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rarson
Published on 03/26/08 at 21:41
I've been using this pickup for a few weeks now. I installed it into a Switch Wild One guitar, which is a solid body guitar made out of "Vibracell" material (plastic) with a single humbucking pickup in the bridge. I had planned on changing the pickup before I even got the guitar because I'm a pretty big fan of Seymour Duncan pickups, but the Switch pickup sounded pretty good, better than I was expecting, so I waited a while to change it out which turned out to be a good thing, as I had gotten used to the sound of the old pickup.
The first thing I noticed is that the output of this pickup is much higher. That is to be expected, as the Invader is designed to be a high output passive pickup. Despite the higher output, it sounds as if the noise that this pickup makes is actually lower. Perhaps the noise is masked somewhat by the higher output, but I've listened closely to the pickup without playing it, and I can't hear anything.
I wired the pickup to the coil tap switch just like the old one, and what I've noticed is that, when playing the guitar clean, the output drop from humbucker to single-coil is more than it was with the old pickup. This makes sense to me though; if there are two coils and both have hotter outputs, then obviously dropping one out will make a bigger difference because you're losing more output. Anyway, I say this is noticeable when playing clean because when you throw a couple effects into the mix, it becomes a moot point.
One of the great things about this pickup is that it seems to be more flexible because of the higher output. Some of my effects change their character quite a bit when I use the volume knob on the guitar, and when I tried the new pickup, it immediately threw the pedals into overdrive, almost a bit too much. The range of the volume knob has basically been extended.
Some hot humbuckers seem to get a bit dirty at full volume, even when played clean, but this pickup sounds clean to me. Cleaner than the Hot Rails for Strat that I have in my other guitar (which isn't very dirty at all). Even when playing hard, it's just not dirty, just nice and loud. Traits like this are what always impressed me and made me come back to Duncan pickups again and again.
This pickup at full volume thrashes the Little Big Muff and tears my Synth Mangler a new one. Sometimes I have to dial it down a bit for the Synth Mangler, but it's always been useful to adjust the volume knob with the Mangler; now it is even more so. And yet the pickup is good for just about anything. It's got a great, full clean sound.
I've heard some people say that once you put an Invader into your guitar, you won't want to play another guitar without one. I can see why they say that. It's a fantastic pickup. For me personally though, I'm not going to be replacing every pickup in every guitar with an Invader, because that's just not my style. If I didn't like trying new pickups, this would be a good one to stick with though. I'm pretty sure I like it a little more than the Hot Rails, which I already loved. Duncan is simply the brand I go to when I look for pickups, and this is another example why.
The pickup was a bit of a surprise to me, for the reason that I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. You can read about the pickup and Duncan's recommendations for applications of it on their website, but from reading that, I was almost expecting this hot humbucker to be dirty. I'd say it's as clean as a humbucker gets, which is a great thing. It's simply LOUD. I think the only hotter pickup you could get from Duncan would be an active.
I can't say enough about how much I like this pickup. It's just great. It almost seems a shame that Seymour Duncan recommends it for heavier styles of music, because I feel it could be suitable for just about anything with a simple tweak of the volume knob.
Oh, I almost forgot: the single-coil sound is great! It sounds pretty much exactly like a nice Strat on the bridge, very bright and yet full. Crystal clear sound. The old pickup was good but didn't sound too great as a single-coil. But this pickup sounds fantastic!
I can't ask for anything more from such a reasonable priced pickup. No real flaws at all.
The first thing I noticed is that the output of this pickup is much higher. That is to be expected, as the Invader is designed to be a high output passive pickup. Despite the higher output, it sounds as if the noise that this pickup makes is actually lower. Perhaps the noise is masked somewhat by the higher output, but I've listened closely to the pickup without playing it, and I can't hear anything.
I wired the pickup to the coil tap switch just like the old one, and what I've noticed is that, when playing the guitar clean, the output drop from humbucker to single-coil is more than it was with the old pickup. This makes sense to me though; if there are two coils and both have hotter outputs, then obviously dropping one out will make a bigger difference because you're losing more output. Anyway, I say this is noticeable when playing clean because when you throw a couple effects into the mix, it becomes a moot point.
One of the great things about this pickup is that it seems to be more flexible because of the higher output. Some of my effects change their character quite a bit when I use the volume knob on the guitar, and when I tried the new pickup, it immediately threw the pedals into overdrive, almost a bit too much. The range of the volume knob has basically been extended.
Some hot humbuckers seem to get a bit dirty at full volume, even when played clean, but this pickup sounds clean to me. Cleaner than the Hot Rails for Strat that I have in my other guitar (which isn't very dirty at all). Even when playing hard, it's just not dirty, just nice and loud. Traits like this are what always impressed me and made me come back to Duncan pickups again and again.
This pickup at full volume thrashes the Little Big Muff and tears my Synth Mangler a new one. Sometimes I have to dial it down a bit for the Synth Mangler, but it's always been useful to adjust the volume knob with the Mangler; now it is even more so. And yet the pickup is good for just about anything. It's got a great, full clean sound.
I've heard some people say that once you put an Invader into your guitar, you won't want to play another guitar without one. I can see why they say that. It's a fantastic pickup. For me personally though, I'm not going to be replacing every pickup in every guitar with an Invader, because that's just not my style. If I didn't like trying new pickups, this would be a good one to stick with though. I'm pretty sure I like it a little more than the Hot Rails, which I already loved. Duncan is simply the brand I go to when I look for pickups, and this is another example why.
The pickup was a bit of a surprise to me, for the reason that I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. You can read about the pickup and Duncan's recommendations for applications of it on their website, but from reading that, I was almost expecting this hot humbucker to be dirty. I'd say it's as clean as a humbucker gets, which is a great thing. It's simply LOUD. I think the only hotter pickup you could get from Duncan would be an active.
I can't say enough about how much I like this pickup. It's just great. It almost seems a shame that Seymour Duncan recommends it for heavier styles of music, because I feel it could be suitable for just about anything with a simple tweak of the volume knob.
Oh, I almost forgot: the single-coil sound is great! It sounds pretty much exactly like a nice Strat on the bridge, very bright and yet full. Crystal clear sound. The old pickup was good but didn't sound too great as a single-coil. But this pickup sounds fantastic!
I can't ask for anything more from such a reasonable priced pickup. No real flaws at all.