MB_01
New member
A couple of months ago, now, I started a thread asking for some help wiring up a SH-9 in a project I had on the go and some people were pretty keen to know what I thought of the pickup. I couple of months on, I thought I'd start a new thread to give my impressions on the pickup and some comparisons that will hopefully be useful, or at the very least interesting!
In case you've not read my last post, the guitar with the SH-9 in is a mahogany body, Goncalo Alves neck, ebony fretboard, stainless steel frets guitar with a Wilkinson trem.
My overall impression of the pickup is great, I love it! It's quite bright and snappy and has a nice 'sizzle' in the high end. It's very articulate and clear with a decent output but not crazy hot by any means. There's no muddiness or dullness at all but at the same time it doesn't sound thin or weedy or ice-picky, which is perfect for me. There's definitely something single-coil like about it, especially on the higher strings.
Played clean through a Vox MV50 AC and a 4 ohm Jensen Neo 100, it has a really nice chimey, bell-like kind of tone, particularly when picking notes out of chords.
In higher gain situations, I think it's voiced perfectly. I play in drop d most the time and like to play complex or extended chord voicings under moderate gain and this pickup is perfect for that. It doesn't get muddy at all, since it has less prominent bass and low end frequencies than a regular humbucker but still doesn't sound thin. And the 'sizzle' and twanginess in the high end/strings makes the notes & guitar cut really nicely.
For me, to make a broad generalisation, vintage hot telecaster pickups are my favourite pickups in the world but the hum really annoys me and I often wish they had just a bit more girth - I think the SH-9 is the closest I can get to my perfect bridge pickup!
For the sake of context, I thought it would be good to give some comparisons to other pickups. Other pickups I've tried to get into the ballpark of my ideal tone are Catswhisker TP90s, which are Alnico 8, screw pole Tele pickups that are designed to give a p90 hybrid tone; a Gretsch filtertron pickup; and a Gemini Cherubim P90. I'll also compare it to an 80s SH-6 I have in another mahogany 25.5" guitar.
Starting with the SH-6:
This pickup is in a Cort KX1Q I got from Cort when I got an Artist Endorsement with them. It's a really beautiful guitar, mahogany body and set neck, rosewood fretboard, tone pros bridge. Unlike the Filtertron and TP90, the SH-6 is wired to the tone control and the pickup is also set lower by maybe 1-1.5mm.
That being said, it's much duller than the Silverbird, more bottom end, a lot more lower mids. Sounds muddy by comparison, almost 2D. Clean, it's much warmer in a nice way, although the higher notes and picked chords don't jump off the fretboard like the Silverbird. Less detailed or delicate sounding.
Under high gain, the SH-6 has great clarity, too, but in a different way. The lows are much thicker and there's the potential for the low strings to get a little lost in my opinion, whereas they stay very present and defined with the SH-9. The Distortion is a lot more grunty but lacks the articulation and clarity of the Silverbird.
Interestingly, I'd say the Silverbird and Distortion are fairly similar in output levels, although the Distortion is quieter/less gainy here as the pickup is lower in the guitar.
Esquire with Gretsch Filtertron:
This guitar has an alder body, maple nitro-finished neck and top loading, brass saddle, intonation compensated Wilkinson cut-off Tele bridge.
You might expect this guitar to sound most like the Silverbird from the description I've given but you'd actual be surprised! The Filtertron does also have a single coil quality to it but in a very different way!
The pickup is probably another 1mm or so closer to the strings again on this guitar but played through the Vox on a very mild break up, the Silverbird has more gain. In different scenarios, though, the Filtertron can sound gainer, which I think is to do with the EQ.
Again like the SH-6, the Filtertron is much more present in the lower mids and it's more growly and has a different low end that seems more discernable. The Silverbird also has much more 'sizzle' again in the high end and feels/sounds more compressed, which is actually quite nice. There's similarities but the Silverbird is higher output without a heavy emphasis on the low mids/bass and so to my ears it just sounds much more articulate and potentially aggressive. The output difference isn't massive at all and they both have a single coil character but the sizzle and clarity and articulation of the Silverbird is second to none for me!
In a gainy situation, I'd say the pickups get more similar but oddly the Filtertron sounds gainer! I guess it's to do with the low mids? I wish I could cut them a bit but both pickups share a nice twanginess that I really like, good articulation and single coil character, although the Filtertron sounds muddier and has the potential to be more mushy in comparison.
Catswhisker TP90:
This pickup is in a alder body, maple neck guitar with a brass GFS roller tune-o-matic bridge that's string through the body. This pickup is closest to the strings, a good 1.5-2mm closer than the Silverbird.
The TP90 pushes the preamp much harder than the Silverbird, or any of the other pickups, because it's set much higher. It's super articulate with a beautiful twang and nice body to it.
In some ways, the Silverbird is quite similar but it's also notably different. The high end is different, again, and the Silverbird still has a beautiful high end sizzle that the TP90 doesn't have that just makes it cut beautifully. The Silverbird has twang to it but obviously not as much as a Tele pick or the TP90. I'd say the only pickup to have greater articulation on the low strings is the TP90, although it doesn't have as much girth as the Silverbird either in terms of low end. This is also an unfair test, since the black Tele with the TP90 I'm holding and AB-ing with the Silverbird has a virtually unplayed set of Elixir Nanowebs whereas the Warmoth Tele with the SH-9 has an old set of Ernie Ball Titanium plated strings. With the same strings, I'd imagine the Silverbird would get pretty close to the twang of the TP90! The pickups also have different mid characters but I'm not a frequency expert - simply put, the Silverbird sounds a bit more like a humbucker!
Gemini Cherubim P90:
This pickup is in a LTD 256p, which has a mahogany body and set mahogany neck and is Gibson scale length. It is also connected to the tone control, like the Cort. The LTD and the Warmoth also have the same strings which were put on about the same time and the pickups are about the same height.
The Cherubim isn't quite as hot as the Silverbird and obviously once more is more present in the low mids and bass than the Silverbird and also doesn't have the beautiful high end sizzle of the Silverbird. That being said there are some similarities in the mids that are quite close but the SH-9s mid focus is shifted slightly higher in the mids than the Cherubim, although there are some similarities. Overall the Silverbird is again clearer and has more sparkle than the Cherubim and is also slightly hotter.
I hope those random observations were interesting or helpful. I have a couple of other guitar with interesting pickups lying around like a Washburn N2 with a B&B L500L, an Ibanez Premium RG with a Duncan Pegasus in and a Burny Les Paul with a Catswhisker Classic 72 (based on Jimmy Page's Les Paul tones) that I can compare it with if people are interested to read a quick comparison - unfortunately I don't have an interface to record the differences with in audio! Again I could do a quick comparison with smartphone audio trying to stand far away enough to avoid string noise!
Overall, I can't recommend the Silverbird enough, it's a great pickup. I'm always looking for pickups that will give me a single coil character without the hum and with a little more girth and this pickup is great at that [emoji4]
Sent from my K6000 Plus using Tapatalk
In case you've not read my last post, the guitar with the SH-9 in is a mahogany body, Goncalo Alves neck, ebony fretboard, stainless steel frets guitar with a Wilkinson trem.
My overall impression of the pickup is great, I love it! It's quite bright and snappy and has a nice 'sizzle' in the high end. It's very articulate and clear with a decent output but not crazy hot by any means. There's no muddiness or dullness at all but at the same time it doesn't sound thin or weedy or ice-picky, which is perfect for me. There's definitely something single-coil like about it, especially on the higher strings.
Played clean through a Vox MV50 AC and a 4 ohm Jensen Neo 100, it has a really nice chimey, bell-like kind of tone, particularly when picking notes out of chords.
In higher gain situations, I think it's voiced perfectly. I play in drop d most the time and like to play complex or extended chord voicings under moderate gain and this pickup is perfect for that. It doesn't get muddy at all, since it has less prominent bass and low end frequencies than a regular humbucker but still doesn't sound thin. And the 'sizzle' and twanginess in the high end/strings makes the notes & guitar cut really nicely.
For me, to make a broad generalisation, vintage hot telecaster pickups are my favourite pickups in the world but the hum really annoys me and I often wish they had just a bit more girth - I think the SH-9 is the closest I can get to my perfect bridge pickup!
For the sake of context, I thought it would be good to give some comparisons to other pickups. Other pickups I've tried to get into the ballpark of my ideal tone are Catswhisker TP90s, which are Alnico 8, screw pole Tele pickups that are designed to give a p90 hybrid tone; a Gretsch filtertron pickup; and a Gemini Cherubim P90. I'll also compare it to an 80s SH-6 I have in another mahogany 25.5" guitar.
Starting with the SH-6:
This pickup is in a Cort KX1Q I got from Cort when I got an Artist Endorsement with them. It's a really beautiful guitar, mahogany body and set neck, rosewood fretboard, tone pros bridge. Unlike the Filtertron and TP90, the SH-6 is wired to the tone control and the pickup is also set lower by maybe 1-1.5mm.
That being said, it's much duller than the Silverbird, more bottom end, a lot more lower mids. Sounds muddy by comparison, almost 2D. Clean, it's much warmer in a nice way, although the higher notes and picked chords don't jump off the fretboard like the Silverbird. Less detailed or delicate sounding.
Under high gain, the SH-6 has great clarity, too, but in a different way. The lows are much thicker and there's the potential for the low strings to get a little lost in my opinion, whereas they stay very present and defined with the SH-9. The Distortion is a lot more grunty but lacks the articulation and clarity of the Silverbird.
Interestingly, I'd say the Silverbird and Distortion are fairly similar in output levels, although the Distortion is quieter/less gainy here as the pickup is lower in the guitar.
Esquire with Gretsch Filtertron:
This guitar has an alder body, maple nitro-finished neck and top loading, brass saddle, intonation compensated Wilkinson cut-off Tele bridge.
You might expect this guitar to sound most like the Silverbird from the description I've given but you'd actual be surprised! The Filtertron does also have a single coil quality to it but in a very different way!
The pickup is probably another 1mm or so closer to the strings again on this guitar but played through the Vox on a very mild break up, the Silverbird has more gain. In different scenarios, though, the Filtertron can sound gainer, which I think is to do with the EQ.
Again like the SH-6, the Filtertron is much more present in the lower mids and it's more growly and has a different low end that seems more discernable. The Silverbird also has much more 'sizzle' again in the high end and feels/sounds more compressed, which is actually quite nice. There's similarities but the Silverbird is higher output without a heavy emphasis on the low mids/bass and so to my ears it just sounds much more articulate and potentially aggressive. The output difference isn't massive at all and they both have a single coil character but the sizzle and clarity and articulation of the Silverbird is second to none for me!
In a gainy situation, I'd say the pickups get more similar but oddly the Filtertron sounds gainer! I guess it's to do with the low mids? I wish I could cut them a bit but both pickups share a nice twanginess that I really like, good articulation and single coil character, although the Filtertron sounds muddier and has the potential to be more mushy in comparison.
Catswhisker TP90:
This pickup is in a alder body, maple neck guitar with a brass GFS roller tune-o-matic bridge that's string through the body. This pickup is closest to the strings, a good 1.5-2mm closer than the Silverbird.
The TP90 pushes the preamp much harder than the Silverbird, or any of the other pickups, because it's set much higher. It's super articulate with a beautiful twang and nice body to it.
In some ways, the Silverbird is quite similar but it's also notably different. The high end is different, again, and the Silverbird still has a beautiful high end sizzle that the TP90 doesn't have that just makes it cut beautifully. The Silverbird has twang to it but obviously not as much as a Tele pick or the TP90. I'd say the only pickup to have greater articulation on the low strings is the TP90, although it doesn't have as much girth as the Silverbird either in terms of low end. This is also an unfair test, since the black Tele with the TP90 I'm holding and AB-ing with the Silverbird has a virtually unplayed set of Elixir Nanowebs whereas the Warmoth Tele with the SH-9 has an old set of Ernie Ball Titanium plated strings. With the same strings, I'd imagine the Silverbird would get pretty close to the twang of the TP90! The pickups also have different mid characters but I'm not a frequency expert - simply put, the Silverbird sounds a bit more like a humbucker!
Gemini Cherubim P90:
This pickup is in a LTD 256p, which has a mahogany body and set mahogany neck and is Gibson scale length. It is also connected to the tone control, like the Cort. The LTD and the Warmoth also have the same strings which were put on about the same time and the pickups are about the same height.
The Cherubim isn't quite as hot as the Silverbird and obviously once more is more present in the low mids and bass than the Silverbird and also doesn't have the beautiful high end sizzle of the Silverbird. That being said there are some similarities in the mids that are quite close but the SH-9s mid focus is shifted slightly higher in the mids than the Cherubim, although there are some similarities. Overall the Silverbird is again clearer and has more sparkle than the Cherubim and is also slightly hotter.
I hope those random observations were interesting or helpful. I have a couple of other guitar with interesting pickups lying around like a Washburn N2 with a B&B L500L, an Ibanez Premium RG with a Duncan Pegasus in and a Burny Les Paul with a Catswhisker Classic 72 (based on Jimmy Page's Les Paul tones) that I can compare it with if people are interested to read a quick comparison - unfortunately I don't have an interface to record the differences with in audio! Again I could do a quick comparison with smartphone audio trying to stand far away enough to avoid string noise!
Overall, I can't recommend the Silverbird enough, it's a great pickup. I'm always looking for pickups that will give me a single coil character without the hum and with a little more girth and this pickup is great at that [emoji4]
Sent from my K6000 Plus using Tapatalk
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The Joe Barden Modern T actually looks like a strong contender for favourite new tele pickup, they're just so expensive in the UK! For what I paid for the Silverbird, I could buy more than 2 of them for the price of a JBE!
