John Price
Well-known member
I've got the AT-1. I love it.
hot, sweet, sounds lovely split.
Do you have it in a Silhouette? If so, How does it compare to the stock pickup?
- Thread starter Roubster
- Start date
Do you have it in a Silhouette? If so, How does it compare to the stock pickup?
agt
Well-known member
I'm a big fan of the Air Zone. My favorite bridge HB. I put one in my Morse and it works for me. My Silo Special will get one some day when the mood for soldering strikes me again. YMMV.
W
wolf5150
I hated the stock pickups. got a lot of flack for expressing my opinions too, but it's my guitar and now i LOVE it.
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jamminjim
Well-known member
I'm with Rob on this one, I love the stock DiMarzios. The stock Virtual PAF does it for me, plenty of spank. I think the SS was well thought out originally. The singles are great. I am going to try a couple of Suhr's in one of my SS guards though. Just out of curiosity. I don't know if its the wood in the body or what else but the SS guards in a Sub 1 bodies really have good tones.
B2D
Well-known member
The stock pickups were pretty good in there... nice and even sounding and pretty good for an all-purpose sound. However being the tweaker that I am, I took out the Silent Circuit and converted to a 2-HH setup.
I used a PAF Pro in the neck and a FRED bridge for a while (since 2005), but a recent change in musical direction necessitated a pickup change. I've been experimenting as of late and have gone through all of the following:
DiMarzio:
Steve's Special
Evolution Neck
Duncan:
Pearly Gates (neck)
Alnico II Pro (neck)
Custom Custom bridge
Custom bridge w/ stock A5 magnet and with A8
The Custom/A8 came close to what I'm looking for but still not there yet. I'm about to install a Duncan Screamin' Demon in each position and experiment with an A8 mag in the bridge position and a A2 in the neck position in addition to the stock A5's that are in each magnet. I also want to try out a Duncan JB with an Alnico 8 magnet in the bridge position. I haven't settled experimenting yet but I'll get there eventually!
I used a PAF Pro in the neck and a FRED bridge for a while (since 2005), but a recent change in musical direction necessitated a pickup change. I've been experimenting as of late and have gone through all of the following:
DiMarzio:
Steve's Special
Evolution Neck
Duncan:
Pearly Gates (neck)
Alnico II Pro (neck)
Custom Custom bridge
Custom bridge w/ stock A5 magnet and with A8
The Custom/A8 came close to what I'm looking for but still not there yet. I'm about to install a Duncan Screamin' Demon in each position and experiment with an A8 mag in the bridge position and a A2 in the neck position in addition to the stock A5's that are in each magnet. I also want to try out a Duncan JB with an Alnico 8 magnet in the bridge position. I haven't settled experimenting yet but I'll get there eventually!
whitestrat
Well-known member
B2D
Well-known member
No one wound it for me, all I did was take a Duncan Custom (TB5 model) and replace the stock ceramic magnet with an Alnico 8 Magnet. It's extremely easy to do.
You may or may not be aware that The Duncan Custom (SH5), Custom Custom (SH11), and the Custom 5 (SH14) are all the exact same coils, winds and pole pieces. The only difference is that the Custom has a ceramic magnet, the Custom Custom has an Alnico II, and the Custom 5 has - you guessed it- an Alnico 5. Each magnet under yields a different sound under the same set of coils.
Until about 2002 or so all we had was the Custom and the Custom Custom. Then, a number of users on the Duncan forum found out that they could change magnets on a number of the pickups to get different sounds, and the Customs family because the most popular two models to do this with. The most popular mod by far was putting an Alnico 5 magnet into a Custom or a CC. It got SO popular that Duncan made a production model of it.
Lately I've been getting into magnet swapping as a cheap and easy way to make my own versions of pickups. Duncan style bar magnets cost about $5-$8 dollars at www.wymoreguitars.com and I've got a few different ones lying around.
Compared to an Alnico 5, the Alnico 8 tends to yield tighter lows, fuller mids, and smoother highs compared to an A5. It's a great compromise for people who want the power and the mids of a ceramic magnet, but want that crunch, grind, and sag that Alnico magnets are so good at.
That's what it did to the custom... it kept the mids, tight lows and smooth highs of the SH5 intact, but it gave it a little Alnico-flavored grit and snarl. Awesome variation on the stock pickup.
I've tried it with a JB with a 250k pot in a Strat and it sounded great as well... think a JB with tighter, fuller lows, and smoother mids and highs. Awesome rock pickup. I normally would never use a JB with a 500k pot and especially not in an alder guitar because it's such a bright, nasty pickup. HOWEVER I think i can get away with a 500K pot now because of it's beefier, darker tone.
Enough info for ya? hehe!
JimmyGeo
Member
Hello ,
These days i am thinking of changing my Silo`s special pickups ,and i would like to ask you some things.
My first thought is to install a Seymour Duncan JB as bridge and two Cruiser(bridge) for
neck and middle position.Andy timmons was using this setup and i have inspired from him.
But will JB work fine with the Dimarzios?Silo`s special pickup selector is different from AT 100
and i dont know if the result will satisfy me.
An other though is to install a Dimarzio Tone Zone as bridge and a pair of Cruizers or
Fast Tracks for neck and middle position(As Vinnie Moore).Probably the pots will be replaced with 500k.
Which combination you thing will work better with Silo??
Here`s a video with Andy Timmon`s Gear and sound.Thanks for any opinion!!!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngAE4ikF1Ng"]YouTube- Andy Timmons Talks Gear[/ame]
These days i am thinking of changing my Silo`s special pickups ,and i would like to ask you some things.
My first thought is to install a Seymour Duncan JB as bridge and two Cruiser(bridge) for
neck and middle position.Andy timmons was using this setup and i have inspired from him.
But will JB work fine with the Dimarzios?Silo`s special pickup selector is different from AT 100
and i dont know if the result will satisfy me.
An other though is to install a Dimarzio Tone Zone as bridge and a pair of Cruizers or
Fast Tracks for neck and middle position(As Vinnie Moore).Probably the pots will be replaced with 500k.
Which combination you thing will work better with Silo??
Here`s a video with Andy Timmon`s Gear and sound.Thanks for any opinion!!!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngAE4ikF1Ng"]YouTube- Andy Timmons Talks Gear[/ame]
B2D
Well-known member
If Andy was using a JB and a pair of Cruisers and you liked that sound, maybe you could use that as a starting point and then go from there?
Most people I know who use JB's also use them with 250k pots. Otherwise, they seem too bright and strident.
I don't think you should have a problem mixing brands as far as wiring goes... as far as sound goes, that's all up to you. If you want to keep it all Duncans, then I'd substitute the Vintage Rails or the Cool Rails for the Cruisers. I'm partial to the Vintage Rails, myself.
...on another note, It's funny to read my own post from when i was in the middle of experimenting with a lot of Duncans.
I eventually wound up settling on a stock JB in the bridge and the Screamin' Demon with an A2 magnet in the neck. Something else I did to each of the pickups... I converted the Demon to have two rows of hex heads (like a DiMarzio) instead of the normal filister/hex configuration, and replaced the filister heads with hex heads in the JB as well. This seemed to focus and tighten up the bass a little bit and smooth the high end as well, which worked great for me. I'll have to record some sound clips of it just to demo it for everyone.
Keithf
Well-known member
I borrowed a wcr Godwood off Wolf 5150,It transformed my first silo,I've been trying since to get it back off him!
I feel the same as him,the stock pickups just don't cut it for my gigging applications.
I feel the same as him,the stock pickups just don't cut it for my gigging applications.
B2D
Well-known member
I checked out those WCRs since I hadn't heard of them before... holy cow. Expensive but man do they sound good.
Roubster
Well-known member
The Cruiser is a REALLY nice neck pickup if you like Andy's tone. It can do some really nice clean stuff and sound great with high gain as well. Just keep in mind that he uses the BRIDGE Cruiser model to balance the output with the bridge humbucker. Of course you should be fine with the neck model if you dont mind having slightly less output. I had a Fast Track 1 in the neck before which I liked, but the Cruiser is really cool. Either of those will be a good choice if you are into Timmons and Vinnie Moore's tone. I would highly recommend the Air Zone for bridge as it is very similar to Timmons' fat bridge tone and similar to the Tone Zone, except more versatile. Of course you can get the AT-1 which is Andy's signature pickup and I've heard great stuff about that one.
