Thinking of replacing neck pickup (air norton S) on SL1

[goshac]

Hi,

i have currently a Dimarzio Paf Pro in bridge & Air norton S in neck of my 2004 SL1.
I like the voicing of the Air norton S very much and it balances well with the Paf Pro (Paf Pro has 300 mV output & Air norton S has 280mV), I must say that this pickup sounds just phenomenal on clean sound, very beautiful.

the problem with the lead sound: it has a too strong pick attack, and on high gain it sounds not like an humbucker...but like a hot single coil or something in the middle - with a typical to single coils glassiness.
So on high frets when i play fast alternate picking i hear only the pick attack, it's so dominant that i hate it. i've read that the full sized Air norton has the same characteristics...

Do you have any suggestions what can fit my demands - a fat bassy mini humbucker without the glassiness & attack of a single coil?
i have a 500K volume connected direct to the input jack (tone disconnected). so maybe do something with electronics to eliminate this? maybe put different pots? install a booster?

I've tried lil' 59 on my previous MIJ Soloist pro 1992, and it was so so...
I see that a Hot rails also has a bassy sound, but i don't think it will blend well with the paf pro, they belong to different categories.
So maybe swap both pickups and throw in a Duncan custom & Hot rails?

what do you think?

[goshac]

Anybody?

[JonSick]

Three opinions.

The best neck single coil I own is the EMG SA. I keep coming back to it as nothing seems to do the job better for me. However, if passive it is, then there it is. My Japanese Stealth XL has an 81-SA-SA and I really like the single coil sounds on it!

My second favorite is the Fender FAT60s single coil. It seems to be a great jack of all trades, especially any legato lead stuff or typical Fender neck pickup cleans. I have these in my American Deluxe strat. I used to have a Dimarzio set in there of Pro Track / Blue / Red Velvet. I really liked that set and it was great for every tone imaginable, but I wanted to go true single coil on the strat.

My SL1 has a single-coil sized 59 in the neck, but I don't like it much. The cleans are excellent and there's no pick noises like what you describe, but I find it too compressed and muddy for pretty much anything with drive on it. It's a shame, because I love the Full Shred in the Bridge position. The middle pickup is stock - I guess, Classic Stack?

To me, the perfect passive neck pickup (standard tuning) is the Seymour Duncan Jazz. If I could find a single-coil sized version of that, I'd be happy! I had one in an old Jackson SL4 which I'm still kicking myself for part-exing. For an Engl Powerball of all things (FML!)

[goshac]

well, i just bought a Duncan Custom TB-5 from ebay.
let's see how does it sound in my soloist...

[VClouds]

Looking forward to your review...

[Matt_B]

I use Dimarzio Choppers with Tone Zones in the bridge and I love them. Nice and bubbly.

In terms of pick attack, I also changed from Dunlop Big Stubbies to Ibanez polyacetal picks. The Stubbies added a lot of "click" to the attack whereas the Ibanez picks were much smoother sounding. Still articulate but smoother.

[goshac]

I use Dimarzio Choppers with Tone Zones in the bridge and I love them. Nice and bubbly.

In terms of pick attack, I also changed from Dunlop Big Stubbies to Ibanez polyacetal picks. The Stubbies added a lot of "click" to the attack whereas the Ibanez picks were much smoother sounding. Still articulate but smoother.

I use big stubbies 3.0 picks too.
You're right, the exaggerated attack comes from it. I'll change too

[drago]

I have SD Hotrails in my SL3 and although I like to play leads with them, I don`t like the clean sound. They`re too muddy and too hot to my taste for good cleans. Then I have Classic stack in my SL1 and here I like only cleans. They are nice on leads but too singlecoily and too much output difference between them and JB in the bridge. Most probably I will swap middle pickup of my SL3 with neck pickup of SL1 in the near future just to see how they will go together.

[goshac]

Air norton s is right in the middle between stacks & hot rails, as i see it. it has a strat bell like beautiful cleans, & on lead channel it has the same output level as most full sized neck humbuckers, the sound is full & nice, not muddy at all, but it does have little of a singlecoil feeling, which many may love. all in all nice pickup , and i'll have to decide if i keep it or not. it depends on bridge pickup i'll keep. with a Paf Pro it's a keeper cause they are a perfect match together. if decide to stick with a Duncan Custom, then maybe i'll go with Hotrails...