Hot Rails Question

[locoed]

How does a Hot Rails pickup sound? Compared to a standard humbucker, is
It a full sounding pup or is it thin sounding?
I put a stacked Anderson single coil in my Tele but
I'm not digging it. And I'd like to try something else.
I'm avoiding carving a bigger hole in my guitar.

 

[Anonymous]

I guess by "Hot Rails" you mean a single-sized humbucker...

Tons of models varying in sound from SD, Dimarzio, etc.

Bridge, neck, clean, distorted?

 

[rupe]

Since you said Hot Rails, I'll assume you mean an actual Hot Rails rather than "single-sized humbucker".

It won't sound as fat as a typical higher output humbucker like a JB, but it will be fatter than a typical single coil since it's reading a larger portion of the string. That said, it has a ton of output and really slam the front end of your amp. It's actually much hotter than any PAF-style humbucker...right up there with the JB, Distortion, etc. Tonally it kind of has it's own thing going...very aggressive and mid-focused. It's not a sweet sounding pickup at all and won't retain much of a true Tele tone...you'll have a fire-breathing hot-rod Tele on your hands. Clean tones are strong but not very pretty, but I've heard they can be if you split the pickup (I've never done this so I can't comment from experience).

It's also not likely to balance very well with a typical Tele neck pickup, but that can actually be cool under certain circumstances. I have one in a Strat where I use the neck and neck/middle setting for clean rhythm tones and slap it over to the bridge for aggressive leads...it's almost like kicking on an overdrive pedal.

 

[Jer]

Since you said Hot Rails, I'll assume you mean an actual Hot Rails rather than "single-sized humbucker".

It won't sound as fat as a typical higher output humbucker like a JB, but it will be fatter than a typical single coil since it's reading a larger portion of the string. That said, it has a ton of output and really slam the front end of your amp. It's actually much hotter than any PAF-style humbucker...right up there with the JB, Distortion, etc. Tonally it kind of has it's own thing going...very aggressive and mid-focused. It's not a sweet sounding pickup at all and won't retain much of a true Tele tone...you'll have a fire-breathing hot-rod Tele on your hands. Clean tones are strong but not very pretty, but I've heard they can be if you split the pickup (I've never done this so I can't comment from experience).

It's also not likely to balance very well with a typical Tele neck pickup, but that can actually be cool under certain circumstances. I have one in a Strat where I use the neck and neck/middle setting for clean rhythm tones and slap it over to the bridge for aggressive leads...it's almost like kicking on an overdrive pedal.

+1, spot on.

IMO Hot Rails is a lot like a Dimarzio SD or Duncan Distortion crammed into a single coil form factor. I actually found it too hot and a touch muddy for me in the neck and swapped it for a warmer D. Allen single coil.

Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQZaB6CPIns

 

[locoed]

Both dirty and clean, single coil size hence Telecaster.
It's supposed to sound like a humbucker right?
Is that true or false or kinda? Can I do Tool/Meshuggah
Style playing? Or will it sound to thin?
Generally I play a Les Paul, but after an hour my back
And shoulder start to hurt
And since I discovered how much I love Tele's, I'm going
To stick to them, they feel fantastic.
I went a little overboard and bought 3 of them.

 

[blackba]

Since you said Hot Rails, I'll assume you mean an actual Hot Rails rather than "single-sized humbucker".

It won't sound as fat as a typical higher output humbucker like a JB, but it will be fatter than a typical single coil since it's reading a larger portion of the string. That said, it has a ton of output and really slam the front end of your amp. It's actually much hotter than any PAF-style humbucker...right up there with the JB, Distortion, etc. Tonally it kind of has it's own thing going...very aggressive and mid-focused. It's not a sweet sounding pickup at all and won't retain much of a true Tele tone...you'll have a fire-breathing hot-rod Tele on your hands. Clean tones are strong but not very pretty, but I've heard they can be if you split the pickup (I've never done this so I can't comment from experience).

It's also not likely to balance very well with a typical Tele neck pickup, but that can actually be cool under certain circumstances. I have one in a Strat where I use the neck and neck/middle setting for clean rhythm tones and slap it over to the bridge for aggressive leads...it's almost like kicking on an overdrive pedal.

Long time Seymour Duncan hot rails user in my mim strat. As others mentioned, it's not as beefy as a standard size humbucker, but it sounds good none the less. I tired it split and hated it split, just sounded way too thin and anemic. On a recommendation on here I tried it with the coils in parallel and that was the ticket. In standard series mode it's plenty hot, but the cleans suffer. In parallel mode it sounds like a fat single coil and the cleans are pretty nice. Being able to switch between the two wiring has been very worth it. It does somewhat straty tones in parallel wiring....

 

[locoed]

I guess I'll have to try one then, see for myself. I can always EQ my amp
To sound heavier, more lowend, but my biggest concern is if it'll hold up
During odd time chug patterns, like Gojira type stuff, if it'll stay clean and
Focused, and not get sloppy. I use 13-70 gauge strings so there's not a lot
Of bends, I like super tight.
However thanks for the input fellas.

 

[smdb]

I have a HR in my main strat and have used it for years. All the above is true pretty much. But they really do sound pretty good in the right guitar, imo... I have no complaints with my tone.

 

[locoed]

I have a HR in my main strat and have used it for years. All the above is true pretty much. But they really do sound pretty good in the right guitar, imo... I have no complaints with my tone.

Do you play heavier style music?

 

[smdb]

Not modern metal, but it will hard rock, some 80's, imo... It killed in my maple strat into a VH4 when I used that rig. It's a bit compressed, but I never thought my sound was too dark or anything. I am not taking the HR out of that strat anytime soon, if ever.

 

[bravedude2]

i have one in a strat, good mids, cut through. nice crunch through a marshall 3203 head.