Stingray RS pickups/tone questions?

[NickNihil]

How would y'all describe the clean tones on the neck pickup of the Stingray RS? What other pickups would you compare them to? I know they're described rather vaguely as 'vintage' flavored, but what does that really mean?

 

[racerx]

I'd agree with the vintage assessment and in that sense I would say "warm, well-rounded, and not high output" if those marketing terms mean anything to you. I'll try to get some sound demos of mine later for you. Overall I enjoy them because they play clean/crunchy really well, but also leave a lot of room to slam the front of the amp if thats your thing.

 

[NickNihil]

That would be awesome! Thank you

 

[NickNihil]

To be more succinct, would folks describe it as a PAF vibe/how do they compare, for example to the 36th Anniversary Dimarzios/the Valentine neck pickup/the Albert Lee HH pickups. Others in other threads have speculated or been vague.

 

[racerx]

@NickNihil - here you go. I tried to be 'scientific' and play the same thing three times, one in each position (bridge, middle, neck). In all cases the volume and tone knobs were wide open. I recorded direct and tried to use minimal effects. I tried to keep all clips to 30 seconds or so.

Clean
Clean Bridge: Link
Clean Middle: Link
Clean Neck: Link

Crunchy
Crunchy Bridge: Link
Crunchy Middle: Link
Crunchy Neck: Link

Hi-Gain (Forgive me, I don't get down on hi-gain much these days, but I tried for you)
Hi-Gain Bridge: Link
Hi-Gain Middle: Link
Hi-Gain Neck: Link

 

[NickNihil]

@NickNihil - here you go. I tried to be 'scientific' and play the same thing three times, one in each position (bridge, middle, neck). In all cases the volume and tone knobs were wide open. I recorded direct and tried to use minimal effects. I tried to keep all clips to 30 seconds or so.

Clean
Clean Bridge: Link
Clean Middle: Link
Clean Neck: Link

Crunchy
Crunchy Bridge: Link
Crunchy Middle: Link
Crunchy Neck: Link

Hi-Gain (Forgive me, I don't get down on hi-gain much these days, but I tried for you)
Hi-Gain Bridge: Link
Hi-Gain Middle: Link
Hi-Gain Neck: Link

Wow, those sound great. Thank you. Reason I'm asking is I'm thinking of building an alternate pickguard/pickup setup for my ALHH (or my Strat, which already came routed for HSH) and just wire it for 3 position instead of the 5 w/coil split, and I can get a set of Stingray pickups someone pulled out of a BFR for $120. I figure because I already have all the guitars I can handle I'll swap pickguards with different pickups depending on the tone I want for certain projects. And clean neck pickup is my biggest focus. You have an Axis and a Valentine? How would you compare them? It sounds to me like their brighter, less middy, more open than the Axis/AL HH pickups.

 

[mikeller]

Sounds excellent - great job !!

 

[racerx]

You have an Axis and a Valentine? How would you compare them? It sounds to me like their brighter, less middy, more open than the Axis/AL HH pickups.

The Ray, Axis, and Valentine are all kind of different bags in and of themselves. I really enjoy the Valentine most (if not the unrelated Axis SS/MM90) if I'm playing mostly clean stuff. The Valentine pups sound great to me in every position, but my favorite is the middle position with the boost engaged.

Since your biggest focus is clean neck pickup, here are more samples of the Valentine and an Axis HH neck. I used the same testing format as above to keep things as equitable as possible. I personally struggle to articulate pickup differences into words, I go more based on feel (unga bunga, Valentine clean good). I think the Ray and Valentine neck pickups sound very similar to my ears with maybe a slight bump in mids/highs to the Val. The Axis sounds more subdued and darker to me.

Valentine Neck:
Clean: Link
Clean Boost: Link
Crunchy: Link
Crunchy Boost: Link

Axis SS (HH) Neck:
Clean: Link
Crunchy: Link

and thanks @mikeller !

 

[NickNihil]

The Ray, Axis, and Valentine are all kind of different bags in and of themselves. I really enjoy the Valentine most (if not the unrelated Axis SS/MM90) if I'm playing mostly clean stuff. The Valentine pups sound great to me in every position, but my favorite is the middle position with the boost engaged.

Since your biggest focus is clean neck pickup, here are more samples of the Valentine and an Axis HH neck. I used the same testing format as above to keep things as equitable as possible. I personally struggle to articulate pickup differences into words, I go more based on feel (unga bunga, Valentine clean good). I think the Ray and Valentine neck pickups sound very similar to my ears with maybe a slight bump in mids/highs to the Val. The Axis sounds more subdued and darker to me.

Valentine Neck:
Clean: Link
Clean Boost: Link
Crunchy: Link
Crunchy Boost: Link

Axis SS (HH) Neck:
Clean: Link
Crunchy: Link

and thanks @mikeller !

Awesome! Much appreciated again. You're right about that Valentine neck, sounds beautiful. Really clear. Stingray seems to have a thicker midrange. Both have good attack. Both sound punchier than the Axis, which has its own unique 'haunting mood' to it (which I'm already familiar with, being the same pickup set as the AL HH, with the AL having a tone circuit that darkens it a little bit more). Also just cool to hear how unique that pickup is.