neck single coil - anyone tried both the Slowhand & Irish Tour?

[drownedcat]

I'm looking for a new single coil neck pickup to go in an ash/maple strat. I have the PAT Pend 63 neck pickup already (in a different guitar) which works great for clean tones but for the more distorted lead stuff its quite shrill.

So i'm considering either the slowhand or IT this time for something slightly more versatile.

Has anyone tried out both of these and compared the differences? do they respond differently to the level of amp distortion with the guitar volume up / or rolled back?

Many thanks!

[fhn_lopes]

What do you mean with shrill? Is your guitar veneer board? The 63' set is made for veneer board necks... anyways

I had the IT neck in a maple/alder strat, and it worked very fine. The IT is twangy and cleans up nicely too. I beleave it's less dark than the Slowhand, but it's not on the very bright side. I'd say it's a warm pup, full sound, focused mids and a softer high end, good for bright guitars. The low end isn't icey picky dry as a texas though... A nice versatile all arround single coil, with a modern attitude, but it can still twang.

[drownedcat]

What do you mean with shrill? Is your guitar veneer board? The 63' set is made for veneer board necks... anyways

I had the IT neck in a maple/alder strat, and it worked very fine. The IT is twangy and cleans up nicely too. I beleave it's less dark than the Slowhand, but it's not on the very bright side. I'd say it's a warm pup, full sound, focused mids and a softer high end, good for bright guitars. The low end isn't icey picky dry as a texas though... A nice versatile all arround single coil, with a modern attitude, but it can still twang.

it appears the 63' and most of the other 'vintage' singles are eq'd with higher treble. The other guitar i have the '63 in (alder/maple/slab board ebony) is a bright guitar to begin with.. so maybe that's a reason its very treble'y with more distortion!  but it's a nice pickup it has a great 'sweet spot' with the volume around halfway.

i think something a little warmer would be better for the  ash/maple strat for rock tones.. but ideally be able to back the volume off playing clean and sound more like the '63.

sounds like your experience with the IT is close to what i'm looking for.

reading the product description for the IT compared to Slowhand.. they recommend the IT for 'classic rock' and the SH for 'Hard Rock'. Perhaps this has something to do with the higher mids on the SH? but are they really so different?

[Kiichi]

Take a normal single coil, add mids, output, agression and add some rock n roll fairy dust and you pretty much got the IT. A beefed up SC. Still nice on cleans (fatter than a normal SC), but loves light to medium distortion. Can do heavy too, but you gotta roll the tone down a bit maybe. Very much a true SC still, just rockier.

Take an IT and do the same thing again and you got the Slowhand. Mostly more beefy that one. Also the agression sits a little lower in the frequency spectrum I would say.

[Telerocker]

Take a normal single coil, add mids, output, agression and add some rock n roll fairy dust and you pretty much got the IT. A beefed up SC. Still nice on cleans (fatter than a normal SC), but loves light to medium distortion. Can do heavy too, but you gotta roll the tone down a bit maybe. Very much a true SC still, just rockier.

Take an IT and do the same thing again and you got the Slowhand. Mostly more beefy that one. Also the agression sits a little lower in the frequency spectrum I would say.

That sums it up pretty well. I use the IT-neck alot for screaming solo's. It can handle gain with authority. It's really two grades fatter then my Mother's Milk-neck, that has that woodiness and glassiness you find in the Pat Pend Series. Turn down the volumeknob down and you can get close to a Mother's Milk, although it has less of the classic woodiness and it's less scooped.

If have no experience with the Slowhand-neck. The extra lows and mids would be for me to far from a vintage neckpickup. Anyway with my amps the IT-neck is full enough.