Help with pickup selection

[nikosss.b]

Hey guys,

I have a warmoth start (HSS) with black korina body, goncalo alves neck and pau ferro fretboard. The guitar is quite warm sounding with these types of wood.

I have a JB humbucker in the bridge, a vintage rails in the middle, and a cool rails in the neck.
I want to swap the neck pickup for something with more attack and less mids (right now I feel the Cool rails is a bit muffled and muddy on high gain). I mainly play blues, rock, some shredding. I'm using a Kemper, so my rig is pretty versatile.

I've come to the following 5 contenders (all of which are SD): Little 59, Custom flat, quarter pound, duckbuckers, and classic stack plus. (attached a picture for easy reference to output and EQ of each pickup)

Feel free to share your opinions on each and add any other contenders. I think I'm leaning to sticking with SD.

Cheers!

 

[Logrinn]

I'd go for the Duckbucker.

 

[TBurst Std]

To get away from muffled, look to alnico mags and your pots. 

 

[Ace Flibble]

First try simply lowering the existing pickup further from the strings. You get less output, with the mids dropping most, and more clarity. You often find that sustain increases, too. Plus, it's free! So before you go spending money on a new pickup, get a screwdriver out and just back that neck pickup down by 2-3mm. (Or more, if it's very high to begin with.)
Whenever someone uses a Kemper or other similar system, I always advocate lowering all your pickups. You can use the amp/system to dial in as much thickness (and mud) as you want, but you can't dial in more clarity; lowering the pickups takes care of that. It's not like you need maximum output to drive valves. The Kemper will/can drive the same whether it's seeing high output or low output.


If you find that doesn't do what you want, the first pickup that comes to my mind is the SD Hot Stack neck/middle. Some people get confused by the naming conventions; look for the one with a single silver rail running the length of it. The Hot Stack has more mids and a slightly smoother sound than any common single coil, but it has far less mids than any of the single-sized humbuckers (e.g. Cool Rails, Little 59) and it has all the attack of a normal single coil pickup. The output is enough to balance with your bridge JB and Vintage Rails; kind of halfway between the Vintage Rails and the Cool Rails.

In other words, it does everything you're asking for.


Failing that, I'd go for another Vintage Rails. In the neck position it's got more bass than the Hot Stack (so it may not solve your mud problems) and the Hot Stack has more attack than it, too, but otherwise they're very close.

If you'd like to go for something without a rail design, I'd pick up a Fender Hot Noiseless or SD Classic Stack Plus. They're basically the same sound. The Fender has a fraction more compression and is better for rock (and that bit of shredding you mentioned) while the SD has slightly more pronounced string separation and is (arguably) better for blues.

 

[nikosss.b]

First try simply lowering the existing pickup further from the strings. You get less output, with the mids dropping most, and more clarity. You often find that sustain increases, too. Plus, it's free! So before you go spending money on a new pickup, get a screwdriver out and just back that neck pickup down by 2-3mm. (Or more, if it's very high to begin with.)
Whenever someone uses a Kemper or other similar system, I always advocate lowering all your pickups. You can use the amp/system to dial in as much thickness (and mud) as you want, but you can't dial in more clarity; lowering the pickups takes care of that. It's not like you need maximum output to drive valves. The Kemper will/can drive the same whether it's seeing high output or low output.


If you find that doesn't do what you want, the first pickup that comes to my mind is the SD Hot Stack neck/middle. Some people get confused by the naming conventions; look for the one with a single silver rail running the length of it. The Hot Stack has more mids and a slightly smoother sound than any common single coil, but it has far less mids than any of the single-sized humbuckers (e.g. Cool Rails, Little 59) and it has all the attack of a normal single coil pickup. The output is enough to balance with your bridge JB and Vintage Rails; kind of halfway between the Vintage Rails and the Cool Rails.

In other words, it does everything you're asking for.


Failing that, I'd go for another Vintage Rails. In the neck position it's got more bass than the Hot Stack (so it may not solve your mud problems) and the Hot Stack has more attack than it, too, but otherwise they're very close.

If you'd like to go for something without a rail design, I'd pick up a Fender Hot Noiseless or SD Classic Stack Plus. They're basically the same sound. The Fender has a fraction more compression and is better for rock (and that bit of shredding you mentioned) while the SD has slightly more pronounced string separation and is (arguably) better for blues.

Thanks for taking the time to write this long post. I appreciate it. I already lowered my pickups but I'm still lacking some punch in the neck. I will look into the pickups you mentioned. Thanks again!

 

[Zhaezzy]

I would go for a stacked pickup like a Dimarzio area 51 or Dimarzio dp 423. Rail humbuckers will likely be more muddy and regular single coils are great but if you use a lot of gain they are out of the question. (Aerosmith rule am I using more gain than Aerosmith then I need humbuckers) The duckbuckers might work but I am not sure.

 

[aussietim]

I am going through a similar process with a build I am doing. I want it to be a classic rocker with HSS configuration. I agree with the guy who suggested the Dimarzio area series I have out a dp409 virtual vintage heavy blues 2 in the bridge of my existing strat and am so in love with it that I am swapping the other 2 pickups for the dp408 virtual vintage 54 pro this strat is what I use for my classic strat sound. Maybe a 409 in the neck may suit you, I will be taking mine and trying in the neck of my new build to suss out the sound but ultimately it will be back where it is.

 

[cdub]

I have a very similar guitar (to the o.p.) except ebony fretboard. That guitar would do great with 500k volume pot, treble bleed, and a no-load 250k tone pot with a .015 uF cap. If you want clarity and spank in the neck, you might go with a rod magnet design, narrow string view yada yada. I've used dimarzio and duncan rails in the neck and the only rail pickup that gets enough detail for me BESIDES noiseless singles is a vintage rails in parallel. Suprisingly that pickup sounds freakin' awesome in series too and is very unique to me, kind of like a fat/crisp thing that's hotter than a cool rails in series. But if you want strat glass, go real singles or areas/VV. There are other options I'm sure but I tried dimarzios and kind of stayed there! Dimarzio VV54pro is an awesome neck pickup. Cruiser neck or bridge offer the closest response to a single coil but it's only living in the neighborhood so to speak. Fast track 1 or chopper can work in parallel but series is a little muddy for neck duties (for me, in whatever guitar). Consider area 58, 61, or 67 as well but my strat set is vv54pro neck, area 67 middle, chopper bridge in series. Classic, classic neck/mid tones, hot quack in position 4, and a wall of grindage at the bridge.

Duncan should sell the rails set pickguard with the vintage in the neck, cool rails mid, hot rails bridge, and series/parallel/split switching for all three :evil4:

Edit:dead thread, oops