Seymour Duncan Hot Rails

Pickup features: Single
Impedence or other specs: ?

Model of guitar or bass: Fender Strat
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Bridge
Other pickups on guitar: Sensor
Artists using this pickup:
You musical style(s): Marr, Honeyman-Scott, Smith,
Reason for pickup change: Needed a Phatter sound not from my rig but from my axe.

Perceived output level: Bite, and lots of it.
Tone: depends on how you set it up.
Sonic evaluation: What I love most about this pik-up is that I didn't lose that quality
I get when I'm out-of-phase. But yet, when I use the Hot Rails, I get
lots of bite. Even clean, you get some great tones and sounds. If you're
looking for something the Lace Red offers but more of it, I suggest
this pick-up. "cause after all, it is a fender and it wouldn't be if
you started putting in a bunch of crap.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: all

Comments: Yes, I'd but it again.

Pickup features: Humbucking, passive
Impedance or other specs:

Model of guitar or bass: Harmony Strat-lookalike
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: Stock
Other pickups on guitar: Blue Fender Lace Sensor in neck, Gold Lace Sensor in middle.
Artists using this pickup:
Your musical style(s): Rock, blues
Reason for pickup change: Stock was way too thin and the trebles made my ears bleed.

Perceived output level: 3x higher output than stock pickup.
Tone: Basses are rock solid, Mids are VERY high, trebles are clear.
Sonic Evaluation: Good for hard rock. Especially great for rock (probably also metal)
lead guitar. Four conductor wiring available for all options, I just
used split or full coil. SOunds surprisingly good as single coil,
like a slightly hot bridge pickup. It is also good for clean rhythm
playing in split coil mode. For distorted rhythm (full coil) it
sounds a bit nasty...nasal. Probably due to the HUGE midrange.

For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Comments: This pickup is made for rock music (both distorted and clean), and is
very versatile in that field. But I would not use it for anything
else. I don't like how it sounds so nasty when playing distorted
rhythm, but that's okay, I can just use the neck pickup for that job.
I'm satisfied with it.

Pickup features: mini humbucker (side by side twin blades)
Impedance or other specs:

Pickup features:
Impedance or other specs:
called Centre Music.

Pickup features: Humbucker in a single coil slot.
Impedance or other specs: -

Pickup features: single-coil sized humbucker, high output
Impedance or other specs: unknown
(can't remember the guy's name...)

Pickup features: coil tapped humbucking in single coil form
Impedance or other specs: High (11k ?)

Model of guitar or bass: Guitar
Position: neck
Pickup being replaced: Stock Ibanez Single Coil (from an Ibanez EX 360)
Other pickups on guitar: Stock Ibanez Single Coil (middle from EX 360)
Stock Ibanez Humbucker (bridge from EX 360)
Artists using this pickup:
Your musical style(s): Hard Rock/Heavy Metal
Reason for pickup change:


Model of guitar or bass: 1993 American Standard Telecaster (Fender)
Position:
Pickup being replaced:
Other pickups on guitar: The original bridge pickup is now in the
middle. A Duncan Quarter Pounder is in the neck.
Artists using this pickup: Don't know of any.
Your musical style(s): Heavily blues laced rock with some jazz.
Reason for pickup change: The original didn't have enough punch.


Model of guitar or bass: Guitar
Position: Bridge
Pickup being replaced: Lace Sensor
Other pickups on guitar: Other Seymour at neck, stock in mid on Fender Strat.
Artists using this pickup: -
Your musical style(s): Rock, Blues, Classical
Reason for pickup change: Better than Lace Sensor for the price. A little more
output.


Model of guitar or bass: Cruise stratoclone
Position: bridge
Pickup being replaced: stock Cruise single coil
Other pickups on guitar: stock Cruise single coils, soon to be
replaced by EMG Selects
Artists using this pickup:
No well-known artists that I know of.
Your musical style(s): rock, heavy metal
Reason for pickup change:
Put bluntly, the stock Cruise pickups suck. They're low
output and ludicrously noisy. And, of course, I found the
Hot Rails for a pretty good price.


Model of guitar or bass: guitar
Position: Neck & Bridge
Pickup being replaced: Various strat pickups
Other pickups on guitar: Seymour Duncan Single Coil Stack/
Gold Lace Sensors
Artists using this pickup:
Your musical style(s): rock & blues
Reason for pickup change:
Originally modifying a Fender Squier. Later, to add meat to
a Fender Strat Plus.

Perceived output level: as Seymour Duncan says, the hottest pickup he makes.
It is a VERY high output pickup, very LOUD, louder than any other
that I have heard.
Tone: Distorted it has a good balanced sound Clean it is a bit muddy because
it distorts itself due to high output
Sonic evaluation:
Depends on what you want to use the pickup for. For Hard Rock Metal
Leads, sounds very good. Compare to the intro to Sweet Child O'Mine
by Guns 'n' Roses Clean, the pickup is very loud and quite bright
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:
Suitable for Jazz when played clean, big bright sound Good for Metal
scorching metal leads.

Perceived output level: It defeinately puts out more volts than a
standard vintage type humbucker.
Tone: More bassy than a normal humbucker. It has more coil wraps,
so the extra impedence cuts out some of the higher ends.

Sonic evaluation: This pickup is great if you like a high gain sound. Doesn't
sound all that great clean, because there is no real crispness to it.
Sustain is good, especially with high gain. I have mine wired so I can
cut one of the coils. This pickup still sounds good with one coil,
which is not true of some humbuckers.
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:

Perceived output level: Not excessively hot and not quite as much as a hot
humbucker, but much more than a standard single coil.ghtly more than..., etc.
Tone: Much fuller than a single coil, but not comparable to a standard
humbucker.
Sonic evaluation: A definite improvement over a stock single coil,
unless you prefer the single coil tonality. Falls a little short of a true
humbucker.
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable: I Personally prefer
a humbucker at the bridge and a single coil at the neck (just personal taste.)
The Hot Rails performs the function of the humbucker well especially in
reducing output noise. I've nver tried one at the neck, it might do the job
well...

Perceived output level:
Extremely loud. The Seymour Duncan tech literature claims
the Hot Rails is one of their loudest pickups, and I heartily
concur.
Tone:
Very bassy, although there is still a lot of treble "edge"
Sonic evaluation:
I've had this pickup in for about a year, and I really like
it for most of the things I play. Its forte is really high
gain stuff, like Metallica riffs; for clean playing, you
usually have to back the volume *way* off, which kills the
high end.
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:
Excellent for rock/metal, especially a high-gain amp.
Not so great for clean "vintage Strat" tones.

Perceived output level:
Super Hot. Will overdrive most amps' clean channels if run wide
open.
Tone:
Great for distorted tones. Less so for clean tones. On one strat, the
guitar now sounds more like a Les Paul than a strat because of the beef
of the pickups. They are very strong in the midrange as well. On one
strat, I have neck and bridge hot rails. The neck gets a great Santana
like tone. The bridge gets a good Steve Morse/Brian May tone, and a
variety of others, depending on the EQ of the amp & effects. I have
these pickups fairly close to the strings. On my Strat Plus, I have
only a bridge hot rail (others are stock Gold Lace Sensors), and I had
the tech adjust it further away from the strings for greater clarity
and less magnetic influence. In the coil tapped position, I can still
get a pretty convincing strat/tele single coil sound. The full coil
position yields a really nice snappy distortion (Richie Blackmore and
hotter).
Sonic evaluation:
Overall, excellent. If you're trying to make your strat distort, this
is how you should do it. Again, careful with placement relative to the
strings.
For which styles and positions is this pickup (un)suitable:
I would say this was an excellent rock/blues pickup, with capabilities
extending into country.

Comments:
I give the pickup an 8.5.


Comments: I might find a
better sounding pickup in the future. I'm definately happy with this
pickup.


Comments:
Like I said, I prefer a humbucker at the bridge. The Hot Rails isn't quite as
full, but it does a beautiful job in replacing the single coil. When I want a
more Strattish sound, I'll use it, otherwise I stick to my other axes...


Comments:
I *am* satisfied with the pickup; it's the rest of the guitar
I'd like to trash...
9.5


Comments:
It's a rocker.