59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

[GOLDWING68NV]

hi guys.i'm considering trying out a 59 bridge in my basswood ibanez rg565 w/all maple neck & fretboard.i was wondering what the mids are like on this pickup? are they upper mids,lower mids or an equal amount of both? i've got a screamin' demon pickup in this guitar now that was recently installed.the highs are good and love the "cabinet thunk" ample amount of bass and the lower mids growl thing.i'm not really into the heavy crunch tone,though.it seems a little "fuzzy"(for lack of a better term)sometimes.i seem to like my overall tone to be smooth,instead.the demon reminds me of the full shred but with less of the crunchy/chainsaw and a little more bass and top end highs.then again,i don't like the upper mid spike(like the jb model) to be the dominent mid content either.as long as it fits the guitar where i can do anything from vh/dokken/schenker/floyd-type hard rock to king diamond/savatage/exodus/early metallica-type metal.from chugging chords, great harmonics & clarity to shredding,tapping,sweeps etc...well-what do you guys think? thanks!

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

I had the 59' in the bridge of my Alvarez Dana Scoop. Basswood body, maple neck and fretboard. I liked it for quite a while, but overall in that guitar it ultimately turned out to be slightly too bright without the mids I was looking for. I hesitate to say mid scooped, because that is such a subjective term. It just didn't have the chunk that I was looking for.

I ended up switching to the Original Parallel Axis Trembucker. This is the bucker that will stay in this guitar. It does not act like a medium output bucker. It is sweet, balanced and has a great overdrive and a suprisingly good clean voice. The only thing I would consider replacing it with is the Blues Trembucker. That is supposed to be just like a 59', but designed specifically to add some beef to trem equiped guitars.

Either one of those would be my suggestion if you don't like the 59.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

There is a bit of a mid-scoop or hollowness to the 59 which makes it better suited to a guitar that naturally has plenty of mids that a 59 would balance out nicely.

With a maple neck and fingerboard, I would bet your guitar is much more of a biter than a moaner and I would recommend a set of Seths or Alnico 2 Pros -- and if you find either the Seths or A2P's are a little weak as is, pull out the Alnico 2 magnets and replace them with Alnico 5's. (And in turn, if the A5's make the pickups too strong, try Alnico 4's...)

 

[GOLDWING68NV]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

wow.thanks Zhangliqun...alnico 2 pro with an a5 magnet? sounds very interesting.has anyone else on this forum tried this combo and,if so,how did you like it? how would it differ from the 59b and more importantly,would the a2-pro(bridge model) have low mids,upper mids or both spread evenly??? i guess my original question about the 59b was aimed at knowing what the mids are like as far as upper or lower mid spike?

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

I found out something by accident. I normally don't like Gibson 498T's in my Les Pauls, but after having difficulty finding a Duncan I liked in my Basswood/trem G&L Legacy Deluxe, I pulled out a 498T and put it in. Surprisingly, it was the exact sound that guitar needed, and it sounded better than a C-5, 59, JB, and CC, all of which I tried in that guitar. People practically give away stock 498T Les Paul pickups, especially on this forum. For some reason the spacing isn't an issue either, because I think Gibson spacing is in between Duncan's regular and tremspaced pickups. The poles line up just about right.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

With an Alnico 5, the Alnico 2 Pro would sound much more smooth and even in the mids than a 59. Kind of like a 59 with that mid scoop spackled in like plumber's cleavage.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

I think the 59 Trembucker in my two Strats have plenty of mids. The alnico 5 59 also has plenty of highs and bass. If the pickup had a little less bass and treble, I think people who say it sounds scooped would hear it as having more than adequate mids. To me the 59B sound slike the pickup Clapton used in his SG with Cream...and that is a very honkin' mid heavy tone, IMO. It's my favorite humbucker tone, to be honest. Lew

 

[GOLDWING68NV]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

thanks for the input guys.i guess as long as the 59b has a descent amount of lower mids for that grind/growl factor and not too much accentuation on the upper mids(shrillness factor),then it sounds like a winner to me!!!

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

I think the 59 Trembucker in my two Strats have plenty of mids. The alnico 5 59 also has plenty of highs and bass. If the pickup had a little less bass and treble, I think people who say it sounds scooped would hear it as having more than adequate mids.

That's pretty much the definition of a mid scoop, just from a different frame of reference, e.g., "the mids aren't weak, it's just that the lows and highs are really strong". No matter how you slice it though, if you draw the EQ curve on a piece of paper, there is a dip in the mids -- or peaks at each end, depending on how you want to look at it.

The 59 has a very narrow, focused notch in the mids and I couldn't tell you exactly where it is. It's almost like it has a built-in parametric EQ zeroed in on a narrow midrange band. (The C5 has this same problem.)

To me the 59B sound slike the pickup Clapton used in his SG with Cream...and that is a very honkin' mid heavy tone, IMO. It's my favorite humbucker tone, to be honest. Lew

As with most pickups, it all depends on what guitar you put it in, but I think this is even more the case with the 59. If you find a guitar that naturally has plenty of that midrange band the 59 lacks, it works great. SG's being all-mahogany are a good candidate for such a match. I put a pair in a guy's 1973 SG and they sounded nothing less than great.

But I've tried 'em in my Les Pauls and other guitars and they just have that parametric-like hollowness plus that boomy low end.

So to me I can't say the 59 is "bad", only that it's not really a great all-around pickup, at least not to my ear. It's a niche pickup to me. All pickups are to one degree or another but I think it's a bit more so with the 59. Although I really think the 59 would be far less of a niche pickup with Alnico 3 or 4, maybe even a great all around pickup, even to me. One of these days I will try that magnet swap out...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

Yep: the 59's in a SG and plugged into a raging Marshall or similar amp is a thing of beauty.

It's interesting to me that the alnico 5 Gibson Humbucker from the early 60's is THE humbucker that gave birth to modern rock guitar tone: the classic Les Paul or SG through a Marshall tone. The Duncan 59B is a replica of that pickup built better than Gibson made them in the 60's and 70's.

Yet some of todays players claim it lacks mids and sounds to bassy and to trebley. Now I agree that as a neck pickup it does have more bass than I need and that's why I use alnico 2 or alnico 4 humbuckers for my neck pickup in my humbucker guitars.

But as a bridge pickup the 59B or TB has always sounded great to me.

When I plug my humbucker Strats with the 59 Trembuckers into any of my amps I get a tone that's kind of a cross between Clapton's Cream tone and EVH's early tone and Larry Carlton's lead tone with Steely Dan.


However, I do like more mids sometimes and I especially love the tone I get when I plug in my guitars with the Custom Custom for the bridge pickup.

I dunno though...I guess at 56 I'm a vintage guy and the 59B sounds just great to me when it comes to a vintage sounding bridge humbucker. It gives me a tone close to what I hear in my head, which is Clapton's tone with Cream or Jeff Beck's tone on the Truth album.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

And yet...I wonder what it would sound like...

...with an Alnico EIGHT...

 

[vegetablejoe]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

Hi. I assume you gents have been talking about the '59b in a solid body guitar. May I ask if the same pickup complements a semi-hollow 335-style body? I'm wondering whether I will like the 59b as against the A2 Antiquity that's now in my 335 copy.

Thanks. Jaime

 

[vegetablejoe]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

anyone? ...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

Larry Carlton's ES-335 is legendary...it has the early to mid 60's alnico 5 8.2K Gibson humbuckers that the 59B is based upon. GREAT, GREAT TONE! Lew

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

Hi. I assume you gents have been talking about the '59b in a solid body guitar. May I ask if the same pickup complements a semi-hollow 335-style body? I'm wondering whether I will like the 59b as against the A2 Antiquity that's now in my 335 copy.

Thanks. Jaime

It might work very well in a semi-hollow. Most semi-hollows (my 355 being an exception) have plenty of mids to spare so if yours is typical, 59's might be a great match.

But if you put them in and they sound a bit boomy, consider pulling out the Alnico 5 magnets and replacing them with Alnico 4, 3 or 2 -- especially in the neck pickup.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

It might work very well in a semi-hollow. Most semi-hollows (my 355 being an exception) have plenty of mids to spare so if yours is typical, 59's might be a great match.

But if you put them in and they sound a bit boomy, consider pulling out the Alnico 5 magnets and replacing them with Alnico 4, 3 or 2 -- especially in the neck pickup.

That's how I use my 59 TB in my black dual humbucker Strat. I use the alnico 5 59 Trembucker as the bridge pickup and then a alnico 2 Pearly Gates for the neck pickup...

 

[classicplayer]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

I noted on the Duncan tone chart for the '59B and neck too, that the mids are not supposed to be as prevelent as other model Duncan humbuckers. But, I don't seem to notice a shortage on mids with a set of '59s in my Les Paul. I can compensate easily with my amp for any lack of bass treble or mids. I think they'd be a good choice for a player who wants to start experimenting with different pickups in their own tone search.

Question for LEW.....Would you consider the '59s to be very close in over specs and tone to the Gibson Burstbucker V (now called the Burstbucker Pro).
I think they both are built with ALNICO V mags.


Classicplayer

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: 59 bridge-rating of "mids" content

I noted on the Duncan tone chart for the '59B and neck too, that the mids are not supposed to be as prevelent as other model Duncan humbuckers. But, I don't seem to notice a shortage on mids with a set of '59s in my Les Paul. I can compensate easily with my amp for any lack of bass treble or mids. I think they'd be a good choice for a player who wants to start experimenting with different pickups in their own tone search.

Question for LEW.....Would you consider the '59s to be very close in over specs and tone to the Gibson Burstbucker V (now called the Burstbucker Pro).
I think they both are built with ALNICO V mags.


Classicplayer

I don't find the 59B lacking in mids either although when I compare my Custom Custom in my #2 Strat to the 59 in my #1 Strat I like the extra mids of the Custom Custom alot. I have never tried the Burstbucker V or Pro but it's my understanding that it uses unbalanced or mismatched coils: one coil is wound slightly hotter than the other. That opens up the tone and makes a humbucker a little brighter.

So maybe it'd be a little brighter than the 59? Just a guess.