Quietest Humbucker:

Relic said:
And who doesn't when they have their own recording studio capabilities? I mean, it's part of being creative. We want to try this & put this part in & redo that take but now both takes are good etc etc after a while you can end up with so many parts that makes sense & work well to our ears but to a fresh listener can often sound cluttered, too busy or unfocused.

This why they have producers Robert! They make the choices on tracks & takes & put the overall integrity of the song first, where compared to us player / artist / recording engineers, we can get too attached to all the various parts & pieces of work that we spent time & effort on & find ourselves unable to edit things out.

My friend is a professional sound engineer & over the years I have brought him various things I have written & recorded. One of his regular comments that he gives me with love & appreciation as well as recognition of just exactly what we are talking about here when he first hears my new work is, " Oh yeah, the Guitar Army!". Kind of sums us up guitarists / home recording engineers up short 'n sweet don't it?
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Yes!!!

When I recorded this in 2011, I really feel like I overdid the production...I won't do this again....

https://soundcloud.com/robert-h-her...blues-2011-robert-herndon-all-rights-reserved
 
Well the quietest humbuckers or actually the quietest pickup of any kind have to be the Unobtainium pickups featured here in my orange Tele. No hum what-so-ever!

electric_lady_land-jpg.1
 
WavMixer said:
Dayum Robert... you were a cop, you built fast ass cars, you brew your on high octane juice, play a mean ass guitar and you write killer songs. Is there anything you can't do?
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Well, I had a lot of interests...I also flew small planes...some of these things I was born into...like the hot rod shop and music.... :-)
 
Relic said:
One of my favorite compromises in this area is an old 50's-70's Gibson / Epiphone mini-humbucker! They drip crazy mojo & are relatively quiet in the line noise department. But they can come alive in front of a driven Tube Amp & really pick up an added dimension when crank'n comparative to playing them at lower & tamer volumes.
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Preach it, Brother Relic!
 
Of all my humbuckers the quietest are the Duncan Distortion mayhem's. That's comparing them to Gibson Burstbucker 1 & 2 (covered) in my LP & my SG which had 57 classic plus/ 57 classic but now has a t Top replica in the bridge (also all covered). The Duncan Distortions, which are uncovered are in my Jackson pro soloist which admittedly came already shielded (paint) from the factory but for uncovered pickups that are considerably hotter than the others its surprising that they're the quietest. Cheers
 
ivan H said:
Of all my humbuckers the quietest are the Duncan Distortion mayhem's. That's comparing them to Gibson Burstbucker 1 & 2 (covered) in my LP & my SG which had 57 classic plus/ 57 classic but now has a t Top replica in the bridge (also all covered). The Duncan Distortions, which are uncovered are in my Jackson pro soloist which admittedly came already shielded (paint) from the factory but for uncovered pickups that are considerably hotter than the others its surprising that they're the quietest. Cheers
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One thing I found, when building my SG, was the low output pickups, in the 7.8k to 8.2k range, IMHO, really do sound the best and are more versatile than their higher output counterparts....
 
Robert Herndon said:
One thing I found, when building my SG, was the low output pickups, in the 7.8k to 8.2k range, IMHO, really do sound the best and are more versatile than their higher output counterparts....
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But have you looked at any ceramic pups? They often have a subsequently very high Ohm reading (aka output) but can often offer a broader range in response. The variation comes with construction technique.

I have an 81 Gibson 335 S Professional and those 2 old Dirty Finger pups have some real magical & beautiful qualities to them but.. (big Butt lol) they weren't perfectly sealed / potted & could pick up noise in various circumstances. And yet despite that, they really were an inspirational sounding pickup.

Fast Forward to my '15 Firebird with it's new & properly sealed Ceramic Pups & we have zero noise infiltration & a mini-humbucker that sounds fatter than most full size pups & delivers a broad tonal response to color your world with.

I've read lots of rave reviews from dudes getting newer Dirty Fingers pups in some of these newer SG's. So I'm wondering, has your inquiry taken you in this direction yet?

Inquiring ears want to know!
 
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I do like low output humbuckers in general, hence the BB1 & 2 in the LP & the 57c & (slightly overwound) t Top replica in the SG. But after sampling the Duncan Distortions, well, as Relic said they definitely have a broader response but are also really tight sounding with excellent note definition. Has me wondering how something similar (Dirty Fingers) would be in the bridge of the LP. Looking at comparison reviews, the DF is similar in output, response etc but has more bark or roar than the Duncan. Maybe the BB2 in the neck & DF in the bridge. Cheers
 
Relic said:
But have you looked at any ceramic pups? They often have a subsequently very high Ohm reading (aka output) but can often offer a broader range in response. The variation comes with construction technique.

I have an 81 Gibson 335 S Professional and those 2 old Dirty Finger pups have some real magical & beautiful qualities to them but.. (big Butt lol) they weren't perfectly sealed / potted & could pick up noise in various circumstances. And yet despite that, they really were an inspirational sounding pickup.

Fast Forward to my '15 Firebird with it's new & properly sealed Ceramic Pups & we have zero noise infiltration & a mini-humbucker that sounds fatter than most full size pups & delivers a broad tonal response to color your world with.

I've read lots of rave reviews from dudes getting newer Dirty Fingers pups in some of these newer SG's. So I'm wondering, has your inquiry taken you in this direction yet?

Inquiring ears want to know!
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You know, I did try some ceramics too. When i was working on the SG, I tried Gibson 57 Classics, two sets of Gibson 490's, some GFS Ceramic PAF style clones, a set of Carvins and some Duncan JB's too. I found the ceramics to be the most noisy....
 
Robert Herndon said:
You know, I did try some ceramics too. When i was working on the SG, I tried Gibson 57 Classics, two sets of Gibson 490's, some GFS Ceramic PAF style clones, a set of Carvins and some Duncan JB's too. I found the ceramics to be the most noisy....
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This is the how & why we have multiple guitars with various pickups. So many good choices & variations! And too many to enjoy to only settle for one guitar & one set of pups.

Thus the excuses & reasons for multiple guitars keeps on piling up! UP! UP!!!
 
Relic said:
This is the how & why we have multiple guitars with various pickups. So many good choices & variations! And too many to enjoy to only settle for one guitar & one set of pups.

Thus the excuses & reasons for multiple guitars keeps on piling up! UP! UP!!!
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I prefer having fewer guitars....
 
Seymour Duncan '59.

I'll just leave that right there.

I don't know if they are quietest, but they're good for what ails ya.
 
Robert Herndon said:
LOL!

View attachment 3598
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You don't even want to know. But I got a real problem bro. lol
Here's the sign off 'Signature' I use at a Gibson related guitar site & I catch some $#it over it once in a while because,.. well because of a bunch of different reasons I reckon if people would be honest. As a point of interest, I can not get any smaller font! lol

Here, check it, what do you think??

upload_2017-3-21_23-48-27.png

Hey, I know I'm not the first person to list their personally forum relevant gear in their signature, but I would like to find a smaller more compact yet readable & organized way of doing it. I'm sure regular users get tired of my Gibson brand guitars blazing that green across the length of their screens with ever post I throw up there.
 

Attachments

Relic said:
You don't even want to know. But I got a real problem bro. lol
Here's the sign off 'Signature' I use at a Gibson related guitar site & I catch some $#it over it once in a while because,.. well because of a bunch of different reasons I reckon if people would be honest. As a point of interest, I can not get any smaller font! lol

Here, check it, what do you think??

View attachment 3601

Hey, I know I'm not the first person to list their personally forum relevant gear in their signature, but I would like to find a smaller more compact yet readable & organized way of doing it. I'm sure regular users get tired of my Gibson brand guitars blazing that green across the length of their screens with ever post I throw up there.
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You are hardcore, Man!!! In a good way!!! That's quite an impressive collection.

I never owned more than three at once. I feel as though I have to form a relationship with a guitar...a trust so to speak...i'm still using guitar cables I bought in 1984 because they work and I trust them.

To be honest, my plan is to get down to just one guitar in the very near future....
 
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Well if you need me to buy one of yours & 'hold on to it for a while' whilst you try & settle in on having less guitars around,.. just lemme knows,.. yo's. lol
 
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