Singles for clean, Humbuckers for dirty

[Rainmaker]

I have always been under the impression that true single coils can't do distortion for their life and that humbuckers will never be able to get a decent clean tone.

After thinking this I believe I've been a bit closed-minded and decided to come and ask you guys.

Do I have a misconception?

If so, please tell me what hummers can do good cleans!

Cheers
Bee

 

[nuntius]

Re: Singles for clean, Humbuckers for dirty

wtf?

a neck single gives an awesome lead tone, listen to malmsteen! i cant stand the guy but his tone is amazing.

listen to the funk song i've done (its in my sig) thats a neck humbucker and im quite happy with the sound on it.

humbuckers sound darker and are less dynamic than singles in most cases - so clean they have less dynamics.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Singles for clean, Humbuckers for dirty

After now having a versatile setup where I can get either one on the fly, I'll try my best to answer it.

Single coils: I think they handle overdriven tones outstanding. Love the clarity and the bite to them. Clean, they are chimey and great for strumming. There's nothing like clean soloing with single coils. It's something very beautiful. I don't think they can handle hard rock or heavy distortion, so those styles are best left to humbuckers.

Humbuckers: these are the thing to get when doing styles like jazz. They're thick and good humbuckers will be very articulate. For high gain, I rely on humbuckers. They can work well on rhythm clean tracks as well, although I lean towards single coils personally. With blues, neck humbucking pickups often work well, but after trying single coils I just prefer them.

I'm finding I'm much more of a single coil kinda guy, but when it comes to distortion, nothing can handle it like a humbucker

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Singles for clean, Humbuckers for dirty

Seths, PG, APH, and Jazz from Duncan have great clean tones, in my experience. It's a different clean tone from a single, but they are very nice indeed.

 

[timsmude]

Re: Singles for clean, Humbuckers for dirty

It is hard to tell someone else what type of pickup they should use, and I don't think anyone here would presume to do so. Duncan has deals with a lot of nice guitar companies, (Schecter being on of them) 'www.schecterguitars.com'. My suggestion is to do some research and find out which guitars are loaded with what pickups....from there you can really get an idea of what you think is good. I have a Jass SH-2N (Humbucker) in the neck of a couple of my guitars and I love the clean tone as well as using it for leads. But one mans trash is another mans treasure...so you will have to make that decision yourself. Remember, if you want the best of both worlds, you can always get a push pull pot and find a bucker that you like which will coil tap to a single....then you can have it all my friend!