Dave Z
New member
The FRED. Three great pickups, though. Some impressions (I'll have clips of my dreadful playing up later this week, got a short biz trip starting Monday...)
Tested on a mahogany SG with an adjustable (for spacing) Schaller roller bridge..adjusted for each pickup.
FRED (9K) - most balanced of them all. It is basically a cleaned up '59 with a tighter low end, more focused mids, highs about the same...sometime the Fred sounds exactly like a '59, like when playing clean through a Fender. However, it *is* cleaner, arpeggios are less sweet but more clear. Not as fuzzy as the 59 under gain but with wicked harmonics. The low end is there and well balanced with the rest..that's why this one stays, it's the best balanced of the ones I tried. BTW I'm selling the regular-spaced FRED I have (need an F-spaced). See the trading post.
BS PATB-3 (8.7K) Long name...this trembucker was interesting...it is PHENOMINAL clean - HUGE but tight low end - NO flubber here, clean highs, no icepick - not as crisp as some. Descending single note runs will make you FEEL (kinda like the neck PU on a Strat), believe me....chords are BIG, it is hard to believe this measured < 9K. Under overdrive & distortion the TB's scooped mids make themselves known. (with moderate overdrive I found it a bit buzzy, not sure why..with loads o' gain it screams nicely!) I did not like it as much as the FRED, despite what I think was better low end. I like the mids in the FRED, especially with overdrive or distortion. Someone looking for a big, clear, woody clean tone for a Fender amp will dig this. Anyway did not balance well with my neck PU (PAF Pro) - not enough girth in the mids.
Dimarzio Breed (Neck) 9.9K. I REALLY wanted to like this..it had the excellent lows of the TB, but with some mids. Sounded good clean but did not grab me like the FRED does - not as sweet as the FRED. Under OD the solid lows & mids shine and under lots o' gain this thing screams. Huge low end, even in an amp like the High Octane which strips out some bass in the preamp. Mainly, this does not balance so well as a bridge PU - there is an edgy quality in the real high end, but not a lot of sweetness in the highs. *Extremely* sensitive to pole adjustment - this would be a tweakers delight. Oh well it was a good idea.
Tested on a mahogany SG with an adjustable (for spacing) Schaller roller bridge..adjusted for each pickup.
FRED (9K) - most balanced of them all. It is basically a cleaned up '59 with a tighter low end, more focused mids, highs about the same...sometime the Fred sounds exactly like a '59, like when playing clean through a Fender. However, it *is* cleaner, arpeggios are less sweet but more clear. Not as fuzzy as the 59 under gain but with wicked harmonics. The low end is there and well balanced with the rest..that's why this one stays, it's the best balanced of the ones I tried. BTW I'm selling the regular-spaced FRED I have (need an F-spaced). See the trading post.
BS PATB-3 (8.7K) Long name...this trembucker was interesting...it is PHENOMINAL clean - HUGE but tight low end - NO flubber here, clean highs, no icepick - not as crisp as some. Descending single note runs will make you FEEL (kinda like the neck PU on a Strat), believe me....chords are BIG, it is hard to believe this measured < 9K. Under overdrive & distortion the TB's scooped mids make themselves known. (with moderate overdrive I found it a bit buzzy, not sure why..with loads o' gain it screams nicely!) I did not like it as much as the FRED, despite what I think was better low end. I like the mids in the FRED, especially with overdrive or distortion. Someone looking for a big, clear, woody clean tone for a Fender amp will dig this. Anyway did not balance well with my neck PU (PAF Pro) - not enough girth in the mids.
Dimarzio Breed (Neck) 9.9K. I REALLY wanted to like this..it had the excellent lows of the TB, but with some mids. Sounded good clean but did not grab me like the FRED does - not as sweet as the FRED. Under OD the solid lows & mids shine and under lots o' gain this thing screams. Huge low end, even in an amp like the High Octane which strips out some bass in the preamp. Mainly, this does not balance so well as a bridge PU - there is an edgy quality in the real high end, but not a lot of sweetness in the highs. *Extremely* sensitive to pole adjustment - this would be a tweakers delight. Oh well it was a good idea.
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