Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

[stevie_bees]

I've just dropped a Psyclone neck pickup into my Tele. Ideally I'd like to continue to utilise the 4-way switch I already had fitted to give me the bridge/neck series option. The neck pickup I had fitted was a Fralin Blues Special which did not have a cover. The Psyclone is single conductor. Would I be right in thinking that I should be able to drop the Psyclone in, as long as I separate the cover and give it its own earth wire, in the same way you would have to with a traditional Tele neck pickup?

 

[AlexR]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

Sounds right. Thats what I had to do with the pickups in my 4-way tele switch guitar.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

The Psyclone has just a single conductor and the braided shield which is why I was looking for some confirmation.

 

[Artie]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

I would think it would be difficult to separate the ground on a shielded cable. I also wonder if Psyclone's can be ordered with 4-conductor as a shop floor custom. Either way, let us know how this works out and how it sounds. The Psyclone's have piqued my interest lately.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

I would think it would be difficult to separate the ground on a shielded cable. I also wonder if Psyclone's can be ordered with 4-conductor as a shop floor custom. Either way, let us know how this works out and how it sounds. The Psyclone's have piqued my interest lately.

I think for the time being I'm just gonna drop a standard 3-way Tele switch in. I don't use the series position much, but it is a useful option. I want to be able to give the Psyclone a nice work out soon!

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

Ok, so I’ve wired the Psyclone up to a standard Tele 3-way switch today, with a Broadcaster in the bridge. I just tested to see that everything was working through a little battery-powered Marshall amp. I’ll hopefully get to give it a run out at a jam night tomorrow evening. The Psyclone is obviously darker-sounding than the Broadcaster, but will get a better idea through a ‘proper’ amp. It may well raise th3 issue as to whether the Psyclone needs to see a 500K pot instead of a 250K pot. The Broadcaster certainly won’t need a 500K! [emoji12]


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[jeremy]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

the broadcaster certainly wont need 500k is right! curious what you find once you get it into a real amp.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

I got to give the Tele a run out last night at a jam. I used my mini-board, and played through the Pickup Booster, 805 and Keeley Caverns on that into a Roland Cube 80. OK, so not an ideal set up to test, however I found that I was able to coax a lot out of the guitar. A good volume match between the 2 pickups and the Psyclone gave me a nice sweet 'flutey' tone. I kept the tone wide open for the most part and I would think that at the bottom end of the pot it might sound a little muffled. It matched well with the Broadcaster in the middle position, giving a nice open tone and of course I had the face-melting Broadcaster in the bridge for those traditional Tele tones.

It's definitely a cool set up, which may require a little tweaking, but overall I'm really pleased. The next test will be through my big board and my JTM45!

 

[jeremy]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

cool! i find most neck pups sound muffled with the tone off unless you use a small cap like .01, might be fun to use a 500k volume control with a resistor so the bridge pup by itself sees 250k.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

Yeah, pondering that...

 

[jeremy]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

99% of the time i never use the tone control on the neck pup so on guitars that dont have four controls i sometimes take the tone off the neck so its just on the bridge. ive done it on teles, and on hamers that have three controls. works for me, might not work for everyone but something to think about

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

Might be an interesting thing to try. I do tend to only use the very top end of the tone control's travel for any pickup, just tweaking to taste.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

Jeremy, do you have a wiring diagram for using a 500K volume pot and dropping in the 250K resistor as mentioned above?

 

[Artie]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

Hey Stevie. It's actually a 500k resistor that you use, and you just connect it to the 3-way just like the bridge pup. In others words, one end to the same place where the bridge "hot" is. And the other end to any good ground connection.

 

[stevie_bees]

Re: Telecaster, Psyclone and 4-way switch

Cheers Artie. I've currently removed the Psyclone from the tone control, so only the bridge pickup is connected to that.