Best cheap gigging guitar with both h/b and single coil tones

antifash

Played this today. Never heard of the brand but it was wicked : https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/spear-telecaster-/1224944514

Voxman

TTBZ said:

Why won't you touch a squier? They're really good guitars and a bargain. I'd say an upgraded one (pickups) will sound better than a stock fender for the same money...

Each to their own - but not for me. 

cbilly22

Voxman said:

stimpsonslostson said:

The only criticism I've heard of the higher Pacificas is that the nut can be a bit smaller than "normal". 

I had a 510v it was excellent (the hardware was brilliant- locking Grovers, Wilkinson trem, SD P-rails and a tusq but), but the nut was a bit narrow for me. 

Thanks' I'll bear that in mind.  The 611 hfw and vfw have a P90, which I really like the sound of as I don't have a P90 guitar currently.  It also has coil tapped SD H/bucker, graphtec nut and locking Grover tuners. The vfw has the wilkinson trem too.  So on paper this could well fit the bill.  Not too many used ones around, but I'll definitely find a new one to try out. 

Currently got two 611s and a modded/butchered 510v, love 'em. The 611s are pretty much the perfect guitar for me, there isn't really anything I'd change apart from swapping the Custom 5 for a Screamin Demon. The most solid guitars I've owned, rarely even tune the things after stretching the strings in.

Voxman

antifash said:

Played this today. Never heard of the brand but it was wicked : https://www.gumtree.com/p/guitar-instrument/spear-telecaster-/1224944514

Schnozz said:

Gassage nailed this earlier in the year I think:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEVINSON-BLADE-TEXAS-Player-in-Candy-Red-BRAND-NEW-OLD-STOCK-BARGAIN-RRP-549-/322329249979?hash=item4b0c5208bb:g:G8MAAOSw44BYKyCB

Thanks guys, but I need to play before buying, or at least have the ability to return and get a full refund within eg 14 days, so unfortunately these types of ads are no good for me.  

antifash

@voxman I travelled here to try a different guitar. Each to their own.  

Voxman

antifash said:

@voxman I travelled here to try a different guitar. Each to their own.  

Sure, but I'm in North London! 

andy1839

I bought a MIM Lonestar Strat which are HSS and had an S1 switch to split the bridge bucker. 
It was a fantastic guitar, regretted selling it, so on the lookout for another.

The stock pickups were really good, the humbucker sounded just like an EVH Wolfgang one.

What a lovely guitar, they have the big 70's headstock but didn't make a difference to me. 

CarpeDiem

In addition to the good suggestions you've already been given, I'd also suggest an Epiphone Les Paul Traditional Pro as it can coil split. If you can find one, a secondhand Fret King Super 60 (with P90 in bridge) would be worth checking - they have a dummy coil fitted to overcome hum).

olafgarten

Voxman said:

antifash said:

@voxman I travelled here to try a different guitar. Each to their own.  

Sure, but I'm in North London! 

Get down to Yamaha Music near Tottenham Court Road, they will have all the Yamaha's you need, you can also try the Revstar 502

RocknRollDave

Custom Shop Billy Gibbons LP

Voxman

RocknRollDave said:

Custom Shop Billy Gibbons LP

Don't think they have single coil tones but if you can find them for £3-400, I'll take three. 

drwiddly

I had a Pacifica 812W for a few years. HSS (SD's), Wilkinson trem, locking Sperzels, it was a great little gigging machine. They come up for around £250 - £350 and they're well worth it.

crunchman

Voxman said:

1. Genuinely still sounds great but an absolute must have is that it can deliver both humbucker and single coil tones - the target is LP and Strat tones, preferably without the Strat 60 cycle hum.

My inner pedant is forced to point out that it's 50 cycle hum in the UK.

On that point, you will do very well to find "noiseless" pickups that sound any good.  I briefly played a Strat with a set of Kinmans in that sounded good, but when I later put a set of Kinmans in a Tele they were horrible.  I just went back to proper single coils.  Kinmans are reputedly the best of the noiseless options and I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.  Fender's noiseless things are absolutely horrible as well.  I'd rather play a Squier than the Fender Deluxe series I've tried.  Kinmans would also break your budget.  Anything noiseless you can get in your budget is likely to be even more horrible than the premium offerings.

I'd just stick with genuine single coils or tapped humbuckers.  Tapped humbuckers don't normally sound great either but they will probably sound as good as a noiseless option,  If you can find some with the PRS DGT style partial tap then they generally sound better and do cancel some (although not all) of the hum.  They don't have the big volume drop that you normally get with tapped humbuckers either.

Anything you do will have to be a compromise somewhere along the line.  You won't get proper LP and Strat tones out of one guitar.  The construction of the guitars is too different - trem vs fixed bridge, bolt on vs set neck, mahogany/maple vs alder/ash bodies, different scale lengths.

Your best bet might be a Variax.  The basic version is only £449 at various places. Gear4Music have the Tyler 59 version at £697.  You ought to be able to find one for £400ish second hand. 

lysander

I recently bought a Pacifica 611 HFM and I love it, brillant guitar. And the price is incredible.
Tuning stability hasn't been great with mine so far but I'm sure it's just the stock strings, as all the hardware is high quality. I will change them today - I assume they're 9-46 stock

newi123

If you want to approach it from the other angle (lp with single coil sounds rather than strat with hb) try an epiphone 60s tribute. Recently bought an ex display for just over £400 - Gibson USA pickups, good hardware and case. Great lp sounds and coil splits on both pickups to get singlecoil ish.

I sometimes play our singers' Pacifica 112 - It's still a great usable guitar. Had a 612 a few years ago and that was fab too. Easily within used budget.

I did play a vintage strat in a shop a while ago and thought it was genuinely great - I'd certainly try and find a fret king super 60 to try. The hardware on those is top notch.

my everyday gigging guitar is a highway one strat with a jb at the bridge. They should also be within budget if you do fancy dropping a hb in yourself.

darthed1981

Voxman said:

So what do you think guys...anything out there you can recommend that fits the bill?

Outside the box a bit - but have you looked at any of the higher-end Epiphones with Probuckers?

These have coil splitting, and I actually use my Epi Les Paul Custom Pro with the neck pickup split quite a lot, sounds great.

Worth an audition, they make exceptionally pretty guitars for the money, and you can get one brand new for approx £300 of the "Standard Pro" and about £350 for the "Custom Pro".

Voxman

crunchman said:

Voxman said:

1. Genuinely still sounds great but an absolute must have is that it can deliver both humbucker and single coil tones - the target is LP and Strat tones, preferably without the Strat 60 cycle hum.

My inner pedant is forced to point out that it's 50 cycle hum in the UK.

Didn't realise it was different in the UK, but makes sense & thanks for clarification. 

On that point, you will do very well to find "noiseless" pickups that sound any good.  I briefly played a Strat with a set of Kinmans in that sounded good, but when I later put a set of Kinmans in a Tele they were horrible.  I just went back to proper single coils.  Kinmans are reputedly the best of the noiseless options and I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole.  Fender's noiseless things are absolutely horrible as well.  I'd rather play a Squier than the Fender Deluxe series I've tried.  Kinmans would also break your budget.  Anything noiseless you can get in your budget is likely to be even more horrible than the premium offerings.

I appreciate that some folk don't get on with noiseless p/ups, and from a pure 'Strat tone' perspective I get that.  However, for live gigging in a band mix playing classic rock & blues you really won't hear much if any difference, and its more important for me not to have noise.  I have a 50th Anniversary 2004 Strat with Bill Lawrence Somarium Cobalt Noiseless p/ups which sound really good, and I've played a Strat with the latest generation of Fender Noiseless p/ups, and I really can't tell any difference sonically (apart from being noiseless) as compared with my 2010 USA Standard Strat.  Lace Sensor p/ups are good too, but again purists don't tend to like those either.  My 69 Strat sounds a little different, but that's to be expected not least because its a hardtail.  So, in the scheme of things I'm more than happy to have noiseless p/ups. 

I'd just stick with genuine single coils or tapped humbuckers.  Tapped humbuckers don't normally sound great either but they will probably sound as good as a noiseless option,  If you can find some with the PRS DGT style partial tap then they generally sound better and do cancel some (although not all) of the hum.  They don't have the big volume drop that you normally get with tapped humbuckers either.

Tapped humbuckers are very different to single coils - you'll get a thinner single coil tone but you usually won't get anything that sounds like the 'middle' Strat tones.  I have a PRS Cu24 with 5-way rotary, and that does come close albeit not exactly the same.  But even a tapped humbucker is fine when combined with single coils. I'm simply looking for a single inexpensive guitar that I can put in a lightweight gig bag for rehearsals/gigs when I don't want to take out my more valuable guitars, & that can cover the sonic bases. 

Anything you do will have to be a compromise somewhere along the line.  You won't get proper LP and Strat tones out of one guitar.  The construction of the guitars is too different - trem vs fixed bridge, bolt on vs set neck, mahogany/maple vs alder/ash bodies, different scale lengths.

 You're absolutely right and I'm pretty familiar with that (just as background I've been playing around 45yrs and have 2 Gibsons - LP Custom, SG Standard, 3 USA Strats, a USA Tele, a PRS Cu24, and an Epi Sheraton II upgraded with SD 'SH1 '59's, so I know exactly where you're coming from).  The Cu24 is my 'one guitar' go to at the moment and it covers the bases pretty well but its a little 'clinical' sounding, if that makes sense - by that I mean I know it has its own character but its still hard not to compare it to a LP & a Strat.    

Your best bet might be a Variax.  The basic version is only £449 at various places. Gear4Music have the Tyler 59 version at £697.  You ought to be able to find one for £400ish second hand. 

A definite possibility - I need to find one to try to see how it feels/sounds.  The fact it has proper p/ups as 'back-up' is a definite plus.  A big plus is also the ability to program in different tunings - brilliant for slide.  Not seen a JTV'59 as low as £400 though, but I'll keep my eyes peeled.  

Thanks for taking the time to respond and all your input.  

Voxman

darthed1981 said:

Voxman said:

So what do you think guys...anything out there you can recommend that fits the bill?

Outside the box a bit - but have you looked at any of the higher-end Epiphones with Probuckers?

These have coil splitting, and I actually use my Epi Les Paul Custom Pro with the neck pickup split quite a lot, sounds great.

Worth an audition, they make exceptionally pretty guitars for the money, and you can get one brand new for approx £300 of the "Standard Pro" and about £350 for the "Custom Pro".

I had thought of that, but I wanted something that had both H/B & Single Coils.  I'm happy for the H/B on an HSS to be tapped as that can mix well when combined with single-coils.  But a pure H/B only guitar eg Epi LP or SG generally can't give Strat-like tones (specifically the 'middle' positions 2 & 4), even tapped.  Interestingly, I have a pedal called a 'Quasi-tap' that simulates the tapping of a H/B guitar.  It's very authentic, you don't get the volume drop you get with real taps, and being foot operated its very quick to change even mid-solo - so, I've kinda got that option anyway.   

ESBlonde

I used to have an Aria wildcat, (I think ICBM had one too a while back). Light and comfortable, well screwed together, lovely action possible, Humbucker on the bridge and two single coils a la strat. Half decent wammy bar and cheap enough to not worry about where it got gigged.

darthed1981

Voxman said:

darthed1981 said:

Voxman said:

So what do you think guys...anything out there you can recommend that fits the bill?

Outside the box a bit - but have you looked at any of the higher-end Epiphones with Probuckers?

These have coil splitting, and I actually use my Epi Les Paul Custom Pro with the neck pickup split quite a lot, sounds great.

Worth an audition, they make exceptionally pretty guitars for the money, and you can get one brand new for approx £300 of the "Standard Pro" and about £350 for the "Custom Pro".

I had thought of that, but I wanted something that had both H/B & Single Coils.  I'm happy for the H/B on an HSS to be tapped as that can mix well when combined with single-coils.  But a pure H/B only guitar eg Epi LP or SG generally can't give Strat-like tones (specifically the 'middle' positions 2 & 4), even tapped.  Interestingly, I have a pedal called a 'Quasi-tap' that simulates the tapping of a H/B guitar.  It's very authentic, you don't get the volume drop you get with real taps, and being foot operated its very quick to change even mid-solo - so, I've kinda got that option anyway.   

If you tap both coils and use the middle selector, that is close-ish to a strat 2 or 4, and you can reverse the phase as well on this setting, but yes you are right, a Les Paul is a Les Paul and a strat is a Strat.

I actually really am very interested in an LP with P90s as a result of the coil tapping fun however! Always looking for a killer deal on one of the 60s tributes they did last year.