Two humbuckers in series with each other?

[Zhangliqun]

Re: Two humbuckers in series with each other?

Well I've done it, and it sounds fantastic. Anyone who was saying it would be a 'muddy mess' - that isn't the case. It's sounding kind of like a really overwound P-90 minus hum. Got a lot of power to it - it's got more output than the Hot Rails on it's own - but still with an oddly high degree of clarity. I'm really liking it with minimal gain, it's got a kind of early Aerosmith vibe to it.

Is it all 4 coils in series or just one coil from each humbucker in series? If the latter, yes, that would work. If all 4 coils and you still think it's muddy, you got different ears from me.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Re: Two humbuckers in series with each other?

Is it all 4 coils in series or just one coil from each humbucker in series? If the latter, yes, that would work. If all 4 coils and you still think it's muddy, you got different ears from me.

It's all four.

Anyway, well, it may be a muddy combination to you on guitars/with amps you've tried it with, but with my gear, it's really not. To clarify, this is a korina(limba) Thinline Tele body with a maple and rosewood neck; 3-way switch and a single 500k volume control; I mostly play through Fender amps, typically with the mids at full, treble slightly boosted and the bass slightly cut, no gain on the first channel and the gain at about 40% on the second (currently a Hot Rod Deluxe combo, though I've quickly tried it through a Marshall DSL50 head and the results have been much the same once I've set my EQ as I like it). The pickups are the Hot Rails mounted in the usual Tele bridge and a Swineshead AMP (similar to a SD Stag Mag only lower output and brighter - doesn't sound anything like a humbucker even on it's own) in the neck. String height is medium-high, the distance from the top of the pickups to the strings is about 4mm at the neck and 5mm at the bridge.

This, all together, is giving me a considerably clear tone in this middle (combined series) position. As I said, it's kind of P-90-ish, clear but not bright per se and with plenty of power behind it. It's getting great use as a clean lead/classic rock and pop-rock levels of distortion rhythm setting.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Two humbuckers in series with each other?

yea mine 2
the "in between" positions on my five way switch is what I used for the series humbuckers

one was series in phase and the other was series out of phase

in series the out of phase is kinda cool , odd but cool

and the series in phase is much louder and drives a vintage tube amp crazy

 

[ratiug]

Re: Two humbuckers in series with each other?

Sometimes when using pickups from different manufacturers you may have to reverse the phase of one pickup by putting the hot to ground and the ground to hot, ever try using a Duncan and DiMarzio in the same guitar? I find I have to reverse the phase on one to get them to play nice together

 

[Jacew]

Re: Two humbuckers in series with each other?

What you generally want is one element that darkens sound and one element that brightens sound.

In-series is pretty useless because it's too dark. Out of phase is pretty useless because it's too thin.

Combine the two and you get a great cutting lead sound.

Or not. I've played a lot with single coil series/out-of-phase/parallel combos and never really found a practical use for just series+out-of-phase sound. It' pretty unlikely to have it just right without adjusting tone & volume for either accordingly.

Not to say it can't sound great and worth trying, just heads up that it may not be that simple to get great tone.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: Two humbuckers in series with each other?

yea mine 2
the "in between" positions on my five way switch is what I used for the series humbuckers

one was series in phase and the other was series out of phase

in series the out of phase is kinda cool , odd but cool

and the series in phase is much louder and drives a vintage tube amp crazy

Ten years later and I still stand by my post