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Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers

Reply from: Jack Dotson
Date: 03 May 2008, 03:24
Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers

Any of you guys have these or have experience with them? Lot's of
recommendations on the Seymour Duncan forum as a good fit for my Tele HH so
I put a set on order, but have never heard them.

I like that they're different. Maybe I'll get lucky.




Reply from: Kaz Kylheku
Date: 03 May 2008, 09:41
Re: Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers

On May 2, 6:24 pm, "Jack Dotson" <jdot...@stx.rr,com > wrote:
> Any of you guys have these or have experience with them?  Lot's of
> recommendations on the Seymour Duncan forum as a good fit for my Tele HH so
> I put a set on order, but have never heard them.

What? Not even the sound samples on the Seymour Duncan website?

Why would you orders pickups that you've never heard?

> I like that they're different.  Maybe I'll get lucky.

I have an original model (bought before Duncan introduced variants)
which supposedly corresponds to the PATB-1 Original. Bought it in
maybe 1990 or 1991. Real muddy piece of crap. Absolutely useless for
anything clean, and no bite or dynamics under distortion. I finally
got rid of it just two months ago, some seventeen or eighteen years
later. Well, not rid; it's collecting dust in some jar along with
various junk.

The trembucker is definitely NOT ``great for country, pop, classic
rock, jazz, blues, funk nor heavy rock'', as advertized. To lay claim
to such versatility, the pickup needs, like, this stuff called treble.
This pickup has next to none.

Under gain, it wouldn't produce a good, crispy, resonant, palm-muted
thump! Not good for heavy, not good for clean, and quite useless for
in-between ``crunch'' type sounds either which require lively dynamics
and clarity.

The guitar that I finally rescued from this bad pickup is now
completely revitalized with a bright 5.7kohm Humbucker from Hell from
DiMarzio. (Now with /that/ pickup you can cover country, pop, classic
rock, jazz, blues, funk and heavy rock).

The Blues Sarasceno PATB-3 sounds vaguely promising, that's about it.
I'd change your order to that one, if possible.

I'm listening to the sound samples for these pickups at:

http :// www .seymourduncan,com /support/audio-samples/humbuckers and

I definitely recognize that sound. So you don't have to take my word
for it that the 1 and 2 are nasty, muddy junk. The 3 is better, but
nothing special. There are not many pickups on that page that are
worse than all of these.

Reply from: Jack Dotson
Date: 03 May 2008, 14:56
Re: Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers


"Kaz Kylheku" <kkylheku@gmail,com > wrote in message
news:02e9718f-7fe7-4346-842f-3e917e7ddb9f@l17g2000pri.googlegroups,com ...
On May 2, 6:24 pm, "Jack Dotson" <jdot...@stx.rr,com > wrote:
> Any of you guys have these or have experience with them? Lot's of
> recommendations on the Seymour Duncan forum as a good fit for my Tele HH
> so
> I put a set on order, but have never heard them.

What? Not even the sound samples on the Seymour Duncan website?

Actually, I did listen to the samples and liked what I heard. However, when
I said I ordred them without hearing them I menat in a live setting. I
don't put much stock in those five second sound clips played through two
tiny computer speakers.

Why would you orders pickups that you've never heard?

Because if you want to try something other than EMG's, JB's, Jazz, Custom's,
etc., then it's hard to find a guitar with them installed. Most guitars
that come with SD's come with pretty much the same combination of PU's.
Most of the time it's a JB or Custom Custom in the bridge, etc. Not to
mention I'm trying to find something that will match well with the woods of
my guitar which are very bright (Alder body, maple top, maple neck, ebony
FB)|.

If you go by the tone Charts on the SD website I'm fairly limited to what
will work well with this guitar. And I like a warm tone, don't like ceramic
PU's, etc., so this also narrows my options.

> I like that they're different. Maybe I'll get lucky.

I have an original model (bought before Duncan introduced variants)
which supposedly corresponds to the PATB-1 Original. Bought it in
maybe 1990 or 1991. Real muddy piece of crap. Absolutely useless for
anything clean, and no bite or dynamics under distortion. I finally
got rid of it just two months ago, some seventeen or eighteen years
later. Well, not rid; it's collecting dust in some jar along with
various junk.

The trembucker is definitely NOT ``great for country, pop, classic
rock, jazz, blues, funk nor heavy rock'', as advertized. To lay claim
to such versatility, the pickup needs, like, this stuff called treble.
This pickup has next to none.

Under gain, it wouldn't produce a good, crispy, resonant, palm-muted
thump! Not good for heavy, not good for clean, and quite useless for
in-between ``crunch'' type sounds either which require lively dynamics
and clarity.

Damned, by your description it's not good for anything. Was it at least
balanced as they said?

The guitar that I finally rescued from this bad pickup is now
completely revitalized with a bright 5.7kohm Humbucker from Hell from
DiMarzio. (Now with /that/ pickup you can cover country, pop, classic
rock, jazz, blues, funk and heavy rock).

And what guitar would that be? Also, curious why you kept it for 17-18
years when you hated it so bad. When I really dislike a PU I get rid of it
ASAP.

The Blues Sarasceno PATB-3 sounds vaguely promising, that's about it.
I'd change your order to that one, if possible.

That model is only good for the bridge and it has scooped mids. I play
rhythm and was looking for something a bit more balanced which the PATB1 is
on paper.

I'm listening to the sound samples for these pickups at:

http :// www .seymourduncan,com /support/audio-samples/humbuckers_and

I definitely recognize that sound. So you don't have to take my word
for it that the 1 and 2 are nasty, muddy junk. The 3 is better, but
nothing special. There are not many pickups on that page that are
worse than all of these.

I listened to those and liked what I heard. Curious if your guitar has a
mahogany body/neck, etc. It almost sounds like you tried this in a dark
sounding guitar which it's not supposed to work well with? By description
they were designed to tremolo/Floyd rose (Fender) type guitars and are said
to restore the bass and give them a nice fat tone.

Oh well, there's enough people who like them on the SD site that I should be
able to resale without taking too bad of a beating if they don't work for
me.

Thanks so much for you opinion and response. I appreciate it.




Reply from: Keith Adams
Date: 03 May 2008, 13:57
Re: Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers

It doesnt matter who made it or how much it costs. If you find a Humbucker
wound at or around 5K then its more than likely going to sound fantastic.
I've never heard one that didnt anyway.

"Jack Dotson" <jdotson@stx.rr,com > wrote in message
news:481bbee8$0$5702$4c368faf@roadrunner,com ...
> Any of you guys have these or have experience with them? Lot's of
> recommendations on the Seymour Duncan forum as a good fit for my Tele HH
> so I put a set on order, but have never heard them.
>
> I like that they're different. Maybe I'll get lucky.
>
>
>



Reply from: Jack Dotson
Date: 03 May 2008, 15:03
Re: Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers


"Keith Adams" <keithadams@socal.rr,com > wrote in message
news:481c53ba$0$20188$4c368faf@roadrunner,com ...
> It doesnt matter who made it or how much it costs. If you find a Humbucker
> wound at or around 5K then its more than likely going to sound
> fantastic. I've never heard one that didnt anyway.

Keith, I'm very ignorant when it comes to how the windings, resistance, etc.
effect the sound of various PU's. So when you say they're wound at or
around 5K I'm not at all sure what your talking about. For years I just
played the guitars until I found one I liked off the shelf. If I liked the
gitar and didn't like the PU's I didn't buy it. Only recently have I
changed my mind as I realized I was passing on allot of good guitars because
I didn't like the PU's and this is why you've seen me asking so many
questions.

I can install them with no problem with a diagram, but as far as sound goes
I've been relying on the knowlege and experince of others and following
recommendations of the PU manufactures.

I a HB wound at 5K sounds fantastic then I hope these are. :0)

Thanks for the response.


>
> "Jack Dotson" <jdotson@stx.rr,com > wrote in message
> news:481bbee8$0$5702$4c368faf@roadrunner,com ...
>> Any of you guys have these or have experience with them? Lot's of
>> recommendations on the Seymour Duncan forum as a good fit for my Tele HH
>> so I put a set on order, but have never heard them.
>>
>> I like that they're different. Maybe I'll get lucky.
>>
>>
>>
>
>



Reply from: Meat Plow
Date: 04 May 2008, 21:39
Re: Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers

On Sat, 03 May 2008 08:03:44 -0500, Jack Dotson wrote:

>
> "Keith Adams" <keithadams@socal.rr,com > wrote in message
> news:481c53ba$0$20188$4c368faf@roadrunner,com ...
>> It doesnt matter who made it or how much it costs. If you find a Humbucker
>> wound at or around 5K then its more than likely going to sound
>> fantastic. I've never heard one that didnt anyway.
>
> Keith, I'm very ignorant when it comes to how the windings, resistance, etc.
> effect the sound of various PU's. So when you say they're wound at or
> around 5K I'm not at all sure what your talking about.

That's ok Jack because Keith doesn't know what he's talking about either.
He plays harmonica, not guitar.


Reply from: Keith Adams
Date: 03 May 2008, 17:03
Re: Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers

Well Jack. Usually the only person here who agrees with me on just about any
guitar related topic is me.
A humbucker that is wound to 5K(or there abouts) would be considered
underwound when compared to present day standards. The average single coil
when hooked up to a DVM/DMM ? set for ohms resistance will read anywhere
between 4.5k-7.5k..
If using the same guage wire that would mean that the humbuckers 2 coils
will only have half as many wraps of wire per coil as the single coil does.
The more wraps then the more sensitive (hotter) the pick up is. What goes
along with the sensitivity is muddy sound and lack of note seperation. You
also loose the nice chimey bell note type sounds. The way I see it is . You
cant get a good clean tone out of a hot pickup unless you play at pretty low
voumes. With a less sensitive pickup you can have the best of both. You can
always use a distortion or overdrive pedal( less sensitive pickups sound
better than a hot one when used this way IMO) or if you have a small tube
amp you can turn it up and still get power tube distortion( less sensitive
pickups sound better than hot in this situation as well(AFAIC).
Enough for now Jack. My typing finger is starting to blister.

"Jack Dotson" <jdotson@stx.rr,com > wrote in message
news:481bbee8$0$5702$4c368faf@roadrunner,com ...
> Any of you guys have these or have experience with them? Lot's of
> recommendations on the Seymour Duncan forum as a good fit for my Tele HH
> so I put a set on order, but have never heard them.
>
> I like that they're different. Maybe I'll get lucky.
>
>
>



Reply from: Jack Dotson
Date: 03 May 2008, 18:49
Re: Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers


"Keith Adams" <keithadams@socal.rr,com > wrote in message
news:481c7f63$0$30515$4c368faf@roadrunner,com ...
> Well Jack. Usually the only person here who agrees with me on just about
> any guitar related topic is me.
> A humbucker that is wound to 5K(or there abouts) would be considered
> underwound when compared to present day standards. The average single coil
> when hooked up to a DVM/DMM ? set for ohms resistance will read anywhere
> between 4.5k-7.5k..
> If using the same guage wire that would mean that the humbuckers 2 coils
> will only have half as many wraps of wire per coil as the single coil
> does. The more wraps then the more sensitive (hotter) the pick up is.
> What goes along with the sensitivity is muddy sound and lack of note
> seperation. You also loose the nice chimey bell note type sounds. The way
> I see it is . You cant get a good clean tone out of a hot pickup unless
> you play at pretty low voumes. With a less sensitive pickup you can have
> the best of both. You can always use a distortion or overdrive pedal( less
> sensitive pickups sound better than a hot one when used this way IMO) or
> if you have a small tube amp you can turn it up and still get power tube
> distortion( less sensitive pickups sound better than hot in this situation
> as well(AFAIC).
> Enough for now Jack. My typing finger is starting to blister.

Makes sense and sound like what I'm looking for. Thanks for the lesson.
And quite by mistake it looks like I was on the right track. I've got hot
pick-up's in my Tele HH and these are the one's I want to replace because
they are as you descirbe.

I bought the Parallel Axis 1B locally and am going to put it in the bridge,
but I cancelled the 1N I had ordered for the neck because I'm pissed at how
long it's taking Warmoth to fill the order. I'm going to go with the Pearly
Gates in the neck as SD designed the 1N to go with the 1B and the PG has
almost the same exact specification, but has an Alnico II magnet instead the
Alnico V.

I'll let y'all know how things turn out.


>
> "Jack Dotson" <jdotson@stx.rr,com > wrote in message
> news:481bbee8$0$5702$4c368faf@roadrunner,com ...
>> Any of you guys have these or have experience with them? Lot's of
>> recommendations on the Seymour Duncan forum as a good fit for my Tele HH
>> so I put a set on order, but have never heard them.
>>
>> I like that they're different. Maybe I'll get lucky.
>>
>>
>>
>
>



Reply from: Meat Plow
Date: 04 May 2008, 21:41
Re: Parallel Axis PATB-1 trembuckers

On Sat, 03 May 2008 08:03:49 -0700, Keith Adams wrote:

> Well Jack. Usually the only person here who agrees with me on just about any
> guitar related topic is me.


No shit Keefy. Maybe it's because you don't play guitar?







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