What neck HB gets this sound?

[Rich_S]

Terry Kath loved to solo on his neck p/u and got a great, fat tone - the way I think a neck HB should sound. Here are a few examples, pulled from his extended solos on the Carnegie Hall album (each about a minute long and ~2 MB).

Sing a Mean Tune Kid
South California Purples (beginning of solo)
South California Purples (coda)

I love how the higher notes are round and smooth, and everything from the A string on down goes WOOF, but without farting. It's also one of those classic sounds with days of sustain and effortless feedback, but a lot less overdrive than you'd first think. You can still hear the guitar through the pickups and amp, if you know what I mean. I'm pretty sure Kath was playing his Les Paul Professional on these cuts, an all-mahogany LP with those oval-shaped low-impedance pickups.

I'm thinking about new pups for my alder-bodied, maple necked Schecter PT project guitar, and I'd like to get a neck position tone similar to Kath's. I don't think I've ever owned a pickup that got this sound, so... what do you think? 59N?

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

The 59 will woof out, I think. Your best bet is something loaded with Alnico II's. I think my Pearly's have more cut than that; maybe a Seth or an APH would get you there.



Now that I think about it, the Pearly Gates bridge unit can get pretty close to that tone when used as a neck pickup. :burnout:

 

[dani]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

a jazz with 250k pots will get you close as well.

 

[kmcguitars]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

I don't know much about Terry Kath. Only that he was a underated great player. One of my old bands covered 25 or 6 to 4. I got pretty close w/t a LP Alnico II neck PuP. I could swear he used a 335 on that tune? I think I use to roll my tone knob back a Lil' to get that fat Woof? Or maybe I used my Wah to find the sweet spot, And just left it there? I don't remember. :doh:

 

[Rich_S]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

I think I might actually want it to "woof out", though I'm not sure we all attach the same meaning to the term. There are brief examples of my idea of woof in the Sing... clip at 0:20 and 0:58, in the 1st ...Purples clip at 0:24, and in the Coda at 1:00. The low notes just seem to be louder, without giving the impression that he picks harder.

 

[schcully]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

Wow, his playing and tone are really good. What year was that done? I would suggest the Seth for that. Out of every neck SD I've played, the Seth had that tube friendly roundness that still retained clarity like that. I had mine in a solid mahogany body with 500k pots, and it sang.

 

[Zerberus]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

If you´re not afraid to try a high gain pickup in teh neck, the JB will do that perfectly and give you a great split single coil tone for versatility

 

[Rich_S]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

Wow, his playing and tone are really good. What year was that done? I would suggest the Seth for that. Out of every neck SD I've played, the Seth had that tube friendly roundness that still retained clarity like that. I had mine in a solid mahogany body with 500k pots, and it sang.

Chicago at Carnegie Hall was recorded in April 1971. To me, his tone is the all-time best, and he was a ferocious player. Jimi Hendrix is reported to have said that KAth was "better than me."

If you´re not afraid to try a high gain pickup in teh neck, the JB will do that perfectly and give you a great split single coil tone for versatility

Thanks for the suggestion Zerb. The JB is a leading contender for the bridge in this axe, so maybe I'll pop it in the neck spot first and give it a go.

 

[Lewguitar]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

Terry Kath used a 70's Les Paul Recording Model guitar with low impedence single coil pickups and he used a Knight-kit hi-fi amp as a pre-amp to boost the signal in front of his regular guitar amp. I used to do the same thing with an old tube-type Wollensak Tape Recorder as a pre-amp as did Richie Blackmore of Deep Purple. I don't think there is a stock humbucker neck pickup that will get that exact tone as what you're hearing is the Les Paul designed low impedence pickups and the unique amp set-up Terry Kath used. You might get close with a Strat single coil boosted by a DS-1 or Duncan Pickup Booster. The Duncan Jazz model neck humbucker might be a good alternative in a humbucker.

 

[jeremy]

Re: What neck HB gets this sound?

the jb in the neck is a cool tone for sure. big and round