Valentine Neck Pickup... Coil Tap or Coil Split?

[RichieZ]

Love my Valentine... sounds incredible in all positions. I'm especially impressed in the difference in tone from the neck pickup when I engage the coil split/tap... really sounds like a completely different pickup.

I was curious, because I've seen it called both... is it a coil tap or a true coil split? I would assume a tap except for the fact that the silent circuit is attached to that pickup.

As I understand it, a tapped humbucker still does not hum... as both coils are still technically active.

Yet on the Valentine neck pickup, with the split/tap engaged... the silent circuit takes over and the amount of noise allowed can be adjusted specifically for that pickup. I have the silent circuit at about 50% and, when split/tapped, I can hear a tiny bit of hum. But, with it in humbucker mode, its dead silent, obviously.

So, if it was a coil tap, wouldn't the silent circuit be unnecessary on that pickup?

Regardless... it sounds great, and obviously a lot of work went into getting that split/tap just right... Just curious as to which it is.

 

[Samoht]

A large percentage of folks, even reps from manufacturers(not talking about EBMM), get this wrong. I'm going to assume it's a split in the case of the Valentine. My OCD has shown me there there are very few true "coil tap" applications out there. The waters are muddied because of some companies using parallel humbucker sounds and calling them "coil taps". That seems to be the new fad.

 

[jones4tone]

The Valentine's specs refer to a "split pickup" configuration.

 

[RichieZ]

The Valentine's specs refer to a "split pickup" configuration.

Thank you... Yeah I saw that... but also saw on the GuitarPlayer review where Sterling Ball added "We had to get the coil-tap just right". Also seen it referred to as a tap on other occasions, including from James Valentine... hence the confusion.

You're probably right... as is Samoht. Just wanted to see if someone could provide a definitive answer.

 

[jones4tone]

Just wanted to see if someone could provide a definitive answer.

Can't say it's definitive, but I would go with the engineers being correct until proven otherwise on a question like this. (Assuming the engineers produced the content on the spec sheet, of course, which ... who knows? )

 

[RichieZ]

Can't say it's definitive, but I would go with the engineers being correct until proven otherwise on a question like this. (Assuming the engineers produced the content on the spec sheet, of course, which ... who knows? )

I hear ya!

 

[beej]

The term "coil tap" and "coil split" are used interchangeably, but they're different things.

If you have a hot pickup and you want to take the output with less wire around the coil, you would "tap" it, by splitting the wire at that point. Once upon a time, humbuckers used to have 2 wires rather than 4 (2 for each coil), so the coil tap amounted to splitting the wire where the two coils joined, creating an additional output point there.

Coil splits (and coil taps on a single coil) don't change the physics of the pickup. You still have a single coil pickup, which also picks up noise and hum from the surroundings. Even if you tapped a humbucker, resulting in a single coil plus a fraction of the other coil, you'd still have noise, since the output from the two coils would be uneven.

Here, the Silent Circuit is wired in when the pickup is split, so you have less noise on the single coil alone then you would normally have. (I do this on my guitars with split pickups - it's pretty handy if you have a Silent Circuit lying around).

Hope that helps.

 

[RichieZ]

Thanks. I think I get it... that's kind of how I understood the difference between the true meaning of a split and a tap. A split pretty much separates out one of the coils for a true single coil setup... where as a tap changes the humbucker but doesn't really separate it. So, you're saying, on the Valentine, with the split engaged, the second coil is pretty much removed altogether?

And that silent circuit works really well. I wasn't sure when I first got the guitar but then I turned it all the way down(noise all the way up) and the difference between that and having it at 50% is amazing... without losing any of the great single-coily-ness (to my ear anyway).

Thanks again!

The term "coil tap" and "coil split" are used interchangeably, but they're different things.

If you have a hot pickup and you want to take the output with less wire around the coil, you would "tap" it, by splitting the wire at that point. Once upon a time, humbuckers used to have 2 wires rather than 4 (2 for each coil), so the coil tap amounted to splitting the wire where the two coils joined, creating an additional output point there.

Coil splits (and coil taps on a single coil) don't change the physics of the pickup. You still have a single coil pickup, which also picks up noise and hum from the surroundings. Even if you tapped a humbucker, resulting in a single coil plus a fraction of the other coil, you'd still have noise, since the output from the two coils would be uneven.

Here, the Silent Circuit is wired in when the pickup is split, so you have less noise on the single coil alone then you would normally have. (I do this on my guitars with split pickups - it's pretty handy if you have a Silent Circuit lying around).

Hope that helps.

 

[xjbebop]

All true. I've seen those terms thrown around incorrectly many times, even by the manufacturers.
There are a number of methods to achieve a 'cleaner' sound from 'buckers.
I haven't wired in any more coil splits since I did my first series/parallel a while back.
I really prefer the results from the S/P switching over a coil tap. Sounds similar but sweeter to my ears, and you don't get the volume drop & hum you normally get with a split.

Anyway, it will be interesting to get the truth about the Valentine....

 

[RichieZ]

Good point... All the EBMM's I've heard with the series parallel switching do sound wonderful... and I'm always eyeing any Anniversary Reflex that shows up on Reverb.

Thankfully the Valentine has the silent circuit and the output buffer to address the noise and volume changes. All switch positions and humbucker/split configurations are pretty clean and level... far as I can hear.

Thanks!

All true. I've seen those terms thrown around incorrectly many times, even by the manufacturers.
There are a number of methods to achieve a 'cleaner' sound from 'buckers.
I haven't wired in any more coil splits since I did my first series/parallel a while back.
I really prefer the results from the S/P switching over a coil tap. Sounds similar but sweeter to my ears, and you don't get the volume drop & hum you normally get with a split.

Anyway, it will be interesting to get the truth about the Valentine....

 

[Norrin Radd]