Miami Blues Guitar Teacher | Analogman Big T Fender N3 Telecaster Pickup Review
Hey, what’s up friends. This is Dyce Kimura I’m a Miami blues guitar teacher and I’m doing a review of the Analog Man Big-T Tele pickup for the neck. I’m also going to do a review for the Fender N3 bridge pickup. This review is by popular demand. I kept getting emails, every couple of weeks I get another email, because a while ago I did a review of this pickup. I would constantly get these emails of people saying, “Can you do another one, but do it with a clean guitar channel.” I finally relented. This is your review with clean. I’m playing my Tele straight into a Hughes & Kettner amp with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. This is the clean channel.
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This sound is pretty good actually. I’m just going to give it a little more highs. In case you are wondering, my Miami blues guitar teacher are … This is my Hughes & Kettner amp by the way. I’m on the clean channel to my star 36 treble at around six, mids at six and bass at six, everything is at six pretty much. That’s not six o’clock, but it’s more like one o’clock I guess. From pick up Analog Man Big-T.
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I really like this pickup by the way. This guitar is just a stock American standard Fender from the late ’90s. I bought this in Japan, but it’s a USA model. Absolutely everything is stock except for the two pickups and I think I redid the wiring to just make it newer, but it’s all standard. This Big-T, what’s so cool about it says Miami blues guitar teacher? It’s very clear and it’s very powerful.
[Music 00:02:58]
If I run it through a Fender amp with some distortion, it sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan, no joke. I can give it to you with a little distortion. I’m using a hand wired Tube Screamer. I’m just going to give it just a little bit, put everything a new basically.
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Here’s with a clean.
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Here’s with just a little bit gain.
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It got that sweet characteristic. It’s just a very sweet sound. The lows are huge. Let Miami blues guitar teacher go back to clean. It’s a big boomy low. I’m still on the front pickup folks. Everything is full up and dimed out in terms of volume and the tone, but if I play some chords …
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I love this pickup. I guarantee you will not be disappointed and they do not pay me to say that, but I’m going to be real with you, I do not like the Big-T bridge pickup and that’s why I changed it. When I did my last review, I had both the Big-T front and neck. The front, they did an outstanding job. This is made by Lindy Fralin, I think a guy named Jim Weider, if Miami blues guitar teacher is saying his name right. Jim Weider produced it with Analog Man or Analog Mike is his name actually along with Lindy Fralin.
I don’t know exactly what happened, it made it through the Fralin line. They did a great job in my humble opinion with the neck, the bridge I did not like and I changed it. It was too harsh, it was too high, it was too tinny and there was really nothing that I could do to make it sound decent which really shocked me, because I’m a huge Analog Man fan. I use his stuff all the time.
I’m a Miami blues guitar teacher, I tell my students about Analog man. I think he is really amazing. He is an innovator, a visionary and pioneer. I don’t know what happened with that rear pickup. I gave him the benefit of the doubt and I bought it and I put it in. I still got it somewhere, I don’t know, maybe I’ll put it on eBay or something. It was a disappointment for me.
Now, I don’t know, maybe somebody else can do a review and show me where I’m wrong. I’m open to that. I’m eager to learn that, because like I said, I’m a big Analog Man fan, but folks I had to change that rear pickup and I eventually … It took a long troubleshooting, but I eventually settled on the Fender N3 and I really like that. I’m going to show you how that sounds that, clean as well. This is clean.
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Totally clean into a Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker.
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Compatibility with the Analog Man Big-T.
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I love the Big-T. I love how loud it is. I love the boldness of the magnet and then when I flip over to the N3, I find it to be every compatible.
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Here’s that N3 with some leadwork.
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I love it. Miami blues guitar teacher usually when I plays a fender, I put my hand wired Ibanez Tube Screamer, my TS808HW … I have two of them by the way, but I’ll put at least one of them on with a little bit of gain just to give it a little bit of hair on the note, but when I did the last YouTube Video, I received so many objections for that and they said, “I just want it clean.” I’m going to make sure I give you the clean sound today, but if you don’t mind I would like to put some hair on the notes so that you can hear what that sounds like as well. This is still clean, I’m at half tone now. I’m splitting both the Analog Man Big-T in the front with the Fender N3 in the rear.
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This is classic Tele sound, I mean, what’s not to like?
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Okay. Very fragile, sounding glassy, but not too tinny and very bold, punchy mids, booming lows.
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As you can hear.
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That I’m just playing for you there is the rear pickup. That’s the N3 people.
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Okay. Really nice sound. Lets just hear them here with a little bit of Tube Screamer. Let Miami blues guitar teachers how you what I’m putting on there. I’ve got this green one on. This is the hand wired Tube Screamer. I’m a big fan of those. I have two of them. You see I’m wiring them in series, one, two. I think they only made these for like a year, but they sound amazing. Anyway, this is a hand-wired Tube Screamer with everything at 12 o’clock. Back to the Analog Man Big-T front pickup.
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I like that Tube Screamer on the Tele with the front pickup man, even clean, because it gives like the sweet mid-range sound that is just a tiny bit nasal, but sounds so lovely. It just sounds so …
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It just sounds sweet like candy.
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Yeah man. Here’s the N3 with the same, a little bit of Tube Screamer on it.
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Notice how … Now, this is really a review for these pickups, but I just got to show you the way Miami blues guitar teacher play it, okay? Notice how just a little bit of gain bomb from the TS808HW gives it the sweet mids.
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Crazy isn’t it? I like it. I’ll just show you with just a gain. I’m going to back down to gain a hair. Actually it’s this knob over here, but I’m just going to keep the output around the same and back down again. This is the half tone, okay?
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I love my Jimi Hendrix. Comment below if you know what that song is. You young whippersnappers out there. Anyway, notice how quiet Miami blues guitar teacher is playing … You can hear my volume is compatible with the microphone. Obviously I’m not dimed out, that’s why I’m using some help with the Tube Screamer. Back to playing it clean, the N3 clean.
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I’ve got all of that glassy bite that I could ever want.
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The Tele is such a good guitar for Funk man.
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However, when I put a little Tube Screamer on there, same type of playing.
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I’ll admit that the mids come in and they take out a lot of the twang and the twang is absolutely delicious for the Tele. If that’s what you want, this pickup has got it. The N3 and the bridge, all the Snap, Crackle and Pop you could want from … Again, with the peddle off.
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I just want to point out, I think the camera is picking up how big this bass is.
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I know you guys are hearing that.
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I’m going to admit that when I engage the TS808, I lose some of that bass.
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I change it for mids.
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Half tone.
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Front pickup I get the bass back.
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I find this pickup to be very innovative, the Analog Man Big-T neck, because it gives Miami blues guitar teacher that gain that sounds like Stevie Ray Vaughan lead. If I actually overdrive it even more if I may, you are going to hear. Check out this blog also that covers my strat mods and why I play a strat.
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Okay. I actually flipped between pickups there. I started with the phrasing on the front and I went to the rear. These pickups, they handle high gain … Personally, I don’t really play a high gain. That what you just heard was as high as I get, but it handles … For me I guess I call it overdrive, it handles overdrives really well in my opinion. Anything below that is just great. Miami blues guitar teacher would say, honestly the strongest points of these pickups are definitely going to be the clean.
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You’ve got the half tone sparkle.
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Also, here’s that bridge.
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Here’s the front.
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Yeah, I like it. I did a bunch of things with this guitar. I put some EMG mid boost in there, but I took it out out. I put an expander, I took it out. This guitar, it sounds good just stock. The stock pickups on a Fender, they are not bad, but these are a bit warmer. The N3 comes stock now on the 2016 custom shop models by the way. Of course I don’t have that ridiculous button.
The Fenders, they have this ridiculous button that does absolutely nothing in my opinion, it’s all marketing. Please comment if you are out there and you are into that button. I don’t know what it does. It gives you a little pop and static, that’s about it, but in terms of pickups I’m a happy customer. I would definitely recommend the Analog Man Big-T Tele in the front and then for the rear I like the N3.
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That was clean with a front.
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Half tone clean.
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Bridge clean.
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That’s pretty much all I’ve got for you. In case you are wondering I’m using GHS Boomer 10-46s. I’m recording this on my iPhone. The microphone that I’m using is a Shure MV88. That’s a stereo condenser mic. Hughes & Kettner head, Vintage 30 Celestion speaker and occasionally the TS808HW Tube Screamer. That’s it folks. Please comment, like it if you like it, share it or send me your questions and I always try to answer them. Miami blues guitar teacher will see you at the next video, thanks so much for watching. For more lesson info go to www.dycekimura.com or call 7864573687