My First Mini Humbucker

F

fretburner

Well-known member
I was worried it was going to be too bright for my taste, but... These things are delightful!

It doesn't sound like any humbucker or any P90, and that is a good thing because that was what I wanted - a different flavor.

It's brighter than any humbucker I own (including the L-500XL) but not harsh nor piercing at all, more power and crunch than a P90 albeit losing that midrange, obviously no hum, and... most surprisingly "chewy".

I wouldn't call it a heavy metal pickup (though I can definitely play metal with it like I would with P90s), but this sounds great for rock and hard rock... "Rock and Roll Rebel" sounds great through my SLX.

It's a PG-13 set with GFS pup rings. The Tribute 60s also has a metal plate under the pups with screw holes on the right spots already, so no drilling required.

I'm a happy guy :D
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Mini hums are their own thing. They should be more popular than they are, but no big guitar stars are really using them right now.
 
It's odd that both Deluxe & Firebird-style minis aren't more common in telecasters. Tend to volume balance better with a standard telecaster bridge pickup than a full sized humbucker in the neck, and sound amazing.

My dream tele would be a Nashville setup, probably Kinmans with AVn-48b hum-free Broadcaster bridge, Impersonator MV (E54 v5) strat middle, and a Fyrbyrd (Firebird-style mini) in the neck. Among many other purist-offending choices like a left-handed bridge (for the reversed pickup slant) on a right handed guitar.
 
ive had a firebird pup in the neck of my tele for a long time now and love it. glad you like the pg13s, paul makes em sound great
 
jeremy said:
ive had a firebird pup in the neck of my tele for a long time now and love it. glad you like the pg13s, paul makes em sound great
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PG in his demos though have them on the darker side... The PG13s are much brighter than his demos... must be his Mojomojo vs my SLX

I'm just so psyched these minis rock!

If Duncan would make hotter minis, I will be thinking hard about pulling out the P90s in my other guitar.

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I've been continually falling in love with the Firebird minis on my Epi.

They can take alot of drive and sound much cleaner than they should. Much fuller than a single coil but has that single coil snap. Not as full as a P90 or humbucker yet somehow it definitely has some Gibson SG vibe mixed in there.

Can't remember where I saw it but somebody asked someone to describe the mini humbucker sound to them and they said Imagine a really pissed off Strat! :firedevil
 
I bought two Mini's from Jason Lollar back in 2006, and had him wind both for neck positions (A-2, 6.2k).
One is in the neck of a Tele, which works just fabulous, as mentioned above.
And I also have one in a TOM style 2-HB, matched with an APH-1 in the bridge.
Both work absolutely perfectly with their respective bridges.
The Tele has 250K pots, the TOM has 500K, and the Mini's don't seem to care, they both sound perfectly balanced with their bridge mates.

My position with Mini's is always for the neck, I can almost always find better possibilities for the bridge position.
But in the neck, they're really hard to beat, nearly perfect.
 
Mincer said:
He's the first person who comes to mind to me...but I doubt a teenage guitarist even knows who he is (unless he has a cool uncle or aunt).
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Yeah, he seems pretty underrated these days. The Who had a big place in my musically formative years; still love their stuff.

Those tribute LPs would be a good candidate for some Pete mods - stick a Dual Sound in the middle (I know, he never used it much) and riff away :D.
 
Oldfart_Shredman said:
Can't remember where I saw it but somebody asked someone to describe the mini humbucker sound to them and they said Imagine a really pissed off Strat! :firedevil
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Maybe a thicker-sounding, meaner SSL5?

I know most people don't like hot pups in a strat, saying that it loses its "stratiness", but the SSL5 is my fave strat pickup. I used to have them in the neck and mid position in a Washburn MG90... Now they're in a Fender MIJ (with an Injector in a bridge)...

Mini-hums sound much thicker than a strat's single coil, but it is brighter than any humbucker, and has that "glassiness"...

So I understand the pissed off strat reference



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