Valentine split coil question

[timmcg1011]

Been wondering for a while what other Valentine owners think. The split coil, middle position setting on my valentine only has a very subtle tone difference in my experience. Anybody else feel this way? I have a BFR Target burst and while it's my favorite guitar, I do wish the split coil vs. full humbucker tone difference was more noticeable. Wondering what others think.

 

[Sleeping At Sea]

Been wondering for a while what other Valentine owners think. The split coil, middle position setting on my valentine only has a very subtle tone difference in my experience. Anybody else feel this way? I have a BFR Target burst and while it's my favorite guitar, I do wish the split coil vs. full humbucker tone difference was more noticeable. Wondering what others think.

I have the same guitar

Honestly I notice quite a substantial different when it's split so I was a bit surprised to hear that.
I play 90% of the time on my Quad Cortex modeler either using Focal Clear Pro headphones for my studio monitors and while I am using many different amp styles & tones, the split always make a fair difference to me.
Wonder if there is something else happening internally?

Perhaps tonight I could dial in a clean tone and record a quick comparison to show you if that helps?

 

[timmcg1011]

That would be fantastic! Thank you. I use a fractal ax8 with frfr. I will do the same and post something here as soon as I can

Thanks for replying. I've wondered if it's something like a wiring issue. appreciate it!

 

[Sleeping At Sea]

OK so I will admit, in a lot of cases you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference. I think it really shows on the attack and in what you are playing. I know I find I always split it when I want more clarity.
In the attached comparison I've kept it super simple on a strummed chord and from what I hear the split mode has more clarity and chime to it where as in HB mode it's warmer and more balanced. BUT...I wouldn't say it's night and day either.

Hope this helps!

 

[timmcg1011]

Thanks very much for doing this! I think it's the nature of the guitar and I think these differences sounds very similar to what I hear on mine. I just consider it to be very subtle, especially as compared to my jp15, which when you tap the coil it sounds like a completely different guitar

Thanks so much for the time you took to post this. Really do appreciate it!

 

[Sleeping At Sea]

No problem, at all...happy to help! Yeah I guess in the middle position it's really only splitting the neck HB and the bridge stays the same so that would account for the slight drop in neck pickup warmth I'd say.

Hey whilst I'm chatting to someone with the same guitar, could I ask if you would mind measuring out your bridge pickup height for Low E/High E? I've struggled a bit with this pickup and how bright the attack is. I got my guitar 2nd hand so not sure if it was tweaked at all. How do you find it? I find I'm needing to put the tone knob at about 20-30% most of the time to tame it.

 

[msquared]

I agree that the difference is subtle. How much I notice it depends on playing style and what the rest of the signal chain is doing.

I don't think it's something that would be audible to the audience, it's more of a feel thing for me.

I do switch between those pretty regularly, with the coil split if I'm on the front pickup and both coils engaged if I'm on both pickups.

 

[ReformedJazz]

I actually notice quite a meaningful difference on mine

But I tend to play super clean. I think the middle position with neck tapped gives a really good funk sound, if you like that - which I do! The middle position with the neck as humbucker, not so much

 

[beep.click]

Hey whilst I'm chatting to someone with the same guitar, could I ask if you would mind measuring out your bridge pickup height for Low E/High E? I've struggled a bit with this pickup and how bright the attack is. I got my guitar 2nd hand so not sure if it was tweaked at all. How do you find it? I find I'm needing to put the tone knob at about 20-30% most of the time to tame it.

Do you still need this measurement? I'm new here and just saw this post. I got my Valentine brand new and never touched it, so I can tell you what the "stock" settings are.

 

[Sleeping At Sea]

Do you still need this measurement? I'm new here and just saw this post. I got my Valentine brand new and never touched it, so I can tell you what the "stock" settings are.

Yes please! That would be super helpful.
If you wouldn't mind posting both neck and bridge that would be awesome.

 

[ReformedJazz]

Hi there

As far as I know, the official factory spec is as follows

4/32" bridge
6/32" neck

Same on the bass and treble side

Measured from an *open* string to top of pole pieces (high e, low E)

 

[Sleeping At Sea]

Perfect, thank-you!!

 

[mzLadd]

Been wondering for a while what other Valentine owners think. The split coil, middle position setting on my valentine only has a very subtle tone difference in my experience. Anybody else feel this way? I have a BFR Target burst and while it's my favorite guitar, I do wish the evsplit coil vs. full humbucker tone difference was more noticeable. Wondering what others think.

i have a 2021 shell pink Valentine and always thought all combinations of pickups were all way too bright , even the neck humbuck. So i did an old school mod.
changed bridge to humbuck gutted pcb and all controls
replaced with 2 / 500k pots CTS , orange drop cap on tone pot, 5 way super switch
now very happy and tones a deep and rich with 2 single coil configs along with humbuck combos much more versatile imho

 

[mzLadd]

 

[ReformedJazz]

very nice!

Can I ask which ‘bucker you put in the bridge? And if you kept the neck stock?

 

[mzLadd]

I put a Wilkinson in the bridge nothing fancy but sounds good! The neck is factory Musicman Humbuck

 

[QuietSpike]

Pretty big tonal difference to me with the coil split… I like both options and enjoy the versatility.

As for the post about it being too bright, I don’t disagree on the bridge and almost always roll my tone off by about 1/2 when I’m on that p-up. Neck sounds good to me and only roll of tone a little to none.

 

[PeterVV]

Personally I think this may have something to do with the pickup height, and the overpowering bridge pickup.