Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

[poundthecheddar]

Still haven't ordered my Seth Lovers for my epi dot. I almost sealed the deal today, but as I was playing my dot unplugged, I got this sneaky feeling that I may be expecting to much. I now am wondering if I should buy the hot rod set. Opinions anybody?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

Expecting too much???

Of the tone? of the guitar? of the output?

 

[poundthecheddar]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

I am afraid I may be expecting to much from my guitar. I guess I am afraid of polishing a turd.

 

[Mr. B]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

I love the Seth Set in my PRS. They can cover a lot of ground

 

[vintagepimpage]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

I'm curious on the answer to this as well... being indecisive with my own semi. I was leaning towards the hot rodded set until I read somewhere on here that getting those is the "newb's choice" and that there are more interesting sounding pickups to be had.

 

[poundthecheddar]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

Well I am sure the Seth Lovers are great, but I am wondering if they would go to waste on guitar that is "just ok" I saw a video of the hot rod set taking advantage of the coil splitting features of the JB and the Jazz and I have to say I was inpressed. Plus the Seth's are quite a bit more than expensive. Oh and Me B. If I was putting Seth's into my prs, I would be much more confident.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

I have played Seths a number of times. I don't own any. I think they are fantastic pickups. They would be my choice if any clean playing was involved, or I really wanted uber-vintage tone, or a super even EQ (to my ears).

My general call is that if I had a guitar that had an acoustic tone I really wanted to come through, I'd get Seths. If I really wanted to "hear the wood."

That said, your polish a turd is a great analogy here. Epi's of all stripes, thens to tonally vary a lot IMO. Especially the garden variety Dot. Some are crap, many/most are ok/decent, a few are spectacular. I am generally not a Dot/335 guy, but I keep trying to be!

I have a Dot Studio with the JB/Jazz in it. Please have whoever called it the "newb's choice" to explain it to this newb.

I play hard rock/metal with that guitar and it kicks @$$. I also will jazz/blues on the neck. Solid performance.

 

[AlexR]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

The beauty about pickups in guitars is.....you can always take them out and keep them for the next one if the current guitar does indeed turn out to be less than stellar.

Despite wood being quite important, the pickup is more so. If you want to know exactly how far your guitar can go, buy a nice pickup and harness. You'll very quicly see whether or not the guitar has 'the right stuff'.

Keep the originals though - you might at some point want to sell and you'll get nothing extra with the good parts inside.

 

[sosomething]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

1.) While there is no wrong choice, if I were looking for new pickups for a semi-hollow, I'd stick as close to the classic Patent Applied For sound as I could. Maybe slightly overwound (say 9.5k) but no more. I think a semi-hollow really lends itself to more moderate output from the pickups themselves, in that they let the guitar speak a little more clearly through the amp. My only qualm about the Seths is that they are unpotted (not wax-dipped), and while they're well-made, they are still more prone to microphonics (read: potential for squeely feedback due to vibration) than other pickups when used with more than a little gain and volume. This effect can be compounded by the natural tendency for semi-hollows to feed back already. I would go with something like a pair of '59s or the Whole Lotta Humbucker set, myself.

2.) Buy whatever gets you excited the most and remember that we have a 30-day exchange policy.

 

[blueman335]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

I have half a dozen sets of Seth's, including a pair in an Epi Dot. They sound great in everything I've put them in. I'm playing blues and classic rock, you may play other kinds of music. For what I do, the hot rodded set has no appeal. Seth's win hands down. If you're playing metal and hard rock, the hot rodded set would be a better choice for you, or a Custom or Distortion in the bridge. That's why Seymour's designed so many different models; we have a lot of great PU's to choose from to fit our individual needs.

People new to Duncan usually hear about the hot rodded set first, because there's been so much marketing for them. That's why they're sometimes called the 'newbie set' here because some players new to this site assume they're the best choice for everything. No PU is. Seymour likes them for his use, but are you playing the same genres and using the same gear that he is? Probably not. He also makes dozens of other PU's, and they're not all red-headed step children. All Duncan's are high quality, and most are specialized for certain things. None of them do everything well, nor were they designed to. Same with any other PU maker.

What kind of music are you playing? If you think Seth's are too much money to sink ito that gutar (and many Duncan's wind up in Epi's), then you should consider one of their other PAF's.

 

[superpete]

Re: Seth Lovers vs hot rod set.

you're only polishing a turd if you don't like the guitar to begin with. i've played epiphones that blew me away and ones that just blew. in the ones i liked and bought i upgraded the pickups and it made a world of difference tonally. the best example i have is a sheraton with fralin p92s that i would put up against guitars costing 5x as much as that one cost me.

if you like the feel of your dot, a set of seths will only make you love it more.