Lil' Screamin' Demon

[ErikH]

Who here has experience with the Lil' Screamin' Demon? Especially the neck model.

I have the full-size Demon in the bridge of my Frankenstrat with a Classic Stack Plus in the neck and middle, normal 5-way switching, volume, no tone controls. There is a chance I will have to revamp some gear (i.e. sell) and am looking at going HSH in the Frankenstrat with the current configuration so looking at a single-coil sized humbucker is the logical choice here. I'll be able to cover all the bases I need to.

I love the full-size Demon and my gut says I'll like the neck Lil' Demon but want to hear from those that have used it.

[zakk_speed]

I have one in the neck slot of a 24-fret HSS RG - very open and even eq without being thin, well matched tonally and volume wise to the demon I have in the bridge.

Compared to other pups I've had in that slot, defintely brigter and more defined than a ProTrack, but with more bottom end and less midrange hump than a Fast Track 1.

The only negative I have with it is that the strings dont quite pass over the mini pole pieces correctly - and this is on a floyd/edge equipped RG with a 43mm nut. It would be worse on guitars with tighter string spacing. On these 'lil' pups there is a noticeable volume drop the further the string gets from the small polepieces, which can be an issue when string bending. I notice it playing clean more than with gain.

I'm just about to try it and the demon through a BMP-1 as I think the eq curve would work well, and the preamp would maybe even out the pole-alignment volume-drop issue.


HTH

[ErikH]

Cool. Thanks for the reply. That sounds like what I'm looking for. As for the poles lining up, no worries here. I have a vintage wide string spread bridge on it and a 1 11/16" nut width.

Now to move a few things so I can get one.

[GuitarDoc]

After the install, inform us of what you think. I'm interested in your opinion.

[Laughing Kookaburra]

After the install, inform us of what you think. I'm interested in your opinion.

+1

[ErikH]

Anybody else with input?

I'm curious how the bridge model will match with the full-size Demon and if it will overpower.

[ErikH]

I got a bridge model via trade (thanks, Donnie) and installed it last night in the neck slot. My first impressions is it is very smooth in the neck. I can still get some bite out of it after adjusting the pole pieces and height to where I like it.

It's not at all overpowering the middle Classic Stack Plus (surprising enough) and when I quickly flip from neck to bridge, all I hear different is more treble from the bridge. Chords ring true, single notes sound really sweet with plenty of sustain.

I'll be playing with it more over the next couple weeks and using it at a gig on the 30th so I'll have an even better feel for it then.

[zakk_speed]

I found the perfect spot for mine (neck model) between a PGN and a '78 in a mahogany body JEM-style superstrat. Perfect string alignment, excellent volume balance, nice clear balanced tone.

It worked great with the BMP-1 as well, but in the neck spot of a 22-fretter the top-e was way far out of alignment.

[ErikH]

I got to mess around with it a little more last night as I practiced. Was able to get the volume up a bit more. As I was practicing along with songs we are working on, I switched between neck and bridge and practiced songs I use the neck pickup more. Yeah, this one works great.

So far I'm really pleased with it. The ultimate test was when I was working on Stranglehold. Perfect since the main lead starts on the neck pickup. The Lil Screamin Demon passed with flying colors. It's crazy how close to the full-size Demon it sounds. I really like that. Great cut and response too.