Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

[IcedEarth112]

I am planning to replace the Duncan Distortion in the neck of my ESP Horizon with a Phat Cat as I want to make my guitar more versatile, as of right now it is a metal only guitar. The current bridge pickup is an Anderson H3 and it is coil tapped, this pickup will be staying.

I was hoping someone could clear up any issue on hum cancelling when both pickups are selected or any sort of phase issues.. Should I be getting an RWRP Phat Cat? Or are all the Phat Cat neck pickups RWRP? I have never mixed pickups like this before so I feel a little lost.

On another note, while I am on the subject of phat cats.. my guitar is a maple neck through with mahogany wings.. hoping the phat cat will take a bit of the coldness off that the distortion has and fatten things up in a clearer sort of way(I am so bad at describing sound). Anyone have experience with a Phat Cat in a maple guitar?

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Wish I could help but no experience as of right now. For what its worth I have a guitar in the works that has a Phat Cat in the neck plus a Pearly Gates in the bridge.

 

[Gone_Shootin]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Somewhere in this forum, there's a thread where a guy swapped out a Phat Cat bridge for a Black Winter and left the Phat Cat neck in place. He seemed to like it.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

The Phat Cat should warm up the maple somewhat- I have used one in the neck of a maple guitar before. It isn't as clean or clear as say a Jazz, so it has that bark...more upper midrange than just lows.

 

[Scott Olson]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

The neck model Phat Cat is RW/RP.

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

A phat cat in the neck is always a great idea... had a set in a hollow-body (I know, not close to your guitar) and it sounded great clean and with insane amounts of gain from my boosted orange th30 back then...

 

[IcedEarth112]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Thanks everyone for the replies! I took the plunge and can't wait to hear it, should have my guitar back on Staurday. I have fallen in love with the Fender Jazzmaster tone(only on the neck pickup), so I am hoping to catch those beautiful softer open clean tones with this new pickup. If all fails I'm sure I'll still love the tone and will have to buy a Jazzmaster as well!

 

[Surgeon]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Well, Jazzmaster pick-ups are definitely not P90s but the PC are superb nonetheless. I doubt you'll find anything other than great tones in there! Keep us posted!

 

[IcedEarth112]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Yeah I heard they are there own pickup but the jazzmaster classic player doesn't have the classic jazzmaster pickups.. I heard they were more p90ish.. So I'm still hoping here. Regardless I'm sure I'll love it. And if its not the same I get to look forward to a new guitar!

 

[NotCardio]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Wish I could help but no experience as of right now. For what its worth I have a guitar in the works that has a Phat Cat in the neck plus a Pearly Gates in the bridge.

Let me know how that goes. I'm considering that combination. Just can't decide which guitar to put it in. What's your's gonna be?

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Let me know how that goes. I'm considering that combination. Just can't decide which guitar to put it in. What's your's gonna be?

Will do! Not to hijack the thread, but I will post sound clips once I get it. There was a delay so I'm set to get it the first week of December. Here's the guitar in the works, it will have a Chrome cover on the bridge btw.

View attachment 68349

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Will do! Not to hijack the thread, but I will post sound clips once I get it. There was a delay so I'm set to get it the first week of December. Here's the guitar in the works, it will have a Chrome cover on the bridge btw.

View attachment 68349

That's a pretty fiddle you got there Trey!!! I kinda like the way the uncovered Zebra Pearly Gates looks in the bridge but it is one classy looking guitar so I can see why you'd want the pickup's covers to match up...

I had a TB-PG/Phat Cat Strat guard for a while, it sounded great but there was a pretty significant output difference between the two puppies. Even with the Phat Cat nearly flush with the guard and the Pearly Gates pushed right up close to the strings the Phaty was quite a bit louder? I mostly used the neck pickup in that guitar for cleans & the bridge for dirt, if you plan on doing the same it's certainly manageable via level knob on your dirt pedal, setting the clean channel of your amp a little lower than CH 2, or vice versa?

I guess for me the problem was switch pos.2, it was almost all Phat Cat so you really couldn't hear any of the sweetness from the TB-PG, I replaced it with a TB-11 C.C. & it was perfectly balanced afterwards. Although I do like the Pearly Gates better, much more versatile and sweet sounding, it's also by far one of my top three favorite Duncan pup's ever!!! Anyway, shouldn't be anything the O.P. needs to worry about if he's going with a Distortion in the bridge. I think he'll end up with a pretty versatile guitar that's well balanced & ballsy as H€||? Basically exactly what he was looking for...

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

That's a pretty fiddle you got there Trey!!! I kinda like the way the uncovered Zebra Pearly Gates looks in the bridge but it is one classy looking guitar so I can see why you'd want the pickup's covers to match up...

I had a TB-PG/Phat Cat Strat guard for a while, it sounded great but there was a pretty significant output difference between the two puppies. Even with the Phat Cat nearly flush with the guard and the Pearly Gates pushed right up close to the strings the Phaty was quite a bit louder? I mostly used the neck pickup in that guitar for cleans & the bridge for dirt, if you plan on doing the same it's certainly manageable via level knob on your dirt pedal, setting the clean channel of your amp a little lower than CH 2, or vice versa?

I guess for me the problem was switch pos.2, it was almost all Phat Cat so you really couldn't hear any of the sweetness from the TB-PG, I replaced it with a TB-11 C.C. & it was perfectly balanced afterwards. Although I do like the Pearly Gates better, much more versatile and sweet sounding, it's also by far one of my top three favorite Duncan pup's ever!!! Anyway, shouldn't be anything the O.P. needs to worry about if he's going with a Distortion in the bridge. I think he'll end up with a pretty versatile guitar that's well balanced & ballsy as H€||? Basically exactly what he was looking for...

Thank you very much! Originally I had gone with black hardware but one thing led to another and here I am...in hindsight I think it would have been awesome to have gone with creme binding and had two Zebras like the Pearly Gates set.

I appreciate the heads up–do you know if a UOA5 swap might help the volume difference? I wonder if there is a way to wire a cap or something to reduce the volume of the neck...but I won't worry about any of that until I get the guitar back.

Thank you again, really appreciate the help!

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Thank you very much! Originally I had gone with black hardware but one thing led to another and here I am...in hindsight I think it would have been awesome to have gone with creme binding and had two Zebras like the Pearly Gates set.

I appreciate the heads up–do you know if a UOA5 swap might help the volume difference? I wonder if there is a way to wire a cap or something to reduce the volume of the neck...but I won't worry about any of that until I get the guitar back.

Thank you again, really appreciate the help!

To be honest I've never had any experience with modded Pearly Gates? I'm sure someone on here has done it but I've always been scared that any increase in volume you'd get by swapping magnets would come at some kind of cost? The relatively low output of the P.G. is in my opinion @ least one of the things that makes it such a great pickup! The cleans are nice and sweet, classic dirt is well rounded & smooth, & but it still holds together really well under tremendous amounts of gain & can be used for Metal and other harder stuff. It would definitely be a interesting experiment though!!!

 

[IcedEarth112]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Will do! Not to hijack the thread, but I will post sound clips once I get it. There was a delay so I'm set to get it the first week of December. Here's the guitar in the works, it will have a Chrome cover on the bridge btw.

View attachment 68349

No worries, my main question was answered anyways!
That guitar looks purdy, I'm sure it'll sing.

@nostalgic distortion it will be an Anderson H3 in the bridge. The neck Distortion is what I'm currently replacing. Should have my guitar back tomorrow, can't wait. I think the best word to describe the tone I'm after is "squishy". The type of tone that just roars when you really dig your pick into it. Some how I characterise that as squishy.. And where the cleans have a soft almost acoustic quality to them.

 

[IcedEarth112]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Well I got my guitar back. The phat cat sounds killer! Very versatile pup. It isn't the unique tone I was getting from the jazzmaster at all but it is definitely a step in that direction. I downloaded S-gear today and was playing all sorts of sh*t on my neck pickup. Everything seemed to translate well. The coldness the Distortion was giving my already bright guitar is gone and I couldn't be happier with my pickup choice.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Question about Phat Cat + humbucker combo

Awesome to hear man! Always awesome when you love your pickup choices! I'm looking forward to trying out my Phat Cat!