Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

I needs to be said, that the Firebird pickups and the Duncan mini-buckers are NOT the same as the pickups thast come in LP Deluxes...same size, different pickup.

 

[nepalnt21]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

I needs to be said, that the Firebird pickups and the Duncan mini-buckers are NOT the same as the pickups thast come in LP Deluxes...same size, different pickup.

whats the difference tone-wise? which ones do you prefer?

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

I needs to be said, that the Firebird pickups and the Duncan mini-buckers are NOT the same as the pickups thast come in LP Deluxes...same size, different pickup.

are you sure, the description for duncan's vintage mini hum says that it comes as close as possible to vintage gibson.

oh I see what you mean.

 

[the guy who invented fire]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

Im positive...Les Paul deluxes, and several Epiphone guitars from the 60's used "Mini-buckers" they look like a plain old bucker but smaller, you can see one row of adjustible pole pieces. The pickups that come in Firebirds and most of the Duncan "mini buckers" were designed by Bill Lawrence for Gibson and are a very unique design. The ones from LP Deluxes are often called "Epiphone mini-buckers". The Epiphone mini bucker sounds a lot like a full size bucker just a tad brighter and with less mud in the neck position, the firebird pickups are lots brighter and have a very signature type sound. Look in the antiquity section and you will see in the Antiquity II section both Mini Humbuckers and Firebird pickups and pictures of each. I hope this helps some.

 

[flipside]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

yum

lol, i saw that in the other forum.

sketchy man

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

lol, i saw that in the other forum.

sketchy man

weird right

 

[GuitarGuru88]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

So are the mini's better for metal since they are clearer? or would just regular hums do the trick? Gibson hums or SD hums? Thanks, oh btw I do a lot of punk and coheed and cambria stuff also go to stuff like godsmack...so basically I go across all rock genres!

 

[rguser]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

I love this thread!
I had a gibson nighthawk special with two mini hums. They sounded great but the guitar itself was aweful. (buzzing, hard to play) After I sold it Ive been wanting to get something similar for a while. It is hard to get a guitar with mini slots so I will have to either get some conversion bezels or find a guitar with a pickguard and make a new guard with two mini slots. has any1 tried either approach?

 

[Rusty Fingers]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

weird right

Its not that wierd, that's why they make an Epiphone Alleykat. Its sort of like a hollowed out Les Paul, but just a little larger with a mini humbucker at the neck and a full size humbucker at the bridge.

http://www.epiphone.com/default.asp?ProductID=1&CollectionID=1

I own one, its an interesting guitar, couldn't keep it stock of course.

What I've ended up with is the stock epi mini in the neck, a Gibson hot firebird pickup added in the middle and the bridge pickup replaced with a D*zio Super Distortion (its a long story).

Anyway, I love the minis and prefer the clarity. The epi mini and the firebird are two different beasts. The epi is warm. The firebird is bright and sharp. I tried the firebird in the neck position, but it was way too bright. The stock neck epi can get a decent jazz tone. The firebird works well in the middle and is brighter in that position than the SD at the bridge. I can imagine the firebird being too bright if I had it at the bridge.

I could probably do better replacing the neck with an SM-1 and relacing the bridge with a either a Custom or Distortion. But as it stands now, this guitar has some sounds that I really like, so I'm not sure if I really want to modify it any farther.

My favorites are:

The neck mini with the SD in parallel - a nice acoustic quality when both pickups are on full, brightens up the neck a touch when the SD is partially on.
The firebird by itself - nice bite.
The SD in parallel by itself - useful twang.

Not my thing, but an interesting one:

The two minis in series with the SD in series - never heard so much stuff coming out of one guitar.

Rusty

 

[Jimbojsr]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

So are the mini's better for metal since they are clearer? or would just regular hums do the trick? Gibson hums or SD hums? Thanks, oh btw I do a lot of punk and coheed and cambria stuff also go to stuff like godsmack...so basically I go across all rock genres!

Full humbuckers are probably better for metal as you're looking for a very high-gain, saturated sound. Minis deal better with lower gain, IMO - Noel Gallagher loves them for rhythm sounds (ie, overdriven marshall playing normal open chords), and they are excellent for blues. Metal.... weeellll, it'll get you an interesting sound, but when things get THAT heavy, the fullness and fatness of a proper humbucker will help things, I think. Plus, they look better... :burnout:

 

[GuitarGuru88]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

So huh would I get a Les Paul to get less muddy? Switch out the stock Pups for SD's with covers? I love covered Humbukers!

 

[Xeromus]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

So huh would I get a Les Paul to get less muddy? Switch out the stock Pups for SD's with covers? I love covered Humbukers!

The covers make little to no difference sound wise. It's more or less cosmetics.

 

[Jimbojsr]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

Yeah, minis will make your LP more articulate - but that's not always he best thing in a metal setting. There are buckers that are brighter without sounding thin under gain - I think the JB is one....

 

[The Golden Boy]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

well actually when the les paul was first conceived distortion was still in it's infant stages and was not intended for that at all. It was made the way it is for it's clean sound.

It's the players that came along 20 years later that made it famous for thick distorted tones.

Actually, if you really want to get into it, "The Bluesbreakers Featuring Eric Clapton" came out in what... 66? Less than 10 years after the advent of the humbucking pickup in 1957.

I'm not exactly disagreeing with you, in that I believe the humbucking pickup was actually a large part of the reason for the lack of popularity of the Les Paul in the late 50's/1960 which resulted in it's redesign and subsequent discontinuation. I believe people wanted the bright sound of a single coil pickup and the "PAF" humbucker didn't exactly deliver that.

If I remember properly, the mini-hum was created to replace the the Epiphone "New York Pickup," and the mounting system was re-engineered to fit into a P-90 rout for the LP Deluxe. I really don't like the mini-hum, just because volume and gain don't agree with them very well. I've found that a P-90, even a higer gain P-90 (such as the SD Custom P-90) squeals a lot less than the mini-humbucker of the LP Deluxe with a significant amount of preamp gain and significant volume. I've had a number of LP Deluxes, and they do not respond well to as much gain as a JMP Master Volume Marshall with a lot of volume. I currently own a bunch of P-90 guitars, including a LP Deluxe that had the mini-hums replaced, and I would never go back to them.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

Ok, now you guys have me reconsidering the Les Paul XR-2 all over again.... thanks for nothing...

 

[JeffB]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

Hmm...I would say my old 70's Deluxe didn't quite handle the high gain stuff "too" well...meaning..not Metallica levels of gain....but for most Hard Rock it was plenty adequate...check out any of Scott Gorhams work pre-1980 or so.

That said, the pups Gibson is putting on the current MF Deluxes would handle high amount of gain as well as most any humbucker but an extreme high output pickup like a Duncan Distortion/Dimebucker, DiMarzio SD/TZ, EMG 81, etc. In fact those mini's handled high gain better than the BB Pro's on my Std do (which still remain articulate with lots of gain, but get a harsh quality to the mids at a certain point).

I think the current mini's on the deluxe will work just fine for the vast majority of players.

 

[Butch Snyder]

Re: Mini-Humbuckers vs. Humbuckers

Here's the physical design difference in the Deluxe and Firebird minis.

The Firebird PUP is a different pickup from the Epiphone Mini Hum. Both feature Alnico magnets. The Deluxe is just like a MINI HUMBUCKER with the magnet bottom loaded, and with one row of adjustable polepieces. The Firebird pickup has a magnet in each coil, a vertical magnet like a Fender, and has no adjustable polepiece.