Lil' Screamin' Demon and the Lil' 59

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Napthol

New member
I used a Screamin' Demon in my Les Paul and liked it quite a bit. It's a great pickup. I'm thinking of installing the Lil' Screamin' Demon in the neck and pairing it with the Lil' 59 in the bridge of my Hendrix Strat.

According to Duncan, the Lil' 59 gives your Strat kind of a Les Paul tone. I would imagine the sound would thicken up considerably?

Anyone try either of these pickups in a Strat?
 
As long as you don't expect it to sound like your full sized demon in your LP (it will NOT) you might be fine.
I have no issue with the neck lil/jr. buckers, but the bridge versions are really compressed and mid forward.
They don't feel or sound anything like a full sized counterparts (open, scooped) to my ears.
and not every LP is mid honky, so there might be a strat and LP example where they are close, but in most cases they will not.
Definitely wasn't the case with my LP (with a SH-12) and my strat style guitar (lil demon) or tele (lil 59 for tele).
 
That would be a cool setup. Out of all the 'Lil hum buckers I've used (Demon, '59 and JB), the 'lil Screamin' Demon comes closest to sounding like it's full-sized big brother. Never tried the Demon in a Les Paul myself. Can't say I haven't been tempted but I really like how my LP sounds so no need to change anything.
 
Sounds like a good combination.
The Lil Demon in the neck would be great in a Strat, but I might be inclined to use something a bit more gutsy in the bridge than a Lil 59...maybe something that would also sound good/better/stronger split.
 
I don't think I've ever liked the sound of any of the Little humbuckers split. And I love the sound of most normal humbuckers split.
 
Bumping this thread to seek advice on replacing my Red Devil neck pup with a slightly brighter neck Strat-shaped humbucker (or high-output single-coil).

The Red Devil gets my Strat into beefy Gibson territory, as promised. But compared to my favorite full-size neck humbuckers on other guitars (mostly Alniico 2), it's missing some highs.

Wondering about the Lil' Screamin' Demon, Little 59, Cool Rails, Quarter Pound (Tap), Custom Stack Plus, Hot Strat, or even Pearly Gates Strat. Or something from DiMarzio.

I'm looking for a warm jazz tone, approximating a Tele neck pickup, minimizing Strat silkiness. Cool Rails might be brighter than I want. I love the (full-size) Screamin' Demon as a neck pup on my Tele, but from Mincer​'s (and other people's)posts, I'm aware that the Strat-sized pickup named after it might sound nothing like it. Thanks for any suggestions!​
 
Of those, the Cool Rails and Pearly Gates would be the brightest. The Little 59 and Quarter Pound would be thickest, but they are very different voicings (L59 sounds more like a humbucker).
 
Mincer said:
Of those, the Cool Rails and Pearly Gates would be the brightest. The Little 59 and Quarter Pound would be thickest...
Click to expand...

Thanks. Any opinion/experience about which – among these, or my original list –would be the most full-frequency? My reference full-size neck humbuckers are PRS 85/15 and Gibson 57 Classic.

I have a DiMarzio VV Heavy Blues 2 neck pup on another Strat, and it's very sweet-sounding and quiet (Alnico 2, stacked). But a little more single-coil silky than I'm aiming for on this other Red Devil'ed Strat.

Interestingly, SD Support told me that the Pearly Gates would sound darker than my Red Devil. They did also recommend the Little 59. I'm ceramic-averse, which is why I've​ started with the Red Devils. (And I do love the Red Devil bridge and middle pups.) But ready to try anything.
 
Have you tried the lil red devil wired in parallel?
I have a cool rails neck that I really like and wired with a series / parallel switch is very versatile.
 
i have a red devil set and a series/split/parallel switch for the neck pup, parallel sounds really good.

a cool rails might do what you want, the lil demon might too, but im much more familiar with the cool rails
 
Also, ceramic in the little humbuckers shouldn't really be judged like it is with the full size ones. The rules aren't really the same when you shrink the coils down that small.
 
Thanks much for the guidance from Mincer​ and other folks here. I installed a Cool Rails neck pup, and I'm surprised at how sweet and chimey it sounds – I've now lost my fear of ceramic magnets.

And I'll use this somewhere, but it's too bright and tight to pair well with Red Devil bridge and middle pups. I'm just hearing too little tonal variation between the mid and neck pups. I'm not even sure in which direction – the Red Devil mid is looser and fuller-sounding. So I've scored a Little 59 to try instead.

Mincer said:
Of those, the Cool Rails and Pearly Gates would be the brightest. The Little 59 and Quarter Pound would be thickest, but they are very different voicings (L59 sounds more like a humbucker).
Click to expand...
 
The Little 59 has less high end, and more mids than the Cool Rails. But many of the little humbuckers use ceramic magnets, and you can't judge them like they are their full size counterparts.
 
ErikH said:
That would be a cool setup. Out of all the 'Lil hum buckers I've used (Demon, '59 and JB), the 'lil Screamin' Demon comes closest to sounding like it's full-sized big brother. Never tried the Demon in a Les Paul myself. Can't say I haven't been tempted but I really like how my LP sounds so no need to change anything.
Click to expand...

I had a full sized Screamin Demon in the neck position of my 1974 Gibson Les Paul Custom that I sold off last year, with a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge position, loved that combination, it was a shred guitar.

Now that you brought up the Lil' Screamin Demon, the idea is like a bee trapped in my Noggin ..... now I have to go buy one !!!!
 
To further advance Seymour's retirement fund – I mean experimental research – I swapped in a Little 59 neck pup. I actually miss the Cool Rails' chime, but the Little 59 balances better with the mid and bridge Red Devils. And if I weren't worrying about that balance, I'd say the Little 59 has a really nice thunk like a good Telecaster neck pickup. This a tone I've been chasing on a Strat, so, mission accomplished.

About that chime: I'm surprised at how the Little 59's high end blooms wider with higher gain. (Unlike, say every other pickup on Earth?) I can't get it very close to the strings without string pull, so for that delicate balance, I've needed to screw the Red Devils down a bit. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
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