All of the sudden I have GAS to get a Digitech Vocalist. I don’t have the greatest voice in the world and I can get a bit pitchy at times especially if the song is not in my range. I was always intrigued with the vocalist since the initial releases. It just didn’t seem worth the $300+ investment since I am just a studio hack. My own voice was usually good enough or I would have my wife sing.

Digitech is about to release new generation of Vocalists. The Vocalist Live 2 and Vocalist Live 4.
The Vocalist Live 2 can output your voice and two more harmonies. That is plenty for my needs. Also the Vocalist 2 will do one harmony above and one harmony below your voice. I kind of wish it had the option to do both harmonies higher. It seems like the Vocalist 2 does not have pitch correction, which is a bit of a bummer, but maybe it can. One of the harmony options is “Unison”. The manual states:

When Unison 1 is on (and Unison 2 is off), it doesn�??t track notes in a chromatic scale, so it produces a tight double sound, even if you�??re singing slightly out of pitch. When Unison 2 is on (and Unison 1 is off), it tracks chromatic notes. This can help you sing on pitch better.

So maybe it can do pitch correction. I emailed Digitech about this matter. There aren’t manuals available for the Vocalist Live 4 yet on the site.

These particular products are geared towards guitarists. Rather than create harmonies based on the key of the song or scales it actually tracks the chords you are playing on guitar and creates the harmonies based on what you are playing. It’s a pretty amazing concept and early reports are that it tracks well.

Being the “bang for the buck” guy that I am I am on the lookout for a used Digitech Vocalist Performer on Ebay. Another candidate may be the Vocalist Workstation EX will seems like it may have do pith correction capabilities.

I am also looking for Cakewalk/Sonar plugins that would be able to accomplish this same task.

This is my late 80’s American Standard Strat. I bought it new. I kept it original for years. I used to be a real stickler for keeping guitars stock. One day I decided that I really didn’t like the bridge tone on the Strat. To me a Strat shine on the neck and middle pickups. I decided to throw in a GFS Lil Killer pickup. Now I can get a kick ass humbucker tone and all the strat tones that I like. I really enjoy this guitar since I modded it.

This is my 75 Les Paul Gold Top. You will notice the pickups are not original and neither is the hardware. Gold Tops did not come with gold plated hardware. I installed the pickups myself. There is a Duncan Custom in the bridge and a 59er in the neck. I’ve had this guitar for close to 20 years now. At the time I had no idea on what the value of the guitar was or that I shouldn’t have routed out a vintage instrument. I have no regrets though. This guitar sounds killer and it will sustain for days.

On this page I have some sound samples that compare a GFS Lil Killer to a full sized Seymour Duncan Custom.

All sound samples were recorded through a Behringer V-Amp using factory presets straight into the soundcard.

–The Lil Killer is in a late 80’s American Standard Strat.

–The Duncan Custom was in a 75 Les Paul Gold Top.

The Strat has a stock TBX control which was set at the midpoint. When you crank the tone knob past 5 the TBX control essentially removes the cap from the tone circuit and the tone gets a little brighter.

I was never totally happy with the bridge pickup in my Strat. I had been shopping around for a mini-humbucker solution and decided on a Hot Rails. I came across the GFS LiL Killer on Ebay and did a quick search on Google.

It seemed like the folks at Harmony Central and the Fender Discussion Page had some good things to say about GFS.

Keep in mind that I am not one of those “golden eared, cork sniffing” pickup connoisseurs. I can tell the difference between a single coil or humbucker when I hear a song but that’s about it. When I listen to the sound samples at Seymour Duncan I can hardly hear a difference between the various pickups. I hate the totally subjective terms that are tossed around to describe a pickup like warm, shimmer, quack, woody, smooth, transparent etc.

Personally I think the Lil Killer kicks some major ass, especially at $25 ! I even had to go back and record some of the sound samples again because I thought I forgot to switch guitars after listening to the completed samples.

Duncan Custom
Lil Killer

Lead Tone
Duncan Custom Lead
Lil Killer Lead2

Riffs in the style of Van Halen
Duncan Custom Halen 1
Lil Killer Halen 1

Duncan Custom Halen 2
Lil Killer Halen 2

Installation Issues

At the GFS site they mention that you may have to slightly open up the cutout on the pickguard to fit the pickup.

Rather than modify an original pickguard I bought a pearl finish pickguard from GFS. I used 100 grit sandpaper to widen the opening just a bit. The area where the connection wire connects to the coil bulges out a bit. The higher you want the pickup the more you need to widen the opening.

I don’t think I removed more than a 1/32″ near the center of the cutout. I don’t think I would notice the small space if I went back to a stock pickup.

The pearl pickguard looks killer on the red strat !

GFS Mean 90 Bridge & Neck pickups (never installed) NR

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Set of Three Lil Killer GFS pickups loaded in pickgaurd

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Telecaster Bridge with GFS pickup

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GFS Fat Pat Boutique OVERWOUND Alnico Pickup Neck H09

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GFS Vintage Alnico Neck Pickup tele- Our Best! I31

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GFS Fat Pat Boutique OVERWOUND Alnico Pickup Bridge H10

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GFS Power Rails HI OUTPUT CREAM Bridge Pickup H114

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GFS Vintage Alnico 62 Boutique HOT Bridge pickup I30

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Boutique “Texas” GFS Premium Alnico Strat pickups I36

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GFS Loudmouth MAX POWER LEAD Pickup Neck H62

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GFS Power Rails HI OUTPUT CREAM Neck Pickup H115

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GFS Fat Pat Alnico OVERWOUND Neck Pickup- Chrome H13

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GFS Alnico Fatbody- World’s BEST Tele Neck Pickup I37

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GFS Fat PAT Alnico OVERWOUND Neck Pickup- GOLD H11

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GFS Premium Overwound Alnico Boutique Strat Pickups I18

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I have a ESP M-350. I really wanted a Floyd Rose guitar again since I kind of miss my Kramer American Pacer from the 80’s. It’s fun to have a reverse headstock shred machine in the arsenal.

Anyhoo I hated the EMG HZ pickups in the ESP. I had a Seymour Duncan JB that I stole from my Korean Kramer for the bridge. I ordered a GFS Crunchy PAF for the neck position from GuitarFetish.com. If you’re not familiar with GFS pickups they are excellent quality pickups at a fraction of the cost of Duncans. I paid $22.95 for the GFS Crunchy PAF and I ordered a set of pickup rings. To my surprise the pickup came with a ring already installed and ready to go for the neck position. I lowered the middle pickup as low as possible to reduce magnetic drag on the strings.

The installation took a bit longer than I expected. I really don’t care for working on guitars anymore. I managed to change the pickups without changing the strings. Try that without a Floyd Rose.

I was little concerned about phasing of the pickups. I think I got it right. It really doesn’t matter though. There is no position on the switch that allows the neck and bridge pickup to be ran together. The guitar sounds in phase in the 2 and 4 position. So that was a relief.

The ESP M-350 has a mahogany body. The JB balances well with the ESP but it still has some nice bite. The GFS Crunchy PAF is not as “woody sounding” as it would be on say a Les Paul. With a 24 fret guitar the neck pickups closer to the bridge pickup than a regular 22 fret guitar. The sound difference is not as dramatic as it is on a standard guitar.

Let’s face it though, the neck pickup will not be getting used much on this guitar.

Here is the finished product.

The guitar next to the ESP is a Kramer (Korean) that I have had since 1983 or so. I have painted it a number of times, one time it was surf green. It has a totally crap plywood body. I had the Duncan JB in this Kramer prior to putiing it in the ESP. Although the Kramer body was totall crap the neck is actually half way decent and it sounded ok with the Duncan in it.