Hot rails in the neck position?

[Shwayman11]

Hey I was just wondering if any of you guys had any experiences with the SD hot rails pickup in the neck position and if you did could you tell me what it sounded like and if you liked it or not?
Im thinking of putting one in my Kramer Proaxe (its supposed to come stock on it but theres someother SD pickup in there right now which im not too keen about)

Thanks for your opinions!
Chris

[Endrik]

It's very loud and pretty dark sounding.

You can get an awsome lead tone with it wich is fat, thick and smooth ala John Sykes' lead tone on Whitesnake's "Is This Love"... with rolling back the tone knob.

It's pretty versatile but I wish it wouldn't be so hot, a little bit less output would make it more dynamical and even more versatile. Playing with the volume knob helps but still it's a bit too hot for me. That being said it's a very good pickup.

You should also concider SD cool rails pickup wich also sounds very fat and thick but has a bit more high end, dynamcis and less output.

[Speiro]

I have one in the neck position on one of my Fusions and it's great. I mainly use it on the harmony parts on the Maiden songs we do.

[max]

Tried and didnt like it. Since neck singlecoils always have too low output for hi-gain stuff, I thought I might try it. Sounded pretty primitive though - dark, no-character, loud and primitive with bad note-seperation.

[Firebird V]

I use one in a mahogany bodied strat with an Dimarzio X2n in the bridge and a Hot Rails in the neck. It is dark but works very well with the Dimarzio X2N in the bridge. Both are dark sounding though and with the mahogany it is a great match IMO.

[Boomdoggy]

I have one in a mahogany body strat style guitar.I love it.Fat and punchy.Great for blues.

[petedz]

They work pretty well in the neck position of a Hamer Californian. A special case, since the pup is slanted and a bit closer to the bridge than normal.

[jksnhill12]

Jackson put them, and may still put them, in the SL3's. I think they sound great.

[Coyote]

I have allways wonted to but never did let me know on how it works out
I have a Fender Stratocaster that I wonted to do that to but I don't won't to lose that Stratocaster sound that I like.



Rock on for Life

[lynchfan6]

Love the hot rails pickup. I have it in the neck position of my ESP m-ii deluxe, Hamer USA centaura, Jackson USA DK-1, BC Rich USA gunslinger (actually it might be an assassin....looks exactly like a gunslinger but has two pickups) , and Fender american stratocaster. I thought it was great for leads through the Marshalls I used to play, and it really sounds awesome through my SOldano SLO100. To me, it sounds really fat and full of tone,,,really sings and it great for playing really fast, smooth leads. Also awesome for those melodic ballad improvs. Great for those really "toneful" solos, when the bridge pickup is just too bright. By the way, all of the guitars above also have the Duncan distortion pickup in the bridge,,,,another of my favorite pickups. Everyone has different tastes, but I really like the hot rails pickup a lot!!! All my other guitars have full size humbucker pickups in the neck position, or I'd have this pickup in those guitars too.

[roodyrocker]

I put one in the neck of my ESP The Mirage and Max described it perfectly. I didn't like it at all. Actually I had it in the middle and neck positions in combination with a Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge. I ended up yanking the Hot Rails out and going with Dimarzio Virtual Vintages. I also have a Dimarzio Fast Track in the neck of another Jackson and it sounds good too.

Rudy

https://www.wickedrocks.com

[Soap]

SD's "Duckbucker" absolutely a great neck pickup.
Loud with a nice smooth warm stat tone that sounds great clean and dirty both. Myself, through much trial and error discovered it to be "the" neck pickup for me. Its the only neck pickup I use, its very versatile.

[demeyes]

I have one in the neck of my Sl3. I like how it sounds. It is high gain. I like the smooth tone it gives for some of my leads. For a while I had the position lowered and it worked well for cleans like that.

[Firebird V]

I had duckbuckers in a Shannon Soloist with an X2n in the bridge and the duckbuckers are really nice. Great pickups. In the middle it was the best pickup I have ever had in that position. In the neck it was very smooth and clear. I wish I still had the pickups and the guitar... lol. The X2n with a coil tap(single coil mode) makes a really great hot strat sound.

[achren_git]

i had a really wierd washburn with a hot rails (slanted) in the neck and a distortion in the bridge. It sounded very, eh, 80's. I didn't like it personally, and some of the comments about it being very dark/warm i'd agree with, but there's nothing wrong with it if that's the tone you want... it made me thing of maiden in treacle