Middle pup to pair with chopper bridge?

[Lazer111]

I’m looking to replace the middle pickup, on my G&L Legacy special. This G&L comes with stock blades, (which are pretty good) but I’ve replaced the bridge with a Dimarzio Chopper, which is good. (I'm curious about chopper alternatives, but that maybe should be a different thread...)

I want to brighten up the bridge/middle switch position and get a more traditional sound. Currently I can roll the G&L's bass control down and get a decent single coil approximation, but perhaps I could do better and get some more punch and quack. I’m trying the DM Fast Track1 in middle/neck, but the stock GandL blade is brighter and thicker. I’m considering the SD Hot Stack (STK-S2). Would that keep up with the chopper’s output? Which would be better in the middle: neck model or bridge? I might even consider one of these for the neck if I like it, I find the neck too anemic when I switch to it and it gets lost. What other options are there? I’d want hum canceling and I like the rails look but would consider traditional polepieces if that gets me the right tone. It would be really nice to switch to position 2 without having to speedily roll down the bass control to get me the right tone, while maintaining levels between positions 1 and 2.

I'm experimenting with 500k pots and the stock G&L's with some good results, just exploring what's out there. I play quite a few styles throughout the night… play about 1/3 country, classic rock, to modern rock. Not much super heavy stuff. (although I love that on my own time…)

Recommendations for a middle (and maybe neck) ?

Sorry for all the words to read, figuring this out is so hard… I need some of you who have heard many pups, cuz I haven't! Cheers.

 

[Lazer111]

Re: Middle pup to pair with chopper bridge?

FT1 in middle with 500k pots is an improvement, but damn the G&L stockers are holding their own...

Anyone have any comparisons to a Cruiser or SD Hot stack?

 

[paj123]

Re: Middle pup to pair with chopper bridge?

I once asked Dimarzio a similar question, and was suggested a Chopper in the bridge, an Area 61 in the middel and an Air Norton S in the neck. And when adding 2 push-pulls, you will be able to split all pick-ups to singe-coil and add in the bridge og neck pick-up, so that you can get the bridge end neck together, or all three pick-ups on at the same time.

 

[Lazer111]

Re: Middle pup to pair with chopper bridge?

Hey dude thx for the note... ya i've been wondering about the areas, and I was even eyeballing VV54 or VV vintage blues. I was curious what might work from seymour's line, it's a little to compare harder levels/tone across these two mfg's, without having more experience...

Maybe I'll try coil splitting tonight and see how the chopper and FT1 combine, i was worried about volume drop tho... already have a pull switch to combine neck/bridge

Wouldn't the Norton S be dark in the neck? In fact, had thought about it or the Pro-Track for the bridge. Anything in Seymour's line similar to the chopper, with a little more output, glass, but smoother upper mids? Just curious, the chopper's working quite well...