The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

[hacker]

It seems the '59 neck has been getting a lot of slack in recent threads for being to muddy or bassy, especially in Mahogany guitars.

My experience with the '59 has been totally different. I agree that the pickup is more bassy than a jazz neck or most of the A2-equipped humbuckers, but the mids are scooped. If you are getting a muddy tone out of this pup, it may be the guitar or your amp settings.

I've had this pickup in several USA Hamer guitars, and it always sounded very sparkly clean-almost strat-like. With overdrive, it was crunchy, warm and very musical.

It is one of my favorite Duncan pickups.

 

[Stevo]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

I love the way the 59n sounds in my Les Paul, when I am playing at decent volume. When playing dirty, it gets a little muddy on the bottom when I play at low volumes, but that's the way it goes. I like to judge my equipment on real situations. Lots of things sound like crap at "bedroom" volumes. I think that's why amp modelers are so popular. You can get a loud sound at a low volume. If you play through a Marshall Plexi at low volume, attenuated or not, you don't get the real deal I don't blame the pickup. The 59n is a great pickup with lots of personality and versatility for many styles.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

Really depends on the player and the situation.

Wes Montgomery used a 60's patent # Gibson humbucker in his L-5: very similar to a 59N but probably a little hotter...maybe 8.2K or so.

In that situation you can adjust the tone of your 100 watt amp for a clean jazzy tone.

But add a bridge humbucking pickup and you'll want to bring up the bass and mids on your amp to make that bridge pickup sound full and then you'll probably find that the neck pickup now has to much bass.

So enter the Jazz N pickup: very similar to the 59N but about 5% less bass and 5% more highs.

I, being a Strat and Tele player, have always found neck humbuckers to have to much bass and a muddy tone compared to my Fender guitars.

So I use alnico 2 humbuckers as neck pickups: they seem to have less bass and more mids. I use the Pearly Gates, Antiquity or Seth Lover for that reason...or the Tom Holmes humbuckers in my Les Paul. All are alnico 2.

Bottem line is everyone has differant needs and differant tastes. A clean rock tone can be very differant from a clean jazz or blues tone.

Lew

 

[Davey]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

i love mine and i wouldnt swap it for any other bucker. maybe in a diferent axe, but in any alder axe i plan to get the true and tested JB/59n combo will remain. i just found my sound with it, plus i can nail maiden without a pinch with it too =)

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

What some find to be sparkly on the highs, clean in the mids, and full lows, others find to be shrill in the highs, anemic in the mids, and boomy/muddy in the bass. That's how I heard the 59n in my LP, no matter how I tweaked. It did balance well with a JB in the bridge, but when paired with a PAF style pickup, you can't run the same EQ for both and have them sound great.

That being said, the 59n with an alnico II mag is a beautiful sounding neck pickup. I wish SD would make it as a floor option.

 

[Inge Malmstein]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

That being said, the 59n with an alnico II mag is a beautiful sounding neck pickup. I wish SD would make it as a floor option.

It might be worth a try.
But isn't this pickup similar to an AII-pro?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

It might be worth a try.
But isn't this pickup similar to an AII-pro?

Not really. The character is a bit different. The APH seems to me to be a bit less assertive than the 59n with an Alnico II mag. Maybe it's just the fact that they were in different guitars at the time.

 

[Gunbucker]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

I tried Antiquities, modded Antiquities, Alnico II Pros, and custom wound boutique pups in the neck of my Les Paul. Oh my oh my, the money that I spent... coulda spend that on lessons instead...

Anyhoo... I tried the SH-1 '59N in the neck one day... and gawwwwddd dannnggg ittt... I learnt 3 important things...

that 1) I've been wasting way too much money chasing the vintage PAF puff-the-dragon, 2) I ain't an Alnico2 person, and 3) dammmnnn, shoulda saved that money for more guitar lessons...

Back to the original issue.

1. The 59N is the MOST versatile neck pickup I've tried. Want different sounds? PAF, vintage, metal, anything,... just vary the pick attack, tweak the tone knobs.

2. If you can't get the 59N to sound good in your guitar, well, try adjusting the height, it helps. If you're a soldering iron totting freak like me, you can try swapping capacitor types and values too. I found my magic element with a Jensen paper-in-oil 0.022uF cap

3. Yes, the 59N does give you those sparkly highs, clarity, punch, and good low end.

Oh dang, I love the SH-1 59N!

 

[Davey]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

I tried Antiquities, modded Antiquities, Alnico II Pros, and custom wound boutique pups in the neck of my Les Paul. Oh my oh my, the money that I spent... coulda spend that on lessons instead...

Anyhoo... I tried the SH-1 '59N in the neck one day... and gawwwwddd dannnggg ittt... I learnt 3 important things...

that 1) I've been wasting way too much money chasing the vintage PAF puff-the-dragon, 2) I ain't an Alnico2 person, and 3) dammmnnn, shoulda saved that money for more guitar lessons...

Back to the original issue.

1. The 59N is the MOST versatile neck pickup I've tried. Want different sounds? PAF, vintage, metal, anything,... just vary the pick attack, tweak the tone knobs.

2. If you can't get the 59N to sound good in your guitar, well, try adjusting the height, it helps. If you're a soldering iron totting freak like me, you can try swapping capacitor types and values too. I found my magic element with a Jensen paper-in-oil 0.022uF cap

3. Yes, the 59N does give you those sparkly highs, clarity, punch, and good low end.

Oh dang, I love the SH-1 59N!

+1

 

[BachToRock]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

I agree totally with LEW... also, the 59 combined with one of the less bassy coils like the Jazz or APII makes a great HYBRID... I have slowly been replacing all of my 59 neck humbuckers with 59/Jazz or 59/APII HYBRIDS.
This matches up perfectly with this bridge pickup: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3758849416&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT
The slightly beefier sound of the Bridge 59/Custom HYBRID balances tonally perfect with the neck pickup and when both pickups are on it sounds incredible as well!

 

[jeremy]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

the 59 is always one of duncans best selling pups so you guys arent alone in thinking how great it is

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

the 59 is always one of duncans best selling pups so you guys arent alone in thinking how great it is

It sounds terrific split too. Great single coil sounds...especially paired with a JB...which also has great split tones. I do think of the 59N as a rock neck pickup though. Lew

 

[hacker]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

I play blues and rock on my 59/JB equipped Hamer and I guess i don't mind the extra bass because I play distorted ryhthms on the JB, then switch to the '59 (or middle position) for leads, or stay on the JB-which may be a little unconventional. If I'm playing a little cleaner, i'll stay on the neck position most of the time, and just go to the JB if I want a little more bite.

This way, I'm never going from low string riffing on the 59 to low string riffing on the JB, which would make the bass thing noticeable.

 

[classicplayer]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

I have a set of '59s in my 2000 Classic and they work very well wih this guitar. Yes, I can make the neck pup sound muddy or thin and Fender like by using the amp's tone controls. I tend to like to set my amp so that I have a slightly bassy tone as I am an at home player; playing mostly practice sessions. The fullness of the bass in the '59N is good for me. If I am using the middle postion and getting my full (fat) tone and then switch back to the neck and hear a bit to much bass, I just roll down the neck volume on the guitar ever so slightly and the neck's noticable bass (some may call it mud) diminishes accordingly. I love it! Having said that, I recommend that users of this pickup should pay particular attention to the height it is set at. I think this is very important in my getting the results I've described above.

For those with the neck and bridge 59; try setting your bridge pup to get the best tone possible, and one that really sounds good to you using that pup alone.

I try and get the two E strings to sound equally loud when played together. Don't have one E string dominate the other. Then adjust the neck pup so that you obtain your best middle tone ( I prefer a fat tone in the middle position). Next, step is listen to the neck by itself. Too much mud now? Try lowering the neck vol. a hair. Do you hear in lose some of that bass? If not, then slightly lower the bass side adjustment screw on the pup ring, until you hear less bass and less mud as some refer to it as. I have stock 300K volumes in my Classic with .022 caps (stock). I like the 300K as I find I only have to roll that neck vol. back just a touch to clean up. Try these steps before investing in another pickup and see if it doesn't work for your Lester.

Classicplayer

 

[Nightburst]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

The '59 is awesome, but you'll have to pair it with the right bridge humbucker. I don't like it paired with a JB in the bridge, doesn't work well with my settings (I like a lot of bass).
I hope it will be a good match with the Custom that is on it's way to me now. This pickup has a lot of bass and treble and with the right settings it sounds killer for blues, rock and even metal. IMHO it's bright and dark at the same time and it sounds very 'fat' and 'big'. The vintage vibe makes the personality in this pickup.

 

[Dom L]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

Has anyone tried putting in the 59n backwards, that is, with the screws facing the bridge instead of the neck. What effect will it have
I'm not talking about the Peter Green Mod, but just physically reversing the pickup
Dom L

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

But add a bridge humbucking pickup and you'll want to bring up the bass and mids on your amp to make that bridge pickup sound full and then you'll probably find that the neck pickup now has to much bass.

The solution I found for that problem is to just bury the pole-pieces on the A and low E strings on the neck pickup -- just below the surface of the bobbin. From there, tweak to taste though the rule of thumb seems to be that the low E should be screwed down even deeper than the A.

 

[Zhangliqun]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

Has anyone tried putting in the 59n backwards, that is, with the screws facing the bridge instead of the neck. What effect will it have
I'm not talking about the Peter Green Mod, but just physically reversing the pickup
Dom L

It depends on how you have the pole pieces set. If the pole pieces (as they are for 99% of players) sit higher than the slugs in the other coil, the pickup would then emphasize the harmonic node thats one coil over from the end of the neck instead of right next to the neck. I don't think it would sound that great.

 

[JeffB]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

I love the 59 neck. I've had it in 4 different gibsons (and a heritage), and is going in my LP Standard this weekend (s well a 59 bridge).As I mentioned in another thread, it's got THE best higher gain lead tone than anything else I've heard or tried. But with the amount of gain I use at times (goosed marshall type tone) it can even get woofy soloing on the e & a strings in the upper registers of the board.

That said, I think it' slight limitations are far outweighed by it strengths..namely TONE & Character.It took me a LONG time to figure that one out though. It can do warm jazz, slinky funk, growlin blues, or singing/crying leads. I've tried a few diff neck pups both low and high output trying to get rid of the woofyness, and It ends up a much bigger compromise...sacrificing ALOT of tone, for a LITTLE clarity.

I agonized over what pups to put in my new LP, and finally just said "f@#$ it..I've tried a bunch of other stuff, I'm never going to fnd the ultimate pickup thats got the same tone and less mud/woof. Great tone makes me inspired and hence makes me play better...a little mud is forgotten about instantly when the tone has ya in the zone

 

[Kac]

Re: The '59 neck HB-clearing the air

I'm about to install a '59 neck humbucker into my strat along with an Invader, I look forward to very good tones, I'll let ya know how it turns out.
Rock On :smoker: