MikeS
Bengalsologist
..and it disturbs me. Let me start off by saying that after trying several pickups over the years that I could safely call myself an A5 guy, and my favorite SD humbucker was the Screamin Demon, followed closely by the Jazz neck. A lot of the A2 pups I had gotten my hands on just weren't my cup of tea.
That was true until this past weekend when I took a risk and dropped a PG set into one of my strats. It's an Alder body, maple neck with rosewood board, Wilk VSVG bridge, 25.5" scale. I did a full guard swap, removing the guard loaded with my trusty Screamin Demon, VR, and CR, and installing the new gaurd in its place. It's now a twin humbucker with independant volumes for each pickup, a master tone, and a 3 way toggle switch. CTS 500k audio taper pots all the way around. I gave my ears a few days to really soak in the change, and this is more or less what I think...
First impression was that the PGb was better balanced than the Screamin Demon. It's not as hot, but was less compressed, and very open. For clean and moderate gains I prefer the PGb hands down over my old favorite. The jury is still out on high gain tones. The PG doesn't seem to retain the clarity and the punch that the Demon gave me when I cranked the gain.
The EQ on the PGn works much better than the Cool Rails. I was worried about losing the vocal quality of the CRn, as I like the output and voicing I got out of it, but always thought that it needed to be a little brighter in this axe. I basically got what I asked for with the PGn and more. The bass and mids seem to be backed off, and the highs are certainly stonger in the PGn. It also has a really cool honk to it which adds, IMO, to a bit of a SC vibe from the pickup.
For clean and moderate gains the PGn is a very clear pickup, and under high gain hasn't gotten woofy or muddy. For the first time in this guitar's life, I was actually rolling back the tone on the neck pickup (these PGs respond so well to even the slightest knob turn that it's almost scary). The combined tones of the PGb and PGn are amazing as well (as they should be... same model and all :smack: )
In the end, this set has me all jazzed up over this guitar, which began its life as a cheaper import that after new hardware and electronics and small mods here and there to improve playability, has jumped near the top of the list of go-to axes. It's easily in the top three, and my new #1 strat.
I'm not sure I can call the Screamin Demon my favorite pickup anymore, seeing as how I have two of them and neither one is installed in a guitar. What started out as an experiement has turned into a few favorite, and a set of pickups I'm not sure I'll ever want to pull from this guitar.
That was true until this past weekend when I took a risk and dropped a PG set into one of my strats. It's an Alder body, maple neck with rosewood board, Wilk VSVG bridge, 25.5" scale. I did a full guard swap, removing the guard loaded with my trusty Screamin Demon, VR, and CR, and installing the new gaurd in its place. It's now a twin humbucker with independant volumes for each pickup, a master tone, and a 3 way toggle switch. CTS 500k audio taper pots all the way around. I gave my ears a few days to really soak in the change, and this is more or less what I think...
First impression was that the PGb was better balanced than the Screamin Demon. It's not as hot, but was less compressed, and very open. For clean and moderate gains I prefer the PGb hands down over my old favorite. The jury is still out on high gain tones. The PG doesn't seem to retain the clarity and the punch that the Demon gave me when I cranked the gain.
The EQ on the PGn works much better than the Cool Rails. I was worried about losing the vocal quality of the CRn, as I like the output and voicing I got out of it, but always thought that it needed to be a little brighter in this axe. I basically got what I asked for with the PGn and more. The bass and mids seem to be backed off, and the highs are certainly stonger in the PGn. It also has a really cool honk to it which adds, IMO, to a bit of a SC vibe from the pickup.
For clean and moderate gains the PGn is a very clear pickup, and under high gain hasn't gotten woofy or muddy. For the first time in this guitar's life, I was actually rolling back the tone on the neck pickup (these PGs respond so well to even the slightest knob turn that it's almost scary). The combined tones of the PGb and PGn are amazing as well (as they should be... same model and all :smack: )
In the end, this set has me all jazzed up over this guitar, which began its life as a cheaper import that after new hardware and electronics and small mods here and there to improve playability, has jumped near the top of the list of go-to axes. It's easily in the top three, and my new #1 strat.
I'm not sure I can call the Screamin Demon my favorite pickup anymore, seeing as how I have two of them and neither one is installed in a guitar. What started out as an experiement has turned into a few favorite, and a set of pickups I'm not sure I'll ever want to pull from this guitar.
You picked a great set to do it with too. Got any pics yet?
