Grateful Dead Music Forum

Darkstar860 wrote: ↑Tue May 30, 2023 8:52 pm All my Wolfs are HHS. Id like to turn one into a S S S. Anyone know of anyone who makes a brass plate for a Wolf ? An S S S one.

Pardon a potentially dumb question but do you have a coil tap or pickup split switch for the humbuckers on one or more of your HSS guitars and, if yes, why is it important enough to you want to turn the guitar(s) into SSS configurations to go to the effort to do so? On my HSS S-style guitar, I find the bridge slot HB quite valuable which is why I'm asking.

Thank you for the link. Thats def gonna be one of my next projects. SSS Wolf.

Jon S. wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 5:55 am but do you have a coil tap or pickup split switch for the humbuckers on one or more of your HSS guitars and, if yes, why is it important enough to you want to turn the guitar(s) into SSS configurations to go to the effort to do so?

I am not the guy you asked, but I don't find a split humbucker to be a suitable alternative to a Strat single coil pickup.

For me i just want a guitar thats tone is closer to 72-74. I actually really have gotten use to the sound of splitting my humbukers etc. But id love to have a SSS version and mess around with some new pickups ive never tried. My current Wolfs are HHS. So to me, doing one setup with SSS is a no brainer. Just need to order that plate and away I go. But i may use a humbucker size single in the middle that i can split. Not sure yet.

D. Allen Voodo 69’s do the trick for early Wolf tones. I’m sure there are others, but they are the closest pups I have tried.

Always heard good things about the D Allen Voodoo 69’s.

In my Strat that I use for mods, I’ve had in Fralin Real 54’s and Fender Pure Vintage Parts reissues. I prefer the Fralins a bit more.

Might try the D Allen’s…would they perhaps be a bit fuller sounding? Ideally would like a bit more oomph.

Well, if it’s oomph your after, perhaps the Lollar Special S pups would be a better option. The D. Allen’s are great, but not nearly as hot/aggressive as the Special S’s. I love both sets, and play both in two guitars I own.

Haven’t tried these yet but they are going in my 73/74 Fishman Wolf. Would appear to be as close as we can get and from Fender. These are a limited run and have Anlico 3’s, not 5’s like Fender’s more available custom 54’s:

https://www.stratcat.biz/099-2244-000.shtml

Chocol8 wrote: ↑Wed May 31, 2023 5:39 pm I am not the guy you asked, but I don't find a split humbucker to be a suitable alternative to a Strat single coil pickup.

Your responses are alway appreciated, whether asked for directly or not.

I can understand this response, from a Jer aficionado, for the middle pickup. For the bridge pickup, however, how much are you really using it for playing Jer's parts in Dead covers?

I guess I'm just closer in interests to the guitarists in the excellent Dead-ABB-Stones band, Great Caesar's Ghost (check 'em out sometime if you haven't yet - they're spot on with their ABB covers, close with the Stones, more interpretive with the Dead). These are among my favorite bands to cover, too.

Myself, I get huge mileage out of my humbucker bridge pickups (my #1, a heavily modded '99 USA Reverend Avenger, is pictured below). In particular, if you're not playing a Tele but are covering Keif's parts, a bridge Super Distortion is nasty in a good way!

I don't play Jerry exclusively, nor do I dedicate any guitars to doing so. Therefore, may tone desires my deviate a bit.

Personally I prefer my SSS and HH options as two separate guitars. I also tend to run a Fender mid boost circuit instead of a plain Jerry style buffer on the SSS. It does the clean buffer thing, adds some optional clean boost, and also allows you to boost the mids and really fatten up a single coil. It is not a substitute for a good PAF style humbucker, and I need a couple of those guitars handy at all times, but when I first learned to use one, it eliminated my interest in HSS guitars.

There's an ongoing long discussion, on TGP, of on-board active boosts. I've owned guitars with the Fender boost (USA Buddy Guy Strat, which has a boost similar to the produced-in-higher-numbers Clapton model) and a Stratoblaster (Scarlet Fire Wolf). As you've noted, the Fender boost gives the output a pronounced midrange bump. To me, it's the on-board boost equivalent of a TubeScreamer. It would not occur to me to use this boost for covering Jerry's parts, though I understand what you posted about keeping it set low to get a buffered signal with little further coloration of your tone. In any event, as we know, our rigs, in their totality, are systems so changes to individual elements in one person's rig may sound different from making the same individual change to another person's rig. This being said, for me, the Dimarzio Super Distortion HB in the bridge slot of my '99 USA Reverend Avenger allows me to obtain a broader range of tones and cover a wider range of music without needing to change guitars frequently. But as always, YMMV and variety is the spice of life.

EDIT: These days, I no longer own any guitars with on-board active boosts. My guitars with active circuitry all have just unity gain buffers, and my pedalboards each start with an SMS Doozy Boost. I love this boost for covering Dead and apparently, from the traffic on this forum, I'm not alone in this! For a harder boost, my pedal of choice is a Rat which, contrary to popular belief, when set up right, enables a wide enough range of distortions to support a wide range of music.

The Fender mid-boost circuits that I use have two controls. Volume, and Mid-Boost. With the mid-boost all the way off, it is a very clean boost. My first two guitars with it, I installed with mini toggles to completely remove it from the circuit. With the active volume around 7, I could not hear any change to the tone vs passive on 10. Turn the active volume up, and it is stronger, but no tone coloration. I stopped using the toggles and now they are always on, but now that I started using fuzzface style pedals again, that is a problem. They hate buffers! But that is another thread for another day.

So, MB = 0, V = 7 it acts like a unity gain buffer. MB =0 V = 7-10 it acts like a clean boost. Turn the MB up between 2-4 and it fattens up your single coil sound. Beyond that and you are getting into tube screamer territory.