Recommend HH set

[alex1fly]

tldr: HH set for a blues/classic/90s rock cover band playing lead guitar. Fat singing rock leads on the bridge, hollow bluesy SRV leads on the neck.

Long: I’m playing a Tele in a cover band, classic rock to blues to 90s rock. Think Matchbox 20, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Lead guitar mostly. Love the Tele - neck gives me Stevie and hollow bluesiness, bridge gives me generic slightly fat radio rock and a bit of scream on the leads. Guitar into tubescreamer/delay/octaver into clean Fender amp, that’s it. It’s working fantastically, almost like having two separate guitars on stage. Issue is, I want to stretch out on higher frets and the Tele sucks for that so I’m looking at using one of my HH guitars that currently has EMG 89-81 (works great too for hair metal and 80s shred but sounds off in this group). So I’m curious what folks would recommend I look at. I love the “two different characters” that the Tele has, as well as the responsiveness to bluesy style emoting. The band has an acoustic guitar and a rhythm electric guitar (Gretsch), bass, drums, and several singers.

whew! Looking forward to reading some ideas. Jb jazz? A2 Pros? I have a jazz neck already if that would work.

 

[Mincer]

The Jazz neck is a good idea...keep an A2 magnet on hand if it isn't buttery enough. For the bridge, look at the Custom Custom, and you'll have a guitar that occupies a lot of sonic space through a Fender amp.

 

[alex1fly]

The Jazz neck is a good idea...keep an A2 magnet on hand if it isn't buttery enough. For the bridge, look at the Custom Custom, and you'll have a guitar that occupies a lot of sonic space through a Fender amp.

Thanks! Would a CC/Jazz set let me still get all bluesy and make the guitar cry/scream/wail with various pick attacks? Maybe a silly question, I've just had way more success doing this with single coils and P90s than I have with humbuckers (I've mostly used regular PAFs and metal-oriented pickups, nothing in between)

 

[Mincer]

Thanks! Would a CC/Jazz set let me still get all bluesy and make the guitar cry/scream/wail with various pick attacks? Maybe a silly question, I've just had way more success doing this with single coils and P90s than I have with humbuckers (I've mostly used regular PAFs and metal-oriented pickups, nothing in between)

Yes. The Jazz is brighter, with less mids than the Alnico II Pro, but it is the same wind with a different magnet. Being that they are vintage output, they are both very touch-sensitive. Pick the EQ that you want.

 

[Hank-]

What type of HH is it, LP style or something different?

 

[Masta' C]

Hard to lose with a JB in the bridge for '90s rock and if you wire it for series/parallel switching or PRS-style partial coil splitting, it'll be very flexible.

For the neck, maybe a humbucker-sized P90, Stag Mag, or a P-Rails?

Are you open to suggestions outside of Seymour Duncan?

 

[ErikH]

Can't lose with the Custom Custom/Jazz or Custom Custom/A2P. Heck, my old Frankenstrat has a Custom Custom/Jazz combo for years until I joined this forum and it has seen many different combinations but is now back close to original but Custom Custom/A2P instead. If you like the Jazz and want an A5 pickup in the bridge, the Custom/59 Hybrid would do nicely.

 

[alex1fly]

What type of HH is it, LP style or something different?

Neck-thru Harley Benton. But similar vibes. Hardtail bridge, mahogany everything.

 

[alex1fly]

Hard to lose with a JB in the bridge for '90s rock and if you wire it for series/parallel switching or PRS-style partial coil splitting, it'll be very flexible.

For the neck, maybe a humbucker-sized P90, Stag Mag, or a P-Rails?

Are you open to suggestions outside of Seymour Duncan?

Definitely open to suggestions outside of Duncan. For frugality's sake I am hoping to use the Jazz in the neck, as my experience with it is generally "this is like a hot Tele pickup rather than a PAF" and I like that vibe. But I'm open!

 

[Hank-]

If you have the jazz neck then try it out. A2P sets get my vote as well.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

I you're accustomed to a Tele neck pickup and your rig is dialed in for that, you might try wiring the Jazz neck in parallel.

 

[Aceman]

I was gonna say an A2P set, with taps for SRV styles.

 

[GuitarStv]

There are pickup winders who will do a true single coil in a humbucker route. That's going to get you closer to that lovely SRV neck sound than any regular humbucker I can think of. Short of that, just get a humbucker to single coil conversion ring and get a decent neck single to put in there. Then you just match the single with any bridge 'bucker of your choice - plenty will do the fat/singing lines thing and you'll have lots of options to match with the neck.

 

[Mincer]

I was gonna say an A2P set, with taps for SRV styles.

You can fake it pretty well with one coil from each humbucker.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Yeah, the CC or C5 in the bridge and definitely the Jazz in the neck. Add a p/p to split both pups.