HB-1 Pickup Question

[Norrissey]

I'm finding the HB-1s that I put on my S-73 respond to my overdrive and reverb pedals very differently to my Starfire with Gibson Humbuckers, my X-170 with SD-1s, and my Tele TC72 which has a Fender Humbucker on it. The Gibson and Fender humbuckers and the SD-1s sound warm and growly while the HB-1s go super bright and tinny. Generally, I like a warm (mid-range) slightly overdriven tone so the Starfire, the X-170, and the Tele more than do the job for me but I'm exploring what the HB-1s can do and I'm curious what effect pedals people like to use with them. As it stands right now I like them best with no effects at all and they are pretty great that way but I'm guessing there is more fun to be had with them.

 

[mushroom]

In one of the bands I played in for a while, I used my M75 plugged straight into a Marshall 100 watt. No effect pedals as the music was basic rock and I just adjusted the guitar volume for any solo kind of stuff.

Sounded great. You could certainly hear what the guitar was doing (which some might say isn’t a good thing in my case )

 

[Norrissey]

Nice! I can imagine the HB-1s would sound terrific going straight into a Marshall 100W

 

[GAD]

I'm a fan of low-wind PAFs, and the HB1s behave similarly in my experience. So, I agree - straight into a cranked amp!

 

[F44:876]

I love my HB-1s for both low gain dirt and high gain chugging. The term I would use for them is piano chime. You never lose the separation between notes in a chord and the low end stays pretty clear no matter the eq settings on my amp. Pedals that really impressed me with these pickups:

high gain - diezel vh4, KSR ceres, KSR vesta
low gain - boss blues driver (don't knock the classics!)
ambient reverb - mr. black supermoon

 

[Norrissey]

low gain - boss blues driver (don't knock the classics!)

LOVE my blues driver with low gain! Thanks for the other tips!

 

[mavuser]

try them with a vintage Fender tube amp/Fender reverb! no pedals required!

boss OD/DS>boss DD6, however does make magic. with basically anything

 

[Norrissey]

try them with a vintage Fender tube amp/Fender reverb! no pedals required!

boss OD/DS>boss DD6, however does make magic. with basically anything

Thanks Eric!

 

[Groundwire]

One thing about the brightness of the HB1’s is that they have a bite and clarity that makes them awesome for rhythm guitar. I love them with some lower gain, like a Nobels ODR, but I also think they are great when used with phaser, delay, reverb, and more spacey effects, because they don’t mud out. Use them like you would a jazzmaster or something.
Also, I recommend treating them like single coil pickups, as far as amp settings go…