Author Topic: Vintage Hot humbuckers : which is the least bright? (Read 5190 times)

IntenseJim · « **on:** June 14, 2008, 12:24:07 AM »

VHII Humbucker
Black Dog Humbucker
Emerald Humbucker
Abraxas Humbucker

I have the VHII and have ordered a Black Dog for a bit more compression per Tim. I find the VHII a tad lacking in compression/gain and a bit bright in my Les Paul Standard running into a Soldano SLO.

Wondering which of these is the sweetest or darkest/least bright? I'm guessing Black Dog or Abraxas but I haven't played them. A tad moot since I have the Black Dog on order but what the heck....

ericsabbath · « **Reply #1 on:** June 14, 2008, 01:35:07 AM »

try a crawler

remak · « **Reply #2 on:** June 14, 2008, 06:12:19 AM »

In the case of the Abraxas, "balanced" is the word that comes to mind. I have mine in a LPStd. From the clips I have heard its not as dark as the Crawler or Dog, and but not as bright as the VHII and Emerald.

IntenseJim · « **Reply #3 on:** June 14, 2008, 06:35:20 AM »

The Les Paul I have for these pups acoustically is quite bright compared to my other Les Pauls. Which may be why I have a problem with the stock Gibson Classic 57s and am not in love wih the VHII. I like a sweet high end....not piercing.

And my amp is not a dark amp either: Soldano SLO. I hope the Black Dogs do the trick.

.

_tom_ · « **Reply #4 on:** June 14, 2008, 08:37:15 AM »

Whilst in different guitars, I tried out the VHII and Abraxas at music live a while ago. I think they were both prs styled though, the VHII was in a Custom 22 or something and the Abraxas was in an Eggle maybe? Anyway the abraxas was definitely much smoother and warmer sounding, whereas the VHII had more crunch and rock tone.

Philly Q · « **Reply #5 on:** June 14, 2008, 11:29:59 AM »

It's a tough question. It's in situations like this that we need those tone charts! :?

I only have one of those four pickups, the Black Dog, but from what I've read I'd say

Brightest: VHII, definitely.
Darkest: BD, probably - it's dark but I wouldn't call it "sweet", it's quite aggressive.
Sweetest: Abraxas, I think - with the alnico IV magnet.

Not sure where the Emerald fits in - it's a bit hotter than the VHII or BD, more in the same ballpark as the Abraxas but I think it's brighter.

shaman · « **Reply #6 on:** June 14, 2008, 02:59:21 PM »

OK,jIM...when you sell the VHII, think of me..I am in Alabama-I will gladly take her off your hands...

remak · « **Reply #7 on:** June 14, 2008, 03:46:03 PM »

The other point in your post is compression.

Again from experience with my set, the Abraxas bridge is a pretty hot pup. It could hold its own with a few from the modern range. Yes, it does sweet, but the bridge is also pretty aggressive and a wonderful soloing tool. Not quite made my mind up about the Abraxas neck yet. It has the perfect vintage hot sound, with wonderful balanced bass, yet it's not quite as flexable as the true vintage neck pups. Those of you who never play with the tone rolled off won't be bothered by this.

Anyway if you are looking for vintage + hot + sweet then I would say its down to the Emeralds or the Abraxas for you. The crawlers + LP are too dark for my taste.

There are some great clips of the Emeralds on this site. No disrespect to those who were kind enough to post Abraxas clips, but the clips have too much processing and don't quite define the AB sound for me.

ilÿti · « **Reply #8 on:** June 14, 2008, 07:06:00 PM »

Quote from: remak

There are some great clips of the Emeralds on this site. No disrespect to those who were kind enough to post Abraxas clips, but there clips there are here have too much processing and don't quite define the AB sound for me.

That's your cue for making some clips yourself.

Scotty477 · « **Reply #9 on:** June 15, 2008, 04:03:29 AM »

The Emerald pups are certainly hot and sweet and can nail vintage rock/blues. As far a being bright, that all depends on the guitar that they are going to be used in.

My LP is very resonant when unplugged. I wouldn't say that Emeralds sound bright in my guitar but they will cut through the mix and be heard - no doubt about that.

I find that it's maybe a bit misleading to label a pup bright or dark. Amp or modeller settings can play a huge part in the overall tone - allowing the player to brighten or darken the tone to taste.

What doesn't change is the basic characteristic of the Emerald pickups - bridge and neck.

I find Emeralds to have a quick attack, or bite if you prefer. It doen't matter what setting you dial in on your amp or modeller - that bite is always present. I like it as it's great for rock/blues but this could be mistaken for brightness.

In saying all this, I think you'll like the Black Dog's. I haven't heard a bad clip of them yet and If I were to get myself another LP I would be a tough choice between them and Rebel Yells.

remak · « **Reply #10 on:** June 15, 2008, 06:00:23 AM »

This may be a topic for the Tech forum but ... you know, what would nail all this subjective opinion down would be to measure the frequency/output curve for each pickup, exactly like those log charts that come with high end microphones.

http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/microphones/frequency-response.html

Is there anyone with facilities to do this? I'm imagining some kind of big string with a mechanically moveable bridge 2mm above the test pu, which is plugged into a recorder.

I assume what people call "dark" would translate to a steeper rolloff curve above 10KHz and maybe peak values lower in frequency than some reference pickup.

IntenseJim · « **Reply #11 on:** June 15, 2008, 06:08:41 AM »

As you can see I'm new here. I want to thank you guys (and girls?) for these very helpful comments.

I should get the Black Dog before the end of the month and I'll report back.

.