Duncan SSL1, california set

Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

I love the dismissal of something never tested simply based on preconceptions.

Hurrah for closed-mindedness!

Jacew said:
It doesn't really matter if how those split noiseless sound like.
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No matter: split stacks are still a viable solution for those who are pragmatic.
 
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Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

I tried the Eric Johnson mod where a Strat bridge pickup is replaced with a Dimarzio HS2 and only the top coil is used.

Even bought a Tube Driver in the hopes of getting his violin tone.

But I’m not Eric. Got close but overall didn’t care for it for my own music and style of playing.

Ive done as much experimenting with tone and pickups as anyone I know.
 
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Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

Lewguitar said:
The Twangbanger has a baseplate and is designed to emulate an Alnico 2 Tele bridge pickup. It does sound good with the APS1 or 2 tho. But in reality, it doesn’t sound much like a Tele pickup when put in a Strat. Just sounds like a thicker sounding, slightly hotter, Strat bridge pickup with softer treble.
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Yes. It does have similar characterics, which make it "matching" with APS.

gregory said:
I love the dismissal of something never tested simply based on preconceptions.

Hurrah for closed-mindedness!

No matter: split stacks are still a viable solution for those who are pragmatic.
Click to expand...

Yes, but pointless if you're only going to run it split.

Why spent money on something more complicated and expensive, when you can simply get the real thing for less.

This debate is really no different from tube amp vs. modelers.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

Jacew said:
Yes, but pointless if you're only going to run it split.
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Not if it gives a person the tone he's looking for.

Jacew said:
Why spent money on something more complicated and expensive, when you can simply get the real thing for less.
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People have lots of hangups, as you've demonstrated. If your hangup is buying only pickups from Duncan then you simply can't get the "real thing" at all.

...or maybe you can!

From checking prices it looks like you can snatch a used HS-2s for ~$35; HS-4s for ~$45.

Jacew said:
This debate is really no different from tube amp vs. modelers.
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Exactly! :D
 
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Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

As evidenced by the testimony that the Twang Banger doesn't really sound like a Tele bridge, it takes more than just a base plate to get a Tele bridge tone. In fact Fender didn't put base plates on Tele bridges for a number of years, and AGAINST ALL ODDs they still sounded like Telecasters. The truth is all the base plate does is slightly increase the inductance and decrease the Q factor, it's a trivial detail. The Twang Banger should just be though of as an AlNiCo 2 poles Strat pickup wound into the 7k range. IMO, a pickup that hot with AlNiCo 2 is asking for mushy soup, an AlNiCo 5 variant would probably do very well.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

gregory said:
Not if it gives a person the tone he's looking for.

People have lots of hangups, as you've demonstrated. If your hangup is buying only pickups from Duncan then you simply can't get the "real thing" at all.

...or maybe you can!

From checking prices it looks like you can snatch a used HS-2s for ~$35; HS-4s for ~$45.
Click to expand...

I might try it if I happen to come across cheap one, but market is different here.

I have no hangup about SD products really. I use whatever works. Just think it wouldn't bad business to have such product in line up.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

Jacew said:
Just think it wouldn't bad business to have such product in line up.
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I completely agree with you about this, BTW. They could do something similar to the Ant. II Surfer Bridge with fully charged magnets and without the aging process which they could sell for $65 instead of $95.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

It would be interesting to have Seymore Duncan Co's insights on where the business is at, but the fact that, rather than coming out with inventive concepts like the P-Rails, they released a string on endorsement deal sets and song-title-derived sets, which are ostensibly only suitable for playing one particular song, and that says a lot to me about where the pickup business is... though hopefully not where it's going.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

PicoRiveraTele said:
they released a string on endorsement deal sets and song-title-derived sets, which are ostensibly only suitable for playing one particular song.
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Wat!? All the artist and song derived sets have been pretty versatile, just as most SD pickups. I wouldnt say a single SD pickup is only good for "one particular song". I love the Alpha and Omega set and I didn't know who Holcomb was until recently. Most of the new pickups aren't "name" pickups: Nazgul, Sentient, Pegasus, Black Winter, Saturday Night Special, Duality, Blackouts.

But I digress.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

Chistopher said:
Wat!? All the artist and song derived sets have been pretty versatile, just as most SD pickups. I wouldnt say a single SD pickup is only good for "one particular song".
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Well, they named it for a particular song for a reason. Trust them. I trust them.

Chistopher said:
Most of the new pickups aren't "name" pickups: ...Saturday Night Special
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vF66CsYEnc I'd never heard of it either. I think some of those other pickups were named for Lord of the Rings characters. That's better? I guess?
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

The most recent of those were released when?

The silliest part is these artists often used standard production pickups.

Anyway an SSL-1B and SSL-2B and A2 counterparts seem like a no-brainer. Would it require 42.5 gauge wire? Is that the issue? I honestly don't know.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

The song and the pickups Saturday Night Special are to the best my knowledge completely unrelated. And I'm think it's the same with the Nazgul and Lord of the Rings, but again, I'm no expert on the literature, I just play them because they sound nice.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

I'd say the AlNiCo II Pro staggered covers the AlNiCo 2 side of things. I think there is a market for a Seymour Duncan AlNiCo 2 or 5 Strat pickup in the high 5k range. The CBS era pickups were known to fall down into this range, where as all the current offerings, SSL-1, A2P, the Antiquities, all align with the typical pre-CBS values.
 
Re: Duncan SSL1, california set

Chistopher said:
The song and the pickups Saturday Night Special are to the best my knowledge completely unrelated. And I'm think it's the same with the Nazgul and Lord of the Rings, but again, I'm no expert on the literature, I just play them because they sound nice.
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The Saturday Night Special set was named after the Lynyrd Skynyrd song - but it certainly was not meant to imply that the pickups were only good for playing southern rock. Our product team thought it was a cool name, and the SNS set does that fat 70's PAF into a Marshall (or Peavey Mace) thing quite well.
 
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