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Post subject: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:32 am
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Has anyone tried any other pickups with the Clapton mid range booster besides the Lace Sensors or the Vintage Noiseless and if so what were the results? I am looking to change out the Vintage Noiseless and am curious what other pickups if any will work.....


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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:44 am
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Never tried anything else but Lace Sensor Golds.
There was no need to! :wink:

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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:25 am
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I've had SCN's in a Clapton-based Strat. :idea: No complaints.

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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:26 am
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The booster can also be used with full-sized humbuckers (Richie Sambora Signature 1991-1998, FSR Deluxe Players TBX Boost HSS).


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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 8:22 am
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I have 2 Clapton Strats one with Lace Sensors Gold and one with VN and the VN sound like they have no life. They are darker and are very sensitive to height. I want to replace them but don't want to have 2 with Lace Sensors Gold. Was thinking Lace Holy Grails or maybe the Fender N3. Thus my question, do I have to use Noiseless pickups with the Clapton Booster or can I use other type non-noiseless pickups?


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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Fri Feb 01, 2013 9:09 am
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leodgr81 wrote:
I have 2 Clapton Strats one with Lace Sensors Gold and one with VN and the VN sound like they have no life. They are darker and are very sensitive to height. I want to replace them but don't want to have 2 with Lace Sensors Gold. Was thinking Lace Holy Grails or maybe the Fender N3. Thus my question, do I have to use Noiseless pickups with the Clapton Booster or can I use other type non-noiseless pickups?


The booster will amplify the 60 cycle hum of single coils. Your best bet is to use some kind of humbucking pickup be it stacked or rails.

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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:51 am
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I built the guitar below and used 2 Hot Chrome Domes and a extra hot (red) Chrome Dome Dually with a boost that is just like the Clapton boost (MuzicTech 20bd boost). The tone was fatter than with the Golds on my old Clapton Strat. So one can simply know how a set of pickups sounds and then know that when you add a Clapton 25db boost, the tone will go from what you currently have to a louder, fatter tone with the boost as it is turned up. So this is really very simple.

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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:09 pm
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The mini-toggle is the usual coil-split switch for the humbucker or an active/passive selector to bypass the preamp?


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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 9:06 pm
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chromeface wrote:
The mini-toggle is the usual coil-split switch for the humbucker or an active/passive selector to bypass the preamp?


Even if you bypassed the preamp, you'll still be left with a 50K volume pot which is not appropriate for a (then) passive circuit.

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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:07 pm
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chromeface wrote:
The mini-toggle is the usual coil-split switch for the humbucker or an active/passive selector to bypass the preamp?

On this guitar the mini-switch was a on/on/on used like on a Fender Ultra. It simply turns either soils on or both inside that solid cover. Inside it is just two lace sensors like on an Ultra.

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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 3:26 am
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That's exactly what I mean, a coil-split toggle switch which cuts the inner and outer coils from the humbucker in positions 1 & 3.

Position 2 is the full humbucker mode with the two coils activated.

I thought the switch was a midboost bypass button to turn off the MusicTech preamp and switch to passive when you're out of batteries during a gig.

It's possible to increase the gain from 20dB to 25dB by clipping a resistor in the midboost pot.


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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 3:48 am
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ZZDoc wrote:
I've had SCN's in a Clapton-based Strat. :idea: No complaints.


Must be the boost then?
I had those in my American Deluxe.
They sounded dull and lifeless compared to any other pickups I use in my strats.

Every strat I own can simply be plugged in and played with the same amp setting but when I plugged in the Deluxe, even with all guitar controls at ten, it sounded dull.
I had to adjust amp settings a lot, which made all(!!) other guitars sound gritty and way on the treble side. Remark: I use a Hughes & Kettner Statesman head which is known to be on the treble side already.

So I sold the Deluxe again.

Could it be the boost in your case? On the other hand, it's a mid boost and I'd rather expect the sound to become a little warmer which wouldn't be positive when the SCNs already sound dull.
Or could it be the S1 switching in the deluxe, busting the original sound of the SCNs??

Just asking out of curiosity and interest. Do you have any more experience with these pickups?

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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 3:55 am
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Martian wrote:
leodgr81 wrote:
I have 2 Clapton Strats one with Lace Sensors Gold and one with VN and the VN sound like they have no life. I want to replace them but don't want to have 2 with Lace Sensors Gold.
Thus my question, do I have to use Noiseless pickups with the Clapton Booster?


The booster will amplify the 60 cycle hum of single coils. Your best bet is to use some kind of humbucking pickup be it stacked or rails.


+1
I'd stay with HBs or with noiseless PUs in your case, leo.

If you already have one with Lace Sensor Golds and do not want to kinda duplicate that sound, how about checking out some other Lace Sensor constellations, like adding different colors of Laces?

Blue, silver, red (from neck to bridge) is a popular set which gives you three sounds and music styles in one guitar (Blues, Vintage, HOT).

There's also several other colors with distinctive sound characters on the Lace Sensor website.
Maybe you might wanna check'em out?

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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 7:43 am
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What about the Lace Holy Grails? How different would they be than the original Lace Sensor Golds. I see that the specs, resistance and inductance is much higher so I assume they will be slightly hotter and fuller sounding, more bass and mid. Am I correct in my assumption?

Also I was looking at the DiMarzio Area 58's. Any comments?


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Post subject: Re: What Pickups for EC Booster?
Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 9:06 am
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leodgr81 wrote:
What about the Lace Holy Grails?


I don't know, I never played them.
I find it difficult to choose pickups by specs.
It's a matter of trial and error if you don't have the chance to check'em out at a local guitar store, which is unlikely regarding Laces, since they are - for reasons I can't understand - not seen in stores very often.

Try to get used ones so you won't lose much money if you shouldn't like them and want to resell them.

I even find it very hard to choose PUs by discriptions of other guitarists, since PUs are a matter of taste.

If I'm getting interested in some certain PUs, I simply buy them and test them out.

Nowadays I don't experiment with PUs very much anymore. If I don't like the sound, I sell the whole guitar but that's just because I have everything I think I need and I have a backup for almost each of my guitars (therefore I have two almost identical sounding Buddy Guys with Laces).

If you want to keep the second one, I'm afraid there's no way around trial and error, because you'll get 20 different opinions from 10 different guitarists. :wink:
I would simply surf the sites of manufacturers, usually they discribe the pickup's characteristics there. Then, when chosen some which seem to fit your needs, I'd check reviews or ask for experiences.
After all that, you might narrow the bunch of PUs but still it would be trial and error because only when installed in your guitar, you can actually judge them.

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STRATS ROCK!!! but Teles and Firebirds, too!


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