I haven't heard them, but the very concept doesn't sound particularly good to me. Wouldn't a scooped-mid single coil be the very definition of thin and brittle?
What do these types of pickups sound like? Is there anything special that the scooped mid Strat pickups provide over a Standard Strat pickup? I'm trying to imagine how scooped mids would sound like on a Strat pickups...particularly on the neck position. I know Lev has the Custom Shop 69s and I've heard his guitar. I'm curious about the JM Big Dipper pups. Anyone have any experience with the Big Dippers?
Guitars/Bass - MIM Fender Classic 50s Strat, MIM Fender Standard Strat, Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epi '56 Gold Top Les Paul, Martin DSR acoustic, Sigma Martin Auditorium electric/acoustic, Squier Jazz Bass.
Amps/Cabinets/Modelers - Model 2558 50 watt Marshall Silver Anniversary Jubilee combo w/ Celestion Vintage 30s, 4x12 Marshall cabinet w/25 watt Greenback Celestions, Fender Blues Junior w/ a couple of Billm mods, Line 6 POD 2.0, Roland Micro Cube
Pedals/Effects - Cry Baby Classic Wah, Boss TU-2, Boss NS-2, Boss RC-2 Loop Station, Ross Compressor, MXR Micro Amp, Danelectro FAB Echo, Danelectro FAB Chorus, Danelectro Chicken Salad, Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Marshall Echohead, Duhvoodooman's Zonkin' Yellow Screamer, Digitech Digiverb, Digitech Bad Monkey, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Homemade Loop Bypass pedal, Duhvoodooman's Sonic Tonic (Maxon SD-9 clone +), Voodoo Labs Superfuzz
I haven't heard them, but the very concept doesn't sound particularly good to me. Wouldn't a scooped-mid single coil be the very definition of thin and brittle?
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
Effecten: "Thesis 96" Overdrive/Boost (aka DVM OD2), Hardwire DL-8 Digital Delay/Looper, DigiTech Polara Reverb, DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory and CF-7 Chorus Factory, Danelectro CF-1 Cool Cat Fuzz
"I wish Imagine Dragons would be stuck in an Arcade Fire for an entire Vampire Weekend."--Brian Posehn
I was wondering what the John M. Big Dipper pups sounded like as well. I bet they sound great, but I would like to listen to them as well.
Guitars: Epiphone Special 2 LP modded with a SD Pearly Gates and a SD Alnico 2 flat strat pro.300K pots.Tone pros Brass Stop tailpiece.Dunlop frets dressed to .031,LSR roller nut, Spezel custom stainless steel locking tuners. Satin finished neck.Fender MIM 50's strat modded with LSR roller nut, graph tech string tree,sperzel satin chrome locking tuners, graph tech saddles,300K push pull volume for "neck on pup" and 200K tone pots.PUPS:Neck seymore duncan QP single coil for strat. Middle: Seymour Duncan JB Jr with coil tap (so actually a 9 way tone selection). Bridge: Same as neck.Amps/Cabs.2 Epi Valve Jr's, Peavey Delta Blues 1x15. Randall RG200es,Guitar research 4x8 cab loaded W/celestion super 8's and rewired for two-2x8 operation.Marshall 4x12 slant lead cab,Johnson cab 1x12.
they're more versatile than you might think...
- Lev
Main Guitars: Fender US Deluxe HSS Strat, PRS SE C24, Fender Baja Tele
Bass Guitar: Squier VM Jaguar Special
Main Amp: Vox AC15
Main Effects: Digitech EXP-7, Line6 M5, Soul Food, Sub n UP, Flashback, Polara Verb
Vids: www.youtube.com/levguitar
I did a little reading on them and was amazed at how many people wanted a set of those pups without having to buy a Mayer Strat. Apparently Fender doesn't sell them separately. I saw that some company claimed to have made clones of them, but the set was almost $300. I think it was Torres Engineering maybe.Originally Posted by Lev
I thought they might be nice for funk, as he demonstrated. I was surprised he could get the Nu Metal sound from them without being noised to death. I read where someone said that he got killer SRV tone from them. My reaction was if you can get killer SRV tone JUST from those pups, you can get it from any pup. I'm still firmly in the "midrange is king" school of guitars.
Axen: Jackson DK2M, Fender Deluxe Nashville Telecaster, Reverend Warhawk 390, Taylor 914ce, ESP LTD Surveyor-414
Amphen: Jet City JCA22H and JCA12S cab, Carvin X-60 combo, Acoustic B20
Effecten: "Thesis 96" Overdrive/Boost (aka DVM OD2), Hardwire DL-8 Digital Delay/Looper, DigiTech Polara Reverb, DigiTech EX-7 Expression Factory and CF-7 Chorus Factory, Danelectro CF-1 Cool Cat Fuzz
"I wish Imagine Dragons would be stuck in an Arcade Fire for an entire Vampire Weekend."--Brian Posehn
They auction them off on Ebay from the Realiablefender Stratosphere store. Yesterday's auction on just one pup ended at only $154.50 + shipping. Must be pretty good pups huh. Don't know if you'd get the John Mayer tone with them but the idea is right about the same with the way the Texas Specials did. I bet they'd sound pretty good though I outta try them out on JM Strat.
Guitars/Bass - MIM Fender Classic 50s Strat, MIM Fender Standard Strat, Squier Classic Vibe 50s Tele, Gibson Les Paul Studio, Epi '56 Gold Top Les Paul, Martin DSR acoustic, Sigma Martin Auditorium electric/acoustic, Squier Jazz Bass.
Amps/Cabinets/Modelers - Model 2558 50 watt Marshall Silver Anniversary Jubilee combo w/ Celestion Vintage 30s, 4x12 Marshall cabinet w/25 watt Greenback Celestions, Fender Blues Junior w/ a couple of Billm mods, Line 6 POD 2.0, Roland Micro Cube
Pedals/Effects - Cry Baby Classic Wah, Boss TU-2, Boss NS-2, Boss RC-2 Loop Station, Ross Compressor, MXR Micro Amp, Danelectro FAB Echo, Danelectro FAB Chorus, Danelectro Chicken Salad, Marshall Guv'nor Plus, Marshall Echohead, Duhvoodooman's Zonkin' Yellow Screamer, Digitech Digiverb, Digitech Bad Monkey, Dunlop Fuzz Face, Homemade Loop Bypass pedal, Duhvoodooman's Sonic Tonic (Maxon SD-9 clone +), Voodoo Labs Superfuzz
Well you will all want to knwo that UK company Bare Knucle Pickups will do you Big Dippers straight outta the pack and they are awesome.
I put them in an 83 tiger stripe Strat Made in Japan and most of the people I know look at my guitar and go wow what a sound. I played a UK Festival and one of the top guitarists there was amazed at the sound coming out of my Strat.
Go get a set 100 GBP and well worth it.
They dont make you play like Mayer tho !!!
K
Welcome to The Fret, Ken.
Bare Knuckle makes awesome pickups. I have two of syo's Hell guitars, each packed with BNPs. My ZeroDot strat has Nailbomb humbucker & 2 Irish Tour single coils, while the Bender has Blackdogs. Great pickups that really make these Hell Guitars shine!
I'm also a new fan of Bare Knuckles pickups. The Boss Tele set has a beautiful, slightly boosted bass frequency that still has a twang when needed, yet rocks when pushed. They never sound thin or brittle, either. Warm uppers with a touch of glassy chime.
If I replace my Strat's pickups, I'll look closer at their Irish Tour Single Coil Set or Slow Hand Single Coil Set.