Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

TheTelePunk

New member
Know it might be blasphemous on a seymour duncan forum, but does anyone have a good dimarzio single sized humbucking pickup that would be good for anything from classic rock to metal? I will be putting it in a ash bodied tele with rosewood fingerboard. Help me please! I am looking for something that is verstile and can clean up well but rock out when needed!
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

I heard that those can sound thin but I'm definitely interested. Is the tone zone t or super distortion t also worth looking at? Or is the chopper the best one?
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Chopper T is sweet, but it's limits are tested when trying to do metal.

If you can find a Tone Zone I'd recommend that for its added output and thickness.

Here's a clip with my old Chopper T through a Rectifier.

https://youtu.be/t7pSvloLfn4
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Awesome, I was looking into that as well. Does the tone zone sound ok clean?
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

I really like my Tone Zone T. With the tone pot on full, it still sounds a bit like a tele, but with the tone pot rolled down a few notches, it sounds like a good humbucker. I think it would suit your needs well. Tight and thick and versatile.
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

I have a TZT in a 69 thinline, I have it wired to 500k pots, 3 way mini toggle series/split/parallel, original treble bleed cap, big fat and ballsy in series, parallel with a couple notches down in volume sounds like a tele should even better than split but it does split very well, it is very tight but very clear with no mud. I'm about to put one in a classic vibe 50's tele tonight, a really good match for the neck is a GFS fatbody pickup, its a single coil but has a very sweet almost stratty neck tone, works perfect with the 500k pots and no noticable drop in volume from the TZT (and cheap). Tone Zone T is an excellent pickup if you want to rock out on a tele without putting in a full sized humbucker.

I tried quite a few single sized buckers in my thinline (lil 59, gfs lil puncher, duncan hot rails to name a few) I was ready to route it and put in a bucker then I tried the TZT, after hitting a few chords I knew it was staying in there.

I am still curious about the Duncan BG 1400 though I almost bought one for the CV but I couldn't stomach putting a 150.00 pickup in a guitar I bought for 200 bucks.....vs a 69.00 dimarzio I know will work. I'll just have to buy another tele to try one in maybe build an esquire.
 
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Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Oh forgot, Op asked if it sounds good clean? Its OK in series, sounds very nice in parallel and split at about 1/2-3/4 volume even thought its a ceramic mag (most are) its still very warm sounding.
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Oh forgot, Op asked if it sounds good clean? Its OK in series, sounds very nice in parallel and split at about 1/2-3/4 volume even thought its a ceramic mag (most are) its still very warm sounding. One other thing, the TZT is very sensitive to height adjustment, play with it and you will find the "sweet spot" that brings out all the fatness and clarity.
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Oh forgot, Op asked if it sounds good clean? Its OK in series, sounds very nice in parallel and split at about 1/2-3/4 volume even thought its a ceramic mag (most are) its still very warm sounding. One other thing, the TZT is very sensitive to height adjustment, play with it and you will find the "sweet spot" that brings out all the fatness and clarity.

Yeah, I was curious about that. Honestly I just am looking for something that has balls to it but cleans up decently. So To me its the Tone Zone T or the Chopper T. Im very conflicted. Part of me is considering the Chopper t because it still retains some of the tele bite but the other side of me is wanting the thickness of the tone zone.
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

I really like my Tone Zone T. With the tone pot on full, it still sounds a bit like a tele, but with the tone pot rolled down a few notches, it sounds like a good humbucker. I think it would suit your needs well. Tight and thick and versatile.

Definitely something Im considering, what are the main differences between the tz and the chopper? like is the tz thicker sounding?
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Tone zone t sounds very much like a full sized humbucker, the chopper is more tele like but with balls but not as thick as the TZ and very clear, the chopper has more bite and slightly more clarity BUT with the treble bleed and the TZ in parallel they are real close. Listen to Ritchie Kotzen in winery dogs, he plays a chopper but also plays with his fingers and not a pick. The harmonics just jump out of the tone zone t. I've been meaning to post some sound clips since I put them in my thinline, maybe I will get to it this weekend.
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Tone zone t sounds very much like a full sized humbucker, the chopper is more tele like but with balls but not as thick as the TZ and very clear, the chopper has more bite and slightly more clarity BUT with the treble bleed and the TZ in parallel they are real close. Listen to Ritchie Kotzen in winery dogs, he plays a chopper but also plays with his fingers and not a pick. The harmonics just jump out of the tone zone t. I've been meaning to post some sound clips since I put them in my thinline, maybe I will get to it this weekend.

Ok cool, I'm definitely leaning towards the tzt but I'm curious to see if the chopper will give me my own sound than just sounding like a typical humbucker. Obviously the amp settings and everything else affects it too but.
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Being slanted in the typical tele configuration it will never sound like a typical humbucker, I was just comparing three of my tele's 69 thinline TZT, classic vibe stock and modern player with custom custom HB in the bridge, without touching amp settings ( I play through a Fractal Axe FX though) I can pretty much mimic the the custom custom in parallel, and the stock classic vibe A5 single coil (but a bit fuller) with my 69 thinline and TZT by playing with volume and tone controls, the 69 thinline is mahogany and semi hollow though, the MP and cv are both pine. I'm installing the TZT and gfs fatbody's tonight in the pine CV so we will see it should be more of a fair comparison as mahogany has more mids and semi hollow does too and adds some growl.
 
Re: Pickup help for humbucking tele bridge pickup, HELP!

Being slanted in the typical tele configuration it will never sound like a typical humbucker, I was just comparing three of my tele's 69 thinline TZT, classic vibe stock and modern player with custom custom HB in the bridge, without touching amp settings ( I play through a Fractal Axe FX though) I can pretty much mimic the the custom custom in parallel, and the stock classic vibe A5 single coil (but a bit fuller) with my 69 thinline and TZT by playing with volume and tone controls, the 69 thinline is mahogany and semi hollow though, the MP and cv are both pine. I'm installing the TZT and gfs fatbody's tonight in the pine CV so we will see it should be more of a fair comparison as mahogany has more mids and semi hollow does too and adds some growl.

That would be really interesting to see what that sounds like. and yeah I figured considering its slanted.
 
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