Author: James Low

It’s been one of my little tone quests to fine a humbucker which has a truly good single coil sound when split. An Idea I had recently though was to combine a true single and a single coil-sized humbucker in one, so that instead of a splitting a humbucker, you’re simply switching between two different pickups in one enclosure. These could have a nickel cover for more of a classic look.

You could even have the single coils as hum cancelling single coils, so that in both modes there is no hum, another problem with conventional coil splitting. I saw this working with something like a Seymour Duncan STK-4 and Lil’ 59, or a Dimarzio Area 67 and Pro Track. Dimarzio did something similar to this with their discontiuned “multibucker” pickups, but that was more like two different humbuckers in one, and the Dimarzio Area series have progressed how good a hum cancelling single coil can sound since then.

I’ve submitted this as an idea to Seymour Duncan’s SDRL:
http://sdrl.seymourduncan.com/comment.php?id=121

Update:
I just discovered that Ammoon (a Chinese manufacturer) makes a pickup like this. True single coil and humbucker in one:

As do Warman guitars with their G Rail:
https://www.warmanguitars.co.uk/product/warman-g-rail-hybrid-pickup/

The Gear Tube mobile app is now out for iPhone:

Much has been written and said on this, and what I have to say is by no means authoritative, but I thought I’d write a quick summary of the various info I’ve found while reading:

1) Soft vs. Hard Clipping
The number one reason why tube amps seem to be perceived louder in volume for the same wattage seems to be soft vs. hard clipping. When companies rate amps for power that rate the wattage where the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the power section is below a certain threshold. This is generally not for the amp as a whole, but the specification of the power tubes or transistors in the current configuration and supply voltages.

Now the difference between tubes and solid state is that after that threshold tubes have soft clipping and solid state has hard clipping. As illustrated in the figures below, tube amps will still get louder above their rated power, while having less noticeable, and even desirable distortion and compression. Solid state in contrast will hard clip and sound nasty, and not be any louder.

Modified from here

Now it is true that you can achieve soft clipping with various solid state components, but that will be limiting the total volume of the system, not pushing it above the rated specification for the power amplifier transistors.

2) Tube Amp Variations
Adding to the confusion there also seem to be variation in how loud two tube amps with the same power tubes or power rating can be. This can be down to a large number of factors, power tube supply voltage, transformer efficiency, speaker sensitivity, or technologies like Mesa/Boogie’s Dyna-Watt. Phillip McKnight has an excellent video showing different perceived volumes from similar wattage amps, and even how a higher rated solid state amp doesn’t sound as loud.

3) Logarithmic Volume Controls
A third possible reason for differences his how the volume controls are configured. Some solid state amps may tend to have linear volume controls, meaning the volume increases evenly over the entire sweep of the volume pot. Some tube amps may tend to have logarithmic volume controls, meaning the volume increases more at the beginning of a potentiometer’s sweep. This means a tube amp on 2/10 or 3/10 may be really loud, and still feel like it has a lot more volume to give, when in practice you may almost be at half volume. Of course if it goes to 11 it must be even louder!

Further reading:
http://www.sweetwater.com/sweetcare/articles/tube-amps-louder-than-solid-state-amps-of-same/

http://www.geofex.com/tubeampfaq/beginner_tube_amps.htm

There’s a link on reddit that shows how to get Rocksmith working on a Mac without the real tone cable:
https://www.reddit.com/r/rocksmith/comments/1zf2im/playing_without_realtone_cable_in_mac_os_x/

I’ve got screenshots of how to do it, but after doing it the sound produced is pitch and distortion artefacts and is basically unplayable. I tried with both the built in audio interface and my Presonus Audiobox USB, and neither worked. Some people have managed to get it to work though, so maybe some interfaces work better than others. I did however, managed to get the Rocksmith cable to work recording into both my Mac and iPad:

I installed a USB hub in my pedalboard because I was sick of having to remove pedals to get to the the USB sockets on the pedals. The hub I used is non-powered, I’m not sure if some other pedals might require a powered one. I got some cheap short right angle USB cables off eBay to make the wiring really neat.

This video shows it working with:
– TC Alter Ego V2 (Flashback / Toneprint Software)
– Neunaber Slate (Pedal Customizer Software)
– Fishman Aura Spectrum DI (Aura Gallery Software)

Just got Jon Press Guitars to route a 5-way switch for my Michael Kelly Hybrid Special. Makes it much easier to access the coil tapping options of the Catwhisker S-Bucker and made me realise that apart from on traditional Gibson instruments, all humbucker guitars should come with a 5-way switch rather than 3 position and separate coil tap switches. There is now an unused switch that I’ll probably remove and find a cover for.

Here’s the wiring. The S-Bucker has quite a different coil tap setup.

Just a quick list because I was bored and thinking about it. I’ve owned a Diago Little Smasher and EHX Caliber 22.

	Quilter Microblock 45	45 Watt
	Baroni Mini Amp 50	50 Watt
	Electro Harmonix Magnium 44/Caliber 22	44 Watt
	Traynor DH25H	25 Watt
	Diago Little Smasher	5 Watt
	Bluguitar Amp1	100 Watt
	Ethos Overdrive/Clean Amp	30 Watt
	Quilter Toneblock/Quilter 101 Mini Head	200 Watt
	ZT Amps Lunchbox	200 Watt
	Orange Micro Terror/Micro Dark	20 Watt
	Create PowerBlock (Discontinued)	150 Watt
	Randall RG13	1 Watt
	Taurus Stomphead	70 Watt
	Hotone Mojo Attack	75 Watt
	Stomp Amp Brown	30 Watt
	DV Mark Micro 50	50 Watt
	Seymour Ducan PowerStage 170	170 Watt

Just recently did this is a common mod for that people do for the Blues Jr. On a Blues Jr. III it’s replacing R25 with a 25K pot. It’s basically an implementation of the Blues Deluxe presence control on the Blues Jr. Billm uses a shielded cable when he wires it in, so that’s what I did. Makes quite a special amp with the other Billm mods, a Warehouse Guitar Speakers ET-65 and salt and pepper vintage grill cloth.