Can the Psyclone Hot be ordered with a 4-conductor cable?

[Ascension]

Be careful with Filtertrons they look weak on paper but are deceptively hot in reality in a guitar. I finally got a chance to play a set of the full size Psyclones and was shocked at how hot they were. It's the design itself that is deceptive as you look at the DC resistance number and think the pickup is weak but it's NOT! Just be aware of this.

[Ascension]

Yep, the guitar is cool.

Regarding Filter'Tron's, if I can share something: they are wired in series, just like Gibson style HB's. But each coil measures 2k to 2.3k instead of 4k for an average P.A.F. clone...

Consequently, their inductance is very low. The lowest AFAIK from a well known humbucker : 1.4H to 1.8H in series for a standard FT. Between a Tri-Sonic (1.9H) and a lipstick single coil (1.35H).

Ray Butts, who designed the FT, did know his stuff: to avoid any excessive brightness and weakness due to a very high pitched resonant frequency, he did take advantage of Foucault currents (carefully tuned thx to the H shaped slot in the cover) and double thick bar magnets. But his FT was meant to be always in series with a so low inductance.

Considering all that, I'd personally avoid usual split or parallel operation with a regular FT and would favor some creative wiring : front coil of the neck PU in series with the rear coil of the bridge unit and reciprocally, for instance. And both real coils or front coils in series out of phase (which should maintain humbucking operation and give a Rickenbacker vibe).

Now, the Psyclone "Hot" has necessarily a more robust inductance than a normal FT, so it should sound good split or in parallel and my tedious rambling doesn't apply to it. :-P

FWIW : my unrequested two cents, just to share... :-))

Looks like you are giving tec info on the same thing I was talking about. Filtertrons are a pretty unique design and are much hotter in reality than they will look on paper. The raw DC resistance numbers make them look to be close to a vintage single coil in output but in reality they are much hotter.

[jeremy]

the old ones used a huge magnet, maybe bigger than a double thick from what i remember

[freefrog]

Looks like you are giving tec info on the same thing I was talking about. Filtertrons are a pretty unique design and are much hotter in reality than they will look on paper. The raw DC resistance numbers make them look to be close to a vintage single coil in output but in reality they are much hotter.

Agreed, since they can sound close to Gibson style HB's in tone and output level thx to a 3,3nF cap from hot to ground in parallel with them. That's my lil' hack for the "mud switch".

For years, I'm even not far to think that FT's gave the idea of his Super-Distortion to Larry DiMarzio: symetrical coils, big poles, big magnet... Of course, the DM has 4 times more inductance, thick hex screws are not skinny screw poles and ceramic differs from AlNiCo but these PU's have a common way to rentabilize magnetism, to me.

My indifferent rambling was only about coil spliting, that I would still avoid with a regular FT. I think that TV Jones recommends to avoid it too. But why not, uh? Nothing is worth personal experimentation, after all. :-)

[ArtieToo]

Agreed, since they can sound close to Gibson style HB's in tone and output level thx to a 3,3nF cap from hot to ground in parallel with them. That's my lil' hack for the "mud switch".

Interesting. You do that in parallel? Wouldn't that roll off a bit of high-end? My de-mud does 1 nF, (.001 uf), in series. Just curious.

[freefrog]

Interesting. You do that in parallel? Wouldn't that roll off a bit of high-end? My de-mud does 1 nF, (.001 uf), in series. Just curious.

Of course, it rolls off a bit of high-end... but it also rises the Q factor of the resonant peak in the same time than it lowers its pitch, just like explained here: zerocapcable.com/?page_id=209

That's how I lead a Filter'Tron to mimic sonically a Gibson style HB.

In order to contextualize my explanations, let's share below the electrically induced resonant frequencies of various pickups on a linear scale.

First pic = a regular Filter'Tron HB (in red) vs a Strat PU, a lipstick, a Tri-Sonic. Paradoxically, the Filter'Tron is higher pitched and has more high frequencies than any of the three single coils...

2d pic = each coil of a T-Top vs each coil of a Filter'Tron. I've decided to use the linear scale because it clearly shows the higher Q factor of the T-Top despite of its lower pitched resonant peak.

A cap of several nF in parallel with a regular FT just drags down its resonance and makes it narrower (IOW: with a higher Q factor), which makes it sound closer to a T-Top. :-)

[ArtieToo]

Thanks. This is interesting because I perceive my Psyclones to be similar, tonal wise, to my Lipstick Tubes, but obviously, with more output. Let me study those graphs a little more.

And, as always, thanks for your efforts.

How do you get those graphs?

[freefrog]

Well, Psyclones having more DCR than regular FT's, they might have a higher inductance as well... and anyway, the differently shaped magnetic field / string sensing aperture of a Filter'Tron makes it bassier than a lipstick, although it resonates higher.

Regarding the graphs, my friends and me do what Helmuth Lemme does for a long time and that many others have imitated - we excite electrically the pickups with ultra-low impedance air coils as explained here: http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/lemme/


The only difference is that we don't use here any "integrator" to obtain a flat response from the pickups. We follow other strategies to make obvious things like Foucault currents.

EDIT - Helmuth Lemme was also among the first to promote so clearly parallel caps as a way to "tune" resonant frequencies, BTW. It's explained in the page above. To be honest, It's not him who has inspired me. Seymour or Bill Lawrence already toyed with low value caps decades before us, anyway; but at least the page shared by Lemme is clear on this subject and that's another reason to share the related link. :-)

[ArtieToo]

Reading, as we speak.