Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

RoteGitarre

RoteGitarre

New member
I'm putting a Vandenberg back together after several years of hibernation, and picked up a used SSL-6 off eBay to pair with a spare JB that I had in the parts bin. Everything I've read seems to say that it should work well and not have too much volume dropoff between the two, but I'd love to hear others' experiences.

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Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

Yep they work great together!

No level issues at all by SDUGF standards. I actually raised my SSL-6 up really high so they provided the same amount of gain. I guess I kept the JB down about 1/8" or so from the strings. I had it so that the slug coil matched the output of an SSL-2 in the middle when the JB was split, which was at the just the right height for the SSL-2 to match the SSL-6 when it was tapped. Like the SSL-6, the SSL-2 also ended up being pretty high. As for the JB, I never had any issues with its tone at that height.
 
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Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

A JB in the bridge and a STK-S6 in the neck is a WINNING combination.
You're good to go!
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

The only thing to consider when using a SSL-5/6 in the neck is NOT to use a 250k tone pot.
It will take away too much high end. I advise either a 1 meg or no tone at all which is what I do!
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

I suppose there isn't any harm in using something larger than a 250k for the tone; though unless the guitar is really dark I view the need for a 1M tone with an SSL-6 as an indication that there may be a problem downstream in the signal chain.

In my experiece a 250k volume and tone worked better for both the JB and the SSL-6.

...then again, I did run those pickups with a Floyd, (EDIT: and ran the SSL-6 tapped for cleaner stuff).
 
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Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

Excellent! I had hoped for some positive feedback, mostly because the SSL-6 is already bought, but it sounds like a winner.

The guitar had a Demon in the bridge and a Fast Track 2 in the neck when I bought it. I liked the Demon just fine, but the FT2 completely overpowered it. Hopefully this combination will give something more balanced and useful.

I'm not sure what tone control is presently in the guitar, but given that the bridge (Kahler 2710) is all steel, I think I'll leave it as is and see what she sounds like. The previous pickup combo really doesn't give me much of a point of reference for how these will sound, ie bright/dark, thin, etc.

Thanks for the replies guys!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

Demon bridge and FT2 neck is a ridiculous combo. Never in a million years!
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

The SSL-6 has lots of mids and plenty of output, but still has a single coil-ness to it. Paired with a higher output humbucker like a JB, it should be great.
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

i like the ssl6 with 500k pots in the neck, very dark with 250k to my ears. the stks6 isnt really any hotter than the ssl6, its just noiseless and has a little different high end
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

i dont have an ssl2 to compare to my stks4n anymore but when i compared the ssl6 to the stks6 i didnt hear much difference in output
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

An SSL-6 makes for a rather dark neck. A lot of players like a hot bridge and a neck and middle that are more "clean" oriented. An SSL-6 in the neck is going to make the guitar into more of a shred machine all around. You might want to lower the bass side of the SSL-6, relative to the treble side, to prevent chords from sounding too muddy.
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

PicoRiveraTele said:
An SSL-6 makes for a rather dark neck. A lot of players like a hot bridge and a neck and middle that are more "clean" oriented. An SSL-6 in the neck is going to make the guitar into more of a shred machine all around. You might want to lower the bass side of the SSL-6, relative to the treble side, to prevent chords from sounding too muddy.
Click to expand...
It's a Peavey Vandenberg, so shredstick is the general idea.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

the oval bottom is normal for the ssl6 rather than the flanged bottom flatwork on the ssl1 or ssl2.

with 500k pots the ssl6 isnt that dark in the neck, with 250k it is too dark for me. i like the ssl6 in the neck with a bucker in the bridge or in the middle of two buckers in a hsh config, the extra output and thickness seems to compliment the tone of the bucker
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

Yeah, I think I would only use the SSL-5 or -6 with 500k pots, so it maintains the clarity of a single coil. I didn't like them with 250k pots (and I generally like darker sounds).
 
Re: Experience with SSL-6 in neck position?

I actually raised my SSL-6 up really high so they provided the same amount of gain.
Click to expand...

How do people use height to adjust the output of singlecoils? For me, only way to get them balanced is to have balanced pickups.

Especially in the neck of my strat all pickups have been really picky about the height, Fender originals, SSL-1, SSL-7, SSl-5... Have them 1 turn too high and they'll sound piercing, and 1 turn too low, and all wonderful dynamics are gone...
 
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