Strat-sized pickups can be H or S, I didn't know that

Gear
#21

I’m absolutely not a Yngwie expert, but I’ve seen a lot of people swear he used HS2 and HS3s coil-split, over the years. But, again, I’m not an authority, only passing along what Ive read. And there’s always a lot of uncertainty around this stuff. But, I could have sworn I used to see this on Dimarzio’s page for the pickup, before he went to Duncan.

As far as the Areas - while the core design of a smaller dummy coil isn’t especially new, the Area series themselves are an iteration that can’t be much more than 10 or 15 years old now - I remember trying them shortly after they were introduced. I thought they balanced noiselessness with “sounds like a singlecoil” very well, especially compared to some of the earliest noiseless singlecoils I’d tried (the first gen Fender noiseless pickups were… not good, when I first tried them in the mid-90s, and my ear probably wasn’t even very good for this stuff back then since I’d on;y been playing a few years).

And yeah, some of the singlecoil sized dual-rail pickups get pretty damned hot. I tried a set of Choppers for a while, at some point along the way - probably sounded more like a singlecoil than a PAF, but only just… and they were awfully hot. Not what I was looking for for that guitar, but definitely a fun pickup.

1 Like
#22

Not the specifically the area, but I consider it all one group versus the hs. Dimarzio’s “dummy coil” line has been around since the mid 90’s. Their symmetrical stacked like the hs date back to 1980z.

#23

Yeah, agreed - I guess I’m just saying I think they’ve gotten progressively better at designing pickups with dummy coils and the Areas were the first ones I tried where I was legitimately impressed.

The lower magnetic pull is a plus, too, IMO. I should bust out that pickguard I have tucked away with them again sometime, just to change it up a little.

EDIT - I’ve also never actually tried the Area 58, which on paper is actuallu a hair hotter and more midrange-y than the 67, which I really liked but in theory should preferthe 58 on specs alone. Hmm.

1 Like
#24

I have a guitar with the heavy blues in the neck and solo in the bridge. Noisier than the 80’s YJM I have with the hs3, but they do sound good.

#25

This BOSS GK-5 pickup is interesting, it is six tiny humbuckers, one under each string. They keep it close to the bridge so one can’t bend a string off its humbucker.

#26

Never tried the original Heavy Blues, but I had the Heavy Blues 2 in the neck and middle of my Strat with an AT1 in the bridge for a while. Ultimately they were darker than I liked and I swapped them for something a little lower output but a lot brighter… but they DID record beautifully, I really liked how they tracked but didn’t like them from a playing experience standpoint.

#27

Yes the heavey blues 2. Really? I find them bright-ish, well at least in comparison to any standard humbucker, and certainly brighter than the HS3. It does have the softer AL2 character. I guess if you are used to standard singles it would be darker in comparison.

#28

Exactly. I actually still often suggest it as a noiseless singlecoil for someone who’s very concerned about balancing it with a humbucker, as its darker voicing and higher output give you something that’s still very much a singlecoil, but melds well.

But, for a guitar that I really wanted to sound like singlecoil-equipped guitar, it was great, but not quite what I was after.

(for whatever it’s worth, these days after close to a decade of pickup swapping I’ve had almost no desire to move on from the Suhr ML Standards I have in there now - I think they were recently rebranded the V63+. Incredible pickups for what I’m looking for.)

1 Like
#29

Rail pickups always have a slightly different sound from full-size because the bobbins are closer together and I love it. My go-to has always been the standard DiMarzio PAF Pro but my favourite pickup now is the Pro Track, amazing.

1 Like
#30

You know thinking about this, I may do some experiments with active-fying some of these, and well as perhaps other experiments on active noiseless possibilities for just regular singles. I have been meaning to for years but now something is flying up my ass to see what I can come up with.

1 Like
#31

The one tele I tried with the emg set was fantastic. Possibly the most versatile guitar I’ve ever heard.

1 Like
#32

If “noiseless” means not picking up the 60Hz from the mains, does anybody add 60Hz out of phase to exactly cancel the noise? I would think that something like this should be relatively simple with opamps and a sensor coil. I recall there was a design that had a backplate that had a coil on it, perhaps it was for this purpose? Yes, it seems so… and it’s passive, see Backplate Noise Cancelling System. I’m not sure how well it works.

#33

Well I mean build a pre for existing passives.

#34

Problem is power generation isn’t perfect so it’s not exactly 60 could be 59.9 or something. Just like it’s not always exactly 120v

#35

They have meticulous control over frequency and even used to adjust it with feedback to match the exact number of seconds in a day (24 x 60 x 60 x 60). But i agree that measurement is appropriate and one does have to determine the phase angle upon powering up one’s device.

#36

Correct, and the the the RMS voltage from the wall can even differ depending on the time of day, and where you live.

Well don’t mix up phase and polarity. They are different. Phase is variable by angle, so you can’t can’t always assume you are talking about 180deg out of phase both starting at t=0. Yes in theory it is simple and exactly how most actives work, however you get into some trade off’s, especially when you get into traditional humbuckers, and its’s not really the ic’s to blame, but you also have to have two coils that are fairly symmetrical to maximize the effect even if only one is picking up. If you use a dummy coil wound from a larger gauge of wire and fewer turns, like some of those other dummy coil systems, you may not maximize hum cancellation.

1 Like
#37

Never played that, nor have I played Suhr’s active noise-cancelling system, though it’s supposed to be pretty good.

But 60-cycle hum doesn’t really hugely bother me. Blame a fondness for Tom Waits, maybe, but I tend to like a lot of the little human artifacts of a performance, the hum of pickups, the sounds of finger’s sliding on the strings, little things like that that are technically flaws I guess but are, well, artifacts of this being a physical performance on a chunk of wood with magnets and strings. If you’re routinely playing near a CRT or neon lights that might be one thing, but a well shielded Strat isn’t THAT bad, even with fairly high gain.

I’d have to assume these systems use some sort of dummy pickup, though, to detect and exactly replicate 60-cycle hum in real time, though, because t’s hardly static and changes as the guitar moves relative to potential sources of noise.

1 Like
#38

They do. It’s usually either hidden under the pickgaurd or in a separate compartment in the guitar. But in a passive system like this where the coils have to be physically connected to each other to work at canceling common mode noise, you start to have to strike a balance between killing as much noise as possible and not changing the sound.

1 Like
#39

Yeah - that’s why I’m really curious to demo the Suhr system sometime. I love their singlecoils on their own, I’d be curious how well they shine through in some sort of hum cancelling system.

1 Like
#40

Do share your results if you get to try one!