Post by doktorsteve on Jun 8, 2017 8:48:07 GMT
Hi,
unlike other people I have not been very happy with the tone of my SC Custom. I have a PAC112, which is relatively really bright, and if I switched from the PAC to the SC Custom then I missed the richness of the overtones. To me the neck pickup is too bass heavy and the neck pickup has a limited top end and had a sour honk. I think that the neck pickup is overwound (13k I think). This tonality probably works OK for metal where all the overtones are generated by the pedals and amp, but when played clean I was not satisfied by the sound. I felt it could not compete when played cleanish with the Strats at music school.
First I removed the cover from the bridge pickup. This made the sound slightly brighter and the guitar looked cooler. By the way the cover is plated brass - don't know if that is significant.
Still not happy with the sound I looked around for some new economically priced pickups. I am no professional and my son says I am musically inept so no point buying the absolute best. I knew I wanted a normal wound bridge pickup so Ironstone was out. Lots of choice at Irongear and I was getting close to ordering Rolling Mills then for some reason I started looking at Alnico II. When I saw the Vanson 57 PAF I could not ignore the price - just under 30 GBP for the pair. I knew that I would have something that sounded different to the PAC so I thought why not go for the "vintage" sound. Various reviews of Alnico II suggested I would get less bass and smooth extended treble.
I duly ordered and fitted a pair of zebra 57 PAFs.
To me the tonal balance is much flatter on both pickups.
The bass on the neck is more than adequate but no longer overpowers the mids and treble. The sound is smooth but detailed.
I had fitted a tone control which allowed me to roll off the bass on the neck pickup when turned past half way. This is not now needed.
That annoying (to me) honk on the bridge pickup is reduced/different and the treble is extended just about enough.
The mid position is now much more interesting and is probably my favourite now. This is probably due to the improved balance between the pickups. Flipping the phase of the neck pickup I get a lot of cancellation for an interesting but as yet unusable sound.
Splitting the pickups I get nice single coil sounds at both neck and bridge. I can hear the extension of the treble in both cases.
Bear in mind that there could be a lot of expectation bias in my assessment of the changes, and the proof will be when I go up against the ranks of Strats at music school!
Anyone else tried these pickups?
unlike other people I have not been very happy with the tone of my SC Custom. I have a PAC112, which is relatively really bright, and if I switched from the PAC to the SC Custom then I missed the richness of the overtones. To me the neck pickup is too bass heavy and the neck pickup has a limited top end and had a sour honk. I think that the neck pickup is overwound (13k I think). This tonality probably works OK for metal where all the overtones are generated by the pedals and amp, but when played clean I was not satisfied by the sound. I felt it could not compete when played cleanish with the Strats at music school.
First I removed the cover from the bridge pickup. This made the sound slightly brighter and the guitar looked cooler. By the way the cover is plated brass - don't know if that is significant.
Still not happy with the sound I looked around for some new economically priced pickups. I am no professional and my son says I am musically inept so no point buying the absolute best. I knew I wanted a normal wound bridge pickup so Ironstone was out. Lots of choice at Irongear and I was getting close to ordering Rolling Mills then for some reason I started looking at Alnico II. When I saw the Vanson 57 PAF I could not ignore the price - just under 30 GBP for the pair. I knew that I would have something that sounded different to the PAC so I thought why not go for the "vintage" sound. Various reviews of Alnico II suggested I would get less bass and smooth extended treble.
I duly ordered and fitted a pair of zebra 57 PAFs.
To me the tonal balance is much flatter on both pickups.
The bass on the neck is more than adequate but no longer overpowers the mids and treble. The sound is smooth but detailed.
I had fitted a tone control which allowed me to roll off the bass on the neck pickup when turned past half way. This is not now needed.
That annoying (to me) honk on the bridge pickup is reduced/different and the treble is extended just about enough.
The mid position is now much more interesting and is probably my favourite now. This is probably due to the improved balance between the pickups. Flipping the phase of the neck pickup I get a lot of cancellation for an interesting but as yet unusable sound.
Splitting the pickups I get nice single coil sounds at both neck and bridge. I can hear the extension of the treble in both cases.
Bear in mind that there could be a lot of expectation bias in my assessment of the changes, and the proof will be when I go up against the ranks of Strats at music school!
Anyone else tried these pickups?