Neck Pickups, What's The Deal ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ben Waylin
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I had the same issue with neck pickups..either tinny and weak or bloated and bassy...I found a few over the years I like..BK Cold Sweat..BK Emerald..DiMarzio Illuminator and Duncan Parallel Axis..I'm using a Parallel Axis Saraceno bridge in the neck on one of my main guitars..sounds fantastic.

The key for me is once you have the right pickup, adjusting the height until you have the sound you want. I adjust with the volume full open until the bloat is gone and find volume balance with the bridge.
 
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PLX said:
I never use 'em. Never have.

Now I want to for certain things I'm playing, but whenever I switch to the neck (or both) it just sounds weak and muddy.

How do you get the neck pickup to not sound like ass ?
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Set the amp for the neck pickup, more top and less bass. And then enjoy your bridge pickup sounding like ass!
 
simon_d said:
Set the amp for the neck pickup, more top and less bass. And then enjoy your bridge pickup sounding like ass!
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mooncobra said:
Switch to a good pickup. I have always hated neck pickups like the jazz. Feels strange under the fingers and sounds not so good to me. The Duncan jazz is probably my least favorite pickup of all times actually, I mean, I can’t believe how big of a piece of utter garbage that pickup is; but a lot of people really like it, so I am the odd man out.
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I enjoy a bombastic opinion but my most recent working guitar came with a jazz in the neck and neck is mostly what I use about 75 percent of the night. It's a good sounding pickup. I might give a slight edge to the 57 or 490r, but not enough for it to matter. I am playing blues though, not rock.
 
Some of my favorites:

Passive: Seymour Duncan '59 model in the neck; paired with a Seymour Duncan Custom 5.

Active: Seymour Duncan Blackout AHB-1N (neck) and Seymour Duncan Blackout AHB-1B (bridge),
EMG 81/85

Getting a guitar with a set of DiMarzio Illuminators, see how I like them.
 
I only use single coils, never could gel with any neck humbuckers, and almost never for much distorted tones
 
I'm with @mooncobra on this one; don't like the Jazz at all.
But I got my fair share of good/great neck pickups that I enjoy;
-Duncan Pearly Gates N
-Duncan Distortion N (not for blues of course ;-) )
-Duncan Screamin' Demon
-DiMarzio Air Norton
-DiMarzio 36th Anniv PAF
-DiMarzio Evo (bright and punchy)
-DiMarzio Breed Neck (favorite for big sound in Flying V)

And none of these are 'weak' or limp sounding. I use them for rock/metal mostly. But aside from the occasional Super Distortion, I don't pair 'em with overly hot bridge pickups either.
 
Zhangbucker wood bucker was the best sounding neck bucker I ever owned.

Other than that, I don’t use them enough to care so I just fiddle with pickup height until it sounds good enough
 
I wish all of my guitars had just a bridge pickup. 100% metal player here. I guess the neck pickup can be cool for fast lead runs but not cool enough to justify taking a chunk of wood out of the body plus paying for a mostly useless feature.

I’m perplexed by players that use neck for cleans and bridge for high gain rhythm. So you want your high gain tone to come on thin and scooped relative to a fat dull low mid/bass heavy clean tone? What? Country, Jazz, blues, have at it, but metal neck cleans make no sense to me.
 
I couldn't play without one.. LOL
Guitar makers are pretty good at matching a set for the guitar they sell.
I would try working with what you have first.
 
PLX said:
I never use 'em. Never have.

Now I want to for certain things I'm playing, but whenever I switch to the neck (or both) it just sounds weak and muddy.

How do you get the neck pickup to not sound like ass ?
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Pickup type and height are key. I find that the Planet Tone neck pickup on my strat is FAT and present at the same time. Not many neck pickups are able to be used for lead runs without becoming muddy or that odd muffled yet spikey sound? Anywho, I'd say that THAT neck pickup, out of all the rest I have, is the best. It's from their DG set. I was surprised.
 
rsm said:
maybe try a bridge pickup in the neck, how about a DiMarzio X2N? That oughta do it! :D
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I'm thinkin' the exact same thing.

I have the pickup that was in the bridge position, prior to the Jalen Fair Warning.

Thinking of trying that in the neck position.
 
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