Robotechnology
11-30-2006, 08:42 AM
I have a hardtail Cobra (mahogany neck) with an H1- & H2+
I have a hardtail Drop Top (maple neck) with an H1, SA1, & H3.
I have a vintage trem Hollow Drop Top (rosewood neck) on order. I started out with an H1, SA2, & H3 pup config. Switched to an HN3+ on Tuesday and would love some further opinions on TAG pup's. Roy has given me some great insight but, wanted to write a book ;) about what I was looking for and post it here in case Tom or anyone else has some further insight.
What I'd like are too things:
#1 preferably a different/mostly different pickup config than on my other 2 Andy's.
#2 Lots of clear bass and clear mids from the bridge HB. A Dimarzio Air Norton type of sound with the neck hum. The middle I'm probably fine with the SA2 unless someone has a case for going SA1, SA2+, or VA2 (as I don't mind single coil hum for a middle pickup).
Here's the description for the AN pickup sound in the neck:
The Air Norton™ started out simply to be the Airbucker™ version of the Norton®. We thought it would make a distinctive-sounding bridge pickup with high-gain amps, but we soon discovered that it’s a radically neat neck pickup, too. The tone is deep and warm, but not muddy. It's hot, but not distorted. It's even got cool harmonics, which are really unusual for a neck humbucker. The patented Air Norton™ magnetic structure reduces string-pull, so sustain is improved; and pick attack and dynamics are tremendously controllable and expressive. Combine the Air Norton™ with an Air Zone™, The Tone Zone® or Steve's Special™ in the bridge position for a perfect blend of power and tone, or use an Air Norton™ in the bridge position with an Air Classic™ bridge model in the neck position for a distinctive medium-output blues-rock sound.
For reference, with the bridge, I like these pickups:
Dimarzio Super 3
Dimarzio Evolution
Dimarzio Tone Zone
Seymour Duncan Custom Custom
Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates & Pearly Gates+
WCR Fillmore
Dimarzio PAF Pro
Seymour Duncan '59
I placed them in order of how I perceive them in terms of hot to medium output. I like all of them.
I guess I'm trying to think of the effects that the chambering has on the tonal qualities (more bass or less bass? more mids or less mids?). I like mids and bass in my bridge and even eq in my neck basically.
For the middle, I like the Dimarzio Blue Velvet:
There's something mysterious about the sound of a great old Strat® pickup. It has 60-cycle hum, and magnet-pull can be a problem, but the way notes jump out of the amp and then sustain is so appealing that thousands of players won't do it any other way. We wanted to capture the qualities everyone digs about the originals, but we wanted a few other things, too. Most players use a plain "G" string (regardless of gauge), so we developed a magnet stagger balanced to match today's string sets. We also insulated the coil from the magnets so the pickup can't short out, and the Blue Velvet™ can be safely phase-reversed. Did we lose the original sound? There's no mystery about it: the Blue Velvet™ still sounds great. The Class of '55™ is our pick for clean country sound, but the Blue Velvet™ is our first choice for blues.
I also like the Dimarzio HS-2 in the middle:
The HS-2™ has history behind it. It was the first humbucking Strat® replacement pickup we made, in the early 1980s. Since then, it's become popular for two distinct qualities: in humbucking mode, it's got a solid, natural sound that's cleaner and brighter than a conventional humbucker, while single-coil mode creates one of the best vintage tones around. Because of its patented design, single-coil mode is not as noisy as a standard single-coil pickup. Taken together with the dead-quiet humbucking mode, this is an excellent pickup to use with rack systems and high-gain amps.
I'm thinking H3, HN3, or HN3+ for the bridge.
I'm thinking H1, or H1+ for the neck.
and I'm thinking SA1, SA2, SA2+, or VA2.
I know I can change these after the fact easily enough but, if the guitar could come with my magic pickup set from the factory that would be great! Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Sorry :o for the LONG post on a seemingly trivial aspect (as I'm sure either of the TAG pup config's would sound great).
I have a hardtail Drop Top (maple neck) with an H1, SA1, & H3.
I have a vintage trem Hollow Drop Top (rosewood neck) on order. I started out with an H1, SA2, & H3 pup config. Switched to an HN3+ on Tuesday and would love some further opinions on TAG pup's. Roy has given me some great insight but, wanted to write a book ;) about what I was looking for and post it here in case Tom or anyone else has some further insight.
What I'd like are too things:
#1 preferably a different/mostly different pickup config than on my other 2 Andy's.
#2 Lots of clear bass and clear mids from the bridge HB. A Dimarzio Air Norton type of sound with the neck hum. The middle I'm probably fine with the SA2 unless someone has a case for going SA1, SA2+, or VA2 (as I don't mind single coil hum for a middle pickup).
Here's the description for the AN pickup sound in the neck:
The Air Norton™ started out simply to be the Airbucker™ version of the Norton®. We thought it would make a distinctive-sounding bridge pickup with high-gain amps, but we soon discovered that it’s a radically neat neck pickup, too. The tone is deep and warm, but not muddy. It's hot, but not distorted. It's even got cool harmonics, which are really unusual for a neck humbucker. The patented Air Norton™ magnetic structure reduces string-pull, so sustain is improved; and pick attack and dynamics are tremendously controllable and expressive. Combine the Air Norton™ with an Air Zone™, The Tone Zone® or Steve's Special™ in the bridge position for a perfect blend of power and tone, or use an Air Norton™ in the bridge position with an Air Classic™ bridge model in the neck position for a distinctive medium-output blues-rock sound.
For reference, with the bridge, I like these pickups:
Dimarzio Super 3
Dimarzio Evolution
Dimarzio Tone Zone
Seymour Duncan Custom Custom
Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates & Pearly Gates+
WCR Fillmore
Dimarzio PAF Pro
Seymour Duncan '59
I placed them in order of how I perceive them in terms of hot to medium output. I like all of them.
I guess I'm trying to think of the effects that the chambering has on the tonal qualities (more bass or less bass? more mids or less mids?). I like mids and bass in my bridge and even eq in my neck basically.
For the middle, I like the Dimarzio Blue Velvet:
There's something mysterious about the sound of a great old Strat® pickup. It has 60-cycle hum, and magnet-pull can be a problem, but the way notes jump out of the amp and then sustain is so appealing that thousands of players won't do it any other way. We wanted to capture the qualities everyone digs about the originals, but we wanted a few other things, too. Most players use a plain "G" string (regardless of gauge), so we developed a magnet stagger balanced to match today's string sets. We also insulated the coil from the magnets so the pickup can't short out, and the Blue Velvet™ can be safely phase-reversed. Did we lose the original sound? There's no mystery about it: the Blue Velvet™ still sounds great. The Class of '55™ is our pick for clean country sound, but the Blue Velvet™ is our first choice for blues.
I also like the Dimarzio HS-2 in the middle:
The HS-2™ has history behind it. It was the first humbucking Strat® replacement pickup we made, in the early 1980s. Since then, it's become popular for two distinct qualities: in humbucking mode, it's got a solid, natural sound that's cleaner and brighter than a conventional humbucker, while single-coil mode creates one of the best vintage tones around. Because of its patented design, single-coil mode is not as noisy as a standard single-coil pickup. Taken together with the dead-quiet humbucking mode, this is an excellent pickup to use with rack systems and high-gain amps.
I'm thinking H3, HN3, or HN3+ for the bridge.
I'm thinking H1, or H1+ for the neck.
and I'm thinking SA1, SA2, SA2+, or VA2.
I know I can change these after the fact easily enough but, if the guitar could come with my magic pickup set from the factory that would be great! Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Sorry :o for the LONG post on a seemingly trivial aspect (as I'm sure either of the TAG pup config's would sound great).