This is one of the best and most thorough pickup comparisons I've ever seen , clears up all the forum miss conceptions .. Hats off for your effort .. Chopper for my taste ..
Yep, I hear exactly the same thing -- better articulation from the Chopper T. But the 59 is good too. I guess this is why it's good to have 20 or so guitars :-)
Great way to compare pickups, from the choice of playing riffs, licks etc…to the pot variable, this is how to do a proper comparison.Thanks for taking the time to do this comparison, it’s exactly what I was looking for. Keep up the good work!
Anytime I watch a Dimarzio vs Duncan video, I usually pick the Duncan. Seymour Duncan, no matter what pickup, always has a more polished sound, to my ears. This was the first video that went against this. The Chopper T with 250K pot sounded amazing on the Tele style guitar.
Got a new tele and it sound muddier and thinner than I expected, so I’m looking for new pickups. Great video! Very clear comparison. The chopper sounds very good.
Superb video. Exactly what I was looking for. And I can absolutely confirm what you said at the end about the 59 in a band context. I now ordered the chopper for a test😊. Thank you!
+1 for chopper. You can roll tone back on the chopper and get closer to the sound of the 59 easier than you would be able to get the sound of the chopper from the 59.
Also side note, it changes the sound when you remove the tone pot, even when you have the tone pot at 10 (unless it’s one of those tone pots that take it self out the circuit when at full) with out a tone pot you get more out put and treble (useful when wiring a metal guitar to take the tone pot out)
Yes you're right. I often mod my guitars with a bypass switch to take both pots out of the circuit for more treble. I've not experimented to see how much difference just the tone pot makes, though. Sounds like a good idea for a (very geeky, but interesting) video haha
It's easy to fit a no-load tone pot instead of a standard one to do this (no bypass switch required). The difference is the change in tone when moving from the full 10 position, to the 9 position where the wiper starts to make contact with the resistive track. Going from 9 to 10, there's a definite jump in the amount of treble. You can do a similar thing by fitting a Fender TBX tone control, which above the centre detent position connects in a 1 Meg pot on top of the standard 250k pot. The extra 1 meg of resistance gives you enough reduction in treble bleed through the tone cap so that almost no high frequency signal is bled off, and when turned fully up, there's no real audible difference in sound between that and a no-load pot. It does allow you to add a bit of extra brightness rather than the on/off selection a no-load pot gives. You pay your money and take your choice. However, the suggested Fender wiring scheme for this makes the basic pickups sound really dull (they still supply a wiring diagram intended for use with a low-impedance active preamp), so I use my own wiring method and fixed resistor value. The original TBX pots are different to the current ones, and in my opinion, were a much better design, with no disconnection of the 250k pot track in the detent position. But you can configure the current ones to be a combined treble roll off (below 5.5 on the dial) and bass roll off control (above 5.5 on the dial), which could work well on say a humbucker or P90 equipped guitar where the sound can do with thinning out at times.
Really interesting! The TBX pots are definitely something I want to look into and try out. I might even have one somewhere... I once installed the Eric Clapton mid boost circuit on a strat. Need to see if I still have the parts lying around. On the topic of both high and low pass filter tone knobs, I think Reverend guitars use separate bass and treble tone knobs on their guitars. I need to check out a wiring diagram.
G&L guitars and bases have often used both high and low pass filters. They call it their passive treble and bass circuit. So if you look up "G&L PTB diagram", you'll find a circuit diagram. The high pass filter need to be in series with the pickup signal, so often requires some rearrangement from the normal arrangement. Note that the low pass (standard tone) part of the circuit always needs to be before the high pass circuit, as the 'R' part of the low pass RC circuit is the pickup coil resistance. Put the low pass circuit after the high pass and the 'R' part of the RC circuit becomes the high pass filter's impedance and the filter cut-off point is very different and it just doesn't work. Two knobs gives more flexibility in tone shaping, but if you've only got space for one tone knob, then the TBX pot comes in handy. I know the G&L diagrams indicate a 500k low pass tone pot, but I prefer and fit 250k tone pots to all my guitar builds, including those with humbucker and P90s as I prefer the tone response being spread over more of the pot's travel range, so the dual gang 250k + 1Meg TBX pot suits me fine. And with each filter operating over 50% of the overall travel, you don't want all the tone action squeezed up at one end of the pot's travel.
@@AlexisGuitars I have a high and low pass filter on my SG. It’s very simple to do, there’s some guitar articles about mostly comparing to the Yamaha dry switch. It’s super useful for high gain and mid gain stuff
Very good demonstration it really gives me an idea between these two pickups that makes me decide to go for choper t thanks to you Alex God bless you for this.
Chopper T for me... Way more punch and attack than the Little 59. Also work well with both 500k and 250k pots. The Little 59 sounded too Humbucker like and not clear with the 250k pot. Amazing A/B test 👌
Excellent side by side comparison and nice playing! I liked both pickups and agree with your final notes. I think I'd prefer the Chopper T for my kind of playing but they both have their place. Interesting comparison and thanks for doing this as I had never heard the Chopper T and was curious about it. I used a DiMarzio Pre-B1 long ago and really liked it.
My money's on the Chopper T which seemed to have better definition, brighter and more clear except for during the mid gain portion. It would be interesting to hear a comparison of the Chopper T against some full size production humbucker. Nice video Sir!
Thank you! Yes the chopper T is what I would leave in. With gain the 59 also sounded good, but far too dark and either mid or high-scooped. Comparing the chopper T with a full humbucker would be interesting, especially the spilt coil tones. Cheers!
@@AlexisGuitars someday I'm going try a split coil config... I've want to hear what actually sounds like up close, so yea ditto on the split coil idea. L8r and thanks
Best Tele pick up demo hands down, I play pop and skate punk music and I have a stock Squire Classic Vibe 50's model which sounds pretty good through my Marshall but I now want to throw something in that will really make that guitar shine. I've used a little 59' in a G&L Asat and it sounded really sweet so I was looking for 59's demos with hi gain that was playing chords and it's almost non existent until I found your channel again because I've stumbled upon it before. I'm glad you also did the Chopper T because I had not even thought about that pick up, I believe to my ears the Chopper has a smidge more clarity but they are just about the same and I'm sure a little more treble or presence on the amp would fix that. Again thanks for a good demo that I can appreciate 👍👊
@@BkBk-gy6vrthe 59 sounds like straight mud. I love my 59 in my tele, but I think I am about to buy a Chopper T. Power and clarity is so much better than the 59.
@Bk Bk I put chopper on my strat instead of single coil. Far from being sharp. Compared to single coil the tone is much fatter and much less highs, not harsh enough on cleans I would say :) Starts to sound great from crunch and above.
59 really sounds muddy and lacks definition and clarity. Chopper T kills it in every possible way. Note to note separation and overall presence is night and day difference.
Nice shootout. I've been playing a Squire Esquire and I've been thinking of changing out the stock pickup to a Duncan Little'59. In comparison to the Dimarzio Chopper T, the Dimarzio does sound a little brighter, but overall I like the Little '59 better. I pretty much play with a slightly dirty tone and the Little '59 just seems to fit better with what I'd be going for tone wise. As far as pots go, I'm still not sure. I might have to give your video another listen to see which will be a better fit. Thanks for the great video.
Wow, that Seymour Duncan 59 is the darkest single coil I have ever heard in a Tele. Conversely, the Chopper T sounds more like a standard Tele bridge pickup than most humbucking pickups do.
Yes I've tried the little 59 in another Tele and had the same results. It's the inherent characteristic of the pickup. The chopper T has enough brightness to pull off nice cleans and higher gain. Thanks for watching mate!
Very little difference between the two in mid or high gain. I give the Dimarzio a huge advantage clean because of its brightness. Love getting that tele twang of a good single coil and the awesome tight rythm and screaming leads from a humbucker.
Added the SD Little 59 for my Tele Bridge in my Squier. Chose it because it carries a slightly softer tone than a full size Humbucker yet still gives you an amazingly good mid-range that balanced VERY WELL with the SD Vintage Tele neck pickup that was also added. Also, included 5 way switch so series AND parallel are available at any time.
Chipper T sounds really good. Preferred 250K, personally. The Duncan wasn't bad either, but a close 2nd place for me. Thanks for doing both 250k and 500k values with different gain settings! This really helps.
Glad you found it helpful! Yes chopper T for me too. The SD sounded increasingly better as the gain increased, especially for leads, but it's the chopper T going into my spare Tele partscaster. Thanks for watching
@@AlexisGuitars super helpful. I just bought the Chopper T this morning after watching. Again, much appreciated 👍👍👍👍👍 Update: I now have the Chopper T in the bridge of my Tele with a 250K pot and it sounds glorious! I like the tone that Richie Kotzen gets with his Tele, which uses this pickup. I get that same tone now (minus the talent.) 😁😁😁😁
Wondering if the Chopper was designed with 250k in mind, as a straight swap to your average Tele, whereas to my ears the 59 greatly benefited from the brightness of a 500k pot, as you'd usually have in a conventional humbucker equipped guitar.
There are some good articles by Dirk from some guitar magazine where he has a Esquire with just a Chopper T and it’s set up with switches to get 9 different tones out of the one pickup
This was a really well thought out comparison. Thanks for taking the time to try different pots. It made a noticeable difference. Just a thought.... you could have used a switched push-pull pot and switched a 500k resistor in parallel with the 500k pot to get 250k. It would slightly change the taper, but is effectively the same.
Thank you very much! I'm hoping to do more comparisons but it'll be a while before I record something for the channel. Stay tuned and thanks for the support!
Weirdly so was mine... the 500k sounded too bright but the 250k was the perfect balance, even for a humbucker. Loved that tone/sound... could really work with it.
Coming back to this video to say this comparison is what convinced me to buy a Chopper T for a Tele I recently got that has a Jazzmaster pickup in the neck. The pickups will be wired to a CTS 250k/500k volume pot (Chopper T will be 500k) and a CTS 250k audio taper tone pot that’s push-pull to run the Chopper T in either series or parallel. I’m so excited to turn this Tele into an absolute beast.
This was an excellent comparison demo even though it was with a Tele. I am setting up a Peavey Predator (Strat) to be a dedicated slide guitar, kept in open E tuning. I need more bridge warmth and output. Not concerned about quack or Stratty tones. Initially I thought I'd just drop a Little 59 in. However, thanks to your review, I am now going to go with the Chopper for a few reasons: - A bit brighter, so I can just use the 250 pot - I liked how the Chopper sounded with the 250 pot. - The Little 59 is a bit too hot for me. - I like the twin blade design. More than any other factor, I like how it looks. - Dimarzio offers a lot of color options. I can get a cream color, which fits well with my vintage white guitar. Again, well done! Many thanks!
The coil impedance and output level of pickups are two completely different things, just one of a group of aspects that determine output level. Charlie Christian pickups, G&L and Fender Lace Sensors can be VERY low coil impedance, right around 4K and still pack a wallop.
If you're used to Humbuckers (though these might be dualcoil pickups anyway if memory serves) you might have to dial in tones a little differently, but Teles sound phenomenal playing gainy rock and are responsible for so many of the great rock tones in history (including so many I'd originally assumed were Les Pauls like the solo to Stairway to Heaven).
Yes I didn't expect to have such a clear favourite. The little 59 for bluesy lead playing sounds fantastic, but I prefer having the brightness of the chopper T
I’ve played a tele most of the time for just about 35 years now. I’ve had more bridge pickups in and out of my guitar than I can count or remember honestly. That said, this comment is easy to say with confidence . I prefer the DiMarzio Chopper T. Ohm resistance doesn’t cover Gauss power (magnetic pull) and frequency response. The chopper is louder, more defined and clear. The Duncan is the worst case scenario of bad tone for a tele bridge. Buried in 200k and muddy. The chopper is louder by virtue of its Gauss level and the the ‘59 is overdriving in the lower frequency range. Not overall power. It’s like a low frequency boost OD! Yuck!
I just installed a Chopper T in my tele.I can say it's not overly bright.It's warm but not dark.More sparkly than most humbuckers,less so than a single coil.Just right imho.It's balanced in a guitar tone way (IE not sterile)No scoop nor mid hump.Maybe slightly mid oriented - slightly.It just sounds full and good,no ear fatigue. I need to boost the treble just a bit,it definitely cuts through if you do that(has enough highs in case you don't want warm)..can turn treble up wo harshness too.does both overdrive and cleans well
For those who play blues and rock and roll, you can definitely go with the Chopper. I suggest using a switch to change the coil connection on the Chopper. . I also suggest two volume pots, one for the neck pickup and one for the bridge (Chopper), which allows for more timbre options.
I prefer the 59 but the T definitely has a wider range and I can totally see why more people are choosing that. I typically, almost always, go lower on my tone knob on my bridge and neck pickups. It's just preference, I think.
Thanks for watching! For.this comparison there's no tone control. I installed a switch to switch between the two separate pots on the concentric volume pot, which has a 250k and 500k stacked on top of each other. Hope that makes sense
I’m not hearing any output in volume difference between the two, despite the 59 claim to be twice the output shopper tea sounded a little more clearer and brighter and more pleasant to my ears
This is a helpful comparison! I wonder whether the Little 59 brightens up much when split? (With 17KΩ resistance, one of its coils should still provide reasonable output.)
Think the Chopper would be sweet for playing like punk type stuff like Ramones? My buddy’s in a cover band, and wanted something like a JB, but I was thinking of recommending this to him.
I’m a Les Paul guy for my primary and just got a 52 classic tele for my 2nd guitar for gigs. Think I’m gonna put a 58 in it to give it a bit more of a full punching feel when I play some of the harder rocking stuff
It important to note that Kotzen uses the Chopper T with the Dimarzio Twang King in the neck with series vs parallel switching options between the two pickups and without a tone control. He gets a wide variety of tones that way which cannot be done with the Chopper T alone.
I put 1Meg pots = no filtering, it's like having no pot when you let everything go thru... The best way to go is to have a pre-preamp + post-preamp EQ... I use an analog programmable 2x30 bands from Klark Teknik😈(Gibbons does the same but he uses two Digitech MEQ28) Since it's a studio EQ, I can use it as an overdrive too, as well as keeping what reaches the amp's input as totally clean and change the distortion's colour at will, as well as emulating any PU's frequency curbs, and same for the speakers, especially since I use the EVM12Ls
@@AlexisGuitars You won't regret going 1Meg/log, even for tones, and the must is using sealed pots with conductive plastic taper, e.g. the Bourns ones. These will never scratch. The big piss-off is when you want a duplo in 1Meg and even worse, with a push-pull: you have to order custom pots and they're very expensive. Up to 500M you have MEC duplo+push-pull ones which are very expensive too (over €50 per pot!). Whe you use custom hybrid PUs (e.g. doing both a PAF'57 and a P-90 at once) and you wan't a LesPaul or Strat-like like pot system while you only have two pots and you don't want to drill holes in your guitar made with a 1905-cut Honduras mahogany or a 1940/1950-cut royal walnut, your options are limited: you need such things as well as the Freeway selectors (these replace the 5 and 3 posn with a 10 and 6 posns one : the lever flips between two circuits, so you have 2x5 or 2x3 that fit instead of traditional selectors...
@@AlexisGuitars BTW, there is very lttle difference, if any, between the Choper and the Little'59, except the Choper is overpriced and the Little'59 even more, but, I'd need to listen to 24-96 on the Dynaudios, not with YT compression on the laptopUsually, SDs tend to be "sweeter" than DMs, any way, they're all on the off-ramp for me : I found a mad PU-maker which does only handwound PUs and a set of three SCs or two HBs is cheaper than a single Little'59 in Europe... And he also makes rails and even hybrid PUs like e.g. a twin rails with a PAF-alnico2 "SC" or a Strat PU: he found a way to magnetically shield one from the other... The problem with all these industrially made PUs is that nonetheless, they're way too expensive compared to production costs, but they also lack the grit of handwound ones, machine wound ones are all too smooth, no matter if SD, DM, Fender, Gibson, PRS, Lace Sensors, EMG, etc... And SD tends to be the smoother, in fact, the only ones I really like from 'em are the Antiquity PAFs (didn't tried the SCs) but at €588 the set on Thomann's, err, my PU maker does the same thing for €130...
Huh. I had a Tele years ago with SD stacked SC in the neck and a lil 59 in the bridge. Oddly, I have found the opposite to be true - the lil 59 rips in a band setting. Maybe its just how I dial my amp eq, I dunno. I loved how they both sounded, but for me the 59 with 500k pots had the tone I want. Crazy how each set of ears hears it differently. 🤘🤷♂️
Great to see comments like this showing other experiences with the sd 59. Yes I'm sure how the amp is dialled and the amp itself has an impact. I think a lot of comments agree that 59 with gain sounded great.
Love the Chopper. I have a chopper in my telecaster since 2007. Before i tried the lil59. Didn't liked it. It not only sounds better in my opinion, it also responds better to my playing. Sometimes pickup demo's are nog always a sound thing, but also a feel thing.
Yes I know what you mean. All the demos in the world won't show you how a pickup will sound in your guitar with you playing it. Thanks for watching mate
I wasn’t expecting to like the 59 better but to my surprise I do. In every comparison except the high gain one. But if I intended to play with that much gain I wouldn’t bother reaching for my Tele anyway
The 250k seems to really muddy the 59. I used 500k with my hot and cool rail setup on my mexi Duo Sonic and really like the tone. Really clear with good high and lows while highlighting those gorgeous mids and crunch when driven.
Good demo thankyou. The chopper sounder better. more crisp but still fat and chunky. Im impressed with the Chopper T. I thought the lil 59 would crush it due to being more output.
I always found it strange that they named it the lil 59. The 59 humbucker is supposed to be a paf style, but the lil 59 tele sounds closer to a JB. I have a lil 59 in a tele and have a switch to put the 2 coils in parallel. A great option.
Yeah I have the Chopper T in my Tele, great pickup. Check out Richie Kotzen for how this sounds as it's in his signature Fender Telecaster for the bridge with a Dimarzio Twang King in the neck.
Nice demo but I'm a little confused.. your clean tones don't sound clean to me. They sound clean-ish, but for a clean tone there's quite a lot of soft breakup. I'm wondering why that is.
Hi Matthew, thanks for the feedback! I'm always looking into how to improve my recording technique. It could be that I had the volume on the amp set very high and attenuated the volume, so humbuckers might push it to break up easier. It might be with how I set up the recording software (Two Notes). I don't think it's the pickup height, because I recorded the demo twice - once with low pickups and one (which made it to the video) with more conventional pickup heights and actually noticed more clarity in the Chopper T in particular. So, long story short - still working on it haha But I appreciate you bringing it up!
I'm going to take a guess. You plugged in and set the amp up for the little 59 as it's the least clearest? The Chopper can take a lot more bass and mid range whilst staying clear. You can hear how it's hinted at in the chords. But the chopper can be super FAT too. However I would prefer to use either of these pickups in the neck position than the bridge. But being super honest, I think the Chopper is the greatest neck pickup of all time. It can also take a 1 meg pot for the neck and sounds pretty lush. 2/3rds Yngwie on steroids 1/3 PAF butteriness. Plus you can actually match the output of the chopper with any high gain pickup you can think of when in the bridge complementing it.
@@AlexisGuitars there isn't a neck version. Just the same pup in the neck. As for dialing in your amp, you would have used a guitar to dial those settings in to the tone your ear likes. Plug in a different guitar and you might need to achieve a similar tone by messing with the settings. But whether it's low end, mid range body or shrieking treble frequencies you dial the amp in for each guitar to get the most out of it. This might be the brightest version of the chopper I've ever heard. Yet the 59 is mad dark. Lower that treble and there's more than enough already in the chopper. Whereas the 59 sounds like a neck pickup in the bridge and compensated with extra treble. Personally I've never seen a guitar played or in a shop with a 59 not in the neck. You somehow make the chopper sounds like a dimarzio fast track 1 with no low end on the separate notes and much more shrill.
I get what you're saying about amp settings and I obviously do change them when jamming around. Changing amp settings to favour one or having different settings for each pickup would make the comparison pointless, though
Cool! I wired in a mini switch in place of the tone knob, so switching it one way engages the 250 and the other way engages the 500. If you need that flexibility it's a decent option
Thank you, i want to upgrade my tele Squier Affinity pickup, from this video i think im gonna choose the Chopper T. Sound more alive to me, the Seymour too dark and warm
Thanks a lot for the video! I'm about to mod a Harley Benton on steroids and this video is just what I needed. I will go for the Chopper T, to me it felt much clearer. I have some questions though since I am new to guitar tech, What pickup would you recommend to put in the neck position along the Chopper T? Is it viable to have a mini humbucker in bridge along single coil in the neck? Would I waste my time and money installing a push/pull pot for coil splitting mini humbuckers, just for extra "twang"? Thanks!
That's great, so happy this was helpful! Sounds like a really fun mod project. Regarding neck pickups, it's really up to you if you want a humbucker or single coil. Neither would be a waste of money - although splitting a humbucker doesn't ever do it for me! The best Tele neck pickup I've tried by far is the DiMarzio twang king. It's not really a "Tele on steroids" neck pickup, but it's great. The chopper T - Twang king combo is what Ritchie Kotzen uses so can absolutely recommend the two together. If you're after a higher output, thicker sounding neck single coil then the Quarter pound by Seymour Duncan is an option. I'd personally go twang king. Hope this helps! Let me know what you go for in the end :) I'm always interested in pickup swaps.
Lil 59 with 500 and DiMarzio with 250. The DiMarzio had a bunch more mids. Useful to cut through aggressively but hard to cleanup when it is just you playing. I think with the 59's, you could sit back when needed and kick on a mid boost for a stand out moment.
I have been a DiMarzio player for Decades and i had heard great things about the little 59 and I am glad you did this comparison because many just use it in a blues or country type setting and it is hard to hear what you need when you play heavier like you said. I will give you credit , you're not that old but I haven't heard the talk of a 1 meg pot in a very long time we use to use them on P.A.F Pro or something heavier back in the late 80's but it would be interesting to hear a 59 on a 1 Meg pot I think it might add something to push it the little extra it appears to miss in the high gain area.. However I have decided to stay with my Chopper T because of the Clarity in all positions but for fun in my other Tele I used a Fast Track T to give me higher gain output and using in any drop tuning like tuning to D or C# it is fire , however for those who don't know the Fast Track T was the original base for the Chopper T and they are great but using the Twang King with the Chopper T really gives in more to talk about both musically AND physically ,,, Again thank you very much for your video I do think I will change my Volume knob to the dual and really get the full use of my Chopper T and Twang King set up but actually I was looking at a push pull to clip a bit of the highs on rhythm parts and push it back for leads.. But who knows anything is possible ... Cheers
Damn how many experiences would you like to share , I have been in this since 83 and as A Real player since 87 so I am sure I can tell you alot of what many have missed over the years. Lol
While I applaud the idea to address pot value using a single volume control potentiometer using just a volume potentiometer has a different impact on the circuit than the usual volume and tone using two pots in the circuit. The resistance of two pots yields a total value of half their individual value (if they share values). Your setup mimics a vol/tone comparison between setups with two 500k pots and two 1meg pots or circuits without tone pots like your test setup.
For me, the Chopper T sounds better in the 'clean' and high gain areas, whilst the Little '59 is a bit better sounding at medium gain. That's probably because the higher output is pushing the amp a bit more, so there's a bit more distortion to the drive, whilst the Chopper T could do with a bit more gain to flesh out the sound. And always 500k pots for me. At the higher gains, the overdrive's distortion adds back in a lot of high frequencies you miss with the 250k pot, so it's not quite as as important there, but when playing cleaner it makes a lot of difference. I did feel there was a bit more note definition on both pickups at higher gain with the 500k pots. I don't know what wire gauge was used to wind them, so I expect the SD was 44AWG to get that 17.7k DCR in a single-coil size pickup, whilst the DiMarzio was probably 43AWG for its 9.19k (I think they'd struggle to get that much wire round two blades if it was a more standard 42AWG). As going up a wire gauge number adds about 27% extra resistance (due to the thinner wire) compared to the same length of the original wire gauge, a better rough comparison allowing for this, is nearer to 13.9k for the Little '59 compared to the Chopper T's 9.19k. So about 50% more relative output. Given that both pickups have 4-conductor winding, it would have been interesting to see what they sounded like in a split coil mode. I expect the Chopper T would have sounded relatively weak in comparison to the Little '59, which may have got much closer to a standard Tele bridge sound.
Really interesting points, thanks Simon! Yes I did consider coil splitting, but couldn't figure out how to test both pot values and have a split coil in one wiring schematic. I'm sure there's a way haha. I very rarely split coils so often forget that it is something people are particularly interested in. I'll try and think of a way to incorporate that into another video without replicating this one. Really appreciate the points made :)
There's certainly a way to do it, but it all depends on how you've wired up the concentric pots in the first place. On the 500k/250k volume pot selection, if you've got a standard Tele neck pickup and a humbucker bridge, you can fit a 500k volume pot and then wire in a resistor with a resistance around 500k between the neck signal connection and ground on the 3-way switch. Then, when that's selected, the parallel connection gives an equivalent 250k path to ground, so the neck pickup sounds like it should do (though on some vintage-style Tele neck pickups I think they could do with a 500k pot to brighten them up). You do then get the 250k equivalence in the 'both pickups on' position, but I find this less of an issue as that position is naturally quite bright to start with. It's not a perfect solution but better than some others. With a dual ganged volume pot, so one pickup has a 500k pot and the other 250k, the 'both pickups' on position results in an equivalent 166k path to ground, which is going to knock even more treble off.
Interesting! I've got it wired up with a mini DPDT switch to select between the 250k and 500k. I wouldn't recommend this for any reason other than an A/B comparison but I could also in theory (using a makeshift plastic/wooden control plate) drill another hole for a push pull tone pot. That's easier to wrap my head around 😅
Oh that's interesting, I've not tried a hot rails for Tele. If it sounds like the strat version, I'd personally favour the chopper T. If you play high gain then prob hot rails, though. Can't say for sure, just guessing here. Thanks for watching!
I would have preferred to hear the little 59 with only the 500k pot and the chopper with only the 250k pot. Both pickups sound great so I would opt for two guitars, one for each pickup. However, if I were going to have two teles one would house a chopper and the other would house an Area Hot T. If I want the tone of a Duncan 59 I’ll use the full-sized humbucker. On pots, remember that a volume and tone knob are in parallel. With 500k pots the pickup is loaded with 250k at the high frequencies (where it matters). With 250k pots the pickup is loaded with 125k. 1M or no-load tone pots are a great idea.
I added a DPDT switch and wired it so that in one position the 250k vol pot is active, and in the other position the 500k pot is active. I used an Allparts CTS 250/500 concentric pot. Thanks for watching mate
@@AlexisGuitars Thanks man i just subbed, i'm interested in how you convert the electronics, do you have a sample wiring diagram? i plan to do the same on my tele
Thank you! I can draw up a wiring diagram for you when I get some free time. It's not complicated at all. If you like, send me an email (email address on my RUclips channel) and I can send you over a diagram 👍
@@AlexisGuitars yeah the best combo I got so far was the super distortion t with the single coil sounding mini humbucker in the neck from dimarzio 😅 regret selling that guitar
I have a Chopper T with a concentric 250/500 pot (wired to the 500k) and on-on-on switch for series/parallel/split on the ChopperT. (It was a squeeze getting that into a Tele control cavity!). I've also tried a Lil59 in another Tele and a Pearly Gates for Tele in another one. For me the Chopper T has that ceramic crispness which I find a little too aggressive, the 59 has a more organic softer more vintage attack and the PG is my personal fave. It's saggy and earthy but also in parallel, it has massive Tele spank.
Ooh I think I need to try that wiring at some stage! Yes the 59 is definitely softer. Great with gain for warm lead tones but I often favour brighter, crisp tones for a bridge pickup. I have a pearly gates lying around. Awesome pickup. Waiting for the right guitar to put it in - that's my excuse for wanting another guitar anyway!
@@AlexisGuitars Is that a full size PG or the PG for Tele? I love the PG for Tele. This is that pickup in parallel. ruclips.net/video/VXlk6B5gB-E/видео.html
@@alexwong7 I meant the full size. I had no idea it was available as a Tele pickup. It sounds great. Still got that twang like you say. Great playing btw 🤘
Hi mate interesting question. Depends what you're going for really. My favourite tele neck pickup so far is the DiMarzio twang king. The chopper T and twang king combo is what Ritchie kotzen uses (pretty certain!)
I use a chopper T bridge with a Lindy Fralin pure PAF humbucker in the neck. Sound amazing and balanced. Pure PAF is 8k and the chopper T is 9k. The middle position is just beautiful.
Chopper T and it was not even close. I have have had these pickups in the past. SD pickups tend to sound sterile and muffled with couple of exceptions, like Full shred, JG and Black Winter which all have a great sound. However none of their dual rail pickups thai I tried sounded good compared to Dimarzio counterparts.
Chopper T dominated the clean tones in both values, but I feel like it was a closer contest with the different gain levels at 500k. Ultimately the Chopper T is the more well-rounded pickup of the two. Also, this is totally off topic, but I’ll never understand SD’s marketing for the Lil 59 when they say it sounds like a “well-balanced PAF”. It doesn’t sound like a PAF at all to my ears. That’d be a cool idea for a shootout. The Lil 59 against various PAF-style pickups.
Interested in more comparisons? Seymour Duncan Quarter Pound vs Hot Rails: ruclips.net/video/_1oafnelJf0/видео.html
This is one of the best and most thorough pickup comparisons I've ever seen , clears up all the forum miss conceptions .. Hats off for your effort .. Chopper for my taste ..
Thank you very much! Glad you found it helpful. Yes, the chopper T sounds awesome
Thanks man. Great video I have been trying to decide. Chopper T is the clear winner.
You're welcome! More pickup comparisons on the way (slowly 🤣)
These type of uploads validate RUclips.
The Chopper T was the best for me, I could hear every note, whether it was played clean or distorted. 250k pots sounded best to me.
Yeah the chopper T is awesome. Out of the two it's what I'd go for if I wanted a humbucker in my Tele. Thanks for watching!
I like the 500k pots but you need a tone knob to pull out the harsh highs.
Yep, I hear exactly the same thing -- better articulation from the Chopper T. But the 59 is good too. I guess this is why it's good to have 20 or so guitars :-)
They're all great... But in each example, I felt the Chopper T w/ the 250k pots sounded the most "Rock God" like...
Great way to compare pickups, from the choice of playing riffs, licks etc…to the pot variable, this is how to do a proper comparison.Thanks for taking the time to do this comparison, it’s exactly what I was looking for.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much! Glad it was helpful :)
Anytime I watch a Dimarzio vs Duncan video, I usually pick the Duncan. Seymour Duncan, no matter what pickup, always has a more polished sound, to my ears.
This was the first video that went against this.
The Chopper T with 250K pot sounded amazing on the Tele style guitar.
I've had a lot of awesome Seymour Duncan pickups, but I also agree. The chopper T is a great option for a tele
Got a new tele and it sound muddier and thinner than I expected, so I’m looking for new pickups.
Great video! Very clear comparison. The chopper sounds very good.
Good luck with the search for pickups! Glad the video was helpful
Superb video. Exactly what I was looking for. And I can absolutely confirm what you said at the end about the 59 in a band context. I now ordered the chopper for a test😊. Thank you!
Thank you very much! Also good to know that others have similar experiences with 59. Hope you enjoy the chopper T. Thanks for watching
+1 for chopper. You can roll tone back on the chopper and get closer to the sound of the 59 easier than you would be able to get the sound of the chopper from the 59.
Yes I agree! Always prefer to have more highs that I can dial back than not enough and then get lost in a mix
Also side note, it changes the sound when you remove the tone pot, even when you have the tone pot at 10 (unless it’s one of those tone pots that take it self out the circuit when at full) with out a tone pot you get more out put and treble (useful when wiring a metal guitar to take the tone pot out)
Yes you're right. I often mod my guitars with a bypass switch to take both pots out of the circuit for more treble. I've not experimented to see how much difference just the tone pot makes, though. Sounds like a good idea for a (very geeky, but interesting) video haha
It's easy to fit a no-load tone pot instead of a standard one to do this (no bypass switch required). The difference is the change in tone when moving from the full 10 position, to the 9 position where the wiper starts to make contact with the resistive track. Going from 9 to 10, there's a definite jump in the amount of treble.
You can do a similar thing by fitting a Fender TBX tone control, which above the centre detent position connects in a 1 Meg pot on top of the standard 250k pot. The extra 1 meg of resistance gives you enough reduction in treble bleed through the tone cap so that almost no high frequency signal is bled off, and when turned fully up, there's no real audible difference in sound between that and a no-load pot. It does allow you to add a bit of extra brightness rather than the on/off selection a no-load pot gives. You pay your money and take your choice.
However, the suggested Fender wiring scheme for this makes the basic pickups sound really dull (they still supply a wiring diagram intended for use with a low-impedance active preamp), so I use my own wiring method and fixed resistor value. The original TBX pots are different to the current ones, and in my opinion, were a much better design, with no disconnection of the 250k pot track in the detent position. But you can configure the current ones to be a combined treble roll off (below 5.5 on the dial) and bass roll off control (above 5.5 on the dial), which could work well on say a humbucker or P90 equipped guitar where the sound can do with thinning out at times.
Really interesting! The TBX pots are definitely something I want to look into and try out. I might even have one somewhere... I once installed the Eric Clapton mid boost circuit on a strat. Need to see if I still have the parts lying around.
On the topic of both high and low pass filter tone knobs, I think Reverend guitars use separate bass and treble tone knobs on their guitars. I need to check out a wiring diagram.
G&L guitars and bases have often used both high and low pass filters. They call it their passive treble and bass circuit. So if you look up "G&L PTB diagram", you'll find a circuit diagram. The high pass filter need to be in series with the pickup signal, so often requires some rearrangement from the normal arrangement. Note that the low pass (standard tone) part of the circuit always needs to be before the high pass circuit, as the 'R' part of the low pass RC circuit is the pickup coil resistance. Put the low pass circuit after the high pass and the 'R' part of the RC circuit becomes the high pass filter's impedance and the filter cut-off point is very different and it just doesn't work.
Two knobs gives more flexibility in tone shaping, but if you've only got space for one tone knob, then the TBX pot comes in handy. I know the G&L diagrams indicate a 500k low pass tone pot, but I prefer and fit 250k tone pots to all my guitar builds, including those with humbucker and P90s as I prefer the tone response being spread over more of the pot's travel range, so the dual gang 250k + 1Meg TBX pot suits me fine. And with each filter operating over 50% of the overall travel, you don't want all the tone action squeezed up at one end of the pot's travel.
@@AlexisGuitars I have a high and low pass filter on my SG. It’s very simple to do, there’s some guitar articles about mostly comparing to the Yamaha dry switch.
It’s super useful for high gain and mid gain stuff
Very good demonstration it really gives me an idea between these two pickups that makes me decide to go for choper t thanks to you Alex God bless you for this.
You're very welcome, glad you enjoyed it!
Chopper T for me... Way more punch and attack than the Little 59. Also work well with both 500k and 250k pots. The Little 59 sounded too Humbucker like and not clear with the 250k pot.
Amazing A/B test 👌
Thanks a lot! Yes chopper T for me too
Did you notice a little more note separation under gain with the Chopper T as well? I did.
Excellent side by side comparison and nice playing! I liked both pickups and agree with your final notes. I think I'd prefer the Chopper T for my kind of playing but they both have their place. Interesting comparison and thanks for doing this as I had never heard the Chopper T and was curious about it. I used a DiMarzio Pre-B1 long ago and really liked it.
Thanks for the feedback and glad this was helpful mate!
My money's on the Chopper T which seemed to have better definition, brighter and more clear except for during the mid gain portion. It would be interesting to hear a comparison of the Chopper T against some full size production humbucker. Nice video Sir!
Thank you! Yes the chopper T is what I would leave in. With gain the 59 also sounded good, but far too dark and either mid or high-scooped. Comparing the chopper T with a full humbucker would be interesting, especially the spilt coil tones. Cheers!
@@AlexisGuitars someday I'm going try a split coil config... I've want to hear what actually sounds like up close, so yea ditto on the split coil idea. L8r and thanks
Little 59 is traditional PAF humbucker, just in a small package.
Best Tele pick up demo hands down, I play pop and skate punk music and I have a stock Squire Classic Vibe 50's model which sounds pretty good through my Marshall but I now want to throw something in that will really make that guitar shine. I've used a little 59' in a G&L Asat and it sounded really sweet so I was looking for 59's demos with hi gain that was playing chords and it's almost non existent until I found your channel again because I've stumbled upon it before. I'm glad you also did the Chopper T because I had not even thought about that pick up, I believe to my ears the Chopper has a smidge more clarity but they are just about the same and I'm sure a little more treble or presence on the amp would fix that. Again thanks for a good demo that I can appreciate 👍👊
Thanks a lot mate! Yes these two pickups are quite different but both achieve cool tones
Did u put up the G&l for sale recently by chance?
Great comparison, helped me out a lot. Thank you! I prefer the chopper and will buy one for my strat.
That's great! I've not tried the strat version but if the Tele version is anything to go by, should sound great
Gorgeous work! Thank you for this
Thanks for watching!
Before even watching the video I knew the Chopper T would destroy the Little 59.
Haha! I was really impressed with the chopper T. It's been sitting unused for years. Now I need a new Tele to put it in
If you like harsh sounds sure. The 59 is the clear winner.
@@BkBk-gy6vr I don’t want to admit it, but to my ear the Duncan sounds better. Now, at hi-gain they sound the same to me.
@@BkBk-gy6vrthe 59 sounds like straight mud. I love my 59 in my tele, but I think I am about to buy a Chopper T. Power and clarity is so much better than the 59.
@Bk Bk I put chopper on my strat instead of single coil. Far from being sharp. Compared to single coil the tone is much fatter and much less highs, not harsh enough on cleans I would say :) Starts to sound great from crunch and above.
Thank you for that video! For me DiMarzio was better
Thanks for watching! I agree, the DiMarzio is awesome
59 really sounds muddy and lacks definition and clarity. Chopper T kills it in every possible way. Note to note separation and overall presence is night and day difference.
Nice shootout. I've been playing a Squire Esquire and I've been thinking of changing out the stock pickup to a Duncan Little'59. In comparison to the Dimarzio Chopper T, the Dimarzio does sound a little brighter, but overall I like the Little '59 better. I pretty much play with a slightly dirty tone and the Little '59 just seems to fit better with what I'd be going for tone wise. As far as pots go, I'm still not sure. I might have to give your video another listen to see which will be a better fit. Thanks for the great video.
Cheers! Really glad this was helpful :)
Wow, that Seymour Duncan 59 is the darkest single coil I have ever heard in a Tele.
Conversely, the Chopper T sounds more like a standard Tele bridge pickup than most humbucking pickups do.
Yes I've tried the little 59 in another Tele and had the same results. It's the inherent characteristic of the pickup. The chopper T has enough brightness to pull off nice cleans and higher gain. Thanks for watching mate!
It's not an actual single coil...it's a stacked humbucker...very diff animal :)
@@newtondelmar4416 I think it's a standard humbucker w two coils side by side per standard humbucker.
I have a Chopper T with 250K pot on my Tele bridge and have to say it’s an absolutely awesome combo. It’s a fantastic pickup.
Awesome! Thanks for watching
This is just an expertly executed video. Well done.
Thank you very much!
Great video.! Thank you ! The Chopper won that comparison
This was extremely helpful, many thanks for the video
You're very welcome!
Very little difference between the two in mid or high gain. I give the Dimarzio a huge advantage clean because of its brightness. Love getting that tele twang of a good single coil and the awesome tight rythm and screaming leads from a humbucker.
Yes I agree. It's awesome! Thanks for watching
Added the SD Little 59 for my Tele Bridge in my Squier. Chose it because it carries a slightly softer tone than a full size Humbucker yet still gives you an amazingly good mid-range that balanced VERY WELL with the SD Vintage Tele neck pickup that was also added. Also, included 5 way switch so series AND parallel are available at any time.
Great to hear! I've always found it a bit too dark but good to hear other experiences with it
Chipper T sounds really good. Preferred 250K, personally.
The Duncan wasn't bad either, but a close 2nd place for me.
Thanks for doing both 250k and 500k values with different gain settings! This really helps.
Glad you found it helpful! Yes chopper T for me too. The SD sounded increasingly better as the gain increased, especially for leads, but it's the chopper T going into my spare Tele partscaster. Thanks for watching
@@AlexisGuitars super helpful. I just bought the Chopper T this morning after watching. Again, much appreciated 👍👍👍👍👍
Update: I now have the Chopper T in the bridge of my Tele with a 250K pot and it sounds glorious! I like the tone that Richie Kotzen gets with his Tele, which uses this pickup. I get that same tone now (minus the talent.) 😁😁😁😁
That's great! Hope you enjoy the new tones!
Same for me
Wondering if the Chopper was designed with 250k in mind, as a straight swap to your average Tele, whereas to my ears the 59 greatly benefited from the brightness of a 500k pot, as you'd usually have in a conventional humbucker equipped guitar.
There are some good articles by Dirk from some guitar magazine where he has a Esquire with just a Chopper T and it’s set up with switches to get 9 different tones out of the one pickup
This was a really well thought out comparison. Thanks for taking the time to try different pots. It made a noticeable difference. Just a thought.... you could have used a switched push-pull pot and switched a 500k resistor in parallel with the 500k pot to get 250k. It would slightly change the taper, but is effectively the same.
Haha yes that would have been an easier option 😂 great idea! Thanks for watching mate
Oh! Thank you Alexis. Now THAT is the way sound comparison videos should be made. I subscribed.
My favourite is the Chopper T on 250k pot.
Thank you very much! I'm hoping to do more comparisons but it'll be a while before I record something for the channel. Stay tuned and thanks for the support!
Weirdly so was mine... the 500k sounded too bright but the 250k was the perfect balance, even for a humbucker. Loved that tone/sound... could really work with it.
Nice video! Chopper T for me. I have a Hot Rails bridge in my Strat, and it is a little too hot. I like nice chimey clean tones. Thanks for the demo!
Coming back to this video to say this comparison is what convinced me to buy a Chopper T for a Tele I recently got that has a Jazzmaster pickup in the neck. The pickups will be wired to a CTS 250k/500k volume pot (Chopper T will be 500k) and a CTS 250k audio taper tone pot that’s push-pull to run the Chopper T in either series or parallel. I’m so excited to turn this Tele into an absolute beast.
Awesome! Hope you like the Chopper T in your Tele
This was an excellent comparison demo even though it was with a Tele. I am setting up a Peavey Predator (Strat) to be a dedicated slide guitar, kept in open E tuning. I need more bridge warmth and output. Not concerned about quack or Stratty tones. Initially I thought I'd just drop a Little 59 in.
However, thanks to your review, I am now going to go with the Chopper for a few reasons:
- A bit brighter, so I can just use the 250 pot - I liked how the Chopper sounded with the 250 pot.
- The Little 59 is a bit too hot for me.
- I like the twin blade design. More than any other factor, I like how it looks.
- Dimarzio offers a lot of color options. I can get a cream color, which fits well with my vintage white guitar.
Again, well done! Many thanks!
Awesome, glad it was helpful mate! Yeah I always opt for more brightness which you can turn down if needed
The coil impedance and output level of pickups are two completely different things, just one of a group of aspects that determine output level. Charlie Christian pickups, G&L and Fender Lace Sensors can be VERY low coil impedance, right around 4K and still pack a wallop.
Excelente comparativa , ambos pickups tienen lo suyo pero me gusto el sonido de la chopper .
Cheers! Yes the chopper is my preference too
If you're used to Humbuckers (though these might be dualcoil pickups anyway if memory serves) you might have to dial in tones a little differently, but Teles sound phenomenal playing gainy rock and are responsible for so many of the great rock tones in history (including so many I'd originally assumed were Les Pauls like the solo to Stairway to Heaven).
Oh yeah, the classic tele bridge single coil is awesome
I think I favoured the chopper t for similar reasons you say. To me the little 59 seemed less bright etc not as bright and clear as the chopper t.
Yes I didn't expect to have such a clear favourite. The little 59 for bluesy lead playing sounds fantastic, but I prefer having the brightness of the chopper T
Great comparison! I think I am going to try the Chopper T in my partscaster
Thanks for watching!
I’ve played a tele most of the time for just about 35 years now. I’ve had more bridge pickups in and out of my guitar than I can count or remember honestly. That said, this comment is easy to say with confidence . I prefer the DiMarzio Chopper T. Ohm resistance doesn’t cover Gauss power (magnetic pull) and frequency response. The chopper is louder, more defined and clear. The Duncan is the worst case scenario of bad tone for a tele bridge. Buried in 200k and muddy. The chopper is louder by virtue of its Gauss level and the the ‘59 is overdriving in the lower frequency range. Not overall power. It’s like a low frequency boost OD! Yuck!
Thanks for sharing your experience and thoughts on the comparison! The chopper T is definitely coming out on top for me too
59 all the way!
I just installed a Chopper T in my tele.I can say it's not overly bright.It's warm but not dark.More sparkly than most humbuckers,less so than a single coil.Just right imho.It's balanced in a guitar tone way (IE not sterile)No scoop nor mid hump.Maybe slightly mid oriented - slightly.It just sounds full and good,no ear fatigue. I need to boost the treble just a bit,it definitely cuts through if you do that(has enough highs in case you don't want warm)..can turn treble up wo harshness too.does both overdrive and cleans well
Nice! Thanks for watching
For those who play blues and rock and roll, you can definitely go with the Chopper. I suggest using a switch to change the coil connection on the Chopper. . I also suggest two volume pots, one for the neck pickup and one for the bridge (Chopper), which allows for more timbre options.
Yes 2 vol pots adds versatility. I prefer to keep things simple, but sometimes the extra options are nice!
I prefer the 59 but the T definitely has a wider range and I can totally see why more people are choosing that. I typically, almost always, go lower on my tone knob on my bridge and neck pickups. It's just preference, I think.
Thanks for the effort in the comparison. so how does that "tone switch" work and how do you control your tone with the volume knob?
Thanks for watching! For.this comparison there's no tone control. I installed a switch to switch between the two separate pots on the concentric volume pot, which has a 250k and 500k stacked on top of each other. Hope that makes sense
@@AlexisGuitars ah gotcha thanks.
That 250k chopper is amazing. Been looking at getting the sd bg1400 and liking this as an alternative
I’m not hearing any output in volume difference between the two, despite the 59 claim to be twice the output shopper tea sounded a little more clearer and brighter and more pleasant to my ears
Yes I also preferred the brightness of the chopper. Thanks for watching!
This is a helpful comparison! I wonder whether the Little 59 brightens up much when split? (With 17KΩ resistance, one of its coils should still provide reasonable output.)
Thank you! Yes that's a good point. I very rarely use a split coil so I couldn't tell you I'm afraid
That dual purpose pot.. nice. Where might get one from? The 59 with a 500 sounds good
I bought this one from Thomann. You can get them either 250k/500k, 250k/250k or 500k/500k. Thanks for watching!
@@AlexisGuitars thanks 🙏
Think the Chopper would be sweet for playing like punk type stuff like Ramones? My buddy’s in a cover band, and wanted something like a JB, but I was thinking of recommending this to him.
I’m a Les Paul guy for my primary and just got a 52 classic tele for my 2nd guitar for gigs. Think I’m gonna put a 58 in it to give it a bit more of a full punching feel when I play some of the harder rocking stuff
Congrats on the new Tele! The little 59 sounds really nice with gain for hard rock 👍
The Chopper is what Kotzen uses right? Great demo, fabulous tones! Very helpful. I like both!
Yes it is! I don't sound like him when I'm playing through the chopper t, though 😂 thanks for watching!
It important to note that Kotzen uses the Chopper T with the Dimarzio Twang King in the neck with series vs parallel switching options between the two pickups and without a tone control. He gets a wide variety of tones that way which cannot be done with the Chopper T alone.
I put 1Meg pots = no filtering, it's like having no pot when you let everything go thru...
The best way to go is to have a pre-preamp + post-preamp EQ...
I use an analog programmable 2x30 bands from Klark Teknik😈(Gibbons does the same but he uses two Digitech MEQ28) Since it's a studio EQ, I can use it as an overdrive too, as well as keeping what reaches the amp's input as totally clean and change the distortion's colour at will, as well as emulating any PU's frequency curbs, and same for the speakers, especially since I use the EVM12Ls
Yes 1 meg pots are an option. I've wanted to try the no-load pots for a while too. Thanks for watching
@@AlexisGuitars You won't regret going 1Meg/log, even for tones, and the must is using sealed pots with conductive plastic taper, e.g. the Bourns ones. These will never scratch. The big piss-off is when you want a duplo in 1Meg and even worse, with a push-pull: you have to order custom pots and they're very expensive. Up to 500M you have MEC duplo+push-pull ones which are very expensive too (over €50 per pot!).
Whe you use custom hybrid PUs (e.g. doing both a PAF'57 and a P-90 at once) and you wan't a LesPaul or Strat-like like pot system while you only have two pots and you don't want to drill holes in your guitar made with a 1905-cut Honduras mahogany or a 1940/1950-cut royal walnut, your options are limited: you need such things as well as the Freeway selectors (these replace the 5 and 3 posn with a 10 and 6 posns one : the lever flips between two circuits, so you have 2x5 or 2x3 that fit instead of traditional selectors...
@@AlexisGuitars BTW, there is very lttle difference, if any, between the Choper and the Little'59, except the Choper is overpriced and the Little'59 even more, but, I'd need to listen to 24-96 on the Dynaudios, not with YT compression on the laptopUsually, SDs tend to be "sweeter" than DMs, any way, they're all on the off-ramp for me : I found a mad PU-maker which does only handwound PUs and a set of three SCs or two HBs is cheaper than a single Little'59 in Europe... And he also makes rails and even hybrid PUs like e.g. a twin rails with a PAF-alnico2 "SC" or a Strat PU: he found a way to magnetically shield one from the other...
The problem with all these industrially made PUs is that nonetheless, they're way too expensive compared to production costs, but they also lack the grit of handwound ones, machine wound ones are all too smooth, no matter if SD, DM, Fender, Gibson, PRS, Lace Sensors, EMG, etc... And SD tends to be the smoother, in fact, the only ones I really like from 'em are the Antiquity PAFs (didn't tried the SCs) but at €588 the set on Thomann's, err, my PU maker does the same thing for €130...
Huh. I had a Tele years ago with SD stacked SC in the neck and a lil 59 in the bridge. Oddly, I have found the opposite to be true - the lil 59 rips in a band setting. Maybe its just how I dial my amp eq, I dunno. I loved how they both sounded, but for me the 59 with 500k pots had the tone I want. Crazy how each set of ears hears it differently. 🤘🤷♂️
Great to see comments like this showing other experiences with the sd 59. Yes I'm sure how the amp is dialled and the amp itself has an impact. I think a lot of comments agree that 59 with gain sounded great.
Love the Chopper. I have a chopper in my telecaster since 2007. Before i tried the lil59. Didn't liked it.
It not only sounds better in my opinion, it also responds better to my playing. Sometimes pickup demo's are nog always a sound thing, but also a feel thing.
Yes I know what you mean. All the demos in the world won't show you how a pickup will sound in your guitar with you playing it. Thanks for watching mate
I wasn’t expecting to like the 59 better but to my surprise I do. In every comparison except the high gain one. But if I intended to play with that much gain I wouldn’t bother reaching for my Tele anyway
Cool! I felt the 59 got better as the gain increased. Thanks for watching
The 250k seems to really muddy the 59. I used 500k with my hot and cool rail setup on my mexi Duo Sonic and really like the tone. Really clear with good high and lows while highlighting those gorgeous mids and crunch when driven.
Awesome! I really want to try the cool rails. Super impressed with the hot rails
I put that sweet little 59' in between my 2 SD Zephyr Silver Humbuckers on a pink paisley thinline telecaster oh yeah!!
Good demo thankyou. The chopper sounder better. more crisp but still fat and chunky. Im impressed with the Chopper T. I thought the lil 59 would crush it due to being more output.
Thanks Mike! Yes I agree. I am surprised how mellow the little 59 is with such high output. Thanks for watching!
Great demo. Gonna try the chopper
Cheers! Glad you found the video helpful
I always found it strange that they named it the lil 59. The 59 humbucker is supposed to be a paf style, but the lil 59 tele sounds closer to a JB. I have a lil 59 in a tele and have a switch to put the 2 coils in parallel. A great option.
That's interesting, might give that a go next time I install the 59. Cheers!
Really good comparisons. Little 59 sound’s muffled, and I thought it was my guitar. Chopper T sounds much better
Thank you! Yes I had a similar experience with the 59 in another guitar. Thanks for watching mate
Yeah I have the Chopper T in my Tele, great pickup. Check out Richie Kotzen for how this sounds as it's in his signature Fender Telecaster for the bridge with a Dimarzio Twang King in the neck.
The twang king is a great neck pickup
Nice demo but I'm a little confused.. your clean tones don't sound clean to me. They sound clean-ish, but for a clean tone there's quite a lot of soft breakup. I'm wondering why that is.
Hi Matthew, thanks for the feedback! I'm always looking into how to improve my recording technique. It could be that I had the volume on the amp set very high and attenuated the volume, so humbuckers might push it to break up easier. It might be with how I set up the recording software (Two Notes). I don't think it's the pickup height, because I recorded the demo twice - once with low pickups and one (which made it to the video) with more conventional pickup heights and actually noticed more clarity in the Chopper T in particular. So, long story short - still working on it haha But I appreciate you bringing it up!
I'm going to take a guess. You plugged in and set the amp up for the little 59 as it's the least clearest? The Chopper can take a lot more bass and mid range whilst staying clear. You can hear how it's hinted at in the chords. But the chopper can be super FAT too. However I would prefer to use either of these pickups in the neck position than the bridge. But being super honest, I think the Chopper is the greatest neck pickup of all time.
It can also take a 1 meg pot for the neck and sounds pretty lush. 2/3rds Yngwie on steroids 1/3 PAF butteriness. Plus you can actually match the output of the chopper with any high gain pickup you can think of when in the bridge complementing it.
Interesting, I've not tried the neck version! And I have the amp set on my standard amp settings. I didn't adjust the EQ for either pickup
@@AlexisGuitars there isn't a neck version. Just the same pup in the neck.
As for dialing in your amp, you would have used a guitar to dial those settings in to the tone your ear likes. Plug in a different guitar and you might need to achieve a similar tone by messing with the settings. But whether it's low end, mid range body or shrieking treble frequencies you dial the amp in for each guitar to get the most out of it. This might be the brightest version of the chopper I've ever heard. Yet the 59 is mad dark. Lower that treble and there's more than enough already in the chopper. Whereas the 59 sounds like a neck pickup in the bridge and compensated with extra treble. Personally I've never seen a guitar played or in a shop with a 59 not in the neck. You somehow make the chopper sounds like a dimarzio fast track 1 with no low end on the separate notes and much more shrill.
I get what you're saying about amp settings and I obviously do change them when jamming around. Changing amp settings to favour one or having different settings for each pickup would make the comparison pointless, though
I loved the little 59 and the volume split between 250k and 500k. I am going to use that instead of a tone knob
Cool! I wired in a mini switch in place of the tone knob, so switching it one way engages the 250 and the other way engages the 500. If you need that flexibility it's a decent option
@@AlexisGuitars seems like a cool option for soloing also.
I love your pink tele bro, so sick not even joking
Thanks mate! I love it too 😎 I've got a video about me turning it from my white Tele into this pink one. Thanks for watching
I find the Chopper to be truer to the telecaster sound. The twang is intact, yet it can really bring out the distorted tones.
Yes I think it's a great option for teles. Thanks for watching!
Next question… I love the dimarzio with 500k pots. What would you put in the neck??
Good question! I can't say what you should do, but I have a Dimarzio Twang King in the neck, and I love it.
@@AlexisGuitars thanks
Pearly Gates?
The best “hot” bridge pickup is one that uses oversized Alnico 5 mags and is overwound to around 9-10k.
Thank you, i want to upgrade my tele Squier Affinity pickup, from this video i think im gonna choose the Chopper T. Sound more alive to me, the Seymour too dark and warm
Really glad you found the video helpful! Thanks for watching mate
2:41 Little 59 500k clean
3:01 Little 59 250k clean
2:51 Chopper T 500k clean
3:12 Chopper T 250k clean
The chopper with 250k is literally exactly what I've been looking for lol
Glad the video helped! Thanks for watching
Lil 59 with 250k sounds what I'm looking for. Thanks... Hello, Lindy... ?
Im looking for a pickup in a tele I'm working on for metal and thrashy stuff, so the Chopper T wins out for that project
Yes out of these two I'd also pick the chopper for metal, although I'm no metal player so I don't know what the other options are. Thanks for watching
Hello. Thanks for your video. Are those pickups splitable?
Chopper T for me. The Little '59 is too muddy.
Same here! Although I do like the little 59 with gain, I do worry about how dark it will be in a mix
The 59 sounds like there's a blanket over the amp. The chopper is clearer and more mids so it cuts better imo
Have them both. The Chopper T is more P90 than Humbucker. Sound great with both 500 or 250.
Yes they have a certain growl and attack in the sound, so I def hear what you mean with p90 comparison
Thanks a lot for the video! I'm about to mod a Harley Benton on steroids and this video is just what I needed. I will go for the Chopper T, to me it felt much clearer. I have some questions though since I am new to guitar tech,
What pickup would you recommend to put in the neck position along the Chopper T?
Is it viable to have a mini humbucker in bridge along single coil in the neck?
Would I waste my time and money installing a push/pull pot for coil splitting mini humbuckers, just for extra "twang"?
Thanks!
That's great, so happy this was helpful! Sounds like a really fun mod project. Regarding neck pickups, it's really up to you if you want a humbucker or single coil. Neither would be a waste of money - although splitting a humbucker doesn't ever do it for me!
The best Tele neck pickup I've tried by far is the DiMarzio twang king. It's not really a "Tele on steroids" neck pickup, but it's great. The chopper T - Twang king combo is what Ritchie Kotzen uses so can absolutely recommend the two together. If you're after a higher output, thicker sounding neck single coil then the Quarter pound by Seymour Duncan is an option. I'd personally go twang king. Hope this helps! Let me know what you go for in the end :) I'm always interested in pickup swaps.
@@AlexisGuitars Thank you for taking your time answering my questions, much appreciated! :) Twang king it is then!
Nice! That'll be a gret sounding tele I'm sure
Lil 59 with 500 and DiMarzio with 250. The DiMarzio had a bunch more mids. Useful to cut through aggressively but hard to cleanup when it is just you playing. I think with the 59's, you could sit back when needed and kick on a mid boost for a stand out moment.
Interesting! Yes I'm sure a mid boost would help the little 59 in a band setting. Thanks for watching
I have been a DiMarzio player for Decades and i had heard great things about the little 59 and I am glad you did this comparison because many just use it in a blues or country type setting and it is hard to hear what you need when you play heavier like you said. I will give you credit , you're not that old but I haven't heard the talk of a 1 meg pot in a very long time we use to use them on P.A.F Pro or something heavier back in the late 80's but it would be interesting to hear a 59 on a 1 Meg pot I think it might add something to push it the little extra it appears to miss in the high gain area.. However I have decided to stay with my Chopper T because of the Clarity in all positions but for fun in my other Tele I used a Fast Track T to give me higher gain output and using in any drop tuning like tuning to D or C# it is fire , however for those who don't know the Fast Track T was the original base for the Chopper T and they are great but using the Twang King with the Chopper T really gives in more to talk about both musically AND physically ,,, Again thank you very much for your video I do think I will change my Volume knob to the dual and really get the full use of my Chopper T and Twang King set up but actually I was looking at a push pull to clip a bit of the highs on rhythm parts and push it back for leads.. But who knows anything is possible ... Cheers
Interesting! Didn't know that about PAF Pros and 1 Megs. Thanks a lot for watching and sharing your experience!
Damn how many experiences would you like to share , I have been in this since 83 and as A Real player since 87 so I am sure I can tell you alot of what many have missed over the years. Lol
While I applaud the idea to address pot value using a single volume control potentiometer using just a volume potentiometer has a different impact on the circuit than the usual volume and tone using two pots in the circuit. The resistance of two pots yields a total value of half their individual value (if they share values). Your setup mimics a vol/tone comparison between setups with two 500k pots and two 1meg pots or circuits without tone pots like your test setup.
Interesting! Thanks for the tip. I'll look into this a bit more 👍
Can I use 250k pots with the chopper pickup?
You can, and I demo it (and 500k) in this video, it just darkens the tone ever so slightly
For me, the Chopper T sounds better in the 'clean' and high gain areas, whilst the Little '59 is a bit better sounding at medium gain. That's probably because the higher output is pushing the amp a bit more, so there's a bit more distortion to the drive, whilst the Chopper T could do with a bit more gain to flesh out the sound. And always 500k pots for me. At the higher gains, the overdrive's distortion adds back in a lot of high frequencies you miss with the 250k pot, so it's not quite as as important there, but when playing cleaner it makes a lot of difference. I did feel there was a bit more note definition on both pickups at higher gain with the 500k pots.
I don't know what wire gauge was used to wind them, so I expect the SD was 44AWG to get that 17.7k DCR in a single-coil size pickup, whilst the DiMarzio was probably 43AWG for its 9.19k (I think they'd struggle to get that much wire round two blades if it was a more standard 42AWG). As going up a wire gauge number adds about 27% extra resistance (due to the thinner wire) compared to the same length of the original wire gauge, a better rough comparison allowing for this, is nearer to 13.9k for the Little '59 compared to the Chopper T's 9.19k. So about 50% more relative output.
Given that both pickups have 4-conductor winding, it would have been interesting to see what they sounded like in a split coil mode. I expect the Chopper T would have sounded relatively weak in comparison to the Little '59, which may have got much closer to a standard Tele bridge sound.
Really interesting points, thanks Simon! Yes I did consider coil splitting, but couldn't figure out how to test both pot values and have a split coil in one wiring schematic. I'm sure there's a way haha. I very rarely split coils so often forget that it is something people are particularly interested in. I'll try and think of a way to incorporate that into another video without replicating this one. Really appreciate the points made :)
There's certainly a way to do it, but it all depends on how you've wired up the concentric pots in the first place.
On the 500k/250k volume pot selection, if you've got a standard Tele neck pickup and a humbucker bridge, you can fit a 500k volume pot and then wire in a resistor with a resistance around 500k between the neck signal connection and ground on the 3-way switch. Then, when that's selected, the parallel connection gives an equivalent 250k path to ground, so the neck pickup sounds like it should do (though on some vintage-style Tele neck pickups I think they could do with a 500k pot to brighten them up).
You do then get the 250k equivalence in the 'both pickups on' position, but I find this less of an issue as that position is naturally quite bright to start with. It's not a perfect solution but better than some others. With a dual ganged volume pot, so one pickup has a 500k pot and the other 250k, the 'both pickups' on position results in an equivalent 166k path to ground, which is going to knock even more treble off.
Interesting! I've got it wired up with a mini DPDT switch to select between the 250k and 500k. I wouldn't recommend this for any reason other than an A/B comparison but I could also in theory (using a makeshift plastic/wooden control plate) drill another hole for a push pull tone pot. That's easier to wrap my head around 😅
Preferred the clarity of the chopper T but do like the character and warmth of the little 59
Nice! Yes I liked the 59 with gain especially for leads
Does the pot value effect the sound if we put the pot all the way up.
For volume pots they do, unless they are a no load pot. Not sure how much influence the tone pot has when all the way up
Would you suggest the chopper t or hot rails to pair with a Gibson classic 57' in the neck?
Oh that's interesting, I've not tried a hot rails for Tele. If it sounds like the strat version, I'd personally favour the chopper T. If you play high gain then prob hot rails, though. Can't say for sure, just guessing here. Thanks for watching!
This video confirms what I already knew. DiMarzio on a 250K Pot is the clear winner. 59 is not bad either, but not even close to the chopper T.
I would have preferred to hear the little 59 with only the 500k pot and the chopper with only the 250k pot. Both pickups sound great so I would opt for two guitars, one for each pickup. However, if I were going to have two teles one would house a chopper and the other would house an Area Hot T. If I want the tone of a Duncan 59 I’ll use the full-sized humbucker.
On pots, remember that a volume and tone knob are in parallel. With 500k pots the pickup is loaded with 250k at the high frequencies (where it matters). With 250k pots the pickup is loaded with 125k. 1M or no-load tone pots are a great idea.
Thanks for that! Interesting point about the vol and tone knob wiring. And yes, having two teles is always the answer! Thanks for watching mate
Its about taste. But for me, the Chopper T👍🏽
Absolutely it's all a preference and context thing. But yes, chopper T haha
What has now become your tone pot? did you add a switch on it? also what's the name of your dual volume pot?
I added a DPDT switch and wired it so that in one position the 250k vol pot is active, and in the other position the 500k pot is active. I used an Allparts CTS 250/500 concentric pot. Thanks for watching mate
@@AlexisGuitars Thanks man i just subbed, i'm interested in how you convert the electronics, do you have a sample wiring diagram? i plan to do the same on my tele
Thank you! I can draw up a wiring diagram for you when I get some free time. It's not complicated at all. If you like, send me an email (email address on my RUclips channel) and I can send you over a diagram 👍
finding a neck pickup to go along with those is rather challenging, for metal guys the super distortion T really kicks ass.
Yes that's a good point. I do like the look of full sized humbucker in a Tele neck position, though, and that opens up more options
@@AlexisGuitars yeah the best combo I got so far was the super distortion t with the single coil sounding mini humbucker in the neck from dimarzio 😅 regret selling that guitar
Ooh a mini humbucker in the neck is a cool idea! If I'm not careful I'll end up with a Tele for every different pickup configuration 🤣
@@AlexisGuitars try it out ☺️ dp240 in the neck with a super distortion bridge T I think I’ll make another project guitar with that or a p90 in neck
I have a Chopper T with a concentric 250/500 pot (wired to the 500k) and on-on-on switch for series/parallel/split on the ChopperT. (It was a squeeze getting that into a Tele control cavity!). I've also tried a Lil59 in another Tele and a Pearly Gates for Tele in another one. For me the Chopper T has that ceramic crispness which I find a little too aggressive, the 59 has a more organic softer more vintage attack and the PG is my personal fave. It's saggy and earthy but also in parallel, it has massive Tele spank.
Ooh I think I need to try that wiring at some stage! Yes the 59 is definitely softer. Great with gain for warm lead tones but I often favour brighter, crisp tones for a bridge pickup. I have a pearly gates lying around. Awesome pickup. Waiting for the right guitar to put it in - that's my excuse for wanting another guitar anyway!
@@AlexisGuitars Is that a full size PG or the PG for Tele? I love the PG for Tele. This is that pickup in parallel.
ruclips.net/video/VXlk6B5gB-E/видео.html
@@alexwong7 I meant the full size. I had no idea it was available as a Tele pickup. It sounds great. Still got that twang like you say. Great playing btw 🤘
I think the Chopper T sounds better with the 250k pot...and the little 59 sounds better with the 500 on clean...
Interesting! Thanks for watching mate
Choppter T all the way especially in a tele. To my ears there's tons more going on harmonically and it clear much more responsive to pick attack.
Yes I also prefered the Chopper T here
Muy buena comparación, la chopper con 500k gana la partida en mi opinion.
They both do not have a lead tone I like, but that could be the amp.
What neck pick up would go good with the chopper T ?
Hi mate interesting question. Depends what you're going for really. My favourite tele neck pickup so far is the DiMarzio twang king. The chopper T and twang king combo is what Ritchie kotzen uses (pretty certain!)
I use a chopper T bridge with a Lindy Fralin pure PAF humbucker in the neck. Sound amazing and balanced. Pure PAF is 8k and the chopper T is 9k. The middle position is just beautiful.
Chopper T and it was not even close.
I have have had these pickups in the past. SD pickups tend to sound sterile and muffled with couple of exceptions, like Full shred, JG and Black Winter which all have a great sound.
However none of their dual rail pickups thai I tried sounded good compared to Dimarzio counterparts.
Chopper T dominated the clean tones in both values, but I feel like it was a closer contest with the different gain levels at 500k. Ultimately the Chopper T is the more well-rounded pickup of the two.
Also, this is totally off topic, but I’ll never understand SD’s marketing for the Lil 59 when they say it sounds like a “well-balanced PAF”. It doesn’t sound like a PAF at all to my ears. That’d be a cool idea for a shootout. The Lil 59 against various PAF-style pickups.
Yes that would be interesting! I was a bit surprised seeing the marketing for the 59 and then hearing it. Thanks for watching mate