Pierre
Stratologist
In a fairly balanced sounding guitar.
So... yeah. I like it. A LOT.
I don't really know where to start. I think it would be good to keep an ongoing comparison with the SH6 and 5 as it's quite likely part of a contest with those other two.
I'll start with what I don't like:
It lacks presence
It's almost too powerful, at least for me
BUT:
You can add treble from your amp
You can set it low, and we'll see later it's very reactive to the volume control
Still, it's not perfect for me. But place it in a bright guitar and I'd guess it'd be a match made in heaven...I may try a 1M volume pot.
How it sounds:
In short: Hot, dark, smooth.
In long... the first thing that came to my mind was that it's very thick sounding, more so than the Distortion.
Unlike both the SH5 and SH6, the treble however is a little lacking... but not in a bad way. In a 'eh I could do with more treble but whatever' way rather than a 'meh, too dark, ToneZone' way
The midrange seems fairly flatly EQed to me. It cuts, you can really hear it though, but it's got no annoying spikes or the likes. It's very thick again, and quite smooth sounding... Rid said it had a 'piano' like sound, with loads of harmonics to it, and I have to agree. It's a very rich sound for sure!
The bass is tight, but not overly so. You can feel it as much as hear it, which for me is important. Sometimes you hear it but you can't feel much.
Put all these frequencies together and you have the perfect high output pickup to tame a bright guitar or just really, REALLY push your preamp.
I don't know what else I can tell... when I first tried it it was in a guitar very similar to mine now and through a JCM800 (100W) and a 412 cab. We put the amp with the gain on 10 and with the guitar's volume control, we managed to get a perfectly clean tone, pretty much just as loud too, without changing anything on the amp. It was fantastic I gotta say, I was never able to do that with other pickups. The Jazz cleans up great, the FS cleans up ok, the Custom as well but the Distortion doesn't too well.
I'd also like to say this pickup has both a very pleasing lead voice, AND a great rhythm tone: tight, thick, powerful...
It's not as clear as say, the FullShred. But I don't miss the Custom or Jazz when playing the SH15, which means it's clear enough
And I'm one who likes clarity.
Anything else you guys want to know?
So... yeah. I like it. A LOT.
I don't really know where to start. I think it would be good to keep an ongoing comparison with the SH6 and 5 as it's quite likely part of a contest with those other two.
I'll start with what I don't like:
It lacks presence
It's almost too powerful, at least for me
BUT:
You can add treble from your amp
You can set it low, and we'll see later it's very reactive to the volume control
Still, it's not perfect for me. But place it in a bright guitar and I'd guess it'd be a match made in heaven...I may try a 1M volume pot.
How it sounds:
In short: Hot, dark, smooth.
In long... the first thing that came to my mind was that it's very thick sounding, more so than the Distortion.
Unlike both the SH5 and SH6, the treble however is a little lacking... but not in a bad way. In a 'eh I could do with more treble but whatever' way rather than a 'meh, too dark, ToneZone' way
The midrange seems fairly flatly EQed to me. It cuts, you can really hear it though, but it's got no annoying spikes or the likes. It's very thick again, and quite smooth sounding... Rid said it had a 'piano' like sound, with loads of harmonics to it, and I have to agree. It's a very rich sound for sure!
The bass is tight, but not overly so. You can feel it as much as hear it, which for me is important. Sometimes you hear it but you can't feel much.
Put all these frequencies together and you have the perfect high output pickup to tame a bright guitar or just really, REALLY push your preamp.
I don't know what else I can tell... when I first tried it it was in a guitar very similar to mine now and through a JCM800 (100W) and a 412 cab. We put the amp with the gain on 10 and with the guitar's volume control, we managed to get a perfectly clean tone, pretty much just as loud too, without changing anything on the amp. It was fantastic I gotta say, I was never able to do that with other pickups. The Jazz cleans up great, the FS cleans up ok, the Custom as well but the Distortion doesn't too well.
I'd also like to say this pickup has both a very pleasing lead voice, AND a great rhythm tone: tight, thick, powerful...
It's not as clear as say, the FullShred. But I don't miss the Custom or Jazz when playing the SH15, which means it's clear enough
And I'm one who likes clarity.Anything else you guys want to know?
