frankencat
Member
OK, got it narrowed down to either one of these for a neck pickup in an HSS equipped Jackson. Can anybody shed some light on the real differences between these two? Thanks. 
Hot Rails vs Cool Rails
- Thread starter frankencat
- Start date
beandip
Frito's Better Half
Re: Hot Rails vs Cool Rails
The hotrails is really high output and very fat sounding. Works well with lots of overdrive. Think of it as someone putting an Invader in your neck slot. The coolrails is more of like a SRV on steriods kinda sound. Almost as fat as the hotrails and not as hot. Both pickups work well with a hot and and bright amp, and what I may describe as "fat" you may think of as "mushy".
The hotrails is really high output and very fat sounding. Works well with lots of overdrive. Think of it as someone putting an Invader in your neck slot. The coolrails is more of like a SRV on steriods kinda sound. Almost as fat as the hotrails and not as hot. Both pickups work well with a hot and and bright amp, and what I may describe as "fat" you may think of as "mushy".
Travis
New member
Re: Hot Rails vs Cool Rails
In my Charvel 650xl (Jackson soloist clone) I've got a Hot Rails in the neck and a Cool Rails in the middle matched up with a Distrtion in the bridge. The Hot Rails in the neck gives the ultimate shred metal lead tone. It sounds so smooth playing ulta fast leads and is such a high output pickup that playing legato is effortless (and I play with 11's). The Cool Rails is more of a vintage humbucking pickup. It works well for most rock and blues styles. You can still get some good lead tones out of it, just not quite as hot as the Hot Rails (you could probably have guessed that by the name). For rhythm work, I would say that the Cool Rails wins. The Hot Rails can get a little muddy if you don't eq it right. The Cool Rails tends to be a little more consistent. I've got a Hot Rails in the bridge of another guitar and I ordered a Cool Rails for the neck of yet another guitar, so I can honestly say that they are both great pickups.
Bottom line, Hot Rails = shred metal, Cool Rails = hard rock/blues
In my Charvel 650xl (Jackson soloist clone) I've got a Hot Rails in the neck and a Cool Rails in the middle matched up with a Distrtion in the bridge. The Hot Rails in the neck gives the ultimate shred metal lead tone. It sounds so smooth playing ulta fast leads and is such a high output pickup that playing legato is effortless (and I play with 11's). The Cool Rails is more of a vintage humbucking pickup. It works well for most rock and blues styles. You can still get some good lead tones out of it, just not quite as hot as the Hot Rails (you could probably have guessed that by the name). For rhythm work, I would say that the Cool Rails wins. The Hot Rails can get a little muddy if you don't eq it right. The Cool Rails tends to be a little more consistent. I've got a Hot Rails in the bridge of another guitar and I ordered a Cool Rails for the neck of yet another guitar, so I can honestly say that they are both great pickups.
Bottom line, Hot Rails = shred metal, Cool Rails = hard rock/blues
frankencat
Member
Re: Hot Rails vs Cool Rails
Rock on Travis! Yeah thinking of the Cool Rails for the neck of my DK-2. Jacksons RULE!
Rock on Travis! Yeah thinking of the Cool Rails for the neck of my DK-2. Jacksons RULE!
