software

I've had the SH-12 Screamin Demon in the neck of my Mockingbird for over a week now and have finally listened to it enough to give some sort of review.

First, everything we love about the SH-12 transfers from the bridge to the neck. The sound is still very open and bright (without being overly bright). The pick attack is still sharp and crisp. Even with the tone rolled back a bit the pup sings clear. I had to really try turning knobs on both the amp and the guitar to muddy up the pickup (I generally find neck pickups easily fall into mud if you aren't careful). I would liken it very much to a '59 neck in terms of voicing. It's slightly hotter, and IMO, not quite as full on the bottom end as the 59.

It's got plenty of power to push the neck position, too. Under gain, the tone is very sweet with great punch and articulation. It's a very raw tone that works well with searing melodic leads under high gain, as well as short quick runs.

It's only quot;downfallquot; I would say is that it's missing a little character in the neck position. This is an apples and oranges comparison, but it lacks the smooth, well rounded bottom end and the warmth that I get out of the Jazz (in the LP) and the Cool Rails. This is less evident under gain. With very little or no gain the pickup simply doesn't seem to have much complexity in it's tone, and IMO sounds a little 2D.

Keep in mind, this is in a maple neck through 24 fret guitar, so the tone is naturally bright and the pup isn't quite in the perfect sweet spot, both of which may contribute to both the positive and negatives I've listed. One thing that really made the pup sing was putting a Compression/Sustainer in front of the amp, simply by adding a little more complexity in the tone.

Good review, Mike. So, bottom line, would you call the SH-12 in the neck a quot;keeperquot;?

For now, Artie, yes, it's a keeper. It works very well with the CCb in terms of output. Tonally, it's not a match made in heaven, but it's still pretty good. In the future may try some tride amp; true necks pups, perhaps starting with the PG (maybe the bridge model so output is a little closer to the CC).

Bottom line, though, is that this whole guitar is a bit of a departure for me, both in terms of style and tone, so once I get used to the new pickups, I may lean towards the SH-12 being a permanant fixture.