Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

[Shibumi]

I play rhythm in a little band of old farts doing oldie rock'n'roll, R&B, rockabilly etc. I mostly play an Ibanez AR-50 semi hollowbody to a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe with a small ZOOM reverb pedel looped in. This setup does a pretty good job.

What I DONT need are pickups with a mind of their own. I can get plenty of reverb and chorus and overdrive out of the current configuration. I guess I'm looking for the complete opposite of a heavy metal grunge pickup.

If I could find some REAL clean pickups I 'd put them into a couple of other guitars. I tried Seth Lovers in a Gretsch Superaxe (that had already been re-pickuped and traditionally re-wired from its original crazy built in phaser configuration). The Seth Lovers were too crunchy and distorted.

I'm new to this site, but it looks great. From the pickup chart and the sound clips I'm thinking of trying a Vintage Mini Humbucker or maybe a Vintage Jazzmaster. Any thoughts?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

TV Jones TV'trons are super clean. They're copies of Greatch Filtertrons and are wound to around 4k for the neck and about 5k for the bridge.

 

[Metalman_666]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

Welcome to the forum!

You could always try the Jazz model for the neck.. but I don't know about the bridge

 

[dd12939]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

Or maybe one of the Antiquities?

 

[Imp]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

think of tapping a medium-output humbucker, usually that will take output down to levels below that of a normal singlecoil?

lets you open up the gain if you ever feel that way inclined too

still, its nice to see a balance of players on the forum. go SD.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

Forget about humbuckers and get a nice Strat or Tele.

Humbuckers have never been my favorites for clean neck pickup tones...unless you're Wes Montgomery.

Lew

 

[Imp]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

ahh true heh - this man knows! look at that sig... *drools*

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

I mentioned the TV'trons because of the styles of music you mentioned. Nothing says oldie rock n roll and rockabilly to my like a pair of Filtertrons in a hollowbody.

 

[nuntius]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

singles have a nicer clean clean tone than a bucker

unless you want a buckers warmth i think you should get a guitar with single coils

 

[sanrafael]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

First try moving the pickups further from the strings; that will lower the output, and if you have any problems with the magnets pulling on the strings, it will clean up the sound. Also it is free and easy.

 

[Shibumi]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

Hmmmm.... thanks for all the replys...

Hey Benjy26.... you say "I mentioned the TV'trons because of the styles of music you mentioned. Nothing says oldie rock n roll and rockabilly to my like a pair of Filtertrons in a hollowbody"

sounds good... but then shouldn't I just put Gretsch Filtertrons in the Gretsch Superaxe? Are the TV Jones pickups a better way to go?..... or is the physical size of the pickup the issue?

 

[tone4days]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

i have an ibanez small body semi-hollow with 2 bill lawrence XL-500ls from the mid 1980's (see sig) ... when i put the volume on '8', and the tone on '9', it is sparkling clean with as flat an EQ i can imagine from any pickups ... whether i am using the neck-only (internal series or parallel) or in/out of phase with the bridge pup (internal series or parallel), i get tonal variety without a hint of grit

then, i love the little 'surprise' it gives me when i crank it to '10' for a solo

i am sure you can find what you are looking for ... don't be afraid to back off the volume if you feel that your current pups are hitting that fender a bit too hard

good luck
cheers
t4d

 

[RACER X]

Re: Looking for SUPERCLEAN sound

Find a H-S-S guitar or a 3x single Strat if you want cleans.