Killer VH1 pickup shootout by Ossie Ahsen into a 1971 Marshall Superlead

Racerxrated said:
No SD Custom? That was always reputed to be the real one behind the scenes...
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This all day. It’s a great lineup of pickups that he chose, but omitting that one just doesn’t make any sense.

For that album, it was almost for sure a Super 70 in the destroyer and we will never know what was actually in the Frankie at that time...but the prime suspects are:

-Mighty Mite 1300
-PAF
-rewound PAF by Seymour Duncan

One of the only questions left about his gear around the first album is what wind did Seymour do on his rewound PAF. I like Ossie having a Duncan ‘59 and the ‘78 in the comparison, as it could possibly be either of those specs, but my money would be on the Custom. It just sounds right.
 
41 minutes/pass.
VH tone is very specific but very simple and for me very easy to get.
 
My biggest take away was that the vintage Dimarzio sounded noticeably better than the new one. That and apparently you don't need to sweat the exact pickup too much since several of them were close enough.
 
SpiderWars said:
My biggest take away was that the vintage Dimarzio sounded noticeably better than the new one. That and apparently you don't need to sweat the exact pickup too much since several of them were close enough.
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I recently grabbed a couple JBL D123s, which are 20-25w vs the D120s that EVH used...the D120s are just so hard to find and 500 per IF you can find them. I put them on top of 2 GB reissues and to me, through my 2203 with a boost you can absolutely hear that 'sizzle' from that first album. It's very obvious to me that mixing JBLs and GBs gets you very close to that tone.
 
I have always ‘heard’ the overall guitar sound on VH-I as having more bite and sizzle and VH-II as being a bit warmer and less in your face. Tracks like Dance the Night Away & Women in Love have a much warmer, less aggressive tone than much of the 1st album. Particularly after the Thorn / Friedman vid, I do hear ceramic mag qualities on much of the 1st album and A2 mag qualities on VH-II. Just for fun, I swapped a ceramic magnet in the Jalen Franky that lives in my northern ash partscaster and it makes a subtle, but noticeable difference everywhere. Definitely more edge, bite, sizzle, whatever you want to call it. Not better. Just different.
 
PDC said:
I have always ‘heard’ the overall guitar sound on VH-I as having more bite and sizzle and VH-II as being a bit warmer and less in your face. Tracks like Dance the Night Away & Women in Love have a much warmer, less aggressive tone than much of the 1st album. Particularly after the Thorn / Friedman vid, I do hear ceramic mag qualities on much of the 1st album and A2 mag qualities on VH-II. Just for fun, I swapped a ceramic magnet in the Jalen Franky that lives in my northern ash partscaster and it makes a subtle, but noticeable difference everywhere. Definitely more edge, bite, sizzle, whatever you want to call it. Not better. Just different.
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i suspect a Dimarzio SD was used on VHI
 
I thought the Mighty Mite 1300 both new and old 13.5K and the 8.5K one in the shark had most of the attributes I hear on VH1. The vintage Dimarzio SD was a close second.

The Duncan 59 had more of the diver down broken coil tone and PAFish.

The Model 78 Duncan sounded really good as well and while it can do VH1 I think it really is more in line with VHII.

Overall I think the 1300 13.5K had the VH1 hair and grind but I think I almost liked the 8.5K 1300 in the shark almost as much as the 13.5K one.

The 1800 Mighty Mite 13.5K was cool it has almost too much hair to it, but it was way fatter but still had some PAF sqauwk to it.

The Super 70 and Super Distortion bringing up the rear.

The Duncan Frankenstein was quite disappointing, it really sounded congested almost muddy compared to the 78 model.

What is the resistance reading of the Frankenstein pickup 16K?

Ed always said he thought his VH1 tone was too raspy and harsh and that he didn't like it. That tone really didn't return until WACF which I think has alot of the same hair and grind that you hear on most of VH1. On ATBL I hear the spank of either a Super 70 or a Duncan 59 PAF in the explorer.

It was cool hearing them all going through the exact same signal chain and was surprised how much I liked the Mighty Mite 1300 which I think is 14K, it really has alot of lower output PAF qualities to it but more output. I found myself agreeing with Ossie's descriptions of each pickup after he played them.
 
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That cranked Marshall is a big mainstay for that tone. That's said, I'd kick narry-a one of those pups out of bed
 
Weird that this would be called a pickup comparison when they are all in different guitars. A Les Paul or Explorer with tone pot is going to sound a hell of a lot different to a super strat with a single volume even if all have the same pickups.
Either way, great tones.
 
harddriver said:
The Duncan Frankenstein was quite disappointing, it really sounded congested almost muddy compared to the 78 model.
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I think those two being back-to-back was a good choice. The '78 is fairly bright and clear and maybe a little lean on bottom. Somewhat scooped like a PAF. The Frankenstien has a much more focused midrange. It almost sounds nasally in comparison. They are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

The Jalen Franky doesn't have nearly as much mid-focus as that Duncan. I am always a bit surprised how the Jalen Franky sounds considering the DC and its A2. I would expect a dull, middy tone but its not. I like it a lot in my KraMusikraft.
 
I feel the same way about my model 78 wound by MJ, I had tried an A2 Custom/Custom and it was a muddy mess, no clarity when compared to my regular Custom or Seymourizer II. So I went down the rabbit hole with the Model 78 around 2008-9 and installed it in my northern Ash Frank. I absolutely love that pickup... I thought it was going to be soft of the lows due to the A2 magnet and it couldn't be more different. It has clarity, good tight lows, open sounding with nice grind and squish when you dig in, what I think a great PAF should be.

I had always heard the rumors of the Mighty Mites but I had never really heard one especially in person, I had a late 70's Dimarzio Super Distortion which squealed like a pig with feedback, I swear it was not potted. I always stuck to my duncans after my Dimarzio excursions as well a the tone Zone and Steves Special.

I'm not going to pull my 78 in my frank, but I may try ones of these MM1300's, the 13.5K and the 9.0K in one of my old Kramers I'm currently running an 80's SD Custom in, I'm just curious after hearing Ossie's shootout.
Here's my 78
 
Well... I picked up two new Mighty Mites to try out because of Ossie's shootout... both have the hexhead poles like a Dimarzio Super Distortion. The 1300-1 which measures 15.56Kohms and a 1400 which measures 9.96Kohms installed in the guitar. I was running an 1980's Seymour Duncan Custom wound by MJ 14Kohms in one of my 83 Kramer Pacers.

I swapped out the Custom for the Mighty Mite 1400 9.96Kohm because I'm digging lower output pickups these days and after playing it today I have to say I think it may be one of the missing links to the VH1 and WACF aggressive crunchy tone, the MM 1400 has a single note hair/fuzz type of distortion to it that I only hear on VH1 and WACF the crunchy/fuzz hair artifacts on the fretted root notes of the ascending runs that Ed does as well as the immediate tight thuddiness on the E and A strings on the swing parts of On Fire main riff. While I love my model 78 it doesn't have the in your face single note ceramic magnet crunch/fuzz that the MM has, it is more inline with VHII PAF smoother/warmer tone IMHO which is awesome in it's own right. I probably won't be pulling my model 78 out of Frank for now because it does so many things well.

So for you EVH tone guys if you are curious about VH1 and WACF tone I highly recommend tryingthese Might Mites, they are Made in the USA still which is nice, they sound like Ossie's shootout for sure. I guess they have some oversize monster ceramic magnet and the guy the owns Mighty Mite started accurately reproducing the 1300 and 1400 Mighty Mites $79. buck a piece. Either which way I am very impressed with the 1400 for sure and I would imagine the 1300 has the same characteristics. If you like what you hear in Ossie's shootout they might be for you as well.
 
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I have the same pick-up in 3 guitars. 2 guitars are the same brand, model, and year. The other is a different shape and maker. They all sound different with the odd shaped one, a RR, sounding completely different. YMMV, mine certainly does!
 
I have the original vintage 1300 and 1400 Mighty Mites, the 1400 at 9k sounds more like what EVH might of used at some point, the 1300 is too dark and has no definition to my ears..no coincidence that he later went with a 9k from Duncan for the '78 model
 
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