Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

[tce44]

Need a real HOT (single coil size) humbucker to pop in my Tele,to cover
CLASSIC ROCK/HARD ROCK music.Closest to humbucker sound!
Any suggestions? Think ZEPPLIN,BAD CO,ZZTOP,CREAM,etc,etc,,,
Some I had in mind are: HOT RAILS,QUARTER POUNDER,JB jr,ETC....
I might of asked this qusetion awhile back but would like to get more opinions,and ideas to whats working best for everyone.
Want to make sure its the right choice!
Thanx alot if anyone can helpout.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

From Duncan, your choices are Hot Rails, Lil 59, and Hot Stack for Tele. The QP is big and fat, but still a true single. I think you'd be happiest with the Lil 59.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

From Duncan, your choices are Hot Rails, Lil 59, and Hot Stack for Tele. The QP is big and fat, but still a true single. I think you'd be happiest with the Lil 59.

+1

 

[dr.barlo]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

I don't have personal experience with lil tele leads, but they should get you into the hb territory.

But why would you insist on getting that HB tone. Please don't get me wrong I am not trying to lecture you or anything. Really. It's just that with the right pickup (= JD ok ok), and knowing some tricks teles do produce thick lead tones almost at par with LP bridge tone. For example, rolling the tone down to 3-4 and using the right amp settings would get you a great thick lead tone. That's why pagey used a tele for quite a while, Gibbons uses one from time to time (the rumor is that he is using a RG muy grande in his)...

Good luck,

B

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

Those great tones you hear on Led Zep's first album are just a '59 Tele pickup through a small amp.

I don't think there are any mini-humbuckers that will really sound like a full size humbucker...you'll need a booster pedal like a DS-1.

Personally, I'd go for something like an Antiquity or Jerry Donahue and use a Boss DS-1 to boost the signal a bit. In fact, that's exactly what I do!

 

[tce44]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

I love the feel and looks of a Tele but could never get a good Rock tone out of it,and
Your absolutely right,making adjustments and rolling back the vol does help alittle.
I've never had much luck and It always comes out thin,trebly and snappy sounding (not a bad thing) but to cover more harder edged rock stuff Im always trying to get as close to Paul sound as possible.w/out buying the Paul.Been there,done that and will always be a Fenderman.
Thanx for the tips though,Im gonna do alot of experimenting!

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

I love the feel and looks of a Tele but could never get a good Rock tone out of it,and
Your absolutely right,making adjustments and rolling back the vol does help alittle.
I've never had much luck and It always comes out thin,trebly and snappy sounding (not a bad thing) but to cover more harder edged rock stuff Im always trying to get as close to Paul sound as possible.w/out buying the Paul.Been there,done that and will always be a Fenderman.
Thanx for the tips though,Im gonna do alot of experimenting!

You need to experience your Tele with a Duncan Jerry Donahue bridge pickup. No kidding! And maybe a nice Boss DS-1 set to about 1/2 way up.

Lew

 

[tce44]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

Thanx Lew,
Oh and by the way I did sell the Antiquity pickups for my Strat here!
You were right,boy did they go fast!
Is the Jerry Donahue pickup hotter than a Hot Rails?Any twang to it?
Not looking for any Twang,glassiness,or hollow sound.

 

[Falstaff]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

Checking out a BG1400 from the Custom Shop might be a good idea...it is sort of a Pearly Gates for Tele and is an absolutely amazing pickup. I think you can really get a lot of different tones out of it by picking technique and using the knobs a bit.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

Thanx Lew,
Oh and by the way I did sell the Antiquity pickups for my Strat here!
You were right,boy did they go fast!
Is the Jerry Donahue pickup hotter than a Hot Rails?Any twang to it?
Not looking for any Twang,glassiness,or hollow sound.

Cool! The JD is an alnico 2 pickup (like you seem to like!) and it has a fat, middy tone with alot of pluck...not alot of bite, snap or twang.

It's based on the lead pickup in Jerry's '52 Tele and reminds me alot of the pickup in my '51 Tele which I sold around 1970 because the neck got messed up.

I searched and searched for a Tele pickup that sounded like the pickup in my '51 for literally 30 years or more...and found it again just last year with the Jerry Donahue.

I did a long thread about it called the Ultimate Telecaster Tone or something like that.

Almost a P-90 quality to the tone. It's a great choice in a bright Tele guitar to fatten it up and add some meat to the tone.

 

[Maggot]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

I too was looking for a beefier sound from a Tele and I got a Lil 59. It didn't like it that much, but you might. I thought that the distorted sounds were good but the clean sounds were a little stiff. It actually was a little bit hotter and middier than a real 59. It still sounded a little tele-like but not as relaxed and warm as a good tele pickup should. It did sound good overdriving an amp or a 4-track though.

By the way, some people like some of the Dimarzio rail type pickups - they have a somewhat broader selection for teles than SD.

 

[Low_fidelity2100]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

As a tele addict, I can tell you no little bucker is ever gonna sound like a real bucker. And expecting it too is just gonna lead to alotta disappointment.
So you got two options (imo) one is to accept the fact that yer tele is never gonna sound like a les paul, and love your tele for what it is. Or get a tele humbucker bridge, and get a real humbucker. Cause truthfully the only way to get a "real" humbucker sound, is with a full size humbucker. Your tele's never gonna sound like a lespaul. But it will sound pretty rockin. Ed

 

[poopsmith921]

Re: Best Bridge pickup for humbucker sound in Tele?

try a quarter pounder, its still a single coil, but with high output