HS-3 and YJM

[idsnowdog]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

Well part of the idea behind the HS-3 is that it is meant for high volume and high gain playing. It is a very compressed sounding pickup and it doesn't overdrive easily. Most single coils will start to overdrive at fairly low volumes or high distortion. Since the resistance is so high and the output is fairly low the hs-3 retains clarity but it needs a good kick from a O/D pedal to get a decent sound. Most of the overdrive is from the O/D pedal and the power amp section of the amplifier. A compressor is usually the first stage of his effects chain to keep the initial attack low and to add sustain and lastly a noise gate to keep feedback under control. The rest is the amp and speakers being driven very hard!

Snowdog

 

[wixomwhat]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

I am pretty sure that he only uses one of the coils, and in truth ALL stacked single coils read VERY high

so you cant use the other coil at all other then the "Buck" the hum?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

so you cant use the other coil at all other then the "Buck" the hum?

he uses the top coil in the stack, I guess you could use the botom coil, but it would be pretty far away from the strings if you did.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

You could run the two coils either series, split, parallel, or out of phase with each other if you wanted too. http://www.seymourduncan.com/website/support/schematics/series_split_par_w_phase.html. Although I don't think the out of spase with itself would sound that good. Although in parallel you get a very good clean sound kind of semi acoustic. I usually use the first switch with all of my humbuckers except rather than ON/ON/ON switches I use ON/OFF/ON because they are easier to find and I don't like split because parallel sounds much better with no HUM!!!

Snowdog

 

[wixomwhat]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

he uses the top coil in the stack, I guess you could use the botom coil, but it would be pretty far away from the strings if you did.

No, I ment like you couldn't run the pup like a true humbucker?

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

No, I ment like you couldn't run the pup like a true humbucker?

you can...it is a stacked humbucker, but Yngwie only uses one of the 2 coils

 

[TwilightOdyssey]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

No, I ment like you couldn't run the pup like a true humbucker?

Yes, but you also have to remember that it's not 'seeing' two different parts of the string, like a full-sized humbucker, so it'll be noisless, but it still sound 'Stratty' in comparison ...

 

[bryvincent]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

you can...it is a stacked humbucker, but Yngwie only uses one of the 2 coils

really? yngwie only uses the top coil? i know Eric johnson only uses the top coil on his HS-2 bridge pickup on his strat. but i never knew yngwie does it too.

 

[Jester700]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

Which begs the question - WHY do they choose this pickup? *I* do this because I have a BUNCH of Ibanez C2 pickups (relabeled HS2) from Ibanez guitars. But those guys could have whatever they wanted.

 

[Boleslaw Gers 666]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

A strat and a Marshall is a time tested set-up and sounds great!

Only thing with strats (for me, anyway) is that they take a whole lot of modifying from how they come originally to get to where I want them to be. I could take home a Les paul or PRS and not make a single change. But my strat I added bone nut, graphite bridge, locking tuners, 3 500k pots, 3 new pickups, a new pickguard, etc. Dave Murray's strat/Marshall combo sounds positively divine, though. I tend to like strats through Fender amps, though. If you keep a strat with single coils, I say go with a Fender amp. Not many things get better than SRV's '59 strat, double tube screamer, Fender amp combo on "Couldn't Stand the Weather." Gosh, what a tone that one had. Musical innovation, ahhh not so much. But tone.... :drool:

 

[wixomwhat]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

you can...it is a stacked humbucker, but Yngwie only uses one of the 2 coils

so that would mean that the way he uses the pup is non hum caneling?

 

[Farkus]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

Some notes on the YJM and HS-3 pickups.

I have used both of the pickups in the past. I used an HS-3 for about 9 years and a couple of YJMs for a year. I used both pickups in American Standard Strats and a US Malmsteen signature (great necks, BTW).

Let me say before reviewing the pickups that 'Rising Force' has one of the best guitar tones I've ever heard.

These pickups don't give you the YJM sound without the other equipment he uses. They are truly very clean pickups. Too bad (IMHO) they have about zero character when played clean in standard (humbucking) mode. They sound much better for clean work when one coil is turned off. They sound better for dirty work when split as well, but then there goes your humbucking. They just sound 'too flat' on their own. Other than what I perceive to be 'lower output', these pickups do not resemble vintage strat pups at all.

I think that they're OK if you want a pickup that is quiet and doesn't have a lot of complexity on its own (think heavily processed tones). If you're running straight into a vintage gain amp with no other overdrive...good luck if you want YJM tones.

BTW, Yngwie does not split the pickups (though EJ does split his, IIRC). He hates the hum associated with single coils. There's an interview on Live from Budokan (IIRC) where he specifically states that the greatest weakness of the Fender Strat is the stock pickups. In a seperate interview, he goes into how much he hates the hum...I think that was in Guitar School.

IMHO, if you want single coil sized humbuckers for Yngwie type music, get yourself a hot rails.

Mark

 

[Luke Duke]

Re: HS-3 and YJM

He is using some kind of boost to get that much breakup. I remembered reading a while back he used plexis....maybe he does now? I really dig some of his tones, some I'm lukewarm on though. His type of thickness and sustain is the direction I like to think of with my strat.

Luke