Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

R

robo

New member
I'm playing a SD Jerry Donahue in my tele. I really like it, but since our saxophone player quit the band and we decided not to replace him I realised that I'm all of a sudden in a different sonical landscape. Now we're basically a blues trio with a singer. The tele sounds too thin now. I have humbucker guitars, like a Gibson Les Paul and a Hagström 335. But I love playing the tele. Fits like a glove. So what to do?

I'm looking at the Little 59 for tele pickup. But none of my friends have ever tried one. And Youtube offers slim pickings in 59 for tele vids.

Any of you guys got anything to say about it? Is it any good?

I know I could just put a real humbucker in there, but I don't wanna lose the tele-vibe.
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

the lil 59 is a fine pup. the video is decent, other than the cringe inducing out of tuneness at times, and it sounds painfully bright at times. 375k volume and no load tone in the video. if you are using 250k/250k (stock fender and what i use in my tele) youll get a fatter/darker tone
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

As Jeremy said, it's a fine pickup. The con? It's a humbucker. Personally I never get lucky with a humbucker in a tele. It gets the job done but just doesn't feel right. Go with Quarter Pound for thick sounding single coil pickup.
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

Most of the Single Coil Sized Humbuckers are designed to work best with 250K pots. The Little 59 is one of them.
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

I like the Little 59 in a Tele, and to me it doesn't quite sound like it does in the video- it is a little thicker than that. But the Jerry Donahue is a good pickup, too, and can easily sound big (and still sound like a Tele). Perhaps considering expanding the sound with pedals or playing technique instead.
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

Thanks for your input y’all. Ive seen that youtube vid but I cant just relate to it. The sound is aweful, in a pickup vid. I just don’t get it.
And eventhough changing my playing style is probably a good idea, I know that’s just never gonna happen :) too old and lazy for that.

I figured the corona times makes the ecomony sink. So I made my contribution and bought a Little 59 today. What the hell, I reckon. Right?
I’ll try to piece togeter a good sounding demo (and comparsion with the Donahue) in the next week or two, depending on shipping time and my work load. I’ll get back to you.
Have a nice weekend everybody!
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

i think it sounds bad in that video. it didnt sound like that when ive played em. pop it in and see what ya think. if you like it but want a brighter/cleaner option, a push/pull pot to split the coils or run in parallel instead of series is a nice option too
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

robo said:
Thanks for your input y’all. Ive seen that youtube vid but I cant just relate to it. The sound is aweful, in a pickup vid. I just don’t get it.
And eventhough changing my playing style is probably a good idea, I know that’s just never gonna happen :) too old and lazy for that.

I figured the corona times makes the ecomony sink. So I made my contribution and bought a Little 59 today. What the hell, I reckon. Right?
I’ll try to piece togeter a good sounding demo (and comparsion with the Donahue) in the next week or two, depending on shipping time and my work load. I’ll get back to you.
Have a nice weekend everybody!
Click to expand...

Look forward to an (in tune) comparison.
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

I've tried the Lil 59 in several guitars and hated it in every one. It didn't sound at all like in that vid. It always sounded to me like a "wet blanket" type pup. Definitely NOT like the clean, bright sound of its big brother...even with 500k pots.
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

GuitarDoc said:
I've tried the Lil 59 in several guitars and hated it in every one. It didn't sound at all like in that vid. It always sounded to me like a "wet blanket" type pup. Definitely NOT like the clean, bright sound of its big brother...even with 500k pots.
Click to expand...

Do you mean like in my vid I posted today? (link two posts above.) Then it may be a dial in issue? At the end of my vid I posted amp settings. And in the description I added my overdrive pedal settings.
Try it you might like it?
I have 250k pots and ride the vol full up and tone just so the treble cuts through (usually about half up) you can see me in the vid grabbing the tone for a little more treble bleed through at the begining of the Little 59 test - the second pickup played. I dont really like icepicky guitar tones. So I usually start low on the tone and dial in just enough after the first few notes played.
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

robo said:
Do you mean like in my vid I posted today? (link two posts above.) Then it may be a dial in issue? At the end of my vid I posted amp settings. And in the description I added my overdrive pedal settings.
Try it you might like it?
I have 250k pots and ride the vol full up and tone just so the treble cuts through (usually about half up) you can see me in the vid grabbing the tone for a little more treble bleed through at the begining of the Little 59 test - the second pickup played. I dont really like icepicky guitar tones. So I usually start low on the tone and dial in just enough after the first few notes played.
Click to expand...

Well, if you're doing a comparison, you need to leave all of the settings the same. Certainly when you're playing, your technique is valid (that's generally how I do it as well), but when you're doing a pickup comparison we can't get an accurate idea of the qualities of each pup compared to the other.
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

GuitarDoc said:
Well, if you're doing a comparison, you need to leave all of the settings the same. Certainly when you're playing, your technique is valid (that's generally how I do it as well), but when you're doing a pickup comparison we can't get an accurate idea of the qualities of each pup compared to the other.
Click to expand...

Well there are different thoughts on that. The amp and OD pedal is the same. Both pickups are played at full vol on the guitar. But I dialed the tone to taste. The JD maybe 50%. The 59 started at 50% but I brought it up to 60% in two small steps. Nothing major (10% on the tone is not much at all). Then again all this is guesswork since tele pots don’t have numbers and pointers like Les Paul. So it’s estimated numbers above. Maybe not even noticeable (close your eyes and listen). But there on the room there was a small difference. But I’m very picky on treble issues. :)
 
Re: Help: Little 59 pros and cons?

10% obviously makes enough difference for you to adjust it there ;) i watched your video, and the tone definitely changed when you adjusted the knob. both pups sounded good, id be happy with either in different circumstances.
 
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