Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

[SoCalSteve]

Have you seen that Jimmy Page demo from the movie It Might Get Loud where he plays clean on the guitar's neck pickup and switches to the bridge for dirt? That's what I'm looking for - a neck pickup that stays clear and clean when rolling down the guitar volume knob.

I've never been able to get clarity and cleanness doing that.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

Obvious candidate has to be the WLH N.

I'd go with a Pearly Gates wired through a high quality audio taper pot.

 

[darthphineas]

Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

If you want to start with getting the pickup as close to that tone as possible, Check out a neck T-Top or the BKP Riff Raff. MJ is making me her version of a T-Top right now. I also hear that the Shaw-era Gibson pups are like that too.

Or you can go with all the mod options.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

There are a number of things you can try for the neck position.

Wiring:
1 meg neck pot - 1 meg pots bleed less treble than 500K pots.
50's wiring mod - 50's wiring has a wider tonal range at low volumes.
Treble bleed - Not my cup of tea but some people get good results from it. Redundant if you have 50's wiring.
Parallel wiring for neck - If you have 4 conductor wiring you could wire the neck to do parallel/series.
Bass cut pot - The neck tone can be rewired to cut bass instead of treble.
Q-filter - The neck tone can be rewired with a choke/inductor which allows for enhanced midrange control.

Pickup Mods:
Alnico 3 - Bright, sweet and focused tone with very good touch sensitivity.
Alnico 4 - Very balanced tone which can help even out a pickups tone.
Turn the pickup 180 degrees - This puts the screw coil closer to the bridge which brightens the tone.
Replace the poles - Hex head screws tighten the bass and dips out the midrange compared to fillister screws.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

Low output.......low to mid 7s in k rating will naturally keep clear.
50s wiring, to retain treble as you roll down.
550k premium cts pots for the neck circuit, with a .01uf cap.

 

[Artie]

Re: Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

Both my AII Pro and Jazz do a sweet clean sound in the neck. Haven't had a chance to install my PG's yet.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

Sceamin' Demon.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

i get all my sounds using the guitars controls and how they interact with the amp. Coincidentally, my main axe has the whole lotta humbucker set. They are very nice pickups, but you can do it with pretty much any nice set of pickups. Try setting your guitar volume on 6, then set up your amp to give you that lovely hint of crunch when you play the notes hard. Set your eq to taste from there. You can then use the whole range of the guitars volume for clean and crunch, then when you finally roll it all the way up to "10" you have your lead boost because of the extra treble and kick in volume on the final knotch. The thing is...you have to commit to this "less is more" setup and get used to having your guitar volumes at or around the half way point for most of your sounds and get used to quick and subtle changes on the fly while you are playing. If you are the sort if player that likes to leave the volume on "10" most of the time, then you will have a hard time getting clarity when you roll back.

 

[SoCalSteve]

Re: Recommend to me a clear, clean, low output neck 'bucker

i get all my sounds using the guitars controls and how they interact with the amp. Coincidentally, my main axe has the whole lotta humbucker set. They are very nice pickups, but you can do it with pretty much any nice set of pickups. Try setting your guitar volume on 6, then set up your amp to give you that lovely hint of crunch when you play the notes hard. Set your eq to taste from there. You can then use the whole range of the guitars volume for clean and crunch, then when you finally roll it all the way up to "10" you have your lead boost because of the extra treble and kick in volume on the final knotch. The thing is...you have to commit to this "less is more" setup and get used to having your guitar volumes at or around the half way point for most of your sounds and get used to quick and subtle changes on the fly while you are playing. If you are the sort if player that likes to leave the volume on "10" most of the time, then you will have a hard time getting clarity when you roll back.

Thanks for all the tips, guys. I think this ^ is the key. Been used to using channel switchers and the amp I currently use has a shared EQ and the channel EQ's don't balance well. Would like to use it as a single channel amp the old school way.

You're right, when I set my amp up to the neck pickup and roll down the bridge p/u tone control to compensate, it really works well. I get a nice, clear clean tone with the neck volume on 2-4 this way.