dotsdad
New member
Please recommend a neck pickup that will work well with a Screamin Demon bridge pickup in an HH configuration.
The guitar is a Fender Stratocaster with an alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, and a vintage-style tremolo with steel block.
This guitar will mostly be used for Rock, so the distorted tone is more important than the clean tone. (I have an SSS Strat for the pretty stuff.) I like to play 70's-80's Gutar Rock: everything from Bad Company to Rush to Van Halen to Guns n' Roses. I also love the 80's hair bands: Dio, Ratt, Crue, Ozzy, Maiden, etc. I never really got into the more "brewtal" metal like Megadeth, Queensryche, etc.
I love the Demon for the 80's stuff. I had previously used a JB, but it was just too noisy. The Demon to me seems to have lot of JB-like character, but just more controlled/less obnoxious. In other words, the Demon is rude enough to be fun yet less likely to give me a headache.
As for the neck bucker, I would really love to get something close to the Slash "Paradise City" lead tone. The challenge is that Slash plays a Les Paul at deafening volume, and I play a Stratocaster at bedroom volume. Therefore, I'm thinking that Duncan's Alnico II Pro Slash model is probably not going to do it for me.
I prevously used a '59 with the JB. It was OK, but the 59 sounded too muddy under distortion.
I have also tried a JB Jr neck. I hate ceramic pickups, and the JB Jr was no exception. Icepick to the temples attack, little sustain, and pulled the strings out of tune. Yuck. Therefore, the ceramic Lil' Demon neck pickup, as well as the Lil 59'er, are both completely out of consideration. (And a custom-shop Alnico version is completely out of the budget!)
I am currently using a Duncan Designed HB103 that I swapped an A5 into. I like the clarity and the overall treb/mid/bass balance of the DD a lot more than the SD59. The A5 attack is also more natural than the original ceramic HB103 and the ceramic JB Jr. My only complaint with the modded DD pickup is that it no real personality and does not seem to pick up very many of the instrument's natural overtones.
Would a Jazz give me the sound I want? I know a lot of people like it with the JB, but will it be too loud for the Demon? Also, I've heard gripes that the Jazz is not very interesting tone-wise. Does the Jazz have a complex, character-filled sound, or is it just *meh* like the DD103 that I am now using?
What about a Seth Lover? That seems to be the most underwound neck bucker on the tone chart. I played a Lover bridge before...it was too bright for my Strat but I really loved that creamy, open-wah character that it added to the sound. Does the neck version have that kind of personality? Is it clear and articulate like the bridge Lover, or does it end up muddy with distortion like the 59?
Please let me know what you guys think would be the best match for the Demon based on tone, musicality, character, and output.
The guitar is a Fender Stratocaster with an alder body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, and a vintage-style tremolo with steel block.
This guitar will mostly be used for Rock, so the distorted tone is more important than the clean tone. (I have an SSS Strat for the pretty stuff.) I like to play 70's-80's Gutar Rock: everything from Bad Company to Rush to Van Halen to Guns n' Roses. I also love the 80's hair bands: Dio, Ratt, Crue, Ozzy, Maiden, etc. I never really got into the more "brewtal" metal like Megadeth, Queensryche, etc.
I love the Demon for the 80's stuff. I had previously used a JB, but it was just too noisy. The Demon to me seems to have lot of JB-like character, but just more controlled/less obnoxious. In other words, the Demon is rude enough to be fun yet less likely to give me a headache.
As for the neck bucker, I would really love to get something close to the Slash "Paradise City" lead tone. The challenge is that Slash plays a Les Paul at deafening volume, and I play a Stratocaster at bedroom volume. Therefore, I'm thinking that Duncan's Alnico II Pro Slash model is probably not going to do it for me.
I prevously used a '59 with the JB. It was OK, but the 59 sounded too muddy under distortion.
I have also tried a JB Jr neck. I hate ceramic pickups, and the JB Jr was no exception. Icepick to the temples attack, little sustain, and pulled the strings out of tune. Yuck. Therefore, the ceramic Lil' Demon neck pickup, as well as the Lil 59'er, are both completely out of consideration. (And a custom-shop Alnico version is completely out of the budget!)
I am currently using a Duncan Designed HB103 that I swapped an A5 into. I like the clarity and the overall treb/mid/bass balance of the DD a lot more than the SD59. The A5 attack is also more natural than the original ceramic HB103 and the ceramic JB Jr. My only complaint with the modded DD pickup is that it no real personality and does not seem to pick up very many of the instrument's natural overtones.
Would a Jazz give me the sound I want? I know a lot of people like it with the JB, but will it be too loud for the Demon? Also, I've heard gripes that the Jazz is not very interesting tone-wise. Does the Jazz have a complex, character-filled sound, or is it just *meh* like the DD103 that I am now using?
What about a Seth Lover? That seems to be the most underwound neck bucker on the tone chart. I played a Lover bridge before...it was too bright for my Strat but I really loved that creamy, open-wah character that it added to the sound. Does the neck version have that kind of personality? Is it clear and articulate like the bridge Lover, or does it end up muddy with distortion like the 59?
Please let me know what you guys think would be the best match for the Demon based on tone, musicality, character, and output.
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