dimarzio area hot T for tele?

[shreder75]

just got a cheap ass tele from my buddy for a song...I'm thinking of replacing the pickups in it..the bridge pickup is ok but it's a little weak and brittle on the high end..I don't mind the twang (it's a tele after all) but it gets a bit shrill....

normally I'm a duncan guy...but in the world of teles and with getting the guitar for such a cheap price, I'm willing to experiment...

I think Kotzen uses the chopper T in his tele but I don't know if I want to go with a ceramic rails type pickup....

the area hot T seems like a cool pickup...only alnico 2 magnet but output wise it seems a bit hotter than what's in there now..they say it's between a humbucker and a p90 (love p90s) with a classic PAF type of output/eq....

anybody have any experience with it? Was thinking that coupled with the area T neck...

 

[Vrad]

That $50 guitar needs $700 pickups in it to make rock... you do realize that right?

 

[shreder75]

I know...but I wanted confirmation first

 

[AmpliFIRE]

I like the Duncan Alnico Pro II tele pups. They're full sounding with less high end bite...

The Area T's are very good as well

 

[Vrad]

I like the Duncan Alnico Pro II tele pups. They're full sounding with less high end bite...

The Area T's are very good as well

I have a guitar at home with 2 Area 68's (I think). Great pickups. All the single-coil goodness with none of the hum.

 

[threadkiller]

I'm very happy with the Suhr Tele pickup, all the tele twang without the icepick in the ear

 

[grooveHT]

That $50 guitar needs $700 pickups in it to make rock... you do realize that right?

Shut up Mr. Internet Sauve!

Matt, the Area Hot T is pretty much just as described...PAFish, with single coil attack. Something a lot of folks don't consider with single coils vs. humbuckers is, in teles and strats, you have that slanted bridge PU, and to me that accounts for a lot of the tone - which part of the string the pickup is polling/sampling/whatever. I have 500k pots in my teleberger, with a Firebird-style mini-hum in the neck, and rolling off the tone pot to about 8 or so really gives the Hot T a humbucker flavor, and while tone is on 10, its like a fat Tele pickup. I dig the heck out of it.

 

[grooveHT]

I like the Duncan Alnico Pro II tele pups. They're full sounding with less high end bite...

The Area T's are very good as well

I have a guitar at home with 2 Area 68's (I think). Great pickups. All the single-coil goodness with none of the hum.

Two things internet Sauve, the partsocaster has Area 61s, and the flavors of strat areas are: 58, 61 and 67. Back to your regularly scheduled program

 

[boost]

I've had Fralins, SD, Dimarzio, EMG, and GFS tele pickups in and out of a few teles. The Area T does what it says it does.

Fralin Steel Poles are closer to P90 territory with a little more bite, but there is the dreaded hum.

The GFS Fatbody neck pickup is stratty like, but is a bit noisy. Still it does sound very good and is cheap to boot.

 

[shreder75]

I think I'm going with the Hot T in the bridge then the area T neck in the (duh) neck....

this'll be yet another foray into dimarzio land and I hope I don't get burned again

 

[Vrad]

... and I hope I don't get burned again

Or someone will pay... dearly...

 

[shreder75]

exactly!!!

I mean, there's always the chopper T that kotzen uses...but I dunno...a rails type ceramic pickup...already have ceramic pickups in my distortions so I don't think I wanna go that route again...

 

[shreder75]

That $50 guitar needs $700 pickups in it to make rock... you do realize that right?

Shut up Mr. Internet Sauve!

Matt, the Area Hot T is pretty much just as described...PAFish, with single coil attack. Something a lot of folks don't consider with single coils vs. humbuckers is, in teles and strats, you have that slanted bridge PU, and to me that accounts for a lot of the tone - which part of the string the pickup is polling/sampling/whatever. I have 500k pots in my teleberger, with a Firebird-style mini-hum in the neck, and rolling off the tone pot to about 8 or so really gives the Hot T a humbucker flavor, and while tone is on 10, its like a fat Tele pickup. I dig the heck out of it.

so lemme ask you this..output wise...what can I expect out of the hot T? I have no idea what pots are in there now..it's bright-ish as is...just don't know if these things come with 500k pots standard...

I'm sure it'll be hotter than what's in there now...I don't need it to be duncan distortion hot...a little hoter output than what's in there would be good...just trying to un muddy the low end and rein in the high end on the high frets a bit

 

[hail and kill]

I have a SD Hot Stack in my tele and I like it quite a bit. It still gives the sound of a tele but has more output and is hum canceling. Could use a touch more sustain on it but then again I use a ac30 which is not the most hot/compressed amp either.

My other tele has a lil 59 (came that way from the previous owner). Its ok sounding but it doesnt sound like a tele at all which I dont like, i mean like you said thats why you bought a tele after all. Plus, i much prefer my les paul JR with p90s for a beefier sound.


erik

 

[dwoovre]

I have the Area Hot T bridge and Area T neck in a Standard Telecaster. It is one of my favorite guitars. It sounds like a Tele but has a little more balls and is completely silent. Even with higher output than a standard bridge PU, I still would not consider it a high-output pickup. It definitely drives my amps a bit less than my other main gigging axes (LPC w/ '57s, SG w/ DiMarzio 36th Anny, Stock Strat Deluxe). They are magic with my Matchless Lightning clone.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

These are supposed to be great for the $$$ too:

http://www.guitarfetish.com/Neovin-Nois ... c_121.html

 

[grooveHT]

That $50 guitar needs $700 pickups in it to make rock... you do realize that right?

Shut up Mr. Internet Sauve!

Matt, the Area Hot T is pretty much just as described...PAFish, with single coil attack. Something a lot of folks don't consider with single coils vs. humbuckers is, in teles and strats, you have that slanted bridge PU, and to me that accounts for a lot of the tone - which part of the string the pickup is polling/sampling/whatever. I have 500k pots in my teleberger, with a Firebird-style mini-hum in the neck, and rolling off the tone pot to about 8 or so really gives the Hot T a humbucker flavor, and while tone is on 10, its like a fat Tele pickup. I dig the heck out of it.

so lemme ask you this..output wise...what can I expect out of the hot T? I have no idea what pots are in there now..it's bright-ish as is...just don't know if these things come with 500k pots standard...

I'm sure it'll be hotter than what's in there now...I don't need it to be duncan distortion hot...a little hoter output than what's in there would be good...just trying to un muddy the low end and rein in the high end on the high frets a bit

Upon further research, I have 250k pots in there. Good stuff! Should be drop-in with your current wiring, if you want to run it that way. I'm not a tele neck pickup fan, just not me, I would look into a strat style replacement in a tele size, but thats neither here nor there. Output wise, I'd rank it with vintage style humbuckers, like a PAF type level of output...not an overwound one, either. I would still rate it as hotter than a Tele bridge PU, but it also adds some beef and a more humbucker style EQ, which I really dig. If you're into doing wiring tricks, I'd recommend trying the Jerry Donahue wiring, which is a 5-way that adds a strat-type tone in one of the positions. Sorry, getting away from myself again. Area Hot T = good

 

[shreder75]

That $50 guitar needs $700 pickups in it to make rock... you do realize that right?

Shut up Mr. Internet Sauve!

Matt, the Area Hot T is pretty much just as described...PAFish, with single coil attack. Something a lot of folks don't consider with single coils vs. humbuckers is, in teles and strats, you have that slanted bridge PU, and to me that accounts for a lot of the tone - which part of the string the pickup is polling/sampling/whatever. I have 500k pots in my teleberger, with a Firebird-style mini-hum in the neck, and rolling off the tone pot to about 8 or so really gives the Hot T a humbucker flavor, and while tone is on 10, its like a fat Tele pickup. I dig the heck out of it.

so lemme ask you this..output wise...what can I expect out of the hot T? I have no idea what pots are in there now..it's bright-ish as is...just don't know if these things come with 500k pots standard...

I'm sure it'll be hotter than what's in there now...I don't need it to be duncan distortion hot...a little hoter output than what's in there would be good...just trying to un muddy the low end and rein in the high end on the high frets a bit

Upon further research, I have 250k pots in there. Good stuff! Should be drop-in with your current wiring, if you want to run it that way. I'm not a tele neck pickup fan, just not me, I would look into a strat style replacement in a tele size, but thats neither here nor there. Output wise, I'd rank it with vintage style humbuckers, like a PAF type level of output...not an overwound one, either. I would still rate it as hotter than a Tele bridge PU, but it also adds some beef and a more humbucker style EQ, which I really dig. If you're into doing wiring tricks, I'd recommend trying the Jerry Donahue wiring, which is a 5-way that adds a strat-type tone in one of the positions. Sorry, getting away from myself again. Area Hot T = good

that's about what I was thinking..and that's fine...I actually really dig the percussive nature of the lower output pickup that's in there now...juuuuuuuuuuuust a little on the weak/muddy side...not impossible to play, just need a little more push to hide my slop a bit..hehe...

they make strat pups in tele sizes?? Those things are SMALL! smaller than a normal single coil...I'm not a huge neck pickup guy anyway so it's not that big a deal...

 

[boost]

If you're not big on the tele neck pickup you might just want to turn the guitar into and Esquire. I hear that without the magnetic pull of the neck pickup the guitar sounds bigger and more open. I haven't done this experiment with any of mine yet so it could all be BS, but it does kinda make sense.

I would upgrade whatever electronics are in there the same time of the pickup swap. Being a tele you will use the tone control even if you have never used it on anything else before. You want it to be a little bright so you can back down a hair on the tone control so you have some variance.

Also most tele neck pickups sound like ass to me. The GFS Fatbody is stratlike without having to route out anything or get a new pickguard. I'd wire the tone control directly to the bridge pickup lug so you can set that the way you like it. Now the neck pickup goes direct so it may gain a little more clarity.

Teles are cool, but a very different beast than strats or other guitars. It's quite easy to make a tele sound like shit but takes a little work to get one to sound really good. When you get there, you'll know.

Also, all the electronics you need you can find at Acme. They got the good stuff!

 

[shreder75]

well that raises the question of what the middle position does...I like the middle position, but does that engage both pickups at the same time? Or does it just screw with the phase of the bridge pickup...