Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

[zionstrat]

Added a Reverend Double agent to the stable this weekend and it's the first time I played their Hyper Vintage- It's quite an unusual pup and thinking it's likely I'll use these in future builds.



The magic apparently comes from a funky looking rail+pole design and the sound is really special-
1. Split, it's a very usable single coil- more stratish than tele- a rare case of a split really working in the bridge (but I'm likely to rewire parallel to see what that's like

2. As a clean humbucker, it's really full and bright- not thin at all but with a teleish attack- beefier than a Seth and more sparkly and articulate.

3. So considering the great cleans, I hadn't expected good crunch, but boy was I wrong- As it gains up it compresses and the bass gets really tight and articulate- Much more articulate than a typical PAF.

So it fills a niche for me that few pups can fill- Kind of Telecaster to a bright mini or thick firebird. Balances really well with the neck p90 (but I want to replace the P90, so please add some comments to that thread https://forum.seymourduncan.com/showthread.php?327905-Ideas-for-a-P90-for-a-Reverend-Double-Agent )

I would still use a PG if I was going for warmth and diversity or a BB3 to warm up a bright LP, but would imagine I'll offer this pup for balanced guitars that need some bite without going overboard.

Interested in your thoughts and wondering if anyone's tried to wind something similar?

 

[NJLK]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

I've got their Alnico Grande pickup in the bridge position and a Cleancut Hum Cutter in the neck of a guitar. Both are pretty good. AG is pretty hot (probably comparable to the Super Distortion in terms of output), but much more modern sounding. Nice cleans and does everything up to palm-muted chug pretty well. The Cleancut is supposed to be a noiseless p90 in humbucker format, but it's really got its own sound, which I quite like. Very bright and defined. More like a bright a humbucker than a single coil.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

I've got their Alnico Grande pickup in the bridge position and a Cleancut Hum Cutter in the neck of a guitar. Both are pretty good. AG is pretty hot (probably comparable to the Super Distortion in terms of output), but much more modern sounding. Nice cleans and does everything up to palm-muted chug pretty well. The Cleancut is supposed to be a noiseless p90 in humbucker format, but it's really got its own sound, which I quite like. Very bright and defined. More like a bright a humbucker than a single coil.

Good info- That sounds more like the Reverend pups I'd played in the past- I think this set is a little less aggressive, but both pups can drive my cleaner amps.

Their CP90 in the neck is a good clean pup, but doesn't have enough warmth for me- I don't think it's supposed to be noiseless but I could be wrong on that point.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

i have a set of these, good sounding pups! im such an alnico 2 junkie that i want to swap the magnet but havent gotten around to it yet

 

[NJLK]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

Just curious- with these pickups, I sometimes notice a little bit of high frequency fizz (that's not quite right, but not sure how else to describe it....artifacts in the sound?), especially on the wound strings. I've been wondering if it's something to do with these blades they use. Have you come across anything like that?

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

So far no fix, but have only played in a few controlled environments- will report if I hear anything.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

i have a set of these, good sounding pups! im such an alnico 2 junkie that i want to swap the magnet but havent gotten around to it yet

Ah, you are the cruel one- I imagine 2s would be very cool, but I've got to get the neck p90 balanced out first, so I will pretend I didn't hear you

Would love to hear how it goes and thanks for inspiration.

 

[stratguy23]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

I had a set of these in an SG. The pickups sounded less exotic than their looks. They performed pretty much like a good set of PAFs, with the slight compression effect that OP observed.

Because of the tighter lows and rounder highs, the pickups felt more mid-focused, probably not the best choice for an SG, which better accommodate scooped sounding pickups.

The Railhammer concept is sort of like SD's Five-Two concept, though of course achieved through different means - blades and polepieces rather than different magnet types.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

I had a set of these in an SG. The pickups sounded less exotic than their looks. They performed pretty much like a good set of PAFs, with the slight compression effect that OP observed.

Because of the tighter lows and rounder highs, the pickups felt more mid-focused, probably not the best choice for an SG, which better accommodate scooped sounding pickups.

The Railhammer concept is sort of like SD's Five-Two concept, though of course achieved through different means - blades and polepieces rather than different magnet types.

Good to know- I was thinking strats and teles or LPs that need to cut better- In my mind SGs already cut fine and so what you're thinking makes total sense-

And 24.75 is an unknown for me- would like to hear if others have had a good experience with shorter scaleL.

Don't have a lot of 5-2 experience and good to know they fall into the same ballpark.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

I like Railhammers.

I have a HyperVintage set (the HV neck is great sounding too), an Alnico Grande, and a Chisel. I agree about the Grande- hot & fairly modern feel; I think the punch of the rails is partly responsible. The Chisel is even a bit more modern in character, a nice pickup and one of very few ceramic humbuckers that I've bonded with. I still intend to swap to an A5 eventually; at around 13K I expect it to be like a less muscular/more open cousin to the circa-15k Grande.

 

[teleblooz]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

I have a set of the Chisel's that came wrapped up in a super sweet Ibanez SZ320. The more I play around with these pickups, the more impressed I am. Generally, I run in the Seth, Antiquity, Lollar Low Wind, Zhangbucker Handwounds, PAFish camp when it comes to buckers. So (before I plugged it in) after reading about the Chisel set, (not much info out there) I was a bit disappointed as they are aimed at the 'hard rock'/metal' crowd.

Since I'm an crotchety, set in his ways old fart, the thought of using a higher output pickup with ceramic magnets was already putting a frown on my face. I'm happy to say that frown turned up side down (did I mention corny along with crotchety?) once I spent some quality time with them. Seriously, this is a great set of pickups. I play mostly clean and use a small cache of low gain overdrive to add some texture/edge/dirt/sparkle to the proceedings. For me, the real tone magic this set possesses is in 2 to 8 on the guitars volume control. Using both pickups and varying the volume between the two is a real treat. Seriously, I'm blown away by these pickups. With a simple three way switch, independent volume controls and master tone control, the wide variety of unique, cool, useable tones is inspiring.

I'm seriously considering getting another Chisel neck pickup for the neck of my Tele. It now sports a Lollar Imperial, (which I deadly love) so I'll leave it as is, but man.... these Railhammers are excellent pickups.

 

[CaptainWhizz]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

The fact that Bob Balch and Kyle Shutt have signature Railhammer sets interests me, but they don't seem to be all that numerous in the UK, so I went for Duncans for my Les Paul.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

I have a set of the Chisel's that came wrapped up in a super sweet Ibanez SZ320. The more I play around with these pickups, the more impressed I am. Generally, I run in the Seth, Antiquity, Lollar Low Wind, Zhangbucker Handwounds, PAFish camp when it comes to buckers. So (before I plugged it in) after reading about the Chisel set, (not much info out there) I was a bit disappointed as they are aimed at the 'hard rock'/metal' crowd.

Since I'm an crotchety, set in his ways old fart, the thought of using a higher output pickup with ceramic magnets was already putting a frown on my face. I'm happy to say that frown turned up side down (did I mention corny along with crotchety?) once I spent some quality time with them. Seriously, this is a great set of pickups. I play mostly clean and use a small cache of low gain overdrive to add some texture/edge/dirt/sparkle to the proceedings. For me, the real tone magic this set possesses is in 2 to 8 on the guitars volume control. Using both pickups and varying the volume between the two is a real treat. Seriously, I'm blown away by these pickups. With a simple three way switch, independent volume controls and master tone control, the wide variety of unique, cool, useable tones is inspiring.

I'm seriously considering getting another Chisel neck pickup for the neck of my Tele. It now sports a Lollar Imperial, (which I deadly love) so I'll leave it as is, but man.... these Railhammers are excellent pickups.

Always good to talk to another curmudgeon. definitely think these are unusual pickups, and want to try them in different bills. Have played a lot of specially pickups if you search the formula see my discussion on Vox coax pickups, but thinking these may be generally useful on multiple bilds. Will have to do some research and appreciate others thoughts. But as others have said I'll still be putting in a lot of pearly gatets and Seth's.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[teleblooz]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

Hey Zion, I hear ya on the Seth's and PG'. Although I have yet to try the PG's, knowing first hand how good (other) Duncan pickups are, I know I'd love them. The RH's are just another flavor. It's a flavor I had yet to experience, (even though like you, I've played a lot of specialty pickups. I'm thankful it's a flavor that sent my tonal taste buds to a place I'd never been. For a player that keeps the guitars volume and tone controls wide open, these might merit a 'meh', but for the player makes lives with their hand on the guitars volt/tone controls, that meh would be "Oh my goodness, these are cool"!

Once again, these are marketed more toward the hard rock, metal player. That's not me. Bucker wise, I'm in the 7 to 8K, A2-3-4, inputted, PAFish camp. That's part of the reason this particular set is blowing my mind.

I'll look forward to checking out your discussion on the coax pickups. Like this amazing Ibanez SZ320 (loaded with the Railhammers) I bought because it was too cheap and good to pass up, the same thing happened with a Vox guitar (can't remember the model #, but it was LP shaped, gold top and had the simpler coax pickups system) I came upon at a pawn shop. While I liked the guitar OK, the pickups were outstanding. I thought about pulling them out of the Vox and putting them in a Tele partscaster. I sold the guitar before that thought took wings, but man...I liked those coax pickups.

The Railhammers remind me a bit of the coax's. Different animals, I'm sure, but both the Vox coax's and the Railhammer Chisel's (can't talk about the other models as I've yet to hear/play them) posses a unique quality allowing an open, dynamic tone and sweet response throughout the range of the guitars volume control. While many other pickups I've used fall into that camp, the coax's and Railhammers are in another league altogether. For me, that is! I'm sure there are many who disagree. Just my 'old fart set in his cynical ways' opinion.

This doesn't man I'll be giving up my Lollars/Fezzter's/Zhangbuckers's/Wirtz/Dimarzio's/Bootstrap's/Teisco GF's/Duncan Antiquity Custom Shop P90's/ HD Z90....just means I have another flavor to explore in my quest to find and use gear that best allows the dynamic range required to express the emotions of my music and playing style.

Geez...I just read that last sentence and it sounds like I'm full of myself! Hi there, I'm a conceited, narcissistic a hole..... who the hell are you?! I'm actually a pretty nice fella and my grandkids adore me, so there!. Simply, I just love music and Love to play guitar. After 50 some years of playing/digging/buying/selling/building/modding and loving all things guitar, I (like to think I) know what I like to hear and what does and does not work for me. Finding something totally unexpected that blows me away, is always welcome.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

Hey Zion, I hear ya on the Seth's and PG'. Although I have yet to try the PG's, knowing first hand how good (other) Duncan pickups are, I know I'd love them. The RH's are just another flavor. It's a flavor I had yet to experience, (even though like you, I've played a lot of specialty pickups. I'm thankful it's a flavor that sent my tonal taste buds to a place I'd never been. For a player that keeps the guitars volume and tone controls wide open, these might merit a 'meh', but for the player makes lives with their hand on the guitars volt/tone controls, that meh would be "Oh my goodness, these are cool"!

Once again, these are marketed more toward the hard rock, metal player. That's not me. Bucker wise, I'm in the 7 to 8K, A2-3-4, inputted, PAFish camp. That's part of the reason this particular set is blowing my mind.

I'll look forward to checking out your discussion on the coax pickups. Like this amazing Ibanez SZ320 (loaded with the Railhammers) I bought because it was too cheap and good to pass up, the same thing happened with a Vox guitar (can't remember the model #, but it was LP shaped, gold top and had the simpler coax pickups system) I came upon at a pawn shop. While I liked the guitar OK, the pickups were outstanding. I thought about pulling them out of the Vox and putting them in a Tele partscaster. I sold the guitar before that thought took wings, but man...I liked those coax pickups.

The Railhammers remind me a bit of the coax's. Different animals, I'm sure, but both the Vox coax's and the Railhammer Chisel's (can't talk about the other models as I've yet to hear/play them) posses a unique quality allowing an open, dynamic tone and sweet response throughout the range of the guitars volume control. While many other pickups I've used fall into that camp, the coax's and Railhammers are in another league altogether. For me, that is! I'm sure there are many who disagree. Just my 'old fart set in his cynical ways' opinion.

This doesn't man I'll be giving up my Lollars/Fezzter's/Zhangbuckers's/Wirtz/Dimarzio's/Bootstrap's/Teisco GF's/Duncan Antiquity Custom Shop P90's/ HD Z90....just means I have another flavor to explore in my quest to find and use gear that best allows the dynamic range required to express the emotions of my music and playing style.

Geez...I just read that last sentence and it sounds like I'm full of myself! Hi there, I'm a conceited, narcissistic a hole..... who the hell are you?! I'm actually a pretty nice fella and my grandkids adore me, so there!. Simply, I just love music and Love to play guitar. After 50 some years of playing/digging/buying/selling/building/modding and loving all things guitar, I (like to think I) know what I like to hear and what does and does not work for me. Finding something totally unexpected that blows me away, is always welcome.

Sounds like we're twins separated still birth

Yeah, I fell in love with the vox Scc33, finally found a used set of coaxes and they are the center of an L5s build that I wrote up if u want to learn more...

I agree the coaxe and rail hammers demonstrate there's plenty of room for pup expansion... for me they open up a lot of ground between crispy clean and crunch and volume, tapping and even Reverend's bass roll off all contribute to a greatly expanded pallet... Glad u use your vol...I love treble bleeds.

Today we were upgrading a PRS strats pups and I was thinking this is such a great platform... Why not a blend pot, etc. The players that push the edge are our best customers, but the other 60% just have the ear and chops to say I like a LP for some stuff and Teles for other.

Of course there's nothing wrong with a perfect guitar for a specific style, but the out of box guys are the ones I love.

You mentioned metal and one thing out clients have taught us... If a guitar does metal well, we can usually turn it into a diverse puppy with minor mods and pup changes... Much harder to go the other way...

Thanks again for a fun thread... Let's jam next time you're in Raleigh, NC;-)






Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

 

[teleblooz]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

Yep, SCC33 was it. Nice guitar with killer tones. I don't know why those guitars and/or pickups didn't catch on. Perhaps like some Yamaha gear I liked, as soon as it starts to take hold, they discontinue it.

I'm out on the west coast about 20 miles south of Seattle. Never been to NC, but from what I understand (years of Andy, Barney, Opie, Floyd, Otis, Goober and Gomer, various travel shows and food shows about BBQ) it's a beautiful state. However, you are on brother! If I make it there, we are going to do some picking'!

Like you, I am also an out of the box guitar lover. I've had some nice weird ones over the years. Many were used live, but most were just fun to have around. BTW, the blender pot is a great way to go. When installing ne pups on my old Tokai strat, I got new pots, pickguard, etch and wired it up using the 'blender' diagram from Fralin's site. Since I'm a CKT (certified knob twiddler) from way back, I dig the cool shadings bringing a bit of the bridge pickup with the neck.

Back to the Railhammes for a moment.... in the middle position, I can get some Tele tones that are just so stinking sweet! Adjusting things on the bridge pickup alone also opens a plethora of cool tones.... it can honk like the tone Greg Martin gets with his old Lester into a Marshmallow it can spank, twang, spit and sputter like a good ol Nocaster. While they can certainly ape the tone of various pickups, for me, their real beauty lies in the ability to find ones 'signature' tone.

I can't believe how much fun I'm having with this guitar. I bought it because it was a great looking/feeling/playing/sounding guitar. Since I only paid $110.00 for it, I figured I could sell the pickups and make more than the purchase price, install a set of super 58's I've had for a while and flip it fast. So far, I have not been able to do that. I receive compliments on how great the guitar sounds each time I use it.

Ever have one of those deals? Don't need it. Don't want it, but too good a deal to pass up. So, buy it with intention of flipping, then fall in love with the darn thing! I have it listed locally at a stoopid low price with 'no trades'. I 've had a great deal of interest but mostly from a handful of low ball idiots and those wishing to trade Star Wars posters, a tool box, a 'fully loaded' pedal board with three pedals, 5 empty slots and an intermittent power supply. He assured me however, the DOD American Metal pedal, the Rogue chorus and the Danelectro BLT work well..most of the time. Gotta love Craigslist!

 

[teleblooz]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

Sorry bout some of the words. I am be a good speller, but my computer has it's own idea of the words I'm typing.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: Great new Bridge pup- Railhammer Hyper Vintage- What's your experience?

Sorry bout some of the words. I am be a good speller, but my computer has it's own idea of the words I'm typing.

Yeah I can't spell kat without spell checking. As far as mods, I love blenders on strats and SpinASplits on buckers... I don't use many pedals, so it's an 11 kind of thing...when I have more tones and volume shaping, I feel like I can keep building and adding and it's different practically every night.

Although I also love it when I get stuck in a perfect tone and don't dare touch controls for the rest of the song

Giged the Railhammer and just love the bridge but definitely moving to hotter neck p 90

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk