New Saturday Night Special Demo

[darthphineas]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

I think what you're asking is more than fair. If a pup is advertised as being best for country, jazz, blues, rock, or heavy rock then yes, it should be profiled by playing straight through an amp and preferably by an artist who is great in that (style/vein) of playing so as to really hear the nuances of the pup.

I agree. Totally fair.


Seeing/hearing/learning how some of the demos (audio and video) can be made, I've come to not put as much value in them. They are definitely good tools for sales purposes, but there are just too many variables for all the pickup aficionados looking/listening for something specific.

[Southbound Suarez]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

There's been at least one review posted since 07/20: http://darthphineas.com/2016/07/seym...night-special/

It's also been talked about a little more in-depth at the other SNS thread.

Nice writeup DP! Even though SD advertises the A4 RC magnets with this set, did you ever look under the hood at the magnet types (polished or rough cast)? I'd be interested to know if SD uses a (polished or RC magnet) in the neck humbucker position. I may order an A3 RC and A4 RC magnet to give me a full set of A3 RC and A4 RC magnet pairings that I would like to try in a couple of humbucker sets ala the SD Skinner Bursts and SD Saturday Night Specials.

[Southbound Suarez]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

I agree. Totally fair.


Seeing/hearing/learning how some of the demos (audio and video) can be made, I've come to not put as much value in them. They are definitely good tools for sales purposes, but there are just too many variables for all the pickup aficionados looking/listening for something specific.

Most definitely, because not everyone has the exact same backline of equipment. A good example of where this scenario can be skewed is when for video demonstration purposes a (graphic/parametric EQ) pedal, plug in, or equalization at the board is utilized.

[darthphineas]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

Nice writeup DP! Even though SD advertises the A4 RC magnets with this set, did you ever look under the hood at the magnet types (polished or rough cast)? I'd be interested to know if SD uses a (polished or RC magnet) in the neck humbucker position. I may order an A3 RC and A4 RC magnet to give me a full set of A3 RC and A4 RC magnet pairings that I would like to try in a couple of humbucker sets ala the SD Skinner Bursts and SD Saturday Night Specials.

#1. Thanks

#2. Nah, didn't go digging for hidden treasures on that set.

About to rotate them out to install the next product to test, but I laid in to them again a few days ago and the seem pretty versatile for my needs. Of course, I was just telling a dude how I can get solid Whitesnake out of a Seth set I have in another test guitar right now. Like you're saying, a lot is in the back line as well as the hands.

[Southbound Suarez]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

#1. Thanks

#2. Nah, didn't go digging for hidden treasures on that set.

About to rotate them out to install the next product to test, but I laid in to them again a few days ago and the seem pretty versatile for my needs. Of course, I was just telling a dude how I can get solid Whitesnake out of a Seth set I have in another test guitar right now. Like you're saying, a lot is in the back line as well as the hands.

Does SD give you these sets to test and give write ups for, or do you have to return them upon completion of said reviews?

[stratguy23]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

Well, you see the Friedman mic'd up, but there's also a sizeable pedalboard in the equation that might or might not contain eq and/or tone colouring pedals.
I understand completely that SD wants to show this pickup's maximum potential with great production values, but I'd personally much rather hear:

Some straight to amp stuff, with said amp being one we all know (and can afford) like a simple JCM800 or a Vox AC30 for example. Maybe use some Duncan pedal to boost it and kill two birds with one stone.

Some mid solo pickup switching and volume cleanup.

And, since the neck pickup should take care of any mud in that position, I would have really liked to hear that pickup perform in the neck position of the guitar that most frequently produces problems in the neck position: a Les Paul. Preferably the darker sounding kind like a Custom.

That's just me though. No offense meant.

I can't agree more.

There are way too many pickup demos out there where basically it's just a solo in upper registers for the whole duration. That's not helpful, because that's just one tone, and I've heard everything I need to hear, tone-wise, in the first 20 seconds. Anything after that is me admiring (or not) the player's playing.

The best pickup video demos clearly delineate the signal chain and pickup choices, e.g., bridge pickup/high gain, bridge pickup/medium crunch, neck pickup/low gain, etc. Then the playing should be as varied as possible - strumming, palm muting, riffs, single note lines, chordal work, ringing open strings. Different types of guitars and amps should be used. And, yeah, demonstrations across various genres would help (sales, if anything - user learns pickup can do everything it is marketed for, and maybe surprising stuff as well).

Admittedly, this is a tall order. Maybe 5% of demos out there adequately demonstrate products.

[darthphineas]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

Does SD give you these sets to test and give write ups for

[Mincer]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

Wonder how they'd work for Allman Bros toans?

I would suggest the Seths for those.

[Southbound Suarez]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

I would suggest the Seths for those.

With an A4 magnet swap...

[OsvyRock]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

Anyone saw?

[backporchpicker]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

These might be the pickups I have been waiting for to put in my SG. I can't find any reviews on them from reputable sources like the guitar magazines just a Seymour Duncan write up and something by a dude with a strange name I forget. My home town music store doesn't know anything about them and probably won't order any for a try out set anyway.
I guess what I'm getting at is when do you think mags like guitar player and premier guitar might be publishing something on them?
Also wondering if I can order a set from Seymour Duncan to try and return them for a full refund if they don't work out? Has anybody done this and had it work out?
Thank you for your time.
Pete

[Demanic]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

Duncan still has a 21 day return policy as far as I know.

Sent from my MotoE2(4G-LTE) using Tapatalk

[darthphineas]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

I can't find any reviews on them from reputable sources like the guitar magazines

Would those be the magazines that are accepting money for ad space from some of the same gear companies that often have products reviewed within the same magazine?

Seems like independent evaluations from reviewers that don't accept free items from companies could be a much more trustworthy and unbiased source.

[Mincer]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

These might be the pickups I have been waiting for to put in my SG. I can't find any reviews on them from reputable sources like the guitar magazines just a Seymour Duncan write up and something by a dude with a strange name I forget. My home town music store doesn't know anything about them and probably won't order any for a try out set anyway.
I guess what I'm getting at is when do you think mags like guitar player and premier guitar might be publishing something on them?
Also wondering if I can order a set from Seymour Duncan to try and return them for a full refund if they don't work out? Has anybody done this and had it work out?
Thank you for your time.
Pete

You probably won't see many reviews yet, but they will be happening. There just isn't a ton of these out in the wild, installed and explored yet for the reviews to start flowing in.

[jeremy]

Re: New Saturday Night Special Demo

you cant return them for a refund but you can swap them for a different set that might suit you better.