Lil' Screamin' Demon and the Lil' 59

[Grasshopper]

Have you tried the lil red devil wired in parallel?

Sorry, I missed this. Yes, this Strat has 3 push-pulls to split each of the Red Devlis to parallel, independently. But I'm still chasing full-frequency PAF HB tone in the neck slot. Because Rev. Billy said Lo, it could be.

[Grasshopper]

Thanks much for the guidance from Mincer and other folks here. I installed a Cool Rails neck pup, and I'm surprised at how sweet and chimey it sounds – I've now lost my fear of ceramic magnets.

And I'll use this somewhere, but it's too bright and tight to pair well with Red Devil bridge and middle pups. I'm just hearing too little tonal variation between the mid and neck pups. I'm not even sure in which direction – the Red Devil mid is looser and fuller-sounding. So I've scored a Little 59 to try instead.

Of those, the Cool Rails and Pearly Gates would be the brightest. The Little 59 and Quarter Pound would be thickest, but they are very different voicings (L59 sounds more like a humbucker).

[Mincer]

The Little 59 has less high end, and more mids than the Cool Rails. But many of the little humbuckers use ceramic magnets, and you can't judge them like they are their full size counterparts.

[maug2122]

That would be a cool setup. Out of all the 'Lil hum buckers I've used (Demon, '59 and JB), the 'lil Screamin' Demon comes closest to sounding like it's full-sized big brother. Never tried the Demon in a Les Paul myself. Can't say I haven't been tempted but I really like how my LP sounds so no need to change anything.

I had a full sized Screamin Demon in the neck position of my 1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom that I sold off last year, with a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge position, loved that combination, it was a shred guitar.

Now that you brought up the Lil' Screamin Demon, the idea is like a bee trapped in my Noggin ..... now I have to go buy one !!!!

[Grasshopper]

To further advance Seymour's retirement fund – I mean experimental research – I swapped in a Little 59 neck pup. I actually miss the Cool Rails' chime, but the Little 59 balances better with the mid and bridge Red Devils. And if I weren't worrying about that balance, I'd say the Little 59 has a really nice thunk like a good Telecaster neck pickup. This a tone I've been chasing on a Strat, so, mission accomplished.

About that chime: I'm surprised at how the Little 59's high end blooms wider with higher gain. (Unlike, say every other pickup on Earth?) I can't get it very close to the strings without string pull, so for that delicate balance, I've needed to screw the Red Devils down a bit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯