New Humbuckers for super strat in Alder

[gordongin]

Hello,

Can anyone give some insights about these pickups in an H-H super strat in Alder.

Vh ii set.
Cold sweat set.
Crawler bridge
holy diver bridge.

I have a tiny terror combo and a vox ac15.

I play mainly classic rock and some extreme and nuno bettencourt percusive licks.

Not a major fan of extreme gain but in territory of pearl jam gain to some Andy Timmons.

I am fairly new to pickups world so any reply will be a big help.
Thanks in advance and sorry for my English.

[Telerocker]

Hi and welcome here!

Crawler or Holy Diver would be my fav. allround bridgepickup in alder, but I recently discoverd the VHII as a great rockpickup in my strat. I have the Crawler too and it does (nearly) everything in my HSS-strat. It's beefy, warm but balanced and a bit compressed (just a bit, don't worry it has enough pickattack and articulation) which I like for searing solo's. Crawler has PAF-dna, where the Diver has more of and oldschoolmetal-signature, but can do classic rock too.
I don't have experience with the Cold Sweat. It's famous as a Les Paul-pickup, but could be too bright in an alder bolt-on guitar. The VHII sits in my American Series HSS-strat and it's a great vintagehot rockpickup, dynamic, articulate and screaming on demand. The VHII is overall a bit leaner then the Crawler, thought the punchy tones are to die for and the VHII is not thin in a strat. It's def. more percussive then the Crawler, yet balanced and cleans up to a nearly singlecoil vocal quality. Btw, the VHII-neck is praised a lot on the forum.
Choice is matter of taste. I sense the VHII might be suitable for the described tones and style.
 

[darkbluemurder]

That's a difficult one:

Classic Rock = VHII
Nuno Bettencourt = Cold Sweat
Andy Timmons = Holydiver or Crawler
Pearl Jam = ? no idea, not familiar with them.

I would choose one of the brighter pickups out of the selection (e.g. VHII or CS) and do the warmer tones with the tone control rolled back. Vice versa it will be more difficult to cover all the grounds.

Cheers Stephan

[Sancho]

I loved the VHII I played last week. Chimey, alive yet punchy enough for both riffing and lead.
I have a Charvel HH (maple neck, alder body) where I want to swap the pickups and I'm definitely going for VHIIs.

If you read some of the other threads, you'll notice the HD isn't everyone's taste in an alder guitar. It sounds a bit underwhelming in my Soloist.

[gordongin]

Hello,

First off all, i want to thank all the answers.

I am looking for a punchy tone with some grit. The orange have some proeminence in the mids and i wonder if it won't be too overwhelming with the crawler and the h. Diver.

I don't huges amounts of gain. So maybe i'll choose between the cold sweat and the vhii.

Can be choosen a set or a combo between the two? Vhii - neck and cold sweat bridge or vice versa.

Thank you all for this newbie questions i'm asking.

[darkbluemurder]

I am looking for a punchy tone with some grit. The orange have some proeminence in the mids and i wonder if it won't be too overwhelming with the crawler and the h. Diver.

I agree. Both pickups have lots of mids so they would not be my first choice.

I don't huges amounts of gain. So maybe i'll choose between the cold sweat and the vhii.

VHII in that case. CS has more output.

Can be choosen a set or a combo between the two? Vhii - neck and cold sweat bridge or vice versa.

The sets are calibrated by Tim, i.e. he matches output and voicing of the pickups to be appropriate for their assigned positions. But you are of course free to put together other combinations. I have a CS set and a VHII neck but I have not played the VHII neck in the same guitar as the CS neck. Here are my 0.02c to mixes of VHII and CS:

VHII bridge, CS neck: tonally it should work well since both are bright pickups
CS bridge, VHII neck: that combo would be good if you want a stronger contrast between bridge and neck. CS is bright, VHII neck has a darker midrange colour with a clear top end.

I would choose the VHII set.

Cheers Stephan

[Telerocker]

I would take VHII's over CS's in a strat. Btw, I don't think the Crawler will be overwhelming dark and middy on your Tiny Terror. I play mine on an Orange Rockerverb 50-head/2x12cab with nearly full mids on the amp. It's fat, yet balanced.

[gordongin]

Once again, thank you for both reply.

I will give the vhii a try, your guru advices are welcome and more than enough.

My kind regards, and greetings from Portugal.

Ricardo

[metalmaniac93]

I picked up a Rebel Yell bridge for my old 80 Kramer Baretta II (I think it is a Poplar bodywith Maple neck/Rosewood fingerboard) and this thing smokes!!!  Yes, a little bright in this type of guitar, but with an in your face type of sound as would be expected.  Very clear and focused!!!  Here is a clip off of YouTube that  I found that sounds pretty close to mine.  I play through an Engl Savage 120 through a Bogner OS 2X12 cab (V30s).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHqiuF36mc8

[Telerocker]

I don't say it couldn't work, to me the RY is at is best in mahogany guitars that needs some extra highs.

[metalmaniac93]

Yes, I agree that it would work best in mahagony guitars as the Cold Sweat does!!!

[psalterium]

I had a cold sweat in a Jackson SL1 (in the bridge), which can really be a difficult guitar to voice. This said, I didn't like how it sounded; I mean, nothing to say about the quality of the sound I was getting out of it, but it didn't work for me, it lacked body and was way too bright (but it was really tight and defined, which I liked). Maybe it didn't like the floyd rose and/or the neck-through construction, but I'm no expert. On the other hand, the VHII is a great all around pickup (misleading name, though). I have it a MIM stratocaster and couldn't be happier, I can't believe how versatile and dynamic it is.