old Epi SG, except where noted. See last entry for some comparisons with the Duncan JB. For wiring diagrams, look here. Setup: Amp settings were not changed between pickups...sure you would optimize the amp for the guitar but this does give you an idea about the difference in output levels, etc. Bridge is about 1/8" below strings with rear poles radiused. Neck pickup is more like 3/16 below strings Unless noted, sound levels were not gig-level...fairly low. Mainly for my hearing & family's sake. Clean: My RV-20 (Fender Deluxe Reverb clone), T/B/M at '5', Volume about 3. Master vol is keeping the PI & power tubes clean. No reverb. Dirty: The SE-8 (AX84 HighOctane, a marshallesque little beast) with tone stack: Treble 8, Mid 4 Bass 4 (to make up for master vol set really low, which tends to kill treble). When it says 'dirty' it's at about 1/2 gain, the 'higain' settings have both gains maxxed out.
	"Control" tests were Seymour Duncan '59s in my Dean Icon, all mahogany setneck with a TOM. I like the '59 for its nasty sound when using a lot of gain, and the slight 'hair' it gives when overdriven. It is not completely transparent but it is sweet.	Duncan '59 Bridge, dirty, 59 dirty higain, 59 clean open chords
	Dimarzio FRED (bridge) (9K) - most balanced of them all. It is basically a cleaned up '59 with a tighter low end, more focused mids, highs about the same...sometime the Fred sounds close to a '59, just a bit cleaner when playing clean through a Fender. Fred has wicked harmonics. The low end is not huge but and well balanced with the rest...it's the best balanced pickup I tried - but the superstrat turned out much brighter than the SG and I needed something mellower! Fred is a little hotter than the '59, notice the 'Dirt' recording - got a bit more drive from the SE-8.	FRED (B) dirty Fred Clean12Pos Fred w cover SS Arpeggio
	Duncan Custom Custom Trembucker - currently in the Superstrat. The CC is sweet, with nice harmonics - similar to the '59 - under gain. The heavy mids do show up now and then but it has enough upper register sweetness I think I'll keep it...and the bass is a lot better than I was led to believe from other reviews. The new clean clip is at the same settings as the Breed Neck clean clip below. Near the end I edit in a piece where the guitar volume is at 8 - then turn it up. The CC is different tonally with the volume turned down, not as beastly in the mids! The Distortion plus piece is a bit rough, yeah, but same exact settings as the Breed - the CC here sounds thick & sludgy - it needs some filtering before high gain, and the Dist+ doesn't filter like a SD1.	CC_SS_Cln CC_SS_DistPlus
	Seymour Duncan PATB-3 "Blues Saraceno" Trembucker (bridge). (8.7K) Long name...this trembucker was interesting in the SG...it is PHENOMINAL clean - HUGE but tight low end - NO flubber here, clean highs, no icepick - not as crisp as some. Descending single note runs will make you FEEL (kinda like the neck PU on a Strat). The 12 Pos lick hits a couple of those. Chords are BIG, it is hard to believe this measured < 9K. Under overdrive & distortion the TB's scooped mids make themselves known. (with moderate overdrive I found it a bit buzzy, not sure why...with loads o' gain it screams nicely!) I did not like it as much as the FRED, despite what I think was better low end. I like the mids in the FRED, especially with overdrive or distortion. Someone looking for a big, clear, woody clean tone for a Fender amp will dig this. Anyway did not balance well with a PAF Pro neck - not enough girth in the mids - would do OK with a Jazz though.	PATB 3 Clean 5thPos PATB3 Clean open Arpeggio PATB3 Clean 12thPosLick PATB3 Dirty
	Dimarzio Breed (neck model) (bridge) - 9.9K to 10. The first time I tried this, in the test axe it had the excellent lows of the Blues Trembucker, but with some mids. Sounded good clean but not as sweet as the FRED and the highs were brittle and thin. Under OD the solid lows & mids were great and under lots o' gain the thing screamed (I was short of time, my dirty clip sucked & I've taken it down). My note was: "this does not balance so well as a bridge pickup, extremely sensitive to pole adjustment." Well I gave it another chance as the with the CC Superstrat sounded sweet but the lows were mushy. So, back again with the Breed Neck. Adjusted poles, and turned down the mids in the amp - this thing needs some scoop, or the mids will hurt. The high end is actually kinda nice. I think it works. Only had it half a day when I did this update so the clips are kinda random. Settings on this & new CC clip: AX84 Cal Dreamer (think Dlx Reverb) Treble at 5, bass at 4, mids at 2. Vol at about 2 1/2 which is loud but I have a pre-PI Mvol. A touch of compression on the recording. The dirty clip is actually pretty low volume (same as above), using a MXR Distortion+, dist'n cranked. Kinda in a hurry but the Disto+ is good as it leaves in a lot of lows but cranks the gain. Main point: check out that feedback, that at near bedroom levels.. Cool. And I'm no expert at getting harmonics & this thing is throwing them out all over. A short SD1 clip is there too, which just reminded me how badly SD1s suck!	BreedNeck_Br_SS_Open_Cln BreedNeck_Br_SS_Dist+ BreedNeck_Br_SS_SD1
	Duncan JB. The classic rock pickup, the JB is either loved or hated. Here in the Epi SG, compared to the Fred in the Superstrat (Fred had a cover on it). The HiGain clip demonstrates the really nutzo harmonics of the Fred - and that with a nickel cover on.	HiGain_Fred_JB.mp3

For questions please contact the

Copyleft 2005 by Hot-Muffin