Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

[alanfc]

hello-
my searches for Demon posts have not answered my questions so,
I have a new (used) guitar with a full size Screamin Demon in the bridge. Its taking some getting used to, but I think I like it- I'll have to wait until I can run my amp full at band practice out before I can judge. The guitar is a 1992-1994 Carvin DC127. Totally love it. I looked at the pots and could only see one, the tone, and its a 500k.

but,

I have a question for Demon users- did it sound sorta like a single coil to you when you first played it? I'm getting lots of detail and this is all fine, but in humbucking mode it has a hint of single coil sound. It almost sounds like a hybrid of SC and HB. (This thing was installed with a tap to go single too.) I also read here that people may need to goose their gain a bit. I have noticed this too- since my last guitar was a Tele copy with a Lil '59 SC size. The Lil 59 definitely sounded different than this demon. Needed less gain on my amp (Rivera 55w) and it had some 'give' to it..do you know what I mean? Anyway I just want to know if what I'm hearing from the Demon is a common reaction.

I had tested the Demon's height at 1/16", 2/16", and 4/16", to see if I could get more loose power/gain this way, rather than by my amp. I found that the closest 1/16 sounded weak and almost =distorted= like unclear. The 2/16" gave me some sauce but lacked clarity. The 4/16" had the least juice but the best clarity with notes in heavy chords, so I have stuck with this position and have upped the gain on the amp. With some amp EQ tweaks I have gotten close to the Lil 59 sound I loved. Where do you Demon owners have your height?

LIke I said I haven't been able to run it full out yet but I'm going to pay close attention to this tone. For awhile I thought I wanted P-90's, before I got this guitar. Now that I have something with this much clarity I'm not quite sure. Its not the clarity so much as its the sort of =dryness= to the tone.

any Demon users out there with this story?
thanks :13:

/edit/ oops I forgot to ask- on this Demon, which is the side that becomes single coil when its tapped? - the side with the flathead screws or the side with the hex bolts?
thanks

 

[msplines]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

easy to test which side is active, select at low amp volume and gently tap the poles with small screwdriver.
As to the heights, i found it worked best at lower positions and yes, a dry snarl in humbucking mode is a good description and the single coil (slug side in my case, ie towards the neck) mode gives a lovely chimy single coil sound, great for rythm work with a bit of cut

 

[bloodswords]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

i've always used my Demon for full on drive settings & it works great in full humbucking mode. what's that 'single coil' tone you mentioned? i can't really relate to that, unles you meant that the Demon does twang...

 

[alanfc]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

easy to test which side is active, select at low amp volume and gently tap the poles with small screwdriver.
As to the heights, i found it worked best at lower positions and yes, a dry snarl in humbucking mode is a good description and the single coil (slug side in my case, ie towards the neck) mode gives a lovely chimy single coil sound, great for rythm work with a bit of cut

thanks,
yes I tapped the polepieces in both humbucking and tapped modes and they sound the same :smack: ... Thats OK, I was just curious.

thanks for the confirmation on the Dry Snarl..

 

[alanfc]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

i've always used my Demon for full on drive settings & it works great in full humbucking mode. what's that 'single coil' tone you mentioned? i can't really relate to that, unles you meant that the Demon does twang...

yes- thats what I must be hearing, the twang. I don't mind this :dance:

thanks

 

[alanfc]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

how accurate do you feel the Tone Wizard samples are?

its sounds like they're using a Les Paul on there

I listened to the Demon sample and the '59 sample, and I see why I like the '59 better.

have the actual pickups given you radically different results from what you heard on the samples?

thanks

 

[bloodswords]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

i dislike the '59 after installing in my guitar albeit its good tones from samples. it's all about personal preferences i guess...

 

[msplines]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

i dislike the '59 after installing in my guitar albeit its good tones from samples. it's all about personal preferences i guess...

Also unfortunately guitars with the "same" construction can sound radically different with the same pickup installed. It's one of the nice (and frustrating) parts of trying them out.



yes I tapped the polepieces in both humbucking and tapped modes and they sound the same

If there is no difference between the coils in HB and single mode, then there is something wrong. In single mode, the active coil magnets should give a loud "pock" sound when touched with the screwdriver, the coil which is off will give a much fainter sound due to induced signal, but not as loud as the actve side. If both coils give the same volume signal in both modes, then the coil tap is faulty (broken wire, dry solder joint.......) or you may have series/parallel switching instead (also good but not really single coil tone) which will give a slight reduction in volume and a brighter tone in parallel mode, but will still be humbucking.

 

[alanfc]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

thanks-
I've narrowed some of the 'single coil' sound down to the stupidly low action on the guitar from the previous owner, like it PINGS on the unwound strings--that is going to be fixed.

Also, I made the silver flathead polepieces flush, and raised the black hex polepieces above the surface a bit, and now have a humbucker sound I'm used to.
I may change the pickup in the near future. My Carvin has a Poplar body (this is a bright wood yes?) and with the Scremin Demon's specs, looks like too much high end compounded

We'll see how it is at full band volume this afternoon

thanks for the notes

 

[alanfc]

Re: Newbie Questions & observations RE Screamin Demon

OK I used the Screamin Demon at full band volume and immediately when I came home I started researching for a new pickup. With my guitar and my amp its too bright and too tight. I actually miss the sound of my Lil '59 in the cheap Tele copy I had. With my amp it was perfect.
So after alot of listening I chose the Invader for is girth and its output and EQ curve, (also being very similar to the Lil 59 in these areas). Then I forgot, I'm cheap, and I just spent a wad on this new guitar and a fancy power supply thing for my pedals. I went back to my Screamin Demon and tweaked the poles alot more....like the way I mentioned above. Screwed down the silver flathead polepieces even further, and brought up the black hex polepieces even higher. Then raised the height of the pickup to 1/8". Now I'm =very= close to the tone of the SD site sample I heard for the Invader. Saving my money for now, not looking to buy an Invader anytime soon.
:laugh2: