Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

[Dr.Mavashi]

I use H/S/S or H/S(in the neck) set ups. Currently Invader in the strat is not the sound I a looking for, it a bit over the top for me( I still love it, but not for the kind of thing that my current band does) so i've been told here that "paralel" wired invaders are more tamed and more precise. On the other hand I really love samples of fullshred how it is composed precise and fluid. So, what fullshred wired parallel sound like vs. wired series? and most importantly, what is the difference between parallel and series, how many of you have a switch for both and why ? Thanks.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

If a HB is 14,000 ohms in series (the normal HB way), coil cut is half that, 7,000, and parallel is a quarter that, 3,500, which in the bridge slot is just plain bright, weak, & puny. Not really much use for general applications, as sustain & output are dropped pretty low. In the neck, parellel works better as there's much more string energy, with a lot of mids & lows.

If you don't like your Invader (no big surprise), you're better off getting another bridge PU that's high output but not so extreme, like a C5 (which also works very well with an A8 magnet), or a JB with an A2 magnet. Those are very good for solos, and are still relatively well-behaved.

 

[NevermindUs]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

but the invader does sound **** good in parallel

 

[MattPete]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Meh, ignore Bluesman. I have several guitars that have the serial/parallel option, and parallel is very useful (I like it better than splitting). If you have a hot warm pickup, it's a nice way to get a brighter (relative) and lower output.

I've done this with the JB (actually the switch was standard factory practice at Kramer), a Custom, and a Brobucker.

 

[zontar]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Meh, ignore Bluesman. I have several guitars that have the serial/parallel option, and parallel is very useful (I like it better than splitting). If you have a hot warm pickup, it's a nice way to get a brighter (relative) and lower output.

I've done this with the JB (actually the switch was standard factory practice at Kramer), a Custom, and a Brobucker.

Have to agree with MattPete on this one.

I've got my Duncan Distortions (bridge & neck) set up for series/parallel--and I use parallel almost as much as series.

The parallel sound is great in both neck & bridge.

Sometimes I use the change in output for effect in different sections of a song--different tone & output can give a song more punch--it helps with the dynamics.

Some bluesy stuff sound better in parallel, and it helps if I'm playing with another guitarist with humbuckers to get some more tonal variation between us.

I too like parallel better than coil split--although I'll be wiring the JB in my LP copy for series/single/parallel--just in case.

If you're looking to try something different--try series/parallel.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the point in having a hot bridge PU and then using it at 1/4 power. Why neuter it? Why not get a bridge PU that does what you want at full strength? You can still do things like coil swap, coil cut, spin-a-split, and phase and get plenty of tonal variety. If I'm using a bridge HB in parallel to itself, I got the wrong PU.

 

[jimijames]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the point in having a hot bridge PU and then using it at 1/4 power. Why neuter it? Why not get a bridge PU that does what you want at full strength? You can still do things like coil swap, coil cut, spin-a-split, and phase and get plenty of tonal variety. If I'm using a bridge HB in parallel to itself, I got the wrong PU.

Parallel isn't 1/4 output, its just 1/4 the resistance (the resistance is cut in 1/4 because it's travelling through both coils concurrently - it's actually louder than coil splitting and silent.) It doesn't sound the same as coil splitting though, hence why I don't use it no mo with my les paul. However it's still hum cancelling with greater treble content, and if you play through a one-channel amp, it's a great way to clean up with just a push-pull.

Some people even wire humbuckers in parallel to balance better with vintage-output single coils on an HSS strat - a parallel PAF has about the same output level as a vintage (5-6k) single coil. Hot pickups can sound great in parallel too, definitely a unique beast and worth trying.

I wire my pickups to be in series normally but with parallel as an option on my p-rail equipped strat and jazzmaster.

 

[ACH91332]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Parallel can be useful with the right pickups. If the coils are wound relatively the same its a hum-free alternative to splitting coils. It doesn't sound as stratty but it's not a humbucker. But if you have a pickup that has totally different voiced coils then its useless. A lot of DMZ's have that whole dual resonance thing which is fancy for saying one coil is low output and warm and the other is higher output and bright or whatever. With them in parallel it sounded almost the same as it being in series. It had dropped output and was a tad cleaner and brighter but lost its power. Splitting was better for me as I shield all my guitars well anyways so I don't have that bad of a hum issue. Splitting the humbucker so that I use the hotter of the two coils and pulling up the hex screws allowed me to get a strat tone without much drop in output. I know thats not totally ur goal but just saying.

You should prolly just get another humbucker. The Invader is a terrible pickup. I just has mids and output not much tone.

 

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Mentioned already.....Parallel you don't get the hum....Split you will get hum....I have series/split/parallel switching on one of my strats and I like the way it works....I also don't agree that with parallel,you only get 1/4 output(This isn't correct and it's not what I hear)

 

[blueman335]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Parallel isn't 1/4 output, its just 1/4 the resistance (the resistance is cut in 1/4 because it's travelling through both coils concurrently.

Thank you. What I meant was 1/4 the resistance. Playing an Invader in parallel at 1/4 resistance is like having a 100 watt Marshall stack in your bedroom & always setting the volume on "1." There just might just be an amp/speaker combo better suited for your situation. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bridge HB that sounds great at full power?

 

[Jay 77]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

You should prolly just get another humbucker. The Invader is a terrible pickup. I just has mids and output not much tone.

Bite your tongue, sir! I used to have my Invaders in parallel, as a bit of an experiment. The neck did sound better than the bridge, and overall the treble was more pronounced and things were certainly more tame, if that's a good enough description. That being said, I didn't buy the Invader so it could be a sissy, and sure enough they're back in series. If you want the fullness and raw power of the Invader, but want to clean 'em up at times, then wire in series and learn to use the volume knob. Problem solved.

 

[mudpuppy]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Playing around with the triple shots on my Epi LP, I can't say that I find parallel HBs very useful in either bridge or neck position. Spitting to a single coil works a lot better for me. I haven't wired a guitar for spin-a-split yet, but that's high on my list of things to try.

I put a Demon in my LP a couple months ago, and was pretty ho-hum about it at first. Then I raised the hex pole pieces a couple turns, and am now in heaven.

 

[ACH91332]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Bite your tongue, sir! I used to have my Invaders in parallel, as a bit of an experiment. The neck did sound better than the bridge, and overall the treble was more pronounced and things were certainly more tame, if that's a good enough description. That being said, I didn't buy the Invader so it could be a sissy, and sure enough they're back in series. If you want the fullness and raw power of the Invader, but want to clean 'em up at times, then wire in series and learn to use the volume knob. Problem solved.

Well to me Invaders are useless and in most situations as well. They just don't seem flexible to "me" and are a tad over the top.

 

[ACH91332]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Bite your tongue, sir! I used to have my Invaders in parallel, as a bit of an experiment. The neck did sound better than the bridge, and overall the treble was more pronounced and things were certainly more tame, if that's a good enough description. That being said, I didn't buy the Invader so it could be a sissy, and sure enough they're back in series. If you want the fullness and raw power of the Invader, but want to clean 'em up at times, then wire in series and learn to use the volume knob. Problem solved.

Well to me Invaders are useless and in most situations as well. They just don't seem flexible to "me" and are a tad over the top.

 

[zontar]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Thank you. What I meant was 1/4 the resistance. Playing an Invader in parallel at 1/4 resistance is like having a 100 watt Marshall stack in your bedroom & always setting the volume on "1." There just might just be an amp/speaker combo better suited for your situation. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bridge HB that sounds great at full power?

First, I don't think it would sound like that--but as well--there are dynamics in music. Wiring parallel adds to that.

Yes a good guitarist should be able to add dynamics without changing the setting of the guitar, amp or any effects, but it's nice to have extra options.

Play with parallel, and then switch to series---it's a neat jump in tone, but not as drastic as you suggest.

 

[jimijames]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Thank you. What I meant was 1/4 the resistance. Playing an Invader in parallel at 1/4 resistance is like having a 100 watt Marshall stack in your bedroom & always setting the volume on "1." There just might just be an amp/speaker combo better suited for your situation. Wouldn't it be nice to have a bridge HB that sounds great at full power?

Well, I think the comparison would be more accurate if you said its like if a 100 watt fire-breathing marshall sounded like a fender blackface on 1 - yes you could get a blackface instead, but maybe you like the look of the marshall, and because it was originally a marshall circuit it doesn't respond the same way a blackface does so maybe you prefer it to a blackface...

It's not a matter of full power vs. 1/4 power, a humbucker in parallel IS at full power, its just a different orientation of the circuit that has about 70% of the output and more highs. Seeing as a "vintage-output" humbucker is 8-9K at the bridge, whereas a "vintage-output" single coil is in the low 6k range, wiring a humbucker in parallel balances better, in terms of tone and output. While I wouldn't wire a humbucker exclusively in parallel myself, I won't reject that it might be the best option for somebody else.

 

[metlking]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

I experimented with a (bridge) Custom in the neck spot of my Les Paul about a year and a half ago. I have it wired in parallel. It sounds so good I haven't found a reason to take it out! Bright and chimey it cuts thru the mix well, especially clean. I play in a coverband. It's very "piano like" for the beginning of a song like "Enter Sandman".

This is just my opinon, for what its worth, formed by actual experience......

 

[dr. ad]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

Parallel can be useful with the right pickups. If the coils are wound relatively the same its a hum-free alternative to splitting coils. It doesn't sound as stratty but it's not a humbucker. But if you have a pickup that has totally different voiced coils then its useless. A lot of DMZ's have that whole dual resonance thing which is fancy for saying one coil is low output and warm and the other is higher output and bright or whatever. With them in parallel it sounded almost the same as it being in series. It had dropped output and was a tad cleaner and brighter but lost its power. Splitting was better for me as I shield all my guitars well anyways so I don't have that bad of a hum issue. Splitting the humbucker so that I use the hotter of the two coils and pulling up the hex screws allowed me to get a strat tone without much drop in output. I know thats not totally ur goal but just saying.

You should prolly just get another humbucker. The Invader is a terrible pickup. I just has mids and output not much tone.

:bsflag:
parallel is still hum-cancelling and therefore still a humbucker.

dual-resonance literally means that the 2 coils are wound with the same number of turns but 'significantly different' gauges of wire, which means they have 2 resonant peak frequencies instead of the usual 1.

the invader is not a terrible pickup.

your posts often contain this kind of biased misinformation and are becoming a nuisance.

 

[mudpuppy]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

This whole series/parallel debate shouldn't be a big deal because... you have to either have a very good reason, or be certifiably insane to not have a triple shot ring around that humbucker.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Parallel vs Series Humbucker (school me)

This whole series/parallel debate shouldn't be a big deal because... you have to either have a very good reason, or be certifiably insane to not have a triple shot ring around that humbucker.

Or cheap (like me).