Phat Cat's or '59/SH-5

[untoldstory]

Loooking for a nice vintage rock sound like Thin Lizzy. I had some
Gibson P-94's in my SG but didn't like them..no attack and too low
output (ok the guitar was **** too). Now I want to put some new
PU's in my LP..the stock PU's (490/498) are too hot..and not clear
enough.
What about the Phat Cats' output? attack, clarity?

[Benjy_26]

Re: Phat Cat's or '59/SH-5

For Thin Lizzy, I'd go with either a set of Pearly Gates' or a Seth Lover set. The Phat Cats are really cool too, but they are very much P-90's in character and construction. I love the clarity and detail they have with any gain setting, they have as much perceived output as the PG's I have in my LP, and have tons of character. the only problem I've yet encountered with them is the noise issue. They will hum just as much as regular single coils, because, well, they are single coils.

[untoldstory]

Re: Phat Cat's or '59/SH-5

What about the alnico pro II? do you know them? only know them
from slash but never really read much in the forum

[Benjy_26]

Re: Phat Cat's or '59/SH-5

I have an Alnico II Pro at the neck of my Carvin DC127T. It's a very balanced, very smooth sound there. It's not too fat, but it has nice lows. It's not too bright, but it can jangle and chime. It's not mid heavy, but it sounds very good with distortion. The best way I can describe it is "balanced". One of the best neck humbucker out there, IMO, though I still favor the Pearly Gates. I like the snarl it has on the mids, which the APH can't really do.

[untoldstory]

Re: Phat Cat's or '59/SH-5

how about the feedback or hum trouble with seths? since they're not potted

[Jeff_H]

Re: Phat Cat's or '59/SH-5

I've not had any issues with the Seths regarding feedback. I had one in the neck of my Dean Hardtail for a time, and it surely was sweet. Played under a lot of high gain and it never let loose on me.

As for the Alinco II Pro's, best neck humbucker SD makes (IMO). It will do anything and remain articulate. Well balanced and smooth. I have the bridge model also (in my Hardtail, it's a matched set) and I love it also. Crisp enough, not too thin, beefs up nicely when you ask it to, and it retains great clarity.

For the Thin Lizzy sound, I'd probably have to say Seths. The APH's will do the trick also, but the Seth just has that open, slightly airy quality that is lost on the APH's smoothness. As for the PG's, they have too much of an upper mid range sizzle for my taste, but they are one of SD's best selling PAF replicas, and tons of folks like them, so I know they're good, just not for me.

If you click on my soundclips, I've got clips of the Seth(neck) and PG(neck) under some pretty decent gain doing some extended blues clips. Also, you can hear the APH's on my NOS Pre-amp Shootout clip. Bridge position only with varing degree's of gain, and using several different NOS tubes.

[untoldstory]

Re: Phat Cat's or '59/SH-5

thanks! what about the clarity between the seths and the phat cats?
in the studio I played most of the stuff with p-90 equiped guitars cuz
the PAF's (tokai) weren't clear enough and sounded too "overloaded".

[Benjy_26]

Re: Phat Cat's or '59/SH-5

The Seth's have good clarity, but the PC's definately win in this area. There's a lot of air and chime to the sound when playing with the 'Cats. I'm even able to do country twang with my Phat Cat loaded Epi Sheraton. The one thing I do miss from the Seth's after switching over to the Phat Cats is the buttery smooth lead tones I used to get from the neck pickup when under gain. On the flip side, I did get a lot of really cool sounds (funk, Country, old school Jazz) that the Seth's really cant' suss.