SC recommendation for neck/middle

C

cbope

New member
Looking to replace the neck and middle Duncan Designed SC-101's in my Jackson DK2. After hearing a friend's new DK2 which has stacked SD singles, I'm pretty sure I want true single coil. I'm looking for a nice "bell" or chimey clean sound with a nice attack. Not dark, but not ice-picky either. I don't know if that means vintage or something else. Overall, I do like the sound of the SC-101's that I have, let's say they are 90% as good as I want, so it's very likely a similar Duncan made with better quality than DD's is what I'm after. But Duncan doesn't have a direct match-up to the DD, the SC-101 is a cross between an SSL-2 and SSL-6. I'm not looking specifically for high output but I'm worried that the SSL-6 will be too hot. The SC-101's are pretty clean and I don't have noise problems, so I'd hate to go to a high gain pup and end up with a noisy guitar. I have a PATB-3 blues saraceno in the bridge and 500k CTS pots with 0.47uf cap. These are the models I've narrowed down to:

SSL-2
SSL-5
SSL-6

I play mostly hard rock and metal, but also blues rock (ZZ, SRV, etc.), some classic and prog rock/metal. I play through a hybrid Vox AD60VT amp combo.

Is there any tonal difference between the SSL-5 and SSL-6? Based on the specs on the SD website, it seems the difference is in the stag or flat setup. In this case I would think the flat would be the one to go for out of those two. My DK2 has an alder body, rosewood board, maple neck and licensed Floyd. Currently playing 09's, occasionally 10's. I'm leaning towards the SSL-2 at the moment, but any suggestions are welcome!!!

PS: Yes, I did search the forum first. I didn't find what I needed.
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

BUUUUUUUUUUUMMMPPPP :rolleyes:

Leaning towards the SSL-2's at the moment.
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

the american strats come with alnico 3 singles and they sound real good. they're on ebay (auction usually ends around 7pm every day. some other pups i've looked at lately are the virtual vintage solo and pro. they're definitely worth looking into.
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

the ssl2 will give you a very nice vintage bright chimey strat tone.

the tonal difference between the ssl5/6 is the 5 might be a bit spankier but they will be very similar. the only difference is the flat poles vs stag poles.

ive used both the ssl2 and ssl6 with great results. i had the ssl6 in the neck, ssl2 in the middle with a bucker or quarter pound flat.

in your situation it might be cool to get the ssl2 in the neck for classic stratty tones and a ssl6 in the middle for some fatter thicker tones but still with the single coil vibe.

do you know what the dc resistance of the sc 101 is?
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

Zhangliqun said:
The only Strat I know that comes with A3's is the Eric Johnson sig. Other than that and the cheapy ceramics, Fender is 100% Alnico 5.
Click to expand...

im with ya on that. i think even the ej only has an A3 neck the others are A5
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

Guitar Player says it's neck and middle, and oversize A3 rods on the neck.

Another significant aspect of the EJ is its pickup configuration, which consists of a ’54 Strat with oversize alnico 3 magnets in the neck position, a ’63-style middle pickup with alnico 3 magnets and a reverse winding (to provide hum cancellation in the second and fourth positions), and an alnico-5 bridge pickup that’s overwound just enough to provide a hotter output while maintaining excellent top-end response. The controls operate in standard fashion except that the rear Tone pot is wired to the bridge pickup instead of the middle unit.

I had thought all three pu's were A3.
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

gotcha. i knew the bridge was a5 and the neck was a3, now i know the middle is a3 as well. its a very cool strat, the best of the normal production line imo
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

Back to the original question I use an SSL4 in the middle on my guitar, gives me a nice fat sound but still obviously single coil. Very good for classic rock stuff.
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

cbope said:
I want true single coil. I'm looking for a nice "bell" or chimey clean sound with a nice attack. Not dark, but not ice-picky either.

I have a PATB-3 blues saraceno in the bridge and 500k CTS pots with 0.47uf cap. These are the models I've narrowed down to:

SSL-2
SSL-5
SSL-6

I play mostly hard rock and metal, but also blues rock (ZZ, SRV, etc.), some classic and prog rock/metal. I play through a hybrid Vox AD60VT amp combo.

Is there any tonal difference between the SSL-5 and SSL-6? My DK2 has an alder body, rosewood board, maple neck and licensed Floyd. Currently playing 09's, occasionally 10's. I'm leaning towards the SSL-2 at the moment, but any suggestions are welcome!!!

PS: Yes, I did search the forum first. I didn't find what I needed.
Click to expand...

All I have experience with is the Alnico II Pro Staggered, in terms of true single coils. Have you tried out a Lite Ash Stratocaster? Try one and tell me what you think. Should be clean and beautiful with chime.
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

jeremy said:
the ssl2 will give you a very nice vintage bright chimey strat tone.

the tonal difference between the ssl5/6 is the 5 might be a bit spankier but they will be very similar. the only difference is the flat poles vs stag poles.

ive used both the ssl2 and ssl6 with great results. i had the ssl6 in the neck, ssl2 in the middle with a bucker or quarter pound flat.

in your situation it might be cool to get the ssl2 in the neck for classic stratty tones and a ssl6 in the middle for some fatter thicker tones but still with the single coil vibe.

do you know what the dc resistance of the sc 101 is?
Click to expand...

Great idea, I'm going to go for an SSL-2 in the neck and SSL-6 RW/RP in the middle. I think this will give me what I want. I'll check the DC resistance of the SC-101 when I change the pickups.
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

Ordered the pups today, slight change from last post: SSL-2 rw/rp for middle and SSL-6 for the neck. Should have them in a couple days. I had to swap the pups because I didn't have the option of ordering an SSL-6 rw/rp, only the SSL-2's were available in that configuration.
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

i liked that combo very much. fat meaty neck tones with a spanky middle pup so the notch tones should be nice too
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

I got the SSL-2 rw/rp and SSL-6 installed today, SSL-2 in the middle and SSL-6 in the neck. I'm quite surprised in the difference in output between the two, I figured they would be pretty close with the SSL-6 maybe a tad hotter. But it's reversed. The SSL-6 is quiet compared to the SSL-2. I had to really lower the SSL-2 away from the strings and raise the SSL-6 very high, and even then the SSL-2 blows away the SSL-6. Not quite sure if there is a problem of if this is normal. I have 500k CTS audio taper pots for both vol and tone and a 0.47 cap. Wired up with a normal 5 way switch with standard HSS wiring, nothing fancy. White wires go to the 5-way poles and black wires go to ground for both pups.

The SSL-2 seems much brighter. The SSL-6 doesn't sound bad, just weak.

With the previous SC-101 in both positions, I found myself using the neck when I wanted a nice bright chimey strat sound, and now I feel like I have to use the middle, it just feels wrong to me.

Any ideas?
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

there is a problem, the ssl6 shouldnt sound weak at all. check the resistance it should be 12k or so. the ssl2 is a great pup but the ssl6 should have no problem over powering it. youll still probably use the middle for the bright chimey tones since when working properly the ssl6 is fatter and rounder
 
Re: SC recommendation for neck/middle

Problem solved. The short version: The SSL-6 was partially shorted to ground, killing the output.

The long version: I measured the DC resistance of the neck SSL-6 out of circuit, with the 5-way switch in the bridge position. I got only about 3.9k. I rechecked the wiring inside the cavity and didn't find any problems there. Then I decided to remove the SSL-6 and check the wires under the pickup to be sure than none were pinched, shorted or damaged. I didn't find anything wrong with the wiring. I then measured the resistance again with the pickup loose, and it measured a bit over 13k, exactly like it should. So I looked at the underside of the pup, and immediately noticed the problem. On the SSL-6, the wires are soldered to the pup quite near each side of the pup close to the screw holes, not in the middle like a vintage style single. On my Jackson DK2, the single pups are mounted with a screw from the top of the pup, through a spring and into the body. There is no pick guard like a typical strat. The springs under the pup are actually quite large, and they were shorting against the solder points, and grounding the pup into the conductive paint inside the pup cavity. The pup cavities are connected by ground wire into the control cavity. So while the conductive paint is conductive, it is not so conductive as to fully ground the pup, but it definitely sapped off the output enough that the pup still made some sound, although it was weak. I made some small insulating pieces out of electrical tape which covered up the area where the springs contacted the pup so that the solder points will not contact the springs. Now there is plenty of output from the SSL-6 and it definitely has more output than the SSL-2 like it should. The SSL-6 is now further from the strings than the SSL-2.

-> jeremy, you were right, I do get more bright, chimey tone from the SSL-2, but now the SSL-6 has plenty of output. I'll just have to get used to using the middle more often now for that tone.

Anyway, now I am quite happy with the pup upgrade, the guitar sounds great now. It'll take some time to experiment with pup heights to find the right balance and tone, but everything is good now.

Suggestion to Duncan -> Move the solder points a bit further from the screw holes so there is no possibility of spring contact. While this is obviously not a problem when installing these pups on a typical strat with a pick guard, not everyone plays a typical strat. I would expect there are a lot of non-pickguard strats and super strats out there where this would be a problem. The spring diameter on my Jackson is roughly 5/16, maybe even 3/8, but I didn't actually measure them. Much larger than what I have seen on some strats where the springs are on the top and the pups are mounted to a pickguard.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top