Looks like these aren't on the market yet, and the site doesn't disclose a ton of info. Anyone know about them? I'm thinking a replacement on my Spector Forte4 SS could be in the works.
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Aguilar Super Doubles - who knows stuff?
- Thread starter monsterthompson
- Start date
looks cool, but it's something nordstrand has been doing for a while now, and even duncan has a version.
the super double is going to have a street of 225 for the 5 string set. the nords are 328. that alone makes it pretty big. the duncans are only available in the emg size routes and make the basses they can go in pretty limited.
the duncan duals that fodera uses are one of my favorite pickups. the nords dont really sound that close to them. even though theyre both in bartolini size cases, the aperture is a little narrower on carey's pickups than the fodera/duncans and it comes through in the sound. theyre more focused sounding. the duncan nyc pickups have a much wider aperture than the fodera/duncans. its just speculative, but the ags looks like the coils are spaced a little further apart than the nords. and at that price, buying a set to experiment isnt a huge deal.
Are they just dual coil side by side humbuckers? Bartolini, EMG, and Delano have had them for years and they use blades so string spacing is not a concern. All of them make drop ins for your Forte. I'm sure those Aggies sound great though.
These will NOT be split-able, I was given this info directly from Aguilar....so keep that in mind too.
Are they wired in series or parallel?
Note...Seymour Duncan NYCs are Alnico II, the Aggies are Alnico V.
Note...Seymour Duncan NYCs are Alnico II, the Aggies are Alnico V.
I emailed them about it and this is what they answered:
"The Super Doubles are not be split-able. The reason for this is that we want to make the best sounding pickup possible. To accomplish this for a single coil pickup you need a specific amount of wire on the bobbin for it to sound ideal. When you add a second coil for a hum canceling pickup, the total amount of wire affects the sound. So, if you have the right amount on each coil to make up a good sounding hum canceling pickup, it will be too little amount of wire when you “split” the pickup. If you put the right amount of wire on a single coil design and then add a second coil, you’ll have too much wire on the pickup. The worst thing would be changing the amount wire on bobbins and making a pickup that sounds bad both split and non-split. Some people have done this, we don’t want to join them!
"
I think it actually makes sense. The way the're marketing these pickups is that they are kind of a middle point between the DCB and the Super Singles. Would love to see a demo vid soon.
"The Super Doubles are not be split-able. The reason for this is that we want to make the best sounding pickup possible. To accomplish this for a single coil pickup you need a specific amount of wire on the bobbin for it to sound ideal. When you add a second coil for a hum canceling pickup, the total amount of wire affects the sound. So, if you have the right amount on each coil to make up a good sounding hum canceling pickup, it will be too little amount of wire when you “split” the pickup. If you put the right amount of wire on a single coil design and then add a second coil, you’ll have too much wire on the pickup. The worst thing would be changing the amount wire on bobbins and making a pickup that sounds bad both split and non-split. Some people have done this, we don’t want to join them!
"I think it actually makes sense. The way the're marketing these pickups is that they are kind of a middle point between the DCB and the Super Singles. Would love to see a demo vid soon.
I used to be all about splitting humbuckers since I started using dual coils 3-4 years ago. Installed various makes and models of dual coils probably in 10 or so basses in that time. Guess what...3 years later and I don't think I've ever actually used any of them split in a real world situation. Every single one of them ends up in series and nothing else sounds right, so Aguilar is making perfect sense.
"The Super Doubles are available for the following string spacing:
4 string: 4SD-D1 18mm-19mm
5 String: 5SD-D2 18mm-19mm
6 String: 6SD-D2 17mm-18mm
I hope this is helpful. We don’t do custom sizes, but perhaps one of these will fit your bass."
I recently emailed Aguilar about them. Mainly asked how they sound vs the Super Singles (I have). I've not yet received a reply. No word on their availability, though the new Fuzz pedal has started shipping and it had a similar release date expected.
I posted on another thread the video from Music Messe describing the differences between the Super Doubles and the DCBs, and he also compares them (a little) to single coils:
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I got a response. I had specifically asked how they sound relative to my Super Singles.
The Super Doubles have a strong dynamic output. They are not "overwound', but the attack is very strong because of the two rows of alnico 5 magnets. In fact, we used very specific length magnets so that we could get the right amount of aggressiveness without the pickups pulling on the strings. These pickups produce a thick yet articulate tone and are hum-canceling. They will be darker and slightly more “closed” sounding than the super singles.
The Super Doubles have a strong dynamic output. They are not "overwound', but the attack is very strong because of the two rows of alnico 5 magnets. In fact, we used very specific length magnets so that we could get the right amount of aggressiveness without the pickups pulling on the strings. These pickups produce a thick yet articulate tone and are hum-canceling. They will be darker and slightly more “closed” sounding than the super singles.
Aguilar is the pickup producer to watch currently.
I don't know who they have as their pickup guru and how much R&D they are doing but they started with a really good P bass vintage sounding pickup. In my test it was very close to the Lollar (an industry reference in my book).
Their second P bass pickup, the Hot P bass is amazing. It's hot and bassy but it's a complete tone machine. This pickup has me really mesmerized. It sounds a bit outrageous but so, so musical and balanced. It's unbelievably touch sensitive too. My guitar player commented "you want to keep this for open air gigs"! I have a Lollar overwound on the way to be able to do a 4 way shootout test.
Regardless, I don't know what's flowing in their water fountain but these guys are currently breathing fire!
Kudos to them for quickly establishing themselves into a tough and technical field.
I don't know who they have as their pickup guru and how much R&D they are doing but they started with a really good P bass vintage sounding pickup. In my test it was very close to the Lollar (an industry reference in my book).
Their second P bass pickup, the Hot P bass is amazing. It's hot and bassy but it's a complete tone machine. This pickup has me really mesmerized. It sounds a bit outrageous but so, so musical and balanced. It's unbelievably touch sensitive too. My guitar player commented "you want to keep this for open air gigs"! I have a Lollar overwound on the way to be able to do a 4 way shootout test.
Regardless, I don't know what's flowing in their water fountain but these guys are currently breathing fire!
Kudos to them for quickly establishing themselves into a tough and technical field.
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