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Post by simes on Aug 15, 2008 10:22:27 GMT -5
Well, I finally wired my Li'l Killers into my vintage '91 Fenix Strat , and very pretty they do look, black against a white scratchplate on a kind of butterscotch yellow body and rosewood fretboard. As you probably know, these are SC-sized "rails" HB's available in black, white or cream colours, with 6, 10 or 15K output. I got a 10K PU for the bridge and two 6K's for the middle and neck. I've been out of action for some years, and my ears are correspondingly dulled, but I will attempt to give a review of the sound. Basically the 6K's sound like SC's while the 10K has a considerably hotter HB sound. I used a mini-switch to change the bridge PU between internal series and parallel. In series it is a gutsy, fairly trebly PU which has more than enough power for classic or heavy rock. In parallel it cleans up a bit and does a passable SC imitation, but doesn't lose much volume at all. The neck PU wired in internal series has a good, strong SC sound. My intention had been to use internal S/P switching for this one too, but I ditched that idea, as I wouldn't want to thin the sound out any more. It sounds nice and open in combination with the internal parallel bridge PU (superswitch trickery), with the option of kicking the bridge PU into series for a bit more dirt. I only use the middle PU in combination with the bridge, and again, it does what it's supposed to, with plenty of quack, but at the same time a nice gutsy sound. The remaining position on the 5-way is neck and bridge in series out of phase. This is a very interesting sound, but you need to get your amp tone settings just right. It's very trebly, reminiscent of Brian May, and has a kind of hollow-yet-robust tone that makes for a useful alternative lead sound. The PU's have a much better response than the stock Fenix ones (which were pretty good, considering), and obviously more power. All in all, these PU's are very satisfactory for me, and provide me with pretty much the array of sounds I wanted. Bear in mind, though, that if you want an HB sound at the neck you'll need to get the 10K version, which would mean either stepping up to 15K at the bridge (too much for me) or attempting to balance two PU's of the same output at bridge and neck. Ah! And the price - EUR 70 for 3 PU's, scratchplate and postage to Spain - really brooks no argument.
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Post by ashcatlt on Aug 15, 2008 21:48:51 GMT -5
Glad you got that going. I knew you would be happy with these pickups. I've got the "calibrated set" in my strat.
I am a little surprised by your description. I would not say that my neck pickup sounds a whole lot like an SC when in series mode. It might be a bright HB, but it is noticeably middier and more compressed sounding compared to the parallel or SC positions.
I'd also have to say that I've never really been happy with any of the "mid+" combinations (I've got too many for me to count tonight). They never sound quite as phasey and quacky as I think they should.
Different ears and stuff, I guess...
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Post by simes on Aug 16, 2008 10:30:11 GMT -5
About the neck PU, it certainly sounds SC-ish to me, but then it's been a while since I've had my PU-sniffing boots on and I don't have any conventional SC's at hand to compare with.
Regarding the in-between positions, I would imagine that if you have the calibrated set - now 15-10-6K, used to be 13-10-6K - the bridge + middle position would indeed be less quacky than with cooler PU's, given that the sound of the 10K unit is definitely in HB territory, while the even hotter ones must be fully fledged metal criminals.
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Post by ashcatlt on Aug 16, 2008 14:22:55 GMT -5
I think I've got the older, lighter set. On this guitar I'm able to select single, parallel, or series internal wiring for each pickup, and, like I said, no combination of these gives exactly what I think I want out of these mid+ positions. Then again, this guitar had the same problem even with the stock SCs. It's the first strat style guitar I've owned, or even really played, in a long time. Might be I just don't know exactly what I should be getting, and am expecting too much.
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Post by D2o on Aug 18, 2008 12:54:47 GMT -5
I think I've got the older, lighter set. On this guitar I'm able to select single, parallel, or series internal wiring for each pickup, and, like I said, no combination of these gives exactly what I think I want out of these mid+ positions. Then again, this guitar had the same problem even with the stock SCs. It's the first strat style guitar I've owned, or even really played, in a long time. Might be I just don't know exactly what I should be getting, and am expecting too much. Ash, ... funny ... do you know that your very first post on this forum included mention of a Li'l Killer that you had just bought?
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Post by ashcatlt on Aug 18, 2008 13:09:21 GMT -5
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Post by D2o on Aug 18, 2008 13:28:20 GMT -5
A lot of good names in that post.Hopefully some will be back again: Fobits, CheshireCat, MichaelCBell ... Others, I fear, will not be back again: Unk
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