Diego
New member
I've had it for two months in the bridge of my mahogany Ibanez, and I've been giving it mad praise on the forum since day one. Here's why:
First, I've never had the need for higher gain pickups. Low output pickups, if voiced aggressively, can be just as tight as your Distortions and Blackouts and whatnot.
The only exceptions is that if you only use non-MV tube amps and you need the preamp squeeze. Or if you need a very compressed pickup for your playing style. I don't.
So the Demon...
It's a extremely transparent and balanced pickup like your nicer, well behaved PAF style pickups, but with some sizzle and extra muscle thrown in for good measure.
The "pissed off PAF" or whatever phrase it was that I read somewhere about it, makes sense.
It's low output, but with a slightly abbrasive, dry and nasty tendency. The bass and mids feel untouched, it doesn't feel pushed and it amplifies what the guitar's giving in.
It won't make a dead plank come alive. Instead, it will reproduce the tonal yuz that your axe gives.
Clean, it's very neutral and frankly the best humbucker I've ever heard for cleans. Where the JB was unusable, this one's very good.
With mild and heavy distortion, it just makes sense: It's so clear, and it has such a prominent attack, that every note in a chord comes through, and the results is a gritty, ferocious chug that WILL smash your face.
It will laugh all the way from AC/DC to Meshuggah. It can do all of these, and not in a swiss army knife, "that'll do" way. It sounds authoritative.
Roll back the tone a bit, and it will lay back and become tamer, and sweeter for those fat Joe Perry sounds.
It's got a huge bass response, but not in the usual "pushed low mids" a la JB, Super Distortion and other hotties.
You'd think it's thin on first sight. It's not. Adjust your amp accordingly, and you'll get a sledgehammer in response.
And the dynamics don't lie. If you're a sloppy player, be ready for it. It won't mask your mistakes, it won't do legato or tapping easier for you.
For downtuning it's even better. I rarely go lower than Drop D, but I've fooled all the way to B and somehow it sounds even tighter and more attacking at that.
Frankly this is THE pickup to have if you downtune and want to keep it all clear.
I played it through a cranked Peavey 6505+ and the mixture of humbucker fatness and push, with the clarity and sizzle of a single coil was even more apparent.
I figure just about anything would sound badass through that amps, but the good qualities of the Demon and my guitar came clearly through it.
So I'm really happy with the Screamin' Demon. It can only get better in a nicer guitar like I'll have someday, but it's a keeper.
I'd love to buy two more, drop A2/A8 magnets on them and see what happens in the bridge and the neck. But the stock voicing is excellent for me.
I'd confidently put it in a Les Paul, or a 335/339-style guitar.
James Hetfield used the following phrase to describe an old Fender Twin Reverb, I'll use it to describe the Demon:
"It's so sharp it'll take your nuts off!"
:headbang:
First, I've never had the need for higher gain pickups. Low output pickups, if voiced aggressively, can be just as tight as your Distortions and Blackouts and whatnot.
The only exceptions is that if you only use non-MV tube amps and you need the preamp squeeze. Or if you need a very compressed pickup for your playing style. I don't.
So the Demon...
It's a extremely transparent and balanced pickup like your nicer, well behaved PAF style pickups, but with some sizzle and extra muscle thrown in for good measure.
The "pissed off PAF" or whatever phrase it was that I read somewhere about it, makes sense.
It's low output, but with a slightly abbrasive, dry and nasty tendency. The bass and mids feel untouched, it doesn't feel pushed and it amplifies what the guitar's giving in.
It won't make a dead plank come alive. Instead, it will reproduce the tonal yuz that your axe gives.
Clean, it's very neutral and frankly the best humbucker I've ever heard for cleans. Where the JB was unusable, this one's very good.
With mild and heavy distortion, it just makes sense: It's so clear, and it has such a prominent attack, that every note in a chord comes through, and the results is a gritty, ferocious chug that WILL smash your face.
It will laugh all the way from AC/DC to Meshuggah. It can do all of these, and not in a swiss army knife, "that'll do" way. It sounds authoritative.
Roll back the tone a bit, and it will lay back and become tamer, and sweeter for those fat Joe Perry sounds.
It's got a huge bass response, but not in the usual "pushed low mids" a la JB, Super Distortion and other hotties.
You'd think it's thin on first sight. It's not. Adjust your amp accordingly, and you'll get a sledgehammer in response.
And the dynamics don't lie. If you're a sloppy player, be ready for it. It won't mask your mistakes, it won't do legato or tapping easier for you.
For downtuning it's even better. I rarely go lower than Drop D, but I've fooled all the way to B and somehow it sounds even tighter and more attacking at that.
Frankly this is THE pickup to have if you downtune and want to keep it all clear.
I played it through a cranked Peavey 6505+ and the mixture of humbucker fatness and push, with the clarity and sizzle of a single coil was even more apparent.
I figure just about anything would sound badass through that amps, but the good qualities of the Demon and my guitar came clearly through it.
So I'm really happy with the Screamin' Demon. It can only get better in a nicer guitar like I'll have someday, but it's a keeper.
I'd love to buy two more, drop A2/A8 magnets on them and see what happens in the bridge and the neck. But the stock voicing is excellent for me.
I'd confidently put it in a Les Paul, or a 335/339-style guitar.
James Hetfield used the following phrase to describe an old Fender Twin Reverb, I'll use it to describe the Demon:
"It's so sharp it'll take your nuts off!"
:headbang:
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