P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

[Aceman]

So I finally got them installed!!! Stay tuned for the review at the bottom.

The guitar in question is a Natural (rare) Epiphone Dot Studio. I put a set of P-Rails and Triple Shots on. But...as I wanted maximum tonal control, what I did was get some Concentric 500k CTS pots and put in concentric knobs so that each P-Rail has a Volume and Tone control, even though there are not four knobs on this guitar. Orange caps for those who care.



So I have played around with it for a while this evening. Here are my impressions:

#1 Series - Hot as ^%$#$. No wonder people don't dig the humbucker factor. But - a ~8/9K Rail and a 8/9k P90, well....we are in Distortion class here. Personally I LOVE it. Hot thick cutting and actually pretty articulate. Not planning on throwing down any Pantera on this....but I could. Again, there IS a volume knob.

#2 Parallel - Way more chill. This is the sound I think the vintage nuts really want. It isn't a classic PAF sound, but was nice and clear and clean in every way you would want. I may play like this a lot. I particularly like the parallel neck. I be jazzin' on this! Using that tone knob, of course.

#3 Singles - Hotter than a classic cool Strat pickup. Texas special maybe? Again, I'm not a single coil conneseur. Still, It is definitely a single coil blade pickup. I like blade singles because blade not pole. Played a little SRV and sounded fine. Have not done the both singles on yet to check for notch tone quack.

#4 P90's - Nothing but love here. Just great all around vintage P90 tones. Maybe a little more spunk than an SP1, but not really sure yet.

Single/P90 mode was very quiet. I attribute this to coils in close proximity, which usually cancels some hum but not all. I'd say they are pretty bright in general, especially in this guitar. But, did I mention the dual tone controls? So, all in all, this is gonna be a great play absolutely everything guitar! Really looking forward to exploring all the tones like Neck Bucker + Bridge P90 or Single and vice-versa.

Currently playing it through the Mesa on channel 1 tight clean and crunch.

 

[Mincer]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

I bet it sounds great dead clean, too.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

That's probably a great sounding axe now. FWIW, the neck model is also an outstanding bridge pickup, for those who want "vintage" P90 tone in the bridge position. That takes care of the "Hot as^%$#$" thing when in series. I believe the bridge model is better used split to either coil, or with parallel coils. The neck model works very well without being overly hot, in the bridge position when in series.

I wish they came stock with trim rings. Those would look a lot better with gloss black trim rings, gloss black pole piece screws, gloss black pickup height screws, and the logos removed. It'd look really nice to paint the inside edges of the f holes with gloss black paint as well.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

P.S. If the ratio of P90 to rail stays the same as the neck model, then the bridge version would not have an 8–9 K P90 and an 8–9 K rail. The neck model is about 8 K P90, 5K rail, IIRC my readings correctly. I would think they'd overwind both coils for the bridge model, not just the rail coil.

 

[Aceman]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

I didn't take any measures. Duncan says the bridge is 18k. I believe it.

Dave - sounds all kinds of awesome on clean. I have not yet begun to really explore all the shades available here...Honestly expect to play this with my Peavey Express a lot, and maybe my fender Pro Jr.

 

[Mincer]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

Maybe I'll see it out for the 'extended jazz odyssey set' at a Hollywood Blvd gig.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

I didn't take any measures. Duncan says the bridge is 18k. I believe it.

I am not disputing that it is 18K. I am saying that if it's anything like the neck version, then that 18K is not made up of 9+9.

 

[jeremy]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

its a hotrails coil + vintage p90 so neck rail should be 5k, bridge rail 8k. neck p90 8k, bridge 10k. there will obviously be a little variation but thats good ball park

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

Since I know you are intimately familiar with the Super Distortion humbucker (my reference point), how would you say the bridge P-Rail in series compares in terms of eq, feel, output, etc?
I keep toying with the idea of a P-Rail in my single-hum guitar.

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

^^^ let us know what you think of it, if you decide to go this route.
I’m thinking it will be an excellent choice for a lot of variety of sounds.

 

[Aceman]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

Hotter than a SuperD, most definitely. Brighter than a SuperD. Not as "thick" as a SuperD. Bass is tighter, but less of it.

The SuperD is more fizzy/hairy and this is more percussive. Would I choose it over a SuperD? Nah - it isn't any kind of Ubermetal Awesome. Still, for scorching hot rock, I like it!

 

[Gtrjunior]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

Hotter than a SuperD, most definitely. Brighter than a SuperD. Not as "thick" as a SuperD. Bass is tighter, but less of it.

The SuperD is more fizzy/hairy and this is more percussive. Would I choose it over a SuperD? Nah - it isn't any kind of Ubermetal Awesome. Still, for scorching hot rock, I like it!

The way you describe it intrigues me, especially for a one humbucker guitar. I didn’t know a P-Rail is that hot of a pickup.
The lack of variety is really the one thing the makes me hesitate on buying a one bucker guitar.

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

P-Rails, Triple-Shots, and a 335-style guitar is a great combination. I’ve been playing one for a few years now and just love it!

Also, I tend to agree with you about the series bridge humbucker. DEFINITELY one of my hottest pickups, but it’s not particularly muddy… I really kinda like it.

Since I know you are intimately familiar with the Super Distortion humbucker (my reference point), how would you say the bridge P-Rail in series compares in terms of eq, feel, output, etc?
I keep toying with the idea of a P-Rail in my single-hum guitar.

^^^ let us know what you think of it, if you decide to go this route.
I’m thinking it will be an excellent choice for a lot of variety of sounds.

I have a single-bridge-P-Rail guitar in the works right now… Waiting for my daughter, who is a wonderful artist, to do a bunch of custom graphics. I have given her free reign and she’s thinking it will be a Caribbean motif.

 

[dystrust]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

its a hotrails coil + vintage p90 so neck rail should be 5k, bridge rail 8k. neck p90 8k, bridge 10k. there will obviously be a little variation but thats good ball park

That's roughly what my P-Rails metered at.

Since I know you are intimately familiar with the Super Distortion humbucker (my reference point), how would you say the bridge P-Rail in series compares in terms of eq, feel, output, etc?
I keep toying with the idea of a P-Rail in my single-hum guitar.

I have my P-Rails in an SG and IMO the bridge in series sounds very similar to a Gibson Iommi signature humbucker.

 

[Aceman]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

As I reflect on the P-Rail vs SuperD: Nothing at all alike.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

"Percussive" gets my attention, but "not as thick" and "less bass" maybe not so much. I really just need to find a guitar with a P-Rail to play. Local shops are small & very limited.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Aceman]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

I looked at it this way: No matter what - there was a solid P90. If anything else was at all usable, bonus.

 

[Aceman]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

P-Rails, Triple-Shots, and a 335-style guitar is a great combination. I’ve been playing one for a few years now and just love it!

[/IMG]

Brocephus - been holding out on me!!!!!

 

[BriGuy1968]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

I have my little secrets... [emoji6]

 

[jeremy]

Re: P-Rails, Triple Shots, and a little more!

Brocephus - been holding out on me!!!!!

ive seen that pic a bunch of times bob, where you been? very similar to what you ended up with