Mighty Mite Hot rail strat pups

TG · February 27th, 2008, 10:13 AM

Background...

I've experimented with loads of strat pickups over the years trying to find ones I could use. Standard US Fender, standard MIM, 60RI, CS54s, 57/62s, fat50s, Kinman Blues, Hot Golds, Holy Grails, SCNs, and Mighty Mite alnicos (as well as about 10 different bridge pickups) and nuthin' really worked. So I just left the MM alnicos in to noodle at home since they were cheap and nice enough sounding.

But on a whim I ordered a set of the new Mighty Mite Hot Rail strat pups off ebay since they were cheap as chips. $65 for a set (which allowing for the current dollar/euro exchange is really cheap).
To my astonishment they are absolutely ace. I've been noodling thru my Blues Junior and my Cube60 all day and every setting is excellent...clean. They do overdrive really well like any humbucker, but played quiet and clean they are clear and musical and I can easily tell that I like them better than any of the sets mentioned above. It's as comfortable and pleasant as playing one of my teles. The bridge and neck pickups especially do a decent PAF imitation (I have a set of Dimarzio Virtual Vintage PAFs in my LP and these compare favorably) and the other settings sound acceptably 'strat'. Solid and perhaps beefier than many strat pickups, but certainly nice IMO. Not muddy.

I know it's just my opinion here, but for only 65 bucks I think it's worth the risk if you want a fuller sounding strat.

Incidentally, my strat is lightweight ash and is fairly bright sounding naturally, which might be a factor here. And I left the usual 250k pots in.

Just sharing....

ChicknPickn · February 27th, 2008, 10:17 AM

Hey, thanks for sharing. What better source of information do we have besides a fellow TDPRI'er who has bought and used the product?

I've wondered about those. I also am wondering about the blade pups Bill Lawrence has begun promoting. Not all of us can swing the cost of Bardens, eh?

Have fun, and post a sound clip if you're able.

TG · February 27th, 2008, 10:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChicknPickn

Have fun, and post a sound clip if you're able.

Thanks.
And I would love to post sound clips but we're still on a slow rural dial-up and it would take a long time to work out how.
But we're rumoured to be getting a line upgrade in a few months...

mhn433 · June 24th, 2008, 03:45 PM

I recently ordered a set of these off of ebay for $50. I installed them with 3 mini switches to allow coil tapping. These are nice. I replaced 2 MM alnico and a GFS lipstick tube.

As humbuckers, they are versatile. They are very clean and articulate sounding pickups. No mud here. By decreasing the treble and the volume, it is possible to muddy them up a bit and get a passable PAF tone. They will distort easily. I don't generally play metal, but I can see how these would work well.

As single coils, they do a decent imitation of alnico pickups. There again, very clean with little to no mud. These might be too clean for some people. They sound very crisp and almost brittle.

Keeping in mind that these are ceramic magnets, they lack some of the warmth of alnico. But it's a trade off. They are very, very quiet even in single coil mode. And with some tweaking of my amp settings, I was able to get a good deal of the warmth back. Nice pickups and a very good deal overall.

Edit: After playing with these pickups for a few days I decided to rewire the guitar using 250k pots with a .047 orange drop capacitor. I now have 1 volume and 1 tone. What a difference! Much more warmth in both single coil and humbucking mode. The single coils sound much closer to the alnico sc's that I took out. The humbucking mode sounds kind of like a cross between a PAF and a P90. Each pickup sounds slightly different. I really like this setup. Possibly the most versatile wiring job I've ever done.

February 27th, 2008, 10:13 AM	#1 (permalink)
TG Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Beside a bog in the west of Ireland Age: 46 Posts: 4,427 7 Photos	Mighty Mite Hot rail strat pups Background... I've experimented with loads of strat pickups over the years trying to find ones I could use. Standard US Fender, standard MIM, 60RI, CS54s, 57/62s, fat50s, Kinman Blues, Hot Golds, Holy Grails, SCNs, and Mighty Mite alnicos (as well as about 10 different bridge pickups) and nuthin' really worked. So I just left the MM alnicos in to noodle at home since they were cheap and nice enough sounding. But on a whim I ordered a set of the new Mighty Mite Hot Rail strat pups off ebay since they were cheap as chips. $65 for a set (which allowing for the current dollar/euro exchange is really cheap). To my astonishment they are absolutely ace. I've been noodling thru my Blues Junior and my Cube60 all day and every setting is excellent...clean. They do overdrive really well like any humbucker, but played quiet and clean they are clear and musical and I can easily tell that I like them better than any of the sets mentioned above. It's as comfortable and pleasant as playing one of my teles. The bridge and neck pickups especially do a decent PAF imitation (I have a set of Dimarzio Virtual Vintage PAFs in my LP and these compare favorably) and the other settings sound acceptably 'strat'. Solid and perhaps beefier than many strat pickups, but certainly nice IMO. Not muddy. I know it's just my opinion here, but for only 65 bucks I think it's worth the risk if you want a fuller sounding strat. Incidentally, my strat is lightweight ash and is fairly bright sounding naturally, which might be a factor here. And I left the usual 250k pots in. Just sharing....

June 24th, 2008, 03:45 PM	#4 (permalink)
mhn433 NEW MEMBER! Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago Posts: 1	I recently ordered a set of these off of ebay for $50. I installed them with 3 mini switches to allow coil tapping. These are nice. I replaced 2 MM alnico and a GFS lipstick tube. As humbuckers, they are versatile. They are very clean and articulate sounding pickups. No mud here. By decreasing the treble and the volume, it is possible to muddy them up a bit and get a passable PAF tone. They will distort easily. I don't generally play metal, but I can see how these would work well. As single coils, they do a decent imitation of alnico pickups. There again, very clean with little to no mud. These might be too clean for some people. They sound very crisp and almost brittle. Keeping in mind that these are ceramic magnets, they lack some of the warmth of alnico. But it's a trade off. They are very, very quiet even in single coil mode. And with some tweaking of my amp settings, I was able to get a good deal of the warmth back. Nice pickups and a very good deal overall. Edit: After playing with these pickups for a few days I decided to rewire the guitar using 250k pots with a .047 orange drop capacitor. I now have 1 volume and 1 tone. What a difference! Much more warmth in both single coil and humbucking mode. The single coils sound much closer to the alnico sc's that I took out. The humbucking mode sounds kind of like a cross between a PAF and a P90. Each pickup sounds slightly different. I really like this setup. Possibly the most versatile wiring job I've ever done. Last edited by mhn433; June 27th, 2008 at 09:20 PM. Reason: Changed pots

February 27th, 2008, 10:17 AM	#2 (permalink)
ChicknPickn Tele-Meister Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Suffolk, VA Age: 45 Posts: 436	Hey, thanks for sharing. What better source of information do we have besides a fellow TDPRI'er who has bought and used the product? I've wondered about those. I also am wondering about the blade pups Bill Lawrence has begun promoting. Not all of us can swing the cost of Bardens, eh? Have fun, and post a sound clip if you're able.