Alternative to SD Jerry Donahue ???

[Phil_tre]

Hi !

I'm looking for a new bridge pickup for my Tele and
this time I need help to find the right thing. I like to
play a lot of rhythm with bar chords and since I only
play with a drummer (no bass) it need to cover great
range of freqs...

Right now, the SD Jerry Donahue is almost perfect but
if I had only one word to describe it, it would be "polite"...
I'm looking for something with the same tone but a bit
more "nasty" or dirty (in a good way)

Maybe a SD Broadcaster ? It will go with a SD Alnico 2
pro in the neck by the way... The amp is a 5E3 clone...

Thanks, any suggestion is welcome !

Phil.

(link removed)
image removed

 

[YoGeorge]

I have had Broadcasters and JD's over the years and IMO the Broadcaster is definitely grittier (a la Keith Richards) in the mids. More "bark" for sure. I have a 1994 Hamer T-51 that I have owned since 1995; the stock Duncan Broadcaster is still in the bridge and it is still perfect. It can also do the jangle and chime thing, and still has some great twang to it.

My impression of the JD is also that is is kind of smooth and polite without a pedal to ram a bit more grind into the front end of the amp. And I have had two JD's over the years, and they have not stayed in my guitars for a long time.

I very recently put a pair of Fender Nocaster pickups in another tele (which has had a lot of pickups in it over the years) and although the bridge pickup is fairly low in output, it has this vintagey kind of "grind" that is nice but I believe it will be out of phase with your neck pickup. And it is ultimately more trebly--but has this cool "looseness" to it in the low end and the mids that I like. Won't push an amp front end really hard, tho.

Rio Muy Grande is also a good rocker and will be in phase with the Duncans, and has a bit more oomph than the Broadcaster (~10k of wire with larger magnets), but has more of a mid scooped thing happening, with a bigger bottom end if you want more bass end push. I have a mongrel tele that has had a Muy Grande in it for about 12 years. Might be a bit louder than you want with an AII neck pickup. The Rio halfbreed might be really cool...

I play mostly non-reverb Fender BF or blonde circuits without a lot of preamp stages.

Good luck,
George

 

[Muttcaster]

I tried a JD in my Esquire before moving on to Rob DiStefano's pups. The "Lion" he offers is quite a bit snappier and more aggressive than the JD was in my guitar. See this thread:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/378547-testing-cavalier-lion-pickups.html

 

[Phil_tre]

I have had Broadcasters and JD's over the years and IMO the Broadcaster is definitely grittier (a la Keith Richards) in the mids. More "bark" for sure. I have a 1994 Hamer T-51 that I have owned since 1995; the stock Duncan Broadcaster is still in the bridge and it is still perfect. It can also do the jangle and chime thing, and still has some great twang to it.

My impression of the JD is also that is is kind of smooth and polite without a pedal to ram a bit more grind into the front end of the amp. And I have had two JD's over the years, and they have not stayed in my guitars for a long time.

I very recently put a pair of Fender Nocaster pickups in another tele (which has had a lot of pickups in it over the years) and although the bridge pickup is fairly low in output, it has this vintagey kind of "grind" that is nice but I believe it will be out of phase with your neck pickup. And it is ultimately more trebly--but has this cool "looseness" to it in the low end and the mids that I like. Won't push an amp front end really hard, tho.

Rio Muy Grande is also a good rocker and will be in phase with the Duncans, and has a bit more oomph than the Broadcaster (~10k of wire with larger magnets), but has more of a mid scooped thing happening, with a bigger bottom end if you want more bass end push. I have a mongrel tele that has had a Muy Grande in it for about 12 years. Might be a bit louder than you want with an AII neck pickup. The Rio halfbreed might be really cool...

I play mostly non-reverb Fender BF or blonde circuits without a lot of preamp stages.

Good luck,
George

George,

that's exactly what I was looking for... Grit and grind in a vintage package.
I will order the Broadcaster and let you know my impressions... I was going
to order the Fender Nocaster set but I read some review that suggest that the
neck pickup is very bassy and in a Tweed Deluxe, it will be useless if it's that
bassy...

Thanks for you help !

Phil.

 

[Phil_tre]

I tried a JD in my Esquire before moving on to Rob DiStefano's pups. The "Lion" he offers is quite a bit snappier and more aggressive than the JD was in my guitar. See this thread:

http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaster-discussion-forum/378547-testing-cavalier-lion-pickups.html

will take a look...

Thanks !

Phil.

 

[Muttcaster]

FWIW, I have the Nocaster set, too and I don't find the neck pup bassy at all. I had a TX Tele neck (still do...just not installed) and it's bassy. But the Nocaster is not.

I should record that set for you tomorrow...

 

[Hoodster]

There was a thread here about 3 days ago comparing these two pickups. Use the search feature to find.

In my experience, the SD Broadcaster is definitely NOT dirtier or nastier than the JD. In fact, it's quite wimpy in the low end (3/10 in the bass on the SD tone chart--also a good reference tool).

 

[Whoa Tele]

OC Duff Plankster sounds like what you're after

 

[YoGeorge]

George,

that's exactly what I was looking for... Grit and grind in a vintage package.
I will order the Broadcaster and let you know my impressions... I was going
to order the Fender Nocaster set but I read some review that suggest that the
neck pickup is very bassy and in a Tweed Deluxe, it will be useless if it's that
bassy...

Thanks for you help !

Phil.

The Nocaster neck is not bassy at all--it uses a nickel silver cover. I find virtually all of the Seymour Duncan tele neck pickups (STR-1, 2, 3) which I have had experience with to be bassy. Duncan uses chrome plated brass covers I think. I am guessing the Alnico Pro neck pickup with the cover on it would be bassy as well. I am using a Duncan Hot Tele neck in a tele with a Rio Muy Grande in the bridge and pulled the cover off the Duncan years ago.

One problem with the Nocaster set in your application is that they are not high output pickups. Texas Specials would be more rockin'. (I have a Road Worn tele with the stock Tex Mex set and those go in a good direction for rocking sounds.)

Good luck with your choice among the conflicting advice. One thing I will note re the guy who says the Broadcaster is not gritty or rocking is that individual pickups do vary. I have had 4 or 5 Duncan Broadcasters over the years and they do not sound totally the same--I have one in a drawer that is a bit more laid back than my fave in my Hamer T-51. Possible that the magnets have less power or something (I've been thinking of sending it to someone to have the magnets goosed up.)

I also find Duncan's "tone charts" to be pretty silly and useless. Something like the lil' 59 looks like it would fall into the same range as tele pickups when instead it sounds like a full size JB bucker--totally middy and mushy unless you are in massive overdrive.

George

 

[Rick Towne]

I have had Broadcasters and JD's over the years and IMO the Broadcaster is definitely grittier (a la Keith Richards) in the mids. More "bark" for sure. I have a 1994 Hamer T-51 that I have owned since 1995; the stock Duncan Broadcaster is still in the bridge and it is still perfect. It can also do the jangle and chime thing, and still has some great twang to it.

My impression of the JD is also that is is kind of smooth and polite without a pedal to ram a bit more grind into the front end of the amp. And I have had two JD's over the years, and they have not stayed in my guitars for a long time.

Good luck,
George

*****

Although I hang out more that the Gear Page, I noticed this thread because I remember YoGeorge and I've used JD's in my lefty G&L ASAT Classics since they first came out, back in the good old G&LDP days. I've tried others but come back each time, as they work best for me with different gain levels and amps.

How are you George? It's been many years.

FWIW, I saw Jerry, my favorite player, play his Fret-King at NAMM and he's as good as ever, well into his 60's. G&L was back as well after a few years hiatus, with their own alnicos in a line of ASAT Classics. I haven't tried those, but since I like the G&L made Legacy pickups, but not enough to replace my original Duncan SSL-2s in my Legacy and the neck and middle of my ASAT Classics.

 

[YoGeorge]

Hey RICK! I am well, still playing teles and T-51's, and still talking about pickups...which I kind of got burned out on about 2002... Better to just play music and I am still doing that Actually going to a jam today with (gasp) my newish EJ strat--boy is that a nice guitar.

Seems like a million years ago, prolly 1997, that I came here and made this page my Internet "home"...still some familiar faces.

Take care,
George

 

[BobbyB]

Try raising the height of the JD and add a little treble with the tone knob.
Honestly I love my JD. Moving the height up or down makes a huge difference in how it sounds.

 

[Colt W. Knight]

Instead of throwing around a bunch of tonal cliches, this is the best comparrison I can give you. I built all of these pinecaster from the same pine board. Same Picker

Seymour Duncan Jerry Donahue



Seymour Duncan Broadcaster



OC Duff Plankster



*My Favorite*

D. Allen Colt 51

 

[Phil_tre]

Instead of throwing around a bunch of tonal cliches, this is the best comparrison I can give you. I built all of these pinecaster from the same pine board. Same Picker

Thank you so much for this !!

Phil.

 

[kmac]

Fender CS broadcaster or voodoo te50. Both can cover alot of ground and the te50 has serious ballz.

 

[Hoodster]

As in other threads, kind of pointless to argue about tone and subjective impressions. You can find YT demos of both the JD and Little 59 on my channel linked below. Suffice to say that George and I disagree on both pickups.

As for Duncan's own tone charts, I've found them to be quite accurate. To be sensible, why would a manufacturer advertise that their pickup has weak bass response (3/10 for the Broadcaster) if it weren't true? Wouldn't they just be hurting their own sales??

 

[SPUDCASTER]

Not really sure how the JD keeps jumping into the "polite" classification here lately?

Out of the four clips of Colt's, the Plankster sounded the most "polite".

I do realize that you can't put 100% faith in internet clips. But in this case you have the same player, same or similar amp and probably the same recording device.

I liked the JD and the Broadcaster over the D. Allen Colt 51. But, that's just my opinion.

To the OP: If your not happy with what your usuing now. You need to do what a whole bunch of us here have done.

Get out you wallet and start installing different pickups in your guitar and hear them through your amp then come to your own conclusion as to what works for you. It's the only way possible to figure it out.

Good luck!

 

[YoGeorge]

As in other threads, kind of pointless to argue about tone and subjective impressions. You can find YT demos of both the JD and Little 59 on my channel linked below. Suffice to say that George and I disagree on both pickups.

As for Duncan's own tone charts, I've found them to be quite accurate. To be sensible, why would a manufacturer advertise that their pickup has weak bass response (3/10 for the Broadcaster) if it weren't true? Wouldn't they just be hurting their own sales??

I was on the TDP in 1997 discussing pickups, have owned all of the Duncan models being discussed and more, and disagree with the Duncan tone charts because my subjective impressions of tone find them to be pretty useless. They are trying their best, I am trying my best, and you are trying your best.

There is a reason I have avoided the page for 10 years or more and it is precisely because I/we have gone around in circles trying to define tone and there is no way to do it. Find something that is close to what you want, turn the amp knobs to make it work, and play until your skills improve... Long live teles and tele players! The JD has Alnico II magnets and has the inherent smoothness that AII's provide. The Bcaster has Alnico V's and barks.

I spent 4 hours today jamming with a couple buds. Enjoyed it a lot, made my EJ strat talk in interesting ways. I usually wish I was playing a tele, but I didn't even wish that today because I was focused on what I was playing and enjoyed playing with two friends who I played with 46 years ago (not a typo), some of the same tunes. Gear doesn't matter much.

Have a great week,
George

 

[wallis222]

The Lindy Fralin SP43 is an AWESOME bridge pup. I'm a traditionalist at heart, and this may be one of the only "gimmicky" pickups that I like... and I REALLY like it. It's p90 style in that it's got adjustable steel pole pieces, alnico III bar magnet, and #43 wire.

This guy has got many video demo's of this pickup. Here are a couple of them:



In the second video jump to 2:12 for the bridge pickup.


In the third video he switches to the bridge pup for the first time at the 0:25 mark, then cranks the volume in another 20 seconds.