Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Hey all thanks for the replies so far.

Im curious to try a Wide Range humbucker and see how that fairs.

What about vintage output hunbuckers like a Alnico II Pro or a Pearly Gates for example?

Thanks.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Brucifer85 said:
Hey all thanks for the replies so far.

Im curious to try a Wide Range humbucker and see how that fairs.

What about vintage output hunbuckers like a Alnico II Pro or a Pearly Gates for example?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
One of the local heroes here uses a Custom Shop strat loaded with a Pearly Gates and two Fat 50s.

He sounds great.





Sent from my EVA-L19 using Tapatalk
 
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Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Brucifer85 said:
Hey all thanks for the replies so far.

Im curious to try a Wide Range humbucker and see how that fairs.

What about vintage output hunbuckers like a Alnico II Pro or a Pearly Gates for example?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Problem is that the Fender version of the WRHB is merely a regular humbucker under a larger cover with lotsa wax to fill the gaps.
To get the proper pole mag version you will have to go custom shop or boutique builder.

Plus the WRHB doesn't fit into a regular humbucker ring or rout. You'll need to do some guitar woodwork to fit it in. The Creamery is the only one I know doing a humbucker sized version.

And even then - they sound like a humbucker with more hair on top......I'd guess precisely the opposite of the tonal needs for high gain.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

I know Curtis Novak does regular sized Wide Range humbuckers as well.

Anyone here listen to Biffy Clyro?

Strat single coils plus a Boss Metal Zone. Sounds surprisingly good.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

A single coil and a Pickup Booster is also a good idea. Although, I'd like to know the aversion to splitting a humbucker. What about a switch to parallel?
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Silence Kid said:
The Stag Mag in series doesn't sound just like a Strat single coil (I mentioned that it's closer to a fatter Telecaster) but I think it's as close as you can get; I agree you can't really capture all of a single coil's character in a humbucker.

I don't tend to like humbuckers parallel wired, they tend to be TOO thin and quacky, like a bad caricature... But useful for funk or approximating the in-between Strat tones. I always prefer split to parallel.
Click to expand...

Most of the pups that I have s/s/p, I find that the parallel setting has a more complex tone with a bit more bass than in the split configuration (which has more mids). Very few pups do I like the thin split sound (exceptions are the StagMag, of course, and very high output thick sounding pups. And even though I like the split sound of some high output pups, I generally still like the parallel sound better).
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Oil City brass knuckle is a single coil voiced humbucker that uses 12 individual ALNICO 5 pole magnets rather than a bar magnet.
To me it's sounds more like the original wide range humbucker with stratty single coil twang and quack. Also if you coil split using a 4.7k resistor to ground, they sound like proper single coils.


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Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Mincer said:
A single coil and a Pickup Booster is also a good idea. Although, I'd like to know the aversion to splitting a humbucker. What about a switch to parallel?
Click to expand...

Hey.

I play in a two piece band as singer and guitarist. I like using the bridge for everything and honestly just don't have the time and or opportunity to be changing between pickups or splitting mid song etc. I am wanting to keep it as simple as possible.

Thanks.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

If you really want it single coiley then stick 2 single coils in the hb slot and wire them in series. Job done.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

The wide range hb seems to have a PAF, Gibsony sound. If you put 2 strat pickups in series, they still sound like the same Fendery pickups that you started with, only more output, and the tone tweaked a bit to more rockin of a sound instead of a blues sound. It sounds really good, like a humbucker, but Fender.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

The WRHB is about 10K with pole mags.
2 strat pickups (vintage type) in series will be about 12K with pole mags.....so they are not too dissimilar just in their specs to start with.

Now tonally the overall will depend on the wind of the pickups you put together. But adding 2 coils in series is a much stronger tonal modifier than the minutiae of wind patterns......just the same way splitting a humbucker doesn't sound just like the humbucker but less output.

Plus the mechanics of placing 2 strat pickups next to one another has several physical issues......the baseplate is often triangular which makes it a pain to install, and the baseplate on the straight side would make flush next to each other mounting hard without shaving them down.
Then you get into the magnetic field issue. I'm not sure what the stag mag does, but I'd guess a rw/rp might be needed for one of them.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

I don't find the original Wide Range similar to a traditional PAF; I think people tended not to like them "back in the day" because they didn't sound like a PAF. As has been touched upon, the reissue Wide Range (and there are a few types, Mexican, Japanese, Enforcer etc.) is a different animal, basically just a variation of the PAF template design and sound-wise.

I've never series wired Strat pickups though.
 
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Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Neither have I, but I *have* series wired a pair of Tele pups, and the results rock (a Twisted Tele neck and a CS '51 Broadcaster bridge, to be exact). End result is almost P-90ish in growl and thump.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

I'd guess a rw/rp might be needed for one of them.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think 1 regular and 1 rw/rp strat pup mounted next to each other and wired in series would work fine. I think they would sit flush enough.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

Jaguar pickups would not have the triangular baseplate issue.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

^ It would be interesting to see how the claw affected things.
 
Re: Humbucker that reminds one of a single coil pups cleans

I saw someone on here before say that a vintage output humbucker isn't good for modern rock as the cleans will sound thin.

That comment got me thinking as that is kinda what I am looking for. Thinner more single coil type cleans.

Thoughts? Suggestions?
 
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