Psyched (3)

This was the pre-occupation yesterday. I was mostly indoors save for the lunch moment. Yes folks, I've souped up my PRS Vela since there's time to spare & pickups available. 

Both are Seymour Duncans: Seymourized Mini SM3N (N)/ Psyclone (B). Is the Psyclone that good that I need to hear it twice in two different guitars? You might have seen the Psyclone in my Gibson previously but I didn't get to hear the real Filtetron tone in action but then again, is there such a thing to begin with? This pickup type thrives in lighter guitars like a hollow/ semi-hollow unit to help accentuate that top end. It's about dealing with the sting not the boom. On the matter of weight, my Vela here is indeed a light guitar despite being a solid body. I made a calculated guess & went with the Psyclone, ta da! The tone has a sweeter sounding treble, crispy with loads of raw, old school black metal potential which was not part of the plan, of course. 

A set of 0095s while I'm at it. To sum up the past week - a little short-changed but totally happy with the tone adventure. The Psyclone is definitely not my next in thing, just something that is different & fulfilling. Being me, I feel it's worth investing in another one.

Psyched (2)

So this was the pre-occupation for the entire week - Seymour Duncan's Psyclone humbuckers. These are not high output pickups to feed your heavy metal ambitions with, be informed. They are Filtertron-esque models with standard humbucker mounting flaps. This intelligent re-interpretation means you can now fit them into your humbucking guitars & need not worry about drilling holes into the body for accommodation. I've been eyeing a particular Godin guitar here which are Filtertron equipped as it's on my bucket list. With the availability of these Seymour Duncan alternative, it's a less costly affair for me; just get the pickups, not the entire guitar.

If you are looking for a bass-inclined pickup, steer clear of the Psyclone. These are meant to sharpen a trebly experience so that things don't mud-out if you keep your distortion high. You know, it's the Brian Setzer mojo without buying the $3K Gretsch. I might be doing it wrong by having them in a solid body instrument & turn the amp's gain way up but that's me in a nutshell; if it doesn't serve my needs, it takes a back seat. I'm not into clean tones as well but these offer a different clean experience, moving away from the vintage, rounded treble PAF experience. Still in the classic territory but nothing boomy. I am able to dial up those raw, Darkthrone type, open picked bass notes with this one so I'm a happy camper in the mean time. 

A quick re-string & it's the nearest set that I could grab - D'Addario.

No regrets having them in my LPS, I had been planning to replace the DiMarzios which resided there for some time already but bent on trying something different & the Psyclone was the perfect opportunity. By the way, this is one of those guitars I bought online for a whole lot of trouble but worth the hassle. The store was clearing them for cheap & the humbucking version just clicked with me (Specials are P-90 equipped, traditionally). Purists might reject the torrified maple fretboard (yes, it was that year Gibson got raided for wood & they took the rosewoods away) but I went with what I prefer.

Seymour Duncan Psyclones are available @ Davis GMC as a matched pair or individuals. 

Psyched

Getting ready for this weekend's tone adventure. 😎

Psyclonic

This had to be one of the best announcements from the SD camp early this year - they now offer the Filtertron-type pickups in humbucker dimensions (Psyclone Humbucker). Why is this a big deal?

FYI, SD also offers a direct Filtertron replacement model in their catalog (Psyclone). You can identify this one by the mounting screws which are directly on the cover. If you look at the humbucker compliant version, the screws are flap assigned just like regular humbuckers so make sure you know what you're getting.