Phat cat in a strat?

southadc

New member
Hi,

I'm thinking about trying out a Phat Cat in a Squire strat (bridge position), with maybe quarter pound single coils in the middle and neck.

Anyone have any thoughts on how well the Phat Cat would match up with the QP singles in terms of output/volume - will there be much difference? If there is, will I be able to balance it out a little better by adjusting the height of the pickups without the tone suffering too much?
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

I think the phat cat would sound awesome. The QP's are however very high output singles as far as im aware so you might notice some sort of volume difference, im not sure though as i dont have any myself.
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

Young Angus said:
I think the phat cat would sound awesome. The QP's are however very high output singles as far as im aware so you might notice some sort of volume difference, im not sure though as i dont have any myself.

Thanks for the reply dude. I was looking at the tone chart (no phat cats on there, so I was looking at the P90s), and it looks to me that the output of a P90 is a lot higher than a QP single coil? I guess I was just wondering if I could balance them up by adjusting the pickup height without affecting the tone too much.

I must admit that I usually use humbuckers, but lately I've had the urge to have a single-coil equiped guitar too (just in case I ever need one ;) ).
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

The closest thing to a Phat Cat on the tone chart is the Vintage P-90. Higher output than a PAF? About the same as the PGb (my PGb weighs in at around 8.62k) I have in my Lester. More output than a QP? I don't know about that. Looking at the DC resistance of the QP (14.8) vs. that of the Vintage P-90b (9.35k) it maes me think that the QP's are louder. The Vintage P-90 does have a lower res. peak, so it might be fatter.

Personally, I'd get the taped version of the Qp, that way, you can use the full output or tap it for better balance and a more vintage tone whenever you want.

That's my $0.02 :)
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

The Phat Cat tone chart is sorta hidden in the description:

PhatCatEQ.jpg
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

Benjy_26 said:
Personally, I'd get the taped version of the Qp, that way, you can use the full output or tap it for better balance and a more vintage tone whenever you want.

That's my $0.02 :)

Ah, should've thought of coil tapping. Looks like some push/pull pots may be in order.

ArtieToo said:
The Phat Cat tone chart is sorta hidden in the description:

PhatCatEQ.jpg

D'oh :smack:

Benjy_26 said:
The closest thing to a Phat Cat on the tone chart is the Vintage P-90. Higher output than a PAF? About the same as the PGb (my PGb weighs in at around 8.62k) I have in my Lester. More output than a QP? I don't know about that. Looking at the DC resistance of the QP (14.8) vs. that of the Vintage P-90b (9.35k) it maes me think that the QP's are louder. The Vintage P-90 does have a lower res. peak, so it might be fatter.

This is where I got confused - looking at the tonechart pages, the 'output' bar is longer for the P90, so I was actually worried about the P90 being louder than the QPs. Looking at the DC resistances, the Phat cat has 8.49 kohms in the bridge, with the QP having 6.9 kohm and 13.3 kohm in the neck and bridge respectively - I was planning on putting the QPs in the neck and middle positions, so maybe I'll get away with it?
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

QP resistance figures are for tapped col and full coil. There is no specific neck or bridge QP for strat that I know of.
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

"Phat cat in a strat?" - sound like the title of a lost Dr. Seuss book.
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

Benjy_26 said:
QP resistance figures are for tapped col and full coil. There is no specific neck or bridge QP for strat that I know of.

Oops :smack: You're right, I misread it.

I'm still confused by that 'output' bar on the tone chart though :wrf:
 
Re: Phat cat in a strat?

The Phat Cats are pretty loud -- and they sound great. You can't rely on DC resistance values to compare output levels of pickups with different construction or magnet types. When in doubt, shoot an email to the SD crew as indicated in the tone wizard -- they are quite helpful.
 
Back
Top