Mini humbucker or Firebird in ASAT Classic S

[pfitz]

I've been playing an ASAT Classic S for a bit, and I love the versatility that the 3 pickup setup brings. The one I have comes stock with MFDs, yet I've since swapped the neck for a G&L Classic Alnico. It's nice in the 2nd position, and in combination with the bridge pickup. But on its own it seems a bit anemic in comparison to the MFD pickups. So I was thinking of going for something a little fuller. I could of course go back to the MFD, but because I do a lot of live looping, I'm considering a humbucker to.. Uh.. Buck the hum And I tend to favor the neck position in guitars.
It seems to me that a minibucker or a firebird would match up really well with the single coil MFDs, maybe even more so than they would with alnico single coils.
So I would love to hear from anyone, especially those that have blended any particular buckers with the MFDs. Suggestions for particular pickups would be great. And also, because there's a middle pickup, would the humbucker need to be wound in a particular manner. For example, I had to choose the RW/RP version of the Classic Alnico to match up with this particular guitar.
Thanks in advance and long live G&L!!!

[NickHorne]

Can you try to hear some Joe Barden pups?
It's my first guess for a humbucking Tele-style with something of the sonic DNA of an MFD.
You lose the polepiece adjustment that you had with your G&L neck pup, but that happens with the Firebird too (and the screw-pole mini-humbucker is very sweet and mellow, perhaps too much so).

[pfitz]

Yeah, would love to sample a lot of different pickups, and thanks for the suggestion. If that opportunity arises, I'll definitely take your advice and check out the Bardens. Thanks!

Thought I'd throw out this video comparing ASAT Classic MFDs and Barden T-Style I just came across. And... I much prefer the tone of the MFDs in this recording!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWAWfdkeOEc

[pfitz]

Can you try to hear some Joe Barden pups?
It's my first guess for a humbucking Tele-style with something of the sonic DNA of an MFD.
You lose the polepiece adjustment that you had with your G&L neck pup, but that happens with the Firebird too (and the screw-pole mini-humbucker is very sweet and mellow, perhaps too much so).

After recommending the Bardens, it seems you're suggesting the Firebird over the mini bucker to match with the MFDs, and my instinct tells me you're right. One of the things I've noticed after changing the neck pickup to G&L's alnico T-style, is that the balance between the neck PU and the other PUs (S-500 middle pickup & Classic bridge pickup) is off. I've raised the neck PU as much as it will go and I want more of it, but it's just not there. ALSO, the brightness of the bridge pickup is overpowering. I might just switch back to the MFD neck for the time being for better overall balance. For the future, however, I like the alnico and ceramic vibe together, but just need a fuller - and possibly brighter - neck pickup.

[louis cyfer]

Can you try to hear some Joe Barden pups?
It's my first guess for a humbucking Tele-style with something of the sonic DNA of an MFD.
You lose the polepiece adjustment that you had with your G&L neck pup, but that happens with the Firebird too (and the screw-pole mini-humbucker is very sweet and mellow, perhaps too much so).

After recommending the Bardens, it seems you're suggesting the Firebird over the mini bucker to match with the MFDs, and my instinct tells me you're right. One of the things I've noticed after changing the neck pickup to G&L's alnico T-style, is that the balance between the neck PU and the other PUs (S-500 middle pickup & Classic bridge pickup) is off. I've raised the neck PU as much as it will go and I want more of it, but it's just not there. ALSO, the brightness of the bridge pickup is overpowering. I might just switch back to the MFD neck for the time being for better overall balance. For the future, however, I like the alnico and ceramic vibe together, but just need a fuller - and possibly brighter - neck pickup.

lower the bridge pup some. an mfd bridge and an alnico neck should balance perfectly.

[pfitz]

Can you try to hear some Joe Barden pups?
It's my first guess for a humbucking Tele-style with something of the sonic DNA of an MFD.
You lose the polepiece adjustment that you had with your G&L neck pup, but that happens with the Firebird too (and the screw-pole mini-humbucker is very sweet and mellow, perhaps too much so).

After recommending the Bardens, it seems you're suggesting the Firebird over the mini bucker to match with the MFDs, and my instinct tells me you're right. One of the things I've noticed after changing the neck pickup to G&L's alnico T-style, is that the balance between the neck PU and the other PUs (S-500 middle pickup & Classic bridge pickup) is off. I've raised the neck PU as much as it will go and I want more of it, but it's just not there. ALSO, the brightness of the bridge pickup is overpowering. I might just switch back to the MFD neck for the time being for better overall balance. For the future, however, I like the alnico and ceramic vibe together, but just need a fuller - and possibly brighter - neck pickup.

lower the bridge pup some. an mfd bridge and an alnico neck should balance perfectly.

yeah, tried that too. still hotter on the bridge pu. And brighter. A second tone knob would be nice

[louis cyfer]

Can you try to hear some Joe Barden pups?
It's my first guess for a humbucking Tele-style with something of the sonic DNA of an MFD.
You lose the polepiece adjustment that you had with your G&L neck pup, but that happens with the Firebird too (and the screw-pole mini-humbucker is very sweet and mellow, perhaps too much so).

After recommending the Bardens, it seems you're suggesting the Firebird over the mini bucker to match with the MFDs, and my instinct tells me you're right. One of the things I've noticed after changing the neck pickup to G&L's alnico T-style, is that the balance between the neck PU and the other PUs (S-500 middle pickup & Classic bridge pickup) is off. I've raised the neck PU as much as it will go and I want more of it, but it's just not there. ALSO, the brightness of the bridge pickup is overpowering. I might just switch back to the MFD neck for the time being for better overall balance. For the future, however, I like the alnico and ceramic vibe together, but just need a fuller - and possibly brighter - neck pickup.

lower the bridge pup some. an mfd bridge and an alnico neck should balance perfectly.

yeah, tried that too. still hotter on the bridge pu. And brighter. A second tone knob would be nice

i alwas put the tone the the bridge pup alone. you can control the brightness and when rolling it back, it also brings down the volume.

[pfitz]

That's a thought...

[pfitz]

Well, I went ahead and put the MFD back in. Wow. What a difference. I forgot what I was missing. So balanced and oh so nice.

I think what I was trying to do originally, when I swapped the neck MFD for a classic alnico, was to bring down the mid-range presence. But I realized that by putting an alnico in the neck position, the pickup balance got off. The neck pickup sounded "anemic", because the other pickups have so much more going on in the midrange. Volume-wise, I find, they're pretty balanced - the alnico and the MFDs. But in terms of mid-range presence AND in overall detail of the sound spectrum, the alnico just couldn't match the two ceramics. So....

Obviously the Classic alnico neck pickup is not a good balance for this guitar, or not for me anyway. I lean on the neck pickup because of the tone I'm going for. So my neck pickup's gotta have some balls

Because of how good I realize this guitar sounds - and how versatile it is for me - I'm going to hold off for now on any pickup changes. I'm just so sold on these MFD's, their detail, their spectrum of tone, man they're really awesome! I find using an MXR 10-band EQ pedal works great to clean things up when needed. And the 2nd pickup position, which is hum bucking, really is a great sound.

We'll ride this way for a while.
Cheers