Andy Timmons BKPs?

[oilpit]

I am looking to replace the Dimarzios in my Strat with some BKPs.  I'm going for a definite Andy Timmons vibe in all positions...basically a fat, warm, thick bridge pickup (I'm expecting a lot of HD recomendations on that one) with smooth, punchy, vintageish single coils in the middle and neck.  I've had great expiriences with getting these kind of tones from a Seymour Duncan SSL-5 (true single coil wound to ~13k) which makes me think that a Trilogy neck would do well.  However the description of that pickup makes it sound more like a P90 or a humbuckerish tone...I don't want that, I want it to sound distinctly stratty, maybe Slowhands would be better?

Reference: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MTtV7DWcOo

This however, brings up another issue (one which I'm sure has come up many times before) of which pot value to use.  I'm assuming that any pickup I choose for the bridge would sound muddy and undefined with 250k pots, however I doubt I could get the girth and warmth I want out of the single coils with 500k pots...so what is the best compromise?

Thanks for all the help...

[ericsabbath]

crawler + irish tours

[WezV]

This however, brings up another issue (one which I'm sure has come up many times before) of which pot value to use.  I'm assuming that any pickup I choose for the bridge would sound muddy and undefined with 250k pots, however I doubt I could get the girth and warmth I want out of the single coils with 500k pots...so what is the best compromise?

2 volumes and master tone

[Telerocker]

I think Eric is right. I have this combi in my swampash-strat and it's great for the tones you're after.

[Nolly]

I've spoken with Tim a lot about pot values for this specific set (Crawler + ITs) - he recommends 500kΩ pots and adds that the Irish Tours sound great set up like this.
As alternatives, you could consider an Abraxas in the bridge, which has an excellent rich and warm PAF flavour with a more open and balanced midrange than the Crawler. The Slowhands could also be worth looking into for the middle and neck positions - they offer a rounder and fatter strat tone, noticeably less "woody" than the Irish Tours.


If it's of particular worry though, you could consider using 300kΩ pots, in which case I would suggest a Mule alongside a pair of Mother's Milks as a suitable choice.

[oilpit]

May I inqure as to why you suggested the Crawler?  I'm not trying to question you suggestion or imply that I have a fraction of the knowledge you have; nor am I opposed to buying one...I guess I was just expecting a lot of Holy Diver suggestions.

As for the SCs

I've been looking a lot at the Slow Hands and Irish Tours (because I've basically narrowed it down to those two).  And they both sound like killer sets, part of me gravitates more towoards the open, woody, hollowness of the IT for cool Hendrixy/SRVish rhythm/lead hybrid playing (not unlike the Timmons clip I posted) and part of me just wants a single coil that sounds as fat as humanly possible for sustain and warmth when soloing, which pushes me more towoards the SH set.

I'm awaiting an email from tim, I'll be interested to know what he says.

[Nolly]

I can understand why you would expect a Holy Diver suggestion, but in practise it is a fair bit more focussed and compressed than Timmons' sound. I have had best results with open sounding PAF-style pickups and rolling the tone back a couple of notches if needed. A dynamically responsive pickup also allows you to use the volume knob to control the amount of saturation, as Andy does to great effect.
I had a go at recreating Andy's Resolution tone with a Mule, you can hear it here: http://soundcloud.com/nolly/andy-timmons-resolution-tone-test

As far as the singles go, remember that you do have a tone knob you can employ if you want to fatten up a sound, so maybe it's best to go for the Irish Tours for maximum flexibility.

[dave_mc]

fup me nolly that deliver us clip is awesome :D

Completely nailed it (tone and playing).

[Nolly]

Thanks Dave :)

[Emperoff]

Most of Timmons tone comes from the amp settings he uses, as he played most of his career with a Seymour Duncan JB. If you listen to some old tracks from him, you'll notice that his tone was way more bright than it is now. He said in a couple of videos that he rolled off most of the highs and presence of the amps he used, besides his current Mesa Rig (which doesn't need that).

I have a bolt-on jackson with a Duncan JB that can nail Timmons tone better than any of my guitars. Perhaps a Rebel Yell will work for you.

For the neck pickups, he uses some Dimarzio single-coil sized humbuckers with very little output, as he uses the neck pickup for the quiet stuff. He also has a specific capacitor installed to bleed some highs when turning the volume down, to retain warmth on the clean tones. I'm not sure which single coil pickups would do best here, as I'm certainly not an expert on those.

[Nolly]

I definitely wouldn't recommend the Rebel Yell over the Crawler, Abraxas or Mule for someone specifically aiming for an AT-like tone. Not that it's a million miles off, but in a strat it certainly wouldn't be my first choice.

[Emperoff]

I definitely wouldn't recommend the Rebel Yell over the Crawler, Abraxas or Mule for someone specifically aiming for an AT-like tone. Not that it's a million miles off, but in a strat it certainly wouldn't be my first choice.

Andy used a JB in a strat for years, and that's a very bright combo. As said before, the warmth of Andy's tone doesn't come from the guitar, but the amps. The Rebel Yell would probably be in the ballpark as it has a similar EQ curve and the Holydiver is supposedly based on the original JB, not the current one (which is much brighter).

[Nolly]

I get where you're going with this, but I still feel that the aforementioned pickups are going to deliver a Timmons-like rich and and open tone with less effort.

[Telerocker]

I'm with Nolly. The Crawler will do great Timmons-tone, depending on the amp used. A Mule or Abbraxxas (which is I understood a sort of hotrodded Mule) will, as Nolly says, be good options too. Listen to Nolly's clips with Mules. Amazing tones.

[oilpit]

The Rebel Yell would probably be in the ballpark as it has a similar EQ curve and the Holydiver is supposedly based on the original JB, not the current one (which is much brighter).

I gotta disagree on that one, I can't say with any authority which BKP would work best, but I can say that there have been no (major) changes to the Duncan JB since it's inception.

Only reason I do is that I frequent the Duncan forum and there have been some VERY heated discussions about this, and Frank Falbo and other Duncan fat cats (pickup nerds excuse the pun  :D) have stated very explicitly that a JB from the 70's sounds exactly like one off a Guitar Center sheft today.

I think I've basically settled on a Crawler/IT/IT set, thanks for all the help guys!