Single Coils/Dumble's

[Structo]

That's a cool looking strat on the left.
What is it?

[stelligan]

Thanks Tom. That is another body I built. Solid mahogany that was from a "rift" piece. Almost quartersawn. It has 2 big teardrop routs inside and solid through the center. Mild flame maple top. Both of those guitars could use a structo paintjob! not my forte.

Back to single speak. Has anyone loaded these DiMarzio Cruisers at the bridge like Sonny Landreth has in one of his guitars?

http://www.dimarzio.com/site/#/pickups/ ... iser-neck/
http://accessories.musiciansfriend.com/ ... sku=302324

I plan on trying one in that homebrew above.

[Structo]

Cool, did you put tortoise shell on the headstock as well?

I've spent a lot of $$$ over the years chasing pickups.
I think I have tried six different Dimarzio humbuckers and a few from Seymour.

Some have very subtle differences between them, at least to my old ears.

My current go to guitar has the SD SH-4 (JB) in the bridge and the SH-2 (Jazz) neck, which is a fairly common combo.

[stratcat62]

As long as we're talking about humbucker replacements for single coils, the Dimarzio Tone Zone S seems to have the right flavor. Don't know any information about amplifier or other gear, but the pickup on the solo (just before halfway on the clip, 1:39) is the Tone Zone. Sounds pretty good to me.

http://harryj.net/raymixNew.mp3

[mat]

As long as we're talking about humbucker replacements for single coils, the Dimarzio Tone Zone S seems to have the right flavor. Don't know any information about amplifier or other gear, but the pickup on the solo (just before halfway on the clip, 1:39) is the Tone Zone. Sounds pretty good to me.

http://harryj.net/raymixNew.mp3

Great sound AND playing

[stelligan]

Great sound AND playing

Agreed. I have a Cruiser bridge and Tone Zone S coming to try. I will report back with findings.

Perhaps folks that are happy campers with their builds and a stock Stratocaster with single coils might post some clips here and/or amp tweaks that helped them. Mid boost values, trimmer settings, plate values, mid caps, etc.. Always seems that clean tones and pushed cleans are just fine. I am talking gained up OD tones.

[Structo]

I have a Tone Zone on one of my Lonestar strats.
I like it a lot.

[overdrivespecial#173]

Hey guys,
This is my first post here. I actually have a Dumble that sounds better with a Stratocaster than my humbucker guitars. Although most of the Dumbles I've played/owned over the years were better with humbuckers. Except for the "Velvet Glove". That was better with single coils, and was my favorite Dumble ever. Now, I own #173, and overall it's my best one in regards to versatility. The 6L6's opposed to EL34's seem to me to make the difference in wether or not it will have better single coil tone overall.

[stelligan]

Hey guys,
This is my first post here. I actually have a Dumble that sounds better with a Stratocaster than my humbucker guitars. Although most of the Dumbles I've played/owned over the years were better with humbuckers. Except for the "Velvet Glove". That was better with single coils, and was my favorite Dumble ever. Now, I own #173, and overall it's my best one in regards to versatility. The 6L6's opposed to EL34's seem to me to make the difference in wether or not it will have better single coil tone overall.

Thanks for the info. I am certain it is possible to achieve good Strat tones, I just haven't reached that goal. I'm no HAD by a long stretch. Do you know if yours utilizes a choke or sag resistor - or both? Any other info would be appreciated.
This yours?
http://s30931.gridserver.com/amp_browser.php?ampid=129

[Tonegeek]

Hey guys,
This is my first post here. I actually have a Dumble that sounds better with a Stratocaster than my humbucker guitars. Although most of the Dumbles I've played/owned over the years were better with humbuckers. Except for the "Velvet Glove". That was better with single coils, and was my favorite Dumble ever. Now, I own #173, and overall it's my best one in regards to versatility. The 6L6's opposed to EL34's seem to me to make the difference in wether or not it will have better single coil tone overall.

Welcome aboard!
Care to share more details about #173 as to what circuit it is, etc.? I am sure the folks here would also want to hear about any Dumble amp you ever owned or played through. thanks

[Structo]

+1

Tell us about your Dumble.

HRM, non HRM, Skyline, 6L6, etc?

We love the details man.

A few pictures of the amp would be cool.
You don't have to show the guts if you don't want to but that would of course be a huge bonus for us tube heads.

[ER]

Hey 173, welcome. Yes, please tell us more about this "velvet glove" amp. Do you mean EL34's work better or worse than 6l6 for strat? I would assume most everyone here is talking about 6l6 amps, and I'm very curious because my next build I'm planning is el34's and I'm a strat guy.

One more thing, I've noticed that the dumble+strat guys like Landreth, Lowell, and Landau- all change out their bridge pickup but when they play slide they always seem to be on the stock middle pickup.

I've always had a problem with the strat bridge I think it's a problem with any overdriven amp not really a dumble interface thing. When I played more overdriven stuff I used an EMG single coil bridge pu for chords and the stock fender neck pu for solos. I also have an EMG single coil in my lap steel and it is pretty happy with what ever you plug it into. I can't knock LC's tone with EMG single coils either.

The real secret is that if you want to use the stock fender pickups you need a curly cable to start with, and hot pickups or some sort of boost to do overdrive, have you tried plugging into FET input? That's one area where the d'lites might have trouble doing the strat thing.

People were always happy with strats until the george L's et. al came along, I mean even Rory Gallagher sounded great with a cranked AC30 thanks to the curly cable, try that with a modern low C cable and you could start your own pest control service. Maybe all this attention to using the correct tandy wire is only compounding the problem? Pull out your old 25' cable and plug into the FET input and see if it helps?

-ER

[ayan]

People were always happy with strats until the george L's et. al came along, I mean even Rory Gallagher sounded great with a cranked AC30 thanks to the curly cable, try that with a modern low C cable and you could start your own pest control service. Maybe all this attention to using the correct tandy wire is only compounding the problem? Pull out your old 25' cable and plug into the FET input and see if it helps?

-ER

Back then people probably didn't wire a tone control to the bridge pickup. If you don't have that in your guitar, you should try it: move the 2nd tone control from the middle pickup to the bridge. The mod is free, it makes the neck + middle sound clearer and it allows you to dial in EJ types of tones out of your Strat. Interesting enough, the bridge pickup that I find most compatible with my D-amps is the stock, low output pickup that's on my 62 HR reissue. Better that a Kinman Blue, better than anything else I've ever heard, period -- and yes, it is noisy.

Gil

[stelligan]

Interesting enough, the bridge pickup that I find most compatible with my D-amps is the stock, low output pickup that's on my 62 HR reissue. Better that a Kinman Blue, better than anything else I've ever heard, period -- and yes, it is noisy.

Gil

Gil,

Is this your low plate amp? And yes - I have the tone on my bridge pu.

Thanks,
Dave

[les_guitar]

FWIW, the Ultraphonix is extremely strat friendly and the tones are out of this world!