Do stacked humbucking pickups lack the "Tele Twang"?

I've been looking for some hot pickups for a telecaster project. I'm aiming for as close to a 15 kOhm resistance as I can (preferably with more windings, not stronger magnets) without going for a traditional humbucker, as I find they lose a lot of the tele "twang".

I've been looking at these (http://www.fender.com/products//search.php?partno=0992110000), a well as some other stacked pickups, and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with them, and whether or not they sound as lively and twangy as the price tag.

Thanks a lot.

Hmmm ... for what you're describing you might consider Bardens. Not a stacked design but they're hot, quiet, and twang for days.

Stacked 'buckers just don't have the twang. I've got a few custom teles with Dimarzio's and Duncan's. They sound good - but not like Fender pickups. I use my white thinline custom with a dimarzio stack in the bridge and a '59 in the neck for all my stunt guitar work.(VH, Vai, Satch...)

Fender Vintage noiseless twang just fine.

no twang in stacked buckers, IMHO. I had a G&L ASAT Deluxe, and it lacked the single coil bridge pup twang. I tried a 72 Thinline, and didnt care for it either. Not as a Tele, anyway.

I like a nice humbucker in the neck, though.

Even the Kinman AVN48, nice but no Twang. Stacked humbuckers lack ....... ? The noise canceling is not all thats canceled.

... so the majority dislike stacked humbuckers...?

Any other suggestions then if stacked isn't the way forward?

I didn't mention before... I want some that look like a traditional tele pickups as well.

I only really started looking at the stacked ones 'cause I like nice, hot pickups, and 10K just doesn't quite cut it for me anymore... What are the hottest single coils out there, anyone?

Thanks a lot.

I have a set out of a Vintage Modified that are Duncan Designed stacked single coils.

Well it had a mini HB in the neck, but I used the middle and the Tele bridge recently in a Tele, the Strat middle in the neck of an alder HWY1 Tele and they are clean bold and silent like my EMG T set hum wise. 10 or 11k bridge, I forgot what the other one is. I have no plans to take them out of that Tele. The bridge is way high on tang factor, and the neck is not quite Tele, and not quite Strat, less so than the Strat PUPs I have used in Tele Neck positions previously many times which lean Stratish. Throaty. woody etc, this one is just bright and bold but sound good.

YMMV

I have a seymour duncan vintage stack bridge pickup and i love it. Vintage sound with more depth.

Some stacked are nice and bright. Humbuckers in general are usually not as snappy on the top end. Shop around, read a ton of reviews.

I have a seymour duncan vintage stack bridge pickup and i love it. Vintage sound with more depth.

Same here.

I used a GFS high output neovin in the bridge position of a tele, with a P 90 in the neck. I'm almost sure the neovin is a stacked humbucker. It sounds excellent, but it does NOT sound like a tele bridge pickup. It sounds a whole lot more like a Les Paul bridge Pup, with great singing overdrive. I have another more traditional tele for when I want the twang, so I'm not unhappy with the Les Paulicaster effect of the Neovin and P 90 combo. But it does not twang at all.

My Lawrence L-298T Twangs just fine thank you. To my ears VERY similar to my Keystones.

i like the scns. i can get that bridge to twang, and if you're looking for a "hot" bridge pup this would definately fall under that catagory. very touch/volume sensitve. if you run a hint of od, you can adjust the gain with the volume knob on your tele. this is what i do for i guess you could say my "base" sound and then i control the overall volume with a volume pedal. the more of the nuances i learn from these pups the more i like them. and noiseless or not, i haven't heard a neck pup i like more. kind of stratty, but thicker. an honest review would have to include that i find the bridge is voiced very mid-rangy completely clean and at times i've thought about switching this pup out but i'd have to gain more than i'd loose and i haven't found anything to do that. very versitale pups, i cover alot of ground with these. test drive as much as you can yourself though, alot of fads. i remember last year here when you were a nerd if you didn't play through kinman pups...

I have gone through Seymour Vintage stacks and DiMarzio Area Ts.

I was not happy and went back to the stock Fender Tele pickups and I have a Don Mare Stingray that I love.

The noise is worth the sound. Stacked pickups IMHO were sterile and had none of that single coil magic.

So.. Does anyone have any sound clips of twanging stacked p'ups / flat stacked pickups?

It would be really appreciated rather than "Yes they are" - "No they aren't".
(No offence, people). :wink:

IMHO, the SCNs seem a little flat in the sound clip - but it may just be the amp setup etc. So any real proof would be much appreciated.

Thanks :grin:

the bareknuckles piledriver is a true alnico v single coil and comes in at about 14.6 k at the bridge. if you roll back the volume knob, you get more of a traditional tele sound, but on full it's easily the most intimidating tele pickup i have ever heard :mrgreen:.

highly reccomend it

Hmmm ... for what you're describing you might consider Bardens. Not a stacked design but they're hot, quiet, and twang for days.

For sure, for sure!
This video may have the answer you're looking for.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZS5e7IlrqY

I think you can twang with all of Bill's Wilde pickups. It seems like the Tele twang is the instrument, and the pickup's ability to get it across. Some noiseless designs can be a little muddier or less sensitive. There are good and bad designs of all types!

Aside from all the opinions on noisless pup brands & their characteristics, one thing I've learned about stacked pups is, is that you can't wire them to work with the coils in parallel like you can a side-by-side blade design. You can split the coils (one coil "off") for true single coil (and deal with the noise). With the latter, you get the adantage of increased brightness with no noise running parallel, and you can go split-coil as well if desired. The DiMarzio Chopper T in my Tele is wired 3-way and affords me alot of variety.

The only 2 silent "single coil" pickups I've tried are both GFS.

First were the Neovins and while I think the neck actually sounds better than most covered tele neck pups I've tried, I didn't care for the bridge. It was bright, but not at the right frequency. Almost like to pristine of a sound like a high fi emulation and just didn't capture the tele bridge tone IMHO. Now if I was simply looking for something different it might work but not for traditional tones.

I just installed a pair of their vintage modern rails in a guitar and while these also don't sound traditional tele by any stretch of the imagination, they sound great. Like a PAF with an extended high end, P90ish is some ways, with a hot output and nice low mid punch. I also installed them using a Megaswitch P (5 way blade switch w/ duplicates the original PRS rotary switch wiring) and was extremely surprised at how much the 2 and 4 (split/parallel) positions sound like a traditional single coil. I'm not a fan of the rail look but they sound so good and are so versatile that I'm learning to live with it. Maybe I'll even grow to like the look with time...

I have a seymour duncan vintage stack bridge pickup and i love it. Vintage sound with more depth.

I agree...twangs like crazy...Brent Mason uses one.

I think I'll go for the Seymour Duncan STKs - they look standard, and If I split them with a push-pull pot, I can get the best of both worlds - Noiselessness POWERRRRRRR, or twangtastic singles :grin:

Curious to know how the SD Vintage Stacks worked out for you. I'm shopping around for a set of pickups, considering picking up those pick ups.

I vote "no".
I like Bill Lawrence blade pickups for hum cancellation.
If hum is not an issue, Rio Grande Muy Grandes are my favorites.

Brookedalebill, nice to see you're from Austin. I went to college and lived there before moving out to NYC.

Anyways, haven't pulled the trigger on the SDs, going to check out a friend's Kinmans.

The problem is, I'd like to be able to find the best bang for the buck, something that sounds good and not too expensive.

If you do go for SD stack let me know how it works out as well; I like them and would curious of your opinion.

Also, if ever you are still thinking about the SCN, get the L200 from Bill Lawrence. He's the man who designed them for Fender and sales his version for less.

SCN's are great pickups and are on the hot side. They sound very single coil to me and I can get the sound I expect of single coils. I also play and love Fender vintage pickups. My ears seem to prefer one or another on different occasions. Last few weeks the vintage seem to be filling the bill.

If your looking for "hot" your probably going to lose some twang that you might not miss. The best bet is to play them yourself and see. SCN's and vintage can be easily compared at most dealers. Give um a spin! :)

My Lawrence L-298T Twangs just fine thank you. To my ears VERY similar to my Keystones.


+1

Consult the Bill and Becky board at Yuku. Bill's in house designs are way better than the SCNs he designed for Fender you have pointed out.

I have the Seymour STK-T3b in an Esquire. It requires ME to supply a lot of the twang, if you know what I mean.

I popped in the Seymour Duncan Vintage Stacks yesterday. They sound good and dead quiet. My original pickups in the guitar were the Fender Modern Vintage pickups, I think only found on the American Ash 8502 Tele models.

I was mostly looking to roll off a bit of treble, which they did nicely. There's more bottom end and they sound a tad darker. I play mostly instrumental and indie rock, so I think it'll be a great fit for me. I'm not 100% sold on them yet, I do like my original neck pickup better. But I'm sure after tweaking the amp and pickup height and everything in between, I'll find the pocket.

I'm considering doing the coil tap, but will probably play around with the pickups as they are for now. I haven't changed any of the components in the controls. Any recommendations?

For a moment, I thought I was back in 1984 when the Seymour Duncan stacked humbuckers for Strats and Teles were the rage!

People have been asking the same question for the past 25 years, that I can remember! Yes, there is a tiny bit of difference but very very little difference today in the vintage series. They've come so close to recreating the tone perfectly and eliminating all noise.

Of course, there are also those amongst us who don't mind it one little bit and are quite content with Tele pickups the way they are.

YMMV

Ward

I'm curious to know if anyone has done the push/pull or 4 way option on the Vintage Stacks and what the results were. Thanks!