Finally... VV solo pro

[Cranium]

Finally, after 3 weeks of waiting I got my Dimarzio VV solo pro, it sounds great! Sometimes you can get a Hendrix like sound, I like that the lows sound big; I put it in the middle of a HSH configuration guitar but it sounds very nice in the middle position, its very fat sounding, lots of mids but still very clear and defined, and one of the best things...no noise!
It sounds a little strange in position 2 and 4 (front coil of bridge humbucker and middle single coil in 2 and front coil of neck pup+middle in 4), I think its not meant to be in parallel with the humbuckers, maybe its because of the wiring. I’m not sure why but the sound is very strange, its weak but audible and its sort of thin but very interesting cause I get a sort of a delay effect, I think maybe its because the middle solo pro and the front coil of the bridge hum work separately so I get sound from one then the other so its kinda like a double effect/short delay, very interesting but it sounds a little weird to be true, anyway this pickup is great for fat "woody"(!?) sound, its best when overdriven, clean its not too great but it has alot of presence, kinda like a neck pickup but without the boomy bass (not all neck pickups have boomy bass though).

If I get a chance I might make a recording for you guys, I don't recommend it if you play clean most of the time though.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Sounds like the VV pickup is out of phase with the humbucker. Try switching the leads on the VV pickup to the switch and ground.

 

[Cranium]

I think its fine; I never use position 2 and 4 anyway, besides the "out of phase" sound between the neck and the VV sounds cool, it fun to mess around sometimes to get different sounds.
When I get an all single coil strat I will put one of these in the neck and one in the bridge and see how they sound and with the alder body, I think they will sound different in a strat, overall its a great pickup but I think the middle position holds it back a little, in the neck it should sound very violin like and in the bridge it should have a little more "bite" to it, at least that’s what I think.

By the way, Tone do you know which pickups might sound very close to the 68-69 era strats? (Besides the Fender CS 69, I am probably going to get those if I don't find something better).

 

[Tone2TheBone]

By the way, Tone do you know which pickups might sound very close to the 68-69 era strats? (Besides the Fender CS 69, I am probably going to get those if I don't find something better).

Oops...I'm slacking cause I missed this reply.

I personally don't but I know a lot of these other guys probably have some experience with those years in pickup design. My Strat pickups are 50s based.

 

[Cranium]

Its alright, I’m just trying to get as close to the Hendrix sound as possible, although the solo pro sounds a bit like Hendrix too, although it might sound too woody (I still don't know what "woody" means but I have an idea) its very good for getting some Eric Johnson tones, if you are able to smooth out the highs it should sound very close to his tone. Oh and does alder sound a lot different from basswood?

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I'm not sure if I have ever played a basswood guitar to compare. Basswood is supposed to be lighter. Not sure if that would make a difference in sound. Maybe some other members might know. My guitars are alder and ash and mahogany with maple tops. Not helping you I know sorry! hahaha

 

[Cranium]

Well never mind all the pickup questions, I just found the guitar I been looking for from Fender for a long time, Classic Player ‘60s Stratocaster, its almost like someone read my mind, 12" radius, 69 pickups, vintage style 2-point synchronized tremolo with stamped solid steel saddles and milled solid steel block and even jumbo frets (I thought those weren't use on 60s guitars).
The only bad thing is that it only comes with rosewood fret board (I wanted my next guitar to have maple) but since it has almost all the other features I wanted in a strat it doesn't bother me too much.

 

[marnold]

I'm not sure if I have ever played a basswood guitar to compare. Basswood is supposed to be lighter. Not sure if that would make a difference in sound. Maybe some other members might know. My guitars are alder and ash and mahogany with maple tops. Not helping you I know sorry! hahaha

Both of my guitars are basswood. I really can't compare it to anything else. The kicker is that my Fender is feather-light but my Charvel weighs a ton. Go figure!