Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting?

[tgv1975]

Hi everyone.

What can you recommend in terms of a neck humbucker (perhaps vintage or medium output), that'll fulfill these conditions:

- great, bright(er) cleans
- warm sound with distortion (be easy to create the Slashy, "woman tone" with)
- sounds great or at least decent/passable when coil split (VERY IMPORTANT!)

It will go into an LP-type guitar (Dean Soltero): mahogany + maple body, mahogany + rosewood neck, in an attempt to replace the neck DMT Nostalgia (unsplittable 2 conductor) that gives out too dark cleans for my taste.

I'm in Europe, so unfortunately I'm unable to use suggestions that only/mostly apply to the US market.


(Listening to sound samples here and on youtube, I'd lean towards a SD SH-2 Jazz. Also, does anyone know anyhting much about the Dean Nostalgia PU? There's an utter lack of info about it, i.e. is it worth getting the 4 counductor version and split it? Does it split well?)

Much appreciated!

UPDATE

Suggested so far:

Seymour Duncan SH-2 Jazz
Seymour Duncan Stag Mag
Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro APH-1
Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon

DiMarzio FRED
DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell

Other suggestions: change tone pot to get more brightness.


Thanks! Keep 'em coming!

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

The Jazz would work great its wonderful both clean and under gain. The 59 might also be worth looking at. Both can be split and give usable if not good tones when split.

Sorry im not familiar with the Dean line of pickups so i cant comment there but hopefully someone else can.

 

[Kam]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

I'm very tempted to recommend the Stag Mag, actually. It's an obvious choice for anyone looking for great split tones, since it splits to a true single coil, but it's humbucker sound is very, very good as well. It's fat and warm, but it retains some of that single coil clarity on the top end that stops it getting muddy.

The one thing I'm not sure of is whether it'll be bright enough for you in humbucker mode. I have it in the neck of an alder body, maple neck Tele and it's almost too dark for that guitar. Granted, I'm trying to balance it with a single coil Tele bridge pickup, but if your guitar is already inclined towards darker sounds then it might not cut like you want it to.

Still, an excellent pickup and one well worth checking out, if you get a chance.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

the jazz won't give you that warm slash-y tone. The nostalgia, I've tried it, I wasn't impressed. a bit boring and dull. every 2 conductor humbucker can be made into a 4 conductor pickup to split.

about the stagmag: I find it too compressed, too mushy under high gain.

there's just one pickup I think that will work: the alnico2pro. I hate to recommend that pickup, cause I love to hate it, but I can't. I just love that pickup. It's got that warm slash thing going on, it splits quite well.

a brighter version is the air norton, but the air norton sounds a bit flatter, not as dynamically and harmonically rich as the alnico2pro.

the Fred is a bit of an inbetweener of the a2pro and the slash. what dimarzio's writing is just spot on. it's really a great neckpickup in a les paul style guitar. I won't mush out on high gain, it will retain its clarity, a little bell-like chime but it will also be warm, very nice pickup, but it took me 6 years to like it

the best pickup for you IMHO is the alnico2pro but with the alnico 2 bar swapped for an unoriented alnico 5. That's just the thing for me in bridge and neck. it's just a great pickup. a bit hotter than the usual a2pro, a bit clearer, but that juicyness is still there.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

AH I see you're in Europe. your name should've been a giveaway...

uhm. alnico2pro without the unoriented alnico5 or the Fred is my recommendation.

 

[tgv1975]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

AH I see you're in Europe. your name should've been a giveaway...

uhm. alnico2pro without the unoriented alnico5 or the Fred is my recommendation.

Many thanks for your insightful advice! Especially for confirming the Jazz won't put out that creamy "woman tone", which is sort of a deal breaker. I dare not going inside the PU to attach a 4 wire conductor :/ So, the Nostalgia is not something particularly impressive, good to know, I don't yet have a good system of reference for Les Paul PUs and tones.

I'll go research your suggestions.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

the jazz is just too clear and clean for juicyness. even with the volumepot rolled back. it just gets warmer, not creamier.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

Screamin Demon

 

[tgv1975]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

@orpheo: thanks again; regarding the Alnico 2 Pro, would that not be too dark for an already dark guitar, as opposed to an Alnico 5 magnet? I see SD recommends it for bright guitars, which mine certainly isn't.

@Kam: thanks! Indeed, I too am a bit concerned about too much darkness/mud in the neck position, for the Stag Mag -- I have listened to the tone sample. I think it would be way too dark for me, if you say it's borderline dark in your bright instrument.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

What about wiring the Stag Mag in parallel to brighten it up.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

dude, for the brightness just get the right volume pot. Any pickup can have extended highs, you just need the pot value that is tailored for the particular pickup.

My seth lover likes the current 280k I have, but I have been thinking of finding a quality 300k + pot to open up the top end even more so I can roll the tone and get my sound that way. At 250k the seth is very thick, dark, even with all the controls dimed. 500k was just too shrill and hi-def. But this goes to show that a pickup can range from dark to bright depending on how 'open' the pot allows it to be.

Correct me if I'm wrong dudes! This is my experience with pot values.

 

[tgv1975]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

dude, for the brightness just get the right volume pot. Any pickup can have extended highs, you just need the pot value that is tailored for the particular pickup.

Hm... that gets me thinking. I currently employ the humbucker-standard 500k pot. I wonder if a 1000k would make THE difference I'm looking for. I'll look into that, cheers!

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

dude, for the brightness just get the right volume pot. Any pickup can have extended highs, .

Wrong!

Not all pups have bright highs... even without any pots. And some pups can be so bright and shrill that even with a 250k pot in parallel with a 250k resistor they are still bright.

Yes, I'm old, but my ears can't hear a lick of difference between a 280k and a 300k pot even AB-ing from one to the other. Certainly after the 10 minutes it takes to change a pot and you won't hear any difference. Now in a band situation, there's not a chance in h*** you're gonna hear a difference between a 280k and a 300k.

To my ears, with some pups I only hear a subtle difference between a 300k and a 500k pot.

Point is...

every pup is different, and sometimes you just need to get the right one (even pot changes and mag swaps don't get what's needed).

 

[TheLivingDead]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

I know I always say this... But I mean it...

The DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell is exactly what you just described. Give it some consideration.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

definitely! Consider pot value as a treble ceiling of sorts, when it comes to buying new pickups, select a 'core tone' and 'attack response' that you would be happy with as you can shift the treble ceiling a bit with pots.

If the pickup is too dark using a no-load pot and bypassing the tone circuit, then that is a problem that pot value cannot fix.

If I were you, wire the pickup in question directly to the jack. If there isn't enough highs, then you really need a brighter pickup.

 

[orpheo]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

the humbucker from hell is VERY clear. almost bright. I wouldn't go that way.

The a2pro might 'seem' too warm, but it works quite well. I use it in an all korina les paul with an all rosewood neck. and in that guitar it still isn't too bright.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

Wrong!

Not all pups have bright highs... even without any pots. Some pups are so bright that with a 250k pot in parallel with a 250k resistor they are still bright.

Yes, I'm old, but my ears can't hear a lick of difference between a 280k and a 300k pot even AB-ing from one to the other. Certainly after the 10 minutes it takes to change a pot and you won't hear any difference. Now in a band situation, there's not a chance in h*** you're gonna hear a difference between a 280k and a 300k.

To my ears, with some pups I only hear a subtle difference between a 300k and a 500k pot.

You're definitely right, I just thought about the pot bypass notion while I was typing up a response earlier. I'm sure the responsiveness of a pickup to pot values also has to do with the impedance of the pickup?

The difference I get from 'premium pots' isn't so much from the pot value, it's just a sturdier pot that feels nicer and always comes close to spec in the mail.

I certainly heard a big difference between 250k and 500k, seth lover was extremely shrill at 500k to the point that I didn't want to ever be caught using that tone. 250k was the 'right pot' for me, I just went with the 280k because that's what RS guitarworks offers.

 

[tgv1975]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

The DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell is exactly what you just described. Give it some consideration.

That low output (5.89 KOhm) makes me think it'll become quite puny and feeble when split, and Dimarzio says:

Aside from canceling 60-cycle hum, it bears very little resemblance to a standard humbucking sound.

, which makes me think there's no way I'll get the fat, creamy tone of early Clapton/Slash.

 

[tgv1975]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

I just ran into the P-Rails model. Saw it demoed here. Is that... real? Extremely versatile. Anyone has any experience with it? Unfortunately, as I said before, my experience with LPs and HBs is very limited, so I can't really tell it the P-90/HB tone is where it should be. The single coil tone is definitely there, not top-notch, but there.

Well...?

 

[robertkoa]

Re: Best neck humbucker for great cleans, warm high-gain, and very good for splitting

I know I always say this... But I mean it...

The DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell is exactly what you just described. Give it some consideration.

Steve Blucher from DiMarzio and wizard behind many of their designs ...describes it as a very clean , very bright almost single coil sounding Humbucker ( except for the wider magnetic 'window ' to the strings ) so not a really warm pickup.