A rare guitar I'm interested has Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers in both bridge and neck position. Due to the style I play - fuzzed out, hard rock (almost bordering on heavy metal - think black sabbath), having exclusively SLs on my guitar may be a little too polite sounding. However as our music has quieter, clean psychedelic passages and such would it work to have the Seth in bridge position and something more aggressive like a 57 classic in neck position? I've no experience in mixing and matching pups so would appreciate the advice.
Mixing pickups (Seths, Classic 57)
- Thread starter frank1985
- Start date
Fuzzed out classic / hard Rock shouldnt require hotter HBs as much as actual metal which requires a tighter dirt as opposed to looser fuzz.
But regarding mixing pickups, in general you dont want a hotter neck pickup and weaker bridge.
The opposite is great though.
But regarding mixing pickups, in general you dont want a hotter neck pickup and weaker bridge.
The opposite is great though.
nathan5782
Tele-Meister
The 57 classic and Seth Lover should be pretty similar sounding you could look at some comparison videos on YouTube.
low_fidelity2100
TDPRI Member
Between a seth and a 57 classic, the biggest difference is gonna be that the 57 is potted, while the seth is not.
I'm not sure which position you're looking to use as your "clean" sound and which as your Dirty/fuzzed out sound....but whichever you're wanting to use with Fuzz/dirt, I'd definitely recommend getting something potted. Just to avoid excessive microphonic feedback at high gain, or high volume.
Seths sound great, clean, dirty, fuzzed out, etc....same goes for the 57's. Sorta just different flavors of the same soup. They're both a great classic chicken noodle, one just has more salt and basil, while the other has more garlic and celery leaf....if that makes sense. Either is great, and very very similar.
That said, consider just having whichever seth you'll be using for gain, wax potted. It's not gonna be any better or worse than a potted 57, just slightly different. And will work better with Fuzz/gain. Plus it won't cost much to try (or nothing if you're comfortable doing it yourself).
And as telemnemonic said, you don't need high output pickups for classic rock or fuzz (lower output actually tends to work alot better with fuzz). So the Seth's should work perfectly, if you don't mind the microphinics, or get them potted.
But to your actual question.....Zero issue mixing and matching pickups/brands....Duncan's, Dimarzio, Gibson, and most others will work together just fine. So mix and match freely. Only thing to watch outfor is to make sure both pickups are in phase with eachother. But even that is generally fine, being as most manufactures use 4 wire hookup anymore, so phase can be changed easily if needed (and on 2 conductor, it can be changed by flipping the magnet).
I'm not sure which position you're looking to use as your "clean" sound and which as your Dirty/fuzzed out sound....but whichever you're wanting to use with Fuzz/dirt, I'd definitely recommend getting something potted. Just to avoid excessive microphonic feedback at high gain, or high volume.
Seths sound great, clean, dirty, fuzzed out, etc....same goes for the 57's. Sorta just different flavors of the same soup. They're both a great classic chicken noodle, one just has more salt and basil, while the other has more garlic and celery leaf....if that makes sense. Either is great, and very very similar.
That said, consider just having whichever seth you'll be using for gain, wax potted. It's not gonna be any better or worse than a potted 57, just slightly different. And will work better with Fuzz/gain. Plus it won't cost much to try (or nothing if you're comfortable doing it yourself).
And as telemnemonic said, you don't need high output pickups for classic rock or fuzz (lower output actually tends to work alot better with fuzz). So the Seth's should work perfectly, if you don't mind the microphinics, or get them potted.
But to your actual question.....Zero issue mixing and matching pickups/brands....Duncan's, Dimarzio, Gibson, and most others will work together just fine. So mix and match freely. Only thing to watch outfor is to make sure both pickups are in phase with eachother. But even that is generally fine, being as most manufactures use 4 wire hookup anymore, so phase can be changed easily if needed (and on 2 conductor, it can be changed by flipping the magnet).
