Clapton Mid Boost kit...

[TimmyPage]

Where would I go about aquiring one?

I ask because my private teacher is an absolute gear whore. He plays with Dr. Z's has about 28 guitars, (his comment was like "My basement is like a Seymour Duncan catalogue, I have pretty much all of their pickups in at least one of my guitars.") many of which he bought himself, and his live sound is absolutely godlike.

I asked him how to get a good jazz tone with a strat, and he gave me a few options for a darker sound - either physically put in a P90 or put in an Alnico II Pro single coil or a quarter pounder, and add a Clapton mid boost kit. He has one in a strat or too, as does local jazz legend, Lorne Lofsky (who plays an SSS strat with cool rails and the mid boost).

So.. thoughts on the ideas in general? Comments?

 

[jeremy]

Re: Clapton Mid Boost kit...

i have the clapton boost in a strat with a set of classic stack plus pups and its very versatile. i know you used to be able to buy them from fender but i dont know if they do that any more. mine was like $75 or so i think.

i rewired the tbx tone control with someones mod so it didnt suck as much life from the sound

you want to use low output bright pups with that preamp. it can add quite a bit of thickness to the sound and the built in preamp bumps up the volume plenty

 

[Bludave]

Re: Clapton Mid Boost kit...

http://www.aampselectricguitarstore.com/fender_effects/fender_mid_boost_kit.html

Sounds like your teacher is a lot like me. I own 27 guitars and some really nice amps too.

I own 2 Clapton Strats, and I don't associate those guitars with a Jazzy tone at all. My "Blackie, which is an original Lace Sensor EC Strat is my favorite single coil guitar. When I think of Jazz I hear Wes Montgomery playing in my head. Suprisingly a Telecaster is a great guitar for Jazz. The Neck Pickup in a Tele offers all the right basic tones for a good Jazz sound. A friend of mine used to play in a 25 piece Jazz BAnd. He owns a few Archtop guitars but was having difficulty with feedback at the volume the band was playing at, so he switched to his Tele and his sound was awesome.

From a Technical point of view on a Clapton Strat the board is mounted about 2" below the neck pickup and above the switch. If you are going to do this you may have to route out a hole for the board to sit in under the poickguard. I have often considered doing this on other guitars, but did not want to start hacking up the body. I wonder if the board could be mounted to the back plate, maybe a custom made plate with a pocket for the board. Then the other concern is where do you put the battery. On the EC Strats it is right in fron of the Claw. A Slight recess in the cavity is there for the battery to fit in.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Clapton Mid Boost kit...

i use my unit and battery in a strat that i converted to a fixed bridge. i put the circut board in the back trem spring cavity. if you use your trem this wont work obviously but if not you can block your trem and have the room youd need back there which would mean only drilling one hole to get the wires to the control cavity

 

[jmh151]

Re: Clapton Mid Boost kit...

You can find them on ebay. 2 stores I know that sell it are guitarelectronics.com and guitarpartsresource.com

It doesn't really give a jazzy tone- it's more of a screaming overdriven tone. I love the Clapton strat, but I hate the tiny frets. The clapton booster adds midrange and a volume boost, giving the single coils a very loud humbucking tone.

Problem with the clapton midrange is you have to route the body under the pickguard for the circuit board.

An easier, more versatile solution is to install the EMG David Gilmour set.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Clapton Mid Boost kit...

i use my unit and battery in a strat that i converted to a fixed bridge. i put the circut board in the back trem spring cavity. if you use your trem this wont work obviously but if not you can block your trem and have the room youd need back there which would mean only drilling one hole to get the wires to the control cavity

Nice solution. I think I'll try that.

 

[TimmyPage]

Re: Clapton Mid Boost kit...

Well, neither my teacher, nor I, use a standard Wes-tastic tone. We generally run our tone pots at full, and everything on the amp at noon. It's bright, and clear, with good, audibly pick attack, but it's still warm enough sounding for jazz, and for being more in the forefront in a jazz context. I only ever use my volume control, and even then it's rare, I just control dynamics with my picking.

So I do want something warmer, but still.. well.. singly coily.

 

[Bludave]

Re: Clapton Mid Boost kit...

You might be better off getting buckers that can be split. Maybe a thinline Tele with a push/pull pot.