Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

[Rex_Rocker]

So I slapped a Phat Cat in the neck position of my new PRS SE baritone alongside a Dominion in the bridge position. I gave it a few days. I love the Dominion, but the Phat Cat... yeah, I don't know...

I find the Phat Cat too bright and sorta thin and weak compared to the Dominion. It has nice cleans (albeit, a bit thin), but it's a bit too attack-y, squelchy, and slightly underpowered under tons of gain. I want a humbucker that's smooth-sounding, has a strong output, but that's still clear and articulate.

FWIW, I like the Black Winter Neck and the EMG 81 in the neck position. I want to try something different that matches the Dominion better, though. I know for sure I don't like the '59, Jazz, or PAF Pro.

I'm considering the Air Norton, Liquifire, and D-Activator X Neck from DiMarzio. Perhaps the Slash Bridge (or Neck, even) from Duncan. Is there anything else I should be looking at?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Yeah, the Phat Cat, to me, isn't suited to tons of gain...it is more touch sensitive, and doesn't quite compress high output pickups do. I'd suggest either the Black Winter, or even the Screamin Demon, which makes a good neck pickup.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Thanks!

I actually don't mind the Phat Cat on its own. It was a great match for the WLH-B when I was into low-output pups under tons of gain. It's just that it's not a good match for the Dominion, IMO.

The Demon looks interesting. I always thought it was more of a bright, cutting pickup, though. Is it smooth in the neck position?

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

How about the EVH Wolfgang Neck? Or the Invader Neck?

 

[Toejam]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

If you like the 81 in the neck position, try the DiMarzio Super 2. I've always paired it with a Super D or X2N, so not sure how it would match with the Dominion.

 

[Adieu]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

If you like the EMG 81 in the neck, why not stick to "regular-spaced"/SH versions of popular passive alternatives = highgain-oriented BRIDGE pups?

Beware that many if not most Duncan "neck" pups from matched sets boil down to PAFish winds with different magnets and matching polepieces/logo fonts - 59n, Jazz, Sentient, Invader neck, Pearly neck, Seth neck, Full Shred neck, A2P neck etc etc are all mag-swapped kissing cousin winds.... more than half the catalog of neck pups measures out at 7.5k or occasionally 7.4k (yup yup still the SAME THING, once you account for duncan's wind accuracy of +/- 5% or so)

The Distortion neck and BW neck models (or possibly 'model', sans S) are a totally unrelated and different wind though


PS Larry DiMarzio doesn't seem to subscribe to that philosophy though, and actually offers a staggering number of differently spec'd buckers that they recommend for neck use. They got like 3 or so different PAF models too, and recommend them for neck duty ---- but actually TELL you to go use their PAF models with whatever you got in bridge, instead of attempting to sell the same thing under a bunch of names

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Bill Lawrence for hot and articulate.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

While I can't say they're all the same, I'm not a big fan of the usual Seymour Duncan neck pickup recipee either. I like PAF neck pickups mixed with PAF bridge pickups, but I've never been into the "stick a puny vintage neck pickup next to a blistering, fat, fierce bridge pickup" approach either.

If you like the 81 in the neck position, try the DiMarzio Super 2. I've always paired it with a Super D or X2N, so not sure how it would match with the Dominion.

Isn't the Super 2 like super bright? I kinda want smooth. FWIW, I thought the PAF Pro was too bright (and slightly boomy).

Bill Lawrence for hot and articulate.

Those aren't all that smooth, though, are they?

 

[Toejam]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Isn't the Super 2 like super bright? I kinda want smooth. FWIW, I thought the PAF Pro was too bright (and slightly boomy).

It is brighter than a standard Super D, but I've never found it super bright. Maybe so in the bridge. I've only used it in the neck in a couple guitars (Jackson Warrior with X2N bridge, and currently a Carvin SC90 with Super D bridge) and have found it to be pretty smooth and clear.

The regular D-Activator neck is also pretty nice.

 

[hamerfan]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

You can easily throw loads of gain and distortion on a Lawrence L500R.

 

[TVFV]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

I'd go for the Air Norton here.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

The Air Norton does sound nice in the clips. That laid-back pick attack (or more like lack of, lol) is exactly what I'm looking for. I've heard the Air Norton can be bassy, though. Is that the case? Does the Liquifire address that? And is the Air Norton hot enough? The DiMarzio site shows it as having less output than the PAF Pro.

 

[justFred]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Seth Lover...hit my G&L ASAT Deluxe loaded with Seth Lovers on my rotation of guitars thru my recently acquired Fractal...have been completely blown away by how great the SLs are...go to HB axe has been LP with PGs for a while now...just got reacquainted with these SLs and they are amazing when running thru my half a dozen Fractal presets...

 

[Mark Le Comte]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Call me crazy, but maybe a dominion neck.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Call me crazy, but maybe a dominion neck.

The specs and what I've read seem to suggest it's pretty much a tweaked PAF Pro. Nooooooo, thank you.

 

[psc69nyc]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

How about a Liquifire?

 

[Chris Pile]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Those aren't all that smooth, though, are they?

Rock guys, jazz guys, country guys, and pop guys have all used them before and sounded great.
Smooth? What's your definition?

 

[htwheelz67]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Rock guys, jazz guys, country guys, and pop guys have all used them before and sounded great.
Smooth? What's your definition?

You can even use an l500L or L500XL in the neck, and yes they are very smooth and articulate.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Thanks!

I actually don't mind the Phat Cat on its own. It was a great match for the WLH-B when I was into low-output pups under tons of gain. It's just that it's not a good match for the Dominion, IMO.

The Demon looks interesting. I always thought it was more of a bright, cutting pickup, though. Is it smooth in the neck position?

Yeah, it is smooth, rather than cutting. I don't think the Demon is that cutting in the bridge position, either.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

Re: Hot and smooth but articulate-sounding neck pickup recommendations.

Thank you guys for your suggestions. I'll look into the Lawrence pickups as well as the Screaming Demon.

I'm really liking what I'm hearing from the Air Norton. I wonder how the Liquifire compares. Anyone has experience with both?