Black Winter + Phat Cat = wow!

omg81

omg81

New member
I guess this is a pretty unusual combination. Probably no one else ever did this.

I wanted to try a BW in my old Epiphone G-400. That had a Phat Cat set installed, and since I only have one BW, I left the neck PC in. Bridge behaved as expected, typical BW sound, only a bit sharper/drier.

The real surprise was the middle position. As stated elsewhere, I'm not a great fan of the neck Phat Cat, but in the middle position with the bridge BW it's incredible for clean sounds, especially chords. They seem to complement each other very well. It's got juicy lows, sparkling highs, forceful mids, and everything's voluminous yet articulate. Amazing clarity in chords. Very clear and balanced, though a bit dark/melancholic in character, which I love. Great attack response. This is the best clean sound I ever had, in any electric guitar.

All the time I was trying to decide if I should get another BW or a Sentient for the neck. Now I guess I'll just keep the Phat Cat. Even though it looks a bit odd.
 
Re: Black Winter + Phat Cat = wow!

I'm a big H/S fan so I've had some experience with Pat Cat necks & Humbucker bridges, as long as you're using a Humbucker that's on the hotter side you absolutely can get some great clean tones in pos. 2 with them! I had a Pegasus Pat Cat Strat that sounded great in that pos. but as far as using the Phaty as just a neck pickup I prefer them running off 250K pots. I guess they sound okay running off 500K's in the right guitar, something on the darker side perhaps but in alder or ash they can get a little bright & shrill?

My Psychedelic Tele is loaded with a Quarter Pound for Tele in the bridge & a Pat Cat in the neck right now and it's definitely staying that way. I never swapped out the harness so it's still got stock wiring but it's by far the best sounding Telecaster I've ever played & I've played a lot of Telecasters! It still blows me away every time I plug it in! I guess when I was picking out pup's I thought they might work well together but like you just how good it turned out was a complete surprise!!!

My girl's dad is a diehard "Vintage Tele Guy" & even he says it's flipping amazing, he's had it for nearly a month now and keeps "forgetting" to drop it off, lol!!! The pickups are a little hot compared to what he's used to but anything it lacks in "vintage-ness it makes up for ten fold with that switch pos. 2! It's like a Tele/Strat hybrid, big beautiful bell like chime & Tele Twang in the undertones? Best of all, there's hum-cancellation in pos. 2 & both pups are so balls that its right @ home with a S••• ton of gain dumped on top of it!!! You can be Chicken Picking one minute and playing Thrash Metal the next.
 
Re: Black Winter + Phat Cat = wow!

Always good to hear about an unexpected pickup combo. Can we hear what it sounds like?
 
Re: Black Winter + Phat Cat = wow!

That's a bit problematic because I don't have a mic to record from the Marshall. I can try to do something with that modelling stuff, Pod UX-1 or Boss eBand, but usually they sound ****. I'll let you know if I have something.
 
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