SD SH-55 Seth lover anyone?

[Indigo_blues]

Thinking of upgrading my pacifica 312MS neck pickup to one of the above. Anyone got experience with this pickup? Davis currently no stock but should be coming in in mid Feb. I'm running my guitar straight into a small 20w bass amp currently.. will probably upgrade the amp to a fender blues junior in the near future. Any thots?

 

[calibre2001]

Good luck finding folks here who appreciate that kind of thing.

Anyway I sampled one on a Les Paul a few months back. The neck pickup is great whereas the bridge is thin and maybe not such a good buy.

Soundwise, it's very single-coil-ish to me, which explains why its a popular replacement for Tele neck buckers. Its low output and not wax potted. But when used with high gain (this was thru a AVT150, sorry no tube amp available at testing time), it didnt squeal on me. When playing the LP, I had the impression it sounded like a Strat/Tele/335. U can really dig out nice funky n SRV type of sounds of this fella. Rest assured the clean sound is sweet and when overdriven its also great and sweet. Not metal gain type of sound but more vintagey music ala Classic rock, blues etc

Strange on a Les Paul but I think it's gonna shine extremely well in a 335 'cause the sound , to me. matches the acoustic sound of a 335.

My overall impression was it's nice. But I don't agree with the HC reviews that it's super outstanding. I mean it has a mass production vibe to it no matter what but I liked it more to the standard 59s, JB and stuff.

Good luck!

 

[Indigo_blues]

hey thanks for the reply! I think I will go for it next month.. thanks for the first hand review! Its only about $100+ so i think it should be a worthwhile upgrade. It was getting alot of nice comments by the people in the telecaster forum as well.. cheers. I'm looking more for a sweet and smooth tone which i think this pickup should deliver. I'm not into heavy metal/trash so it should do nicely.

 

[subversion]

some additional stuff:

*IMO the Seth Lover is a better neck performer
*It's NOT wax potted, expect some noise

 

[jony]

The seth lover is a very open sounding pickup and also is very vintagey.

Means it has a high resonant peak which makes it single coilish. Dont expect strat single coil tones and funk chops though. But it sure is very open sounding. (not muddy)

 

[Indigo_blues]

yeah, i'll give it a shot. I'll post back with some reviews when i get it.

 

[calibre2001]

I realised I left out something important. The 'woman' tone, an Eric Clapton thing in case you don't know. Roll off the tone for the neck pup and up volume on full. Now just add more gain or use an OD pedal and just solo. The Seth neck sang very sweetly probably becos it's very clear compared to other neck buckers that are too bassy (woofy) and thick. Yeah the neck pup really rocks.

 

[subversion]

in terms of clarity, i rank the Jazz above the Seth Lover.

 

[Indigo_blues]

k i listened to the demo on the SD website.. it does sound more articulate and brighter that the seth lover.. only problem it may sound too bright with a maple fretboard? Just wondering.. cause the recommendation is mahogany bodies and rosewood fretboards.. my guitar is neither..(alder and maple)

 

[subversion]

i have the Jazz in various guitars:

*mahogany body
*maple fretboard
*mahogany neck

in all the above, the Jazz sounds superb clean & driven. i wouldn't deem it brighter than the SL, but it sounds fuller, mainly because it wasn't conceived to be vintage-inclined.

 

[Indigo_blues]

wow, ok. thanks for the explanation.. hmm, the sound bite does sound nice for the jazz.. unfortunately there's really no way to a/b the 2 humbuckers in the same guitar short of buying them both right? hmm.. how do you decide which one to get without actually installing it into your guitar?

sorry for the noob questions.. :roll:

 

[Rollercoaster]

And does it help if I say Paul Stanley from Kiss and the guitar player from Buckcherry uses Seth lover?

 

[calibre2001]

wow, ok. thanks for the explanation.. hmm, the sound bite does sound nice for the jazz.. unfortunately there's really no way to a/b the 2 humbuckers in the same guitar short of buying them both right? hmm.. how do you decide which one to get without actually installing it into your guitar?

sorry for the noob questions.. :roll:

Haha ever wondered why ppl who GAS for pups seem to have high pup turnover rate?

 

[Indigo_blues]

haha, nah think i'll just get the seth and be done with it.. Out of stock though.