Zexcoil Pickups

Phostenix

Phostenix

Power User
Anyone tried the Zexcoil pups?

Scott makes them available to trial and I'm next on the list for the Vintage Tour (Vintage Single 5 neck, VS2 middle, VS5+ bridge), so I should be getting them soon. As Bart Scott would say, "Can't wait!"
 
Scott needed to send his Signature Set to Phoenix, as well, so I've gotten to try both sets now.

The Signature Set is like an HSH Strat setup, but with single coil sized pickups. The tour pickguard is now wired with his "Silent Split" option for the neck & bridge pups. That puts the 2 pickup coil segments in parallel rather than in series to change the tone from the humbucker type tone to more of a single coil sound.

I'm looking for traditional Strat tones from my Strat, so the Signature Set pickups weren't for me, but I put the Vintage tour set in my Strat yesterday. I've only had about an hour with the pickups so far, put my initial impression is that these things are fantastic! Very bright & spanky - very much the single coil tone I've been trying to get with a noiseless pickup. I actually had to turn down the tone controls with these pickups. :)

I hope to try them for worship next Sunday, because we are in a building that has the worst EMI noise I've ever experienced. I love the sound of my Wilde (Bill & Becky) Microcoils pickups, but they are almost unusable in that environment due to the noise they pickup. Can't wait to try these, as they sound killer.

I will try to make a video soon with the Vintage Set of pickups, but I've made a video with the Signature Set. I was tired & my playing abilities don't approach the level usually found here. :) I used the '65 Bassman model (FW 8.01a) & recorded analog out to analog in on a laptop (using Audacity).




* Not affliliated with Zexcoils in any way.
 
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I spent a little more time last night & this morning with the Zexcoil Vintage Set and I'm surprised that these pickups aren't getting more attention. It seems that almost all of the videos & chatter on the internet is about the Signature Set, which is more of a humbucker sound. But, these Vintage pickups are REALLY single coil sounding pickups. I've gotten used to noiseless Strat pups and using no load tone pots to get them bright enough to be close, but I'm actually rolling back the tone knob with this Vintage Set. They really respond like single coils to the tone control.

I haven't found anything I don't like about the Vintage Set yet. Bright, full, responsive, great quack & chime in positions 2 & 4. They can be super bright with the tone up full or round & balanced with the tone rolled back. They sound great with every amp model I've tried so far. If they reject noise like they are supposed to, I'll be buying these without hesitation.
 
BTW, Scott from Zexcoil commented on my video that I should have raised the pickups up a little higher. That would probably beef up the sound of the parallel mode choices, too.

I'll try to make a video of the Vintage Set this week.
 
I used the Zexcoils in worship today & they were absolutely dead silent in that building (where single coils pick up so much noise that I can't use them). I also brought another Strat (partscaster) with Lace sensors in it & they have a little hum in that room. Very acceptable, but it's there. The Zexcoils had no hum at all.

I usually find that position 4 on my Strat (neck & middle) disappears in the mix, but with the Zexcoils I used it for 4 of 5 songs. Sounded great!

Granted, I have never tried Kinmans, but these pickups have totally impressed me. I can't find anything about them that I don't like. I'm sold.
 
I don't have kinmans on my strat but do on a parker and I like them. Had I known about these I probably would have given them a shot. I wonder how the splits fair. I'm not a fan of the splits on other guitars but I never tried them on an SSS strat. The Zexcoil Buckers sound promising. It would be a boon to have the best of both worlds on a strat.
 
Anthony from Stevie Snacks did a video using the Zexcoils. He's got a set with Vintage Single 5s in the neck & middle positions and an overwound VS5 in the bridge.

One of the things that really stood out for me about the Zexcoil Vintage pickups was position 4 (Neck & Middle). You get that classic Strat tone without losing the brightness or clarity that often happens when you combine pickups on a Strat. You hear it in the video, for sure.


 
I replaced my stock Strat pups with 3 of his 'single coil' (i.e. not his JuicyBucker) pups and I like them MORE than my original pups! Little more output, rounder low end, same clear chiming high end. I would never, ever guess these weren't single coils. No tone suck at all. Tone added, in fact! Took my strat to a whole 'nother level.

And, he's a REALLY great guy who REALLY wants his customers to be happy... Goes the extra mile even more than FAS and Liquid Foot, if that's possible...

* I am not affliliated with Zexcoils in any way either!
 
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