Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

[house]

Hello out there in Duncan Land. I just put a set of Antiquity Texas Hot (N/M/B) in my Strat. IMHO they sound like APS-1's with a little less sizzle. Can anyone give me some background info, first hand, with any difference between the Ant. Surf PU, vs the Texas Hots. I was hoping the Ant TH's would have had a little more heat them, kind of like an aged Fender Texas Special. But no; these are (And I do understand that they have been aged through a manufacturing procces) more along the lines of a smooth APS-1. Hope to hear from you guys...

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

The 9-10K Texas Hot Custom bridge pickup is hotter than vintage, as is the 9-10K Surfer Custom bridge pickup.

But the regular neck and middle Texas Hots are not especially hot.

Nor are the Surfer neck and middle pickups. They are great vintage output pickups though. Perhaps the best vintage output Strat pickups available.

I also love the Fralin Vintage Hot Strat pickups, and they aren't hot either. Go figure.

The Surfers are about the same as the Texas Hots, but use alnico 5 magnets and have more treble and slightly tighter and stronger bass.

The Texas Hots are about the same as the Surfers, more or less, but use alnico 2 magnets and have slightly more mids and slightly looser bass and slightly less treble than the Surfers.

I use a custom set with neck and middle Surfers and a 10K Texas Hot Custom bridge pickup.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

Hello out there in Duncan Land. I just put a set of Antiquity Texas Hot (N/M/B) in my Strat. IMHO they sound like APS-1's with a little less sizzle. Can anyone give me some background info, first hand, with any difference between the Ant. Surf PU, vs the Texas Hots. I was hoping the Ant TH's would have had a little more heat them, kind of like an aged Fender Texas Special. But no; these are (And I do understand that they have been aged through a manufacturing procces) more along the lines of a smooth APS-1. Hope to hear from you guys...

What you observe is correct. Unless you consider that "Custom Bridge" thing these pickups are kind of misnamed. There isn't anything hot about them other than that they can be a little more crunch'n'dirt friendly due to being more mid-focused.

 

[house]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

Guys, I want to thank you for the feed back. You have enlightend me well. I'm now thinking of setting up a Strat with Surfer's in the N/M, and an "Ant 59" or "Phat Cat" in the Bridge. The search for good tone can become consuming, but I love the end result; when you get the PU to work insync with the rest of your guitar.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

I would say you are correct and that is my issue with Texas Hots and all the alnico II strat pickups...they just don't sound correct to me.

The lack of that bubbly Strat sparkle and the alnico II midrange, IMHO doesn't do classic Strat tones well at all.

That said, there are a lot of guys out there that want to play a Strat but do NOT want the Strat high end and sucked in midrange tones you get from vintage Strats and for those guys APS-1/2's and Texas Hots are perfect.

It sounds like you want a higher output pickup too...is that what you're looking for??

 

[house]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

Uopt, you are so correct about them having a little more focus in the mid range department. I would like to get my hand on a single coil bridge with the crisp cruntch but just a little bit more mids and bottom end. I'm not having much luck. I'm thinking I'll have to go to a humbucker in the bridge. I'd like to stick with the Seymour Duncan family of PU.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

Uopt, you are so correct about them having a little more focus in the mid range department. I would like to get my hand on a single coil bridge with the crisp cruntch but just a little bit more mids and bottom end. I'm not having much luck. I'm thinking I'll have to go to a humbucker in the bridge. I'd like to stick with the Seymour Duncan family of PU.

If you want more mids and lows but want to keep that crispy alnico 5 top end pick a bridge pickup you like the top end on and put a Fralin base plate on it.

The Fralin Baseplate adds 10% more low end content w/o affection the top end.

 

[house]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

If you want more mids and lows but want to keep that crispy alnico 5 top end pick a bridge pickup you like the top end on and put a Fralin base plate on it.

The Fralin Baseplate adds 10% more low end content w/o affection the top end.

Bro, thanks for the info; and while I'm good at replacing PU, I don't quite get what you mean as far as putting in a base plate. Is this going to be a base plate for a SC or Hummer? An would you happen to have a tutorial on how to perform this task?

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

Uopt, you are so correct about them having a little more focus in the mid range department. I would like to get my hand on a single coil bridge with the crisp cruntch but just a little bit more mids and bottom end. I'm not having much luck. I'm thinking I'll have to go to a humbucker in the bridge. I'd like to stick with the Seymour Duncan family of PU.

IMO, that's the Texas Hot Custom Bridge Pickup. I just love mine. Get a hot one. Mine's about 10K.

Tele bridge pickups have a metal base plate waxed to the bottom. Regular Strat pickups do not.

Lindy Fralin sells a base plate that waxes to the bottom of a Strat pickup and it thickens the tone some.

That's what TGWIF is talking about.

 

[uOpt]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

I'd rather try the baseplate. I don't like the overwound Strat bridge pickups, neither the Antiquity custom bridge things nor the SSL-5/6. They go way too compressed instantly.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

Bro, thanks for the info; and while I'm good at replacing PU, I don't quite get what you mean as far as putting in a base plate. Is this going to be a base plate for a SC or Hummer? An would you happen to have a tutorial on how to perform this task?

This explains it better than I could with just text:

http://www.fralinpickups.com/bplate.asp

Lindy sells them for like 10 bucks or something.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

I'd rather try the baseplate. I don't like the overwound Strat bridge pickups, neither the Antiquity custom bridge things nor the SSL-5/6. They go way too compressed instantly.

I tend to agree with this!

Overwinding pushed the mids up but it also makes them sound a little hard to me...adding a baseplate leaves the top as is but pushes the low end up due to affecting the magnetic field.

 

[house]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

IMO, that's the Texas Hot Custom Bridge Pickup. I just love mine. Get a hot one. Mine's about 10K.

Tele bridge pickups have a metal base plate waxed to the bottom. Regular Strat pickups do not.

Lindy Fralin sells a base plate that waxes to the bottom of a Strat pickup and it thickens the tone some.

That's what TGWIF is talking about.

I have the Texas Hot for the bridge position, it kicks ass, but my ears want to hear that 59' tone coming out of there. Have either of you guys have any experience with the PAF 59' vs Ant 59'?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

I have the Texas Hot for the bridge position, it kicks ass, but my ears want to hear that 59' tone coming out of there. Have either of you guys have any experience with the PAF 59' vs Ant 59'?

I use Ants in my 58 LP reissue but it's not a Strat sound...never will be.

Do you want 3 singles or 2 singles and a hummer??

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

I have the Texas Hot for the bridge position, it kicks ass, but my ears want to hear that 59' tone coming out of there. Have either of you guys have any experience with the PAF 59' vs Ant 59'?

Sure. So now you don't want a single coil? You want a full size paf style humbucker? :15:

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

Uopt, you are so correct about them having a little more focus in the mid range department. I would like to get my hand on a single coil bridge with the crisp cruntch but just a little bit more mids and bottom end. I'm not having much luck. I'm thinking I'll have to go to a humbucker in the bridge. I'd like to stick with the Seymour Duncan family of PU.

Hums and singles dont get along well in my experience. Firstly, when you dial in your amp so the bridge hb sounds good, the neck pickups sound thin. When you dial in the amp for the ss pickups, the humbucker sounds muddy.
That, and the fact that humbuckers and single coil pickups sound better with different value volume pots, mean that you end up with a guitar that does nothing well - just mediocre sounds.
I find its far better to go all singles or all humbuckers. Still i'd persevere with the sss setup you currently have.

Have you tried dropping the neck pups lower and adding the jumper wire so you get a tone control for both bridge and middle? This will reduce output a little, but you will gain a little sustain and sweetness. The tone will smooth off the tops on the bridge, and you can make up for any volume drop at the gain section of your amp.

Failing that, im with Lew - you might need the custom wound version for your bridge. There is a reason lots of people use them.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

I have the Texas Hot for the bridge position, it kicks ass, but my ears want to hear that 59' tone coming out of there. Have either of you guys have any experience with the PAF 59' vs Ant 59'?

if you really want a bridge humbucker, then get a humbucker for the neck too.
59's are nice in strats - they have a kind of hollow, clear tone that retains some of the acoustic qualities of strats.
Ants are a different pup altogether - a2 magnets and no wax potting make for a pup with less bass and treb and more midrange "honk" - a much more 50's vintage tone. If the ant is a tweed deluxe, then a 59 is a blackface deluxe.

If you are not yet really au fait with how humbuckers sound in your strat (and not sure what kind of magnets you prefer etc). Keep it simple - get a pair of 59's and install them with 500k pots. The great thing about 59's is that they sound great with pretty much any magnet type, so you can fine tune you sound later by experimenting with magnets.

They sounded great in this (but now it has reverted to a set of ssl-1's)

 

[house]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

If I can't get the SC to sway tone wise to whats in my head, than I'm willing to try that PAF in the bridge.

 

[house]

Re: Ant. Texas Hot is not so Hot.

I have a SSH set up in one of my Strats. I have APS-1's in the N/M and a Jazz neck in the bridge. I like that hummer because of how articulate it sounds even when driven hard. I have always liked the tone of the neck 59, and was wanting to put one in the bridge to see if I could get some positive results. Gibson175, thanks for the run down on the difference between the Ant 59 and the regular 59. Decisions, decisions...