How does the Red Devil sound split on its own in bridge position vs single coil?

[MarcusJohns]

I’ve purchased a Red Devil bridge pickup for my Strat (09 USA Standard) as I don’t use the bridge pickup a lot. I have a Les Paul so not really looking to sound like a LP, just want to make my Strat a bit more versatile with something ballsier in the bridge. However I do use it occasionally and so like it though a fuzz face.

Can anyone tell me what the red devil bridge pickup sounds like split by itself? Will it sound like bridge single coil? This will determine whether I use a push pull tone pot to split the red devil bridge pickup, or do the auto split with the selector switch in position 2. Thanks.

 

[Mincer]

Welcome to the forum!

Honestly, I think it sounds more like a trad single coil in parallel than split. And it remains hum-cancelling.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Welcome to the forum!

Honestly, I think it sounds more like a trad single coil in parallel than split. And it remains hum-cancelling.

Agreed.
Although I can’t comment on the Red Devil specifically, I much prefer parallel to a split pickup.

 

[Clint 55]

Pups with the mini screws are not-good split. You wanna run them parallel to approximate a single coil sound. It sounds a bit more jangley and lower output but doesn't really get into the range of a real single coil.

 

[MarcusJohns]

Awesome, thanks for the replies! I didn’t consider parallel wiring of this red devil in the bridge. I’ll search the inter-web for some wiring diagrams. Can this be done with a push-pull pot switch? So, in parallel it will sound like a single coil?

 

[Clint 55]

Yes, you can even do both where you have it auto (partial) split in position 2 for hum cancellation and then use your push pull pot for parallel switching in position 1.

 

[MarcusJohns]

Yes, you can even do both where you have it auto (partial) split in position 2 for hum cancellation and then use your push pull pot for parallel switching in position 1.

Sounds good, do you know where I might find a wiring diagram to do this?

Not sure if it’s possible, but this is what I was hoping to do:
- I already have a push-pull volume pot that engages a treble bleed
- turn tone 2 pot into a blender (is already a 250k no-load)
- turn tone pot 1 into a master tone.
- tone pot 1 with a DPST for split/parallel control? Not sure sure how to implement the auto split in position 2 as well as having a parallel switch.

I guess my plan is to have the guitar with all switches in = stock strat sound (typical single coil arrangement) (RD bridge pickup on parallel), blender on 10, split RD in pos 2 for typical pos 2 single coil split. Then be able to pull the tone pot and have the RD bridge pickup on humbucker mode.

 

[Gtrjunior]

The Seymour Duncan website itself has a huge library of wiring diagrams.

 

[Clint 55]

Sounds like a cool set up and yes you can do all that. I can help you with it later if you don't figure it out or if someone else doesn't demonstrate it. Basically you just piece together every diagram for each thing and it will work.

 

[MarcusJohns]

Sounds like a cool set up and yes you can do all that. I can help you with it later if you don't figure it out or if someone else doesn't demonstrate it. Basically you just piece together every diagram for each thing and it will work.

Thanks appreciate the help! I’ll do up a diagram of what I’m thinking and post it, see what you think.

 

[MarcusJohns]

Ok here’s what I’ve come up with. I did away with the treble bleed switch and have it permanently wired. This allows the DPST switch for the RD bridge pu to be on the volume which then allows the blender and master tone pots to both be no-load pots (you can’t get no-load pots with a SPST switch).

In the below diagram the DPST switch only switches the RD bridge pu between series and parallel, I don’t think I’ll be able to an auto split for pos 2 - which I probably won’t want anyway if parallel sounds better? Ie. RD parallel vs split one side with the middle pu in position 2?

I’m not 100% sure whether I got the polarities correct, I did read that the green and black wires on the RD need to be swapped when connecting with fender pickups in pos 2 so they are in phase. What are your thoughts?

 

[Clint 55]

Looks good. If the treble bleed has the cap and resistor in parallel, it works better in series because it doesn't screw up the taper of the volume pot.

I think you can use auto split with parallel. The benefit would be that it will make position 2 hum cancelling, but it isn't necessary. You can also make it a partial split for a fuller sound, where you use an under 10k resistor instead of the straight jump to ground.

 

[MarcusJohns]

Looks good. If the treble bleed has the cap and resistor in parallel, it works better in series because it doesn't screw up the taper of the volume pot.

I think you can use auto split with parallel. The benefit would be that it will make position 2 hum cancelling, but it isn't necessary. You can also make it a partial split for a fuller sound, where you use an under 10k resistor instead of the straight jump to ground.

Cheers, the treble bleed with both resistor and cap in parallel seemed to be the most common one I could find, not really familiar with the series one, not sure how this is wired.

I’m still not really sure on how I’d make this layout with auto split or how the hum cancelling works. I might need to do some more searching on the partial split as well.

 

[Clint 55]

Yeah no don't do parallel, it doesn't work. Do series.

Here's auto split. From staring at the parallel switch diagram for a few minutes, I think they will be able to work together. The purpose of splitting for position 2 is that both pickups have to have hum for it to cancel. If the bridge pup is in parallel, there is no hum from that pup so it can't cancel the middle's hum = no hum cancellation. It's not essential, but if you're gonna do a delux diagram, it's worth including to optimize things.

https://www.premierguitar.com/media-...700&quality=80

 

[MarcusJohns]

Yeah no don't do parallel, it doesn't work. Do series.

Here's auto split. From staring at the parallel switch diagram for a few minutes, I think they will be able to work together. The purpose of splitting for position 2 is that both pickups have to have hum for it to cancel. If the bridge pup is in parallel, there is no hum from that pup so it can't cancel the middle's hum = no hum cancellation. It's not essential, but if you're gonna do a delux diagram, it's worth including to optimize things.

https://www.premierguitar.com/media-...700&quality=80

I think a super switch will allow me to be able to split is pos.2. See below drawing (how does this look?) I should be able to use one pole of the super switch to ground the red and white wires when the DPST (parallel series switch) is in series mode which shunts the North Pole therefore only activates the South Pole. This will still give me the option to use the pickup in parallel when on its own for a more single coil sound? However, because I’ve reversed the polarity to play well with the Fender neck and middle pickups, I’m now shunting the North Pole in pos.2 whereas the Seymour Duncan diagram for split show the switch shunting the South Pole with only the North Pole activated - does it matter which pole is activated in split mode??

 

[Clint 55]

Yes, the activated pole on the red devil has to be the opposite polarity of the middle pickup. A super switch isn't required to auto split, a regular 5 way switch will work. But if that's what you have, that's good.

 

[MarcusJohns]

Ok cool, so on my drawing, am I activating the correct pole on the Red devil in relation to the Fender middle pickup?

 

[Clint 55]

Fender single coils are supposed to be north so if you're shunting the north coil of the red devil like your note says, then you're good.

 

[MarcusJohns]

Got it all wired up today, this RD in the bridge sounds great! I’ll definitely be using it a lot more than the stock one that was in it. The DPST volume pot is still on order and a couple of weeks away so I just put in the SPST that I had to switch the treble bleed - works really nice. I just used the stock selector switch to coil split the RD in pos.2, since I moved the tone control wiring from one side of the selector switch with a master tone it freed up that for the coil split. Some nice quack in pos.2. The blender also works nicely, makes this Strat very versatile!

The dilemma I have now is whether I still want to install the series/parallel DPST push-pull switch on the volume pot, it sounds awesome now, but it would be nice to have the option for a single coil bridge sound.

This is how I wired it (except without the DPST series/parallel switch - the RD red and white wires go straight to selected switch left side terminal 3 and green hot wire goes straight to selector switch terminal 1 right side):

 

[Mincer]

It is certainly worth the time to put that switch in. I don't know if the RD in parallel sounds exactly like a true single coil, but it is a useful, thinner sound.