Texas Specials vs Big Dipper pups...

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AS87	Texas Specials vs Big Dipper pups...	Lead	[-]
Posts: 61 (04/08/2009 8:14 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Tags : None Hi guys, I am saving up for either an SRV strat or a JM strat. I have played both of them but only for a couple of minutes each, both feel great and in terms of playability I wouldn't mind which one I had. The thing it comes down to are the pups. Which are better pups for long term versatility? I obviously love the sound of both SRV and JM otherwise I wouldn't be getting their strat, but I don't want to JUST have their sound. I like to play abit of SRV, JM, Hendrix, and the occasional RHCP. I do prefer the slightly broken up sound (similar to Bold as Love on Where the Light is) as apposed to the ultra clean. Any body have any experiance with both of these pups? Cheers.
adam972		#1	[-]
Posts: 1102 (04/08/2009 9:04 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	i think you might like the pickups from Lindy Frailin, you can give him a call and get just what you are looking for, and the cost is about the same for any high end pick up, pretty reasonable actually compared to some "boutique" pickups i have seen.
bdam123		#2	[-]
Posts: 1085 (04/08/2009 10:04 AM) Could I ever Breakaway? Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Yea dude, I agree with Adam. I think the best choice is to go with these boutique makers that will custom wind you some pickups. If you really like the feel of both these guitars, buy one, sell the Specials or Dippers (there will def be buyers), and get yourself some nice boutique joints. Lindy Fralin Jason Lollar Van Zandt Curtis Novak
juhan		#3	[-]
Posts: 390 (04/08/2009 11:03 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Don't really see the point in changing the guitars pick-ups? Isn't the big dipper a reason alone why you should buy John's strato.
bluewaterpig		#4	[-]
Posts: 1343 (04/08/2009 11:27 AM) I'm tired of being alone... Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	To answer your original question, I think that the Big Dippers are much more versatile. I can always tell when someone's using Texas Specials. Don't get me wrong, I love them and I have them in one of my Strats, but Big Dippers are lower output and much darker. With a JM Strat, you can turn your tone knobs all the way up and get that blues/SRV type sound or turn them down and get a very round jazz type of sound. Anywhere in between sounds great too. Texas Specials are just less versatile overall if you ask me.
zaddN		#5	[-]
Posts: 1161 (04/08/2009 12:03 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	i would say for the stock pups, the big dippers win for exactly the same reasons as BWP says. i do, however, like what adam said also about fralins; i have stock vintage hots and they are awesome! so if you find a guitar that you like the feel and resonance of, but don't like the pups, those are always an option too. ---So here goes: close your eyes, get out of your own way, and JAM.---
bagelwithin		#6	[-]
Posts: 150 (04/08/2009 1:53 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	i agree that the mayer strat is more versatile. i wouldn't recommend switching the pups out RIGHT away. play it for a while; see if it's versatile enough FOR YOU. if not, switch out the pickups. also, most importantly you hsould find a guitar that FITS you. that is, you should love playing it because it feels great. i still say the mayer strat is the way to go. if you don't like the dippers, you can sell them and make a killing..more than enough to get you some quality replacements.
adam972		#7	[-]
Posts: 1102 (04/08/2009 2:08 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	i will say, i love to cook on TexMex pickups, just right for me, and just the right price.
AS87		#8	[-]
Posts: 61 (04/08/2009 2:46 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Thanks for the info guys. I know both guitars FIT me as I love the feel of both of them. Mainly the thicker necks is whats swaying me as I tried a 62 reissue but it didn't feel a whole lot different from my mexi (which I have 57/62s in). I may go with the JM strat as like you say, I'd probably get more for them if I were to eventually swap them out plus they may be versitile enough for me in the first place. Are the Big Dippers different enough from the 57/62s as I don't want to end up having two guitars sounding very similar if you know what I mean. Thanks again guys.
summeroflove		#9	[-]
Posts: 694 (04/08/2009 3:07 PM) I'm tired of being alone... Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	The two pickups are really quite different. The Big Dippers have extraordinary articulation (note separation between notes even with distortion) whereas the Texas Specials have this huge mid tone that is so sweet. I prefer the Texas Specials for overdriven tone, but they also do clean tone REALLY well and Mayer's dirty tone from City Love at the Crossroads DVD is legendary so don't think just SRV for dirty tone. Watch Lenny/Man on the Side from Any Given Thursday to hear the Texas Specials clean tone. Any SRV will nail that tone perfectly. All that being said the Mayer has insane clean tone. I don't really think any strat can touch it through a Blackface Fender amp. I just don't find it as versatile with pedals. It has a great vintage sound at the neck but this guitar wants a LOUD amp to play with, or a low wattage amp but the key is it wants to push the amp pretty hard so it can get much of it's overdrive sweetness from that push. Both guitars are ridiculously easy to play with the jumbo narrow 6105 frets so I don't think you can go wrong either way. The Texas Specials have a learning curve to get them sounding really sweet, and the Big Dippers take adjusting to as well for them to deliver a nice distorted sound. Sometime I find the notes are so distinctly separate with the Big Dippers I have had trouble getting them to come out as one huge chord even with distortion. This can be a plus or a minus depending on your playing style and the music you play. Hope all this will answer some of you questions.
jros		#10	[-]
Posts: 36 (04/08/2009 3:09 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Yup, agree with BWP - big dipper have less midrange (both upper and lower), so for me they are more soft and more pleasant for my ears. There's plenty of top end though which is nice! Btw, BWP - do you have any clips of the Two-Rock Classic Reverb laying around? Preferably in different settings. I'm interested in one, but I'll have to travel far (around 500km) if i'm gonna try one out - so it's better to hear it first then decide if i'm gonna go to the shop and try one out
bdam123		#11	[-]
Posts: 1085 (04/08/2009 5:30 PM) Could I ever Breakaway? Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	juhan wrote: Don't really see the point in changing the guitars pick-ups? Isn't the big dipper a reason alone why you should buy John's strato. If the only reason you buy a guitar is because the pickups you're most likely going to be an unhappy camper. Texas Specials are hot but there are tons of clean tones you can get from it. Watch Tomo Fugita, he always plays one. The Big Dippers have a scooped mid range. I don't like my mid range scooped. You can always compensate with the amp but I'd rather it be there. The only reason people make such a big deal about the Dippers is because they are JM sig exclusives If you listen to performances where he is using the dippers I wouldn't say the tones are stand out. In my opinion his best tones are from TBO and the Monty and those are for sure not fitted with Dippers although I don't know what they are fitted with. But make sure you're getting the guitar for its feel first, not its sound. Pickups are easier to replace than bodies and necks (at least when it comes to cost). Somone suggested this and I must agree. Between the two choices go with the dippers. Play the dippers and see if you like them. When you get some money go to for some custom wounds joints and compare. Sex, Drugs, Rock N' Rap WHANK.COM Myspace easydoesitTV
thomps000		#12	[-]
Posts: 5612 (04/08/2009 5:38 PM) Your mouth was, so dirty... Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	AS87 wrote: Thanks for the info guys. I know both guitars FIT me as I love the feel of both of them. Mainly the thicker necks is whats swaying me as I tried a 62 reissue but it didn't feel a whole lot different from my mexi (which I have 57/62s in). I may go with the JM strat as like you say, I'd probably get more for them if I were to eventually swap them out plus they may be versitile enough for me in the first place. Are the Big Dippers different enough from the 57/62s as I don't want to end up having two guitars sounding very similar if you know what I mean. Thanks again guys. If you already have a guitar with 57/62s I would suggest the SRV. The Big Dippers and 57/62s are both somewhat similar in the tones you can get. With the SRV you can get a very nice clean sound that is closer to a low output pickup. If you're going boutique I suggest Van Zandts, they have awesome versatility and can play pretty much anything. ------------------------------------ -pat
l33tm4n24		#13	[-]
Posts: 3029 (04/08/2009 6:09 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	^^I Highly agree with thomps. I own the CM JM Strat, and have a "The Black One" With custom 57/62s in it (wound so the resistance is even lower than what it is stock) and I have to say it is almost exactly the same as big dippers. still prefer my CM, but what you got is pretty close.
bluewaterpig		#14	[-]
Posts: 1343 (04/08/2009 9:40 PM) I'm tired of being alone... Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Yea 57/62s and Big Dippers are similar. Both are low output. Both have vintage poles. I would think that they're wound similarly and probably sound very similar. If you really want two very different guitars, get a SRV to compliment the 57/62 guitar you already have.
Patchyy		#15	[-]
Posts: 25 (04/08/2009 9:52 PM) I'm never speaking up again... Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	hate to change the topic much..... but would it be worth switching the pickups in a highway one strat... or should i just wait till i can get a better guitar. though that might be a while.
thomps000		#16	[-]
Posts: 5612 (04/08/2009 9:59 PM) Your mouth was, so dirty... Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	The Highway one is a decent guitar but it has some flaws. The pups in it are decent but not great, but if you threw something like Van Zandts or Fralins then it would be a much better guitar. I'd rather have 1 awesome strat than two decent ones though. ------------------------------------ -pat
bagelwithin		#17	[-]
Posts: 150 (04/08/2009 10:03 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Patchyy wrote: hate to change the topic much..... but would it be worth switching the pickups in a highway one strat... or should i just wait till i can get a better guitar. though that might be a while. waht do you think of the sound now? do you like it? if so, no sense in changing it. if you're like me and your tastes keep changing, go for it. get a new pickguard and wire the new pickups in it. taht way if sometime down the road you decide you like the other pickups better, you can jsut drop them in and not have to worry about rewiring and crap.
l33tm4n24		#18	[-]
Posts: 3029 (04/08/2009 11:20 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	^That actually does make more sense. I was thinking about that for my tele. I have a customized Highway 1 Texas Tele with a reliced neck that I want to get some '51 Nocaster pickups in it (I bought it the way it was from a nice little vintage guitar shop in Seattle who took my old strat plus as a trade in equally, and whoever owned it before me took off the telecaster part of the logo, making it look just like a nocaster, which I just love!) So I was just going to get a loaded white 1 ply tele pickguard with the pickups in it (I'm sure ebay has them)
Patchyy		#19	[-]
Posts: 25 (04/09/2009 4:57 AM) I'm never speaking up again... Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	thanks for feedback guys, ill think about it. That extra pickguard idea sounds good, cos at the moment i dont mind the sound but its not really what i want.
bluewaterpig		#20	[-]
Posts: 1343 (04/09/2009 8:36 AM) I'm tired of being alone... Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite Ignore User's Posts Report Post	Adam, I also LOVE Tex Mex pickups. Before I bought my Road Worn 62, I was planning on switching out the Tex Mexs because I had just heard they were flat, lifeless pickups (plus I don't really love Jimmie Vaughan's tone). When I first plugged it in, I was BLOWN away. I can get closer to John's tone with Tex Mex's than I can with most other things (I guess besides Big Dippers). EDIT: AS87, you should go try a Road Worn Strat of a Jimmie Vaughan Strat and see if you like Tex Mex pickups. They're in the same ballpark as Big Dippers but are different enough. Also wanted to add: 3 of my teachers at Berklee (Neal Itzler, Tomo Fujita, Thaddeus Hogarth) played my Road Worn and said that the pickups sounded like Custom Shop. Last Edited By: bluewaterpig 04/09/2009 8:41 AM. Edited 1 times.

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