Demos of Sliders Pickups

[petercreasey]

What you have in those pickups is neither the holy grail Apache Strat vintage 59 sound nor is it the pre CBS 60's Strat sound, it's kind of in between. I say to you and anyone else not suffering from ear fatigue go and listen to those 60's strats and the records like Dance on and similar. No way do they compare with the earlier sound and the maple neck was not the main cause of the sound huge difference as you will find when you switch back to rosewood. They are positive mellow and lack the bite and raw Fender twang of the earlier Buddy Holly Era Strats which were probably more Telecaster sounding in their windings and more clangy and chimy being low resistance wound giving more of the mcirophonic sound of the early pickups similar to P90's.

two words


Top Boost

[Mark Burton]

OK - after hearing Phil's demo and a brief PM exchange with him, I too ordered a set of sliders classic '59s and they are superb.

I fitted them to my CS '56 mid last week and couldn't believe what a difference it made to the sound - these pups in my opinion, have made a greater leap in getting close (and I say close because a. we're not recording in Abbey Road - vital ingredient, b. we're not backed by Bruce, Tony & Jet - vital ingredient and c. we don't have Hank's 19yo fingers playing - vital ingredient) to the early 60's Hank tone than any EF86 / speaker type / string guage / wood / lacquer etc etc - Dave's demos prove that.

I would suggest that those who can't hear the difference will never 'get it' - I used them at two live Theatre gigs last weekend and the unsolicited comments received from the audience afterwards about the sound were amazing. Equipment used CS '56 strat fitted with 12's, ESE echomatic, AC30 HH into 2 x Celestion Blues.

I am now very very happy and comfortable that I have reached a point where I know the tone is as good as I can get it (without a meazzi) which is great as it means I can get on and enjoy playing !

[Gary Allen]

Hi Dave..If yourself and Phil say these are great pickups then I believe they are..It does nt matter what you post..theres always someone ready to pour water on it..Good soundfiles and I ll be ordering a set when I have a few quid to spare...Gary

[dave robinson]

I have added a couple more tracks to demonstrate how wrong someone can be when they don't know what they're talking about, sorry David but you clearly don't. I like healthy debate and respect opinion, but the opinion needs substance to carry any weight and to influence anyone and your lack of understanding is shown here.
Mark and Peter got it spot on - 'Top Boost' which was used on the latest two tracks, but before you go into a speech about Top Boost only boosting treble, spare us please, anyone who plays and uses Vox amps will tell you that bass as well as treble and mid are affected as well as a compression that creeps in when used in a certain way. I firmly believe that the tone from the Top Boost amp was more of an infulence on the Shads mid sixties sound than the Burns guitars, but that's another debate.
You will hear this in the two new tunes posted 'Shazam' and 'It's Been A Blue Day', though I know my playing could have been better . . . I should mention that the BT's for these are UB Hank. The BT for Apache is from the excellent 'Casting A Shadow' and 'Back Home' is from one of Ian McCutcheons great 'Work Out' CD's. The rest are Past Masters recordings.
Thanks everyone for listening and for your input and may I say that Mark is right about these pickups helping us nail the tone and move forward.

[tony parnham]

Hi Dave,
Have just heard the demo's in full after having BT engineer out today with my broadband keep cutting all the while. I have to say they do sound great, it's the lack of that muddiness on the bass notes that you get with other pickups, the clean clarity on the low end and the crispness in the mid's and the the high end actually jumps out at you in comparison, not to mention the vintage tone as well. Thanks for demo'ing and sharing.
Regards Tony

[petercreasey]

I firmly believe that te tone from the Top Boost amp was more of an infulence on the Shads mid sixties sound than the Burns guitars, but that's another debate.

We really must stop agreeing like this Dave

[AlanMcKillop]

Liked the SF's but need to stop spending money.

[AlanMcKillop]

[David Martin]

DR is quite right as to the importance of the Top Boost in post Wonderful Land era recordings - I spent 10 happy years playing with Legend actively seeking to discover the secrets of The Shads live sounds - with particular reference to the Burns era, but also, incidentally, the earlier stuff. The Top Boost circuit in those amps is absolutely critical to stuff like Shindig, Atlantis, It's Been a Blue Day and so on, not just in terms of Treble but in the mid range. As a result of a circuit quirk the Bass and Treble controls interact in a way which alters the critical mid range. Prove it to yourself... set your Vox up with no Cut, no boosts, and play your bottom e string muffled continuously as you sweep through the Bass control... as it approaches full range - within the last 1/8th of the turn, the character of the sound changes suddenly... leave the Bass on maximum. Now advance the Treble through its range, and at about half sweep, hear the guitar take on a really nasal characteristic... then back it off a tiny bit and have a listen to Atlantis.

As to the Burns, it does have subtle difference in tone and I put that down to the ResoTubes, but mainly the use of aluminium as opposed to Fender's steel in the bridge and trem...




(And let's not forget that we are comparing two different things, the Shads recordings as each of us hears it through whatever we use to play it, and the live sound of a guitar.)

[Mark Burton]

David

Can I suggest we remove all posts not directly related to the main topic - as it does detract from a very worthwhile thread ........


regards
Mark.