ampage Tube Amps / Music Electronics	For current discussions, please visit Music Electronics Forum.

ampage archive

Vintage threads from the first ten years

Query about Evans pickups

:

4/29/1999 12:53 AM

Query about Evans pickups

About a decade ago I lived in beautiful Victoria, BC. At the time, Evans pickups were situated in a suburb of Victoria and I paid a visit to the facility to try and score some polepieces. (Victoria was not a hotbed of musical innovation, but it did produce Evans and was the home of the IVL/Kahler Pitchrider, the first general purpose Pitch-to-MIDI converter)

Evans produced a couple of models but put all their energy into one particular model to go on Strats. Although not quite my sonic cup of tea (sounded like your TS-808 was on ALL the time), they were used by a number of notables: Stevie Ray, Colin James, Jeff Healey. The design was similar to the Z-coils found on some of the current G & L models. They were a functional "single-coil" pickup, but consisted of two coils sandwiched end to end into a Strat-sized cover. One coil handled the top 3 strings, and was RV-RP relative to its companion coil that handled the bottom 3 strings. Placed inside the cover, they produced a hum-rejecting effect within a single-coil context. I had some lengthy discussions with the designer and he was convinced that one could never get "the sound" from a stacked humbucker, although he never elaborated as to why.

In any event, I haven't seen their product line around in recent years. Anybody know what happened to it, or to the guys that made it? Anybody ever own some of these, and have something to say about them? Just curious.

5/5/1999 2:02 PM

Steve Milberger

Mark,

I had a set of Evans for a while, but ended up getting rid of them. The middle and neck were the Classic model and the bridge was the Rock version. I found them to be too bright for my tastes (even for a single coil), but they were completely quiet. I used a magnetic field checker that I got from EMG and confirmed that they were in fact a coil with 3 pole pieces next to another coil with 3 pole pieces.

To be fair though, I had them in my frankenstrat, which is very heavy, and in fact I've only found one specific make and model of PU that sounds good in it. I tried to put the Evans in my other frankenstrat, but the PUs were too big to fit in the vintage PU route holes. (I've since routed a "swiming pool" route in the body to counteract this problem).

I guess the bottom line is that they just didn't sound good to me.

FWIW,

Steve

5/5/1999 8:03 PM

Steve:

I used a magnetic field checker that I got from EMG...

    Can you elaborate on this at all? Is it something that we can make up at home?

    My main "tester" is a screwdriver that I tap against the pole pieces... < g >

Steve Ahola

P.S. BTW Donald Brosnac explains how to use an analog ohmeter to determine if one pickup (or coil) is in phase with another: with the range set so that the needle is right in the middle (add a resistor if necessary) wave a magnet across the strings and watch which way the needle deflects initially. If the two pickups (or coils) are in phase then the initial deflection will be in the same direction.

    A bar magnet can also be used to determine the relative magnetic polarity of two particular pickups or coils, and a visual examination can often determine if the coil is wound cw or ccw. Along with measuring the dc resistance and ac mv output, that's about it for the tests I do to pickups... besides trying them out, of course!

5/6/1999 7:18 AM

Steve Milberger

Steve,

The magnetic field checker I got from EMG is a strip of green material. I'm not sure how it works, but here is what is written on the label:

"Magnetic Viewing Film"

"To manufacture this film millions of tiny magnetic flakes of iron, nickel, and stainless steel have been suspended in droplets of clear oil. The oil is then laminated between two layers of plastic.

This film will allow you to "view" the magnetic field of and pickup. Place the paper directly on top of the pickup. The dark areas show the magnetic fields. The white areas show where the magnetic fields (North and South) meet or where there is no magnetism. To clear the image pass the paper over the magnetic field at a 90 degree angle."

I can't remembe how much it costs, and I haven't been to the EMG site, but it is a pretty cool little device. Unfortunately, it seems to have gotten kind of week as compared to when I first got it. YMMV.

BTW, thanks for the tips from Donald B., I have his book, but I had forgotten about them.

Regards,

Steve

5/6/1999 9:10 PM
Steve A.	Steve: Sounds like it's a lot neater than the "flux charts" you can make by putting a piece of cardboard over the pickup and then sprinkling some iron filings onto the cardboard. (It seems like half of the filings don't end up back in the jar and they can create all sorts of havoc if they get into pots, switches— or inside a pickup!) Thanks! Steve Ahola

Page 1 of 1