Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

[TheTelePunk]

Hey, so i recently got a Mexican Standard tele and I am looking to beef up the bridge pickup tone. Im Having trouble deciding between The quarter pounder or a lili-59. I am going for a beefed up tone but am also looking to get very good cleans as well. Some to play punk- Shoegaze with. Help me out and make my life a little easier lol.

 

[jeremy]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

i like both. the qp has a big fat bottom end, the lil 59 is more mid heavy

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

I think the QP has more of the classic singlecoil bite when you dig in and pick hard. Lil 59 really isn't very much like a regular 59 but it does have a vocal quality that's familiar to the humbucker lover in me. I concur with jeremy, the QP has fatter lows and the 59 has more cream. Both clean up fairly well with the volume knob; in terms of cleanup-with-clarity I'd probably give the QP my vote. It's still going to have a lot more push than your stock Tele bridge. Running into a clean amp, the Lil59 is a little smoother & warmer while the QP has a little more pluck & sparkle. Please realize this is a relative comparison and I'm not recommending the 59 as a warm pickup, nor the QP as a sparkly one. I've been quite happy with both of them too. In the interest of full disclosure, they're in two different Teles and both have stayed where I put them. So I haven't tried either of them in multiple guitars.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

I've got the QP in one of my Teles and love it. As was said, it has more sparkle and bite than the Lil 59. The Lil 59 is much warmer, way more mids and softer highs. I don't much like it for a bridge pup (unless your neck pup is also very dark and you can adequately compensate for both of them in your amp settings). The Lil 59 just doesn't work in a Tele bridge, IMO, if you want to maintain a somewhat Tele tone, it will change the entire character of your guitar. The QP on the other hand will certainly give you a beefed up tone from what you currently have in your guitar and still keep some of the typical Tele tone.

 

[regan]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

I put a stk3b in mine, couldn't be happier with it, probably the middle ground between the 59 & quarter pounder

http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/vintage-stack-tele-bridge

 

[thanaton]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

Hey, so i recently got a Mexican Standard tele and I am looking to beef up the bridge pickup tone. Im Having trouble deciding between The quarter pounder or a lili-59. I am going for a beefed up tone but am also looking to get very good cleans as well. Some to play punk- Shoegaze with. Help me out and make my life a little easier lol.

I have/had both, I think they both go too far, and neither delivers especially good cleans. I'd look for something mildly hot, such as the Broadcaster bridge http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/vintage-broadcaster-tele-bridge , wound to 8k with 42 AWG.

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

I've got the QP in one of my Teles and love it. As was said, it has more sparkle and bite than the Lil 59. The Lil 59 is much warmer, way more mids and softer highs. I don't much like it for a bridge pup (unless your neck pup is also very dark and you can adequately compensate for both of them in your amp settings). The Lil 59 just doesn't work in a Tele bridge, IMO, if you want to maintain a somewhat Tele tone, it will change the entire character of your guitar. The QP on the other hand will certainly give you a beefed up tone from what you currently have in your guitar and still keep some of the typical Tele tone.

It's funny that I came across this thread, I literally just changed out the pickups in my Telecaster from a Quarter Pound Lead & Phat Cat neck (gives you a freakishly amazing & throaty traditional Tele tone) to a LIL 59 Lead for Tele & a Duncan A2 Tele neck. The A2 neck is a fairly dark sounding rhythm pickup so to GuitarDoc's point I can brighten up my amp a touch & still get a bit of Tele twang. That said, regardless of how much treble I add to the signal it's never really going to sound like a true S.C. Tele bridge pup because that's just not what it is?

I'd had the Q.P./Phat Cat combination in my Tele for several years & I absolutely loved it but I thought I'd change things up this morning just for turds & squirts? I'm going to keep the LIL 59/A2 combo for a few months but I'll probably end up with the Q.P./P.C back in here at some point because those two pickups are by far the best Tele set I've ever heard!!!

I actually really lil 59's creamy midrange & IMHO it's about the only pickup in the world that's actually worth tapping via a push/pull or mini toggle! Personally I think most Humbuckers/Bladebuckers sound awful when you split them, sorta thin & puny, (including the lil 59 Strat bridge) but the LIL 59 Lead for Tele seems to toss out a much more convincing & I guess what I'd call beefy S.C. tone once you have split it? In this kind of platform it becomes a extremely versatile Telecaster bridge pickup!!!

 

[thanaton]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

I just want to say, I love the swirl Tele.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

Yah, that's a pretty one.

I concur, NostalgicD. I haven't got my Lil59 wired for split (though your comment makes me want to try it) but I do like its creaminess. I also agree with GuitarDoc and thanaton that it does not have very much traditional Tele tone to it. I had assumed that went without saying and, given the two options the OP was considering, that he was looking for something substantially different.

In case that is not the situation, for a hotter version of classic Tele sounds, let me suggest another one: the Zhangbucker Paul Bunyan. It's big & beefy but still very Tele. I have one paired with a Twisted Tele neck and it's a good combination, still quite Fendery in character.

 

[superpete]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

I'd go with the QP. I do not like the lil 59 for tele at all.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

I have/had both, I think they both go too far, and neither delivers especially good cleans. I'd look for something mildly hot, such as the Broadcaster bridge http://www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/vintage-broadcaster-tele-bridge , wound to 8k with 42 AWG.

The QP doesn't give good cleans!?

Turn off your distortion pedals and try it again.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

To me, the Little 59 sounds nothing like a single coil. It is certainly voiced like a humbucker. The QP, although powerful, still sounds like a single coil to me (responds like one as well). So, to me, they are vastly different, although similar in power. I would think the decision isn't in the power available, but the voicing you want. If you want it to still have some Tele-ness, go for the QP. If you want to abandon that, go for the Little 59.

 

[thanaton]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

Whether a Little 59 sounds like a humbucker or not depends on a person's concept of what a humbucker should sound like, but the underlying reason they don't sound identical to a humbucker is because of comb filtering. The wider the window, the more harmonics you lose through a somewhat uniform series of notches in the frequency response. The narrower the pickup, the less that happens. Thin pickups therefore do a better job of delivering all the available harmonics to the guitar amp, but that's not necessarily what we like to hear, and the tonal aesthetic of the electric guitar is as much about what is omitted as what is included in the sound that ultimately comes from the speakers.

 

[Hoosier-Rocker]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

I have 59's in my Tele and Strat. Love them


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Which one LIL-59 for tele OR Quarter Pounder for tele

Whether a Little 59 sounds like a humbucker or not depends on a person's concept of what a humbucker should sound like, but the underlying reason they don't sound identical to a humbucker is because of comb filtering. The wider the window, the more harmonics you lose through a somewhat uniform series of notches in the frequency response. The narrower the pickup, the less that happens. Thin pickups therefore do a better job of delivering all the available harmonics to the guitar amp, but that's not necessarily what we like to hear, and the tonal aesthetic of the electric guitar is as much about what is omitted as what is included in the sound that ultimately comes from the speakers.

Uhhhh................yyyeeeaaahhhhhh. That really helps. Sure glad we've been informed of this. Makes the selection of a Lil 59 or QP sooo much easier.