Expanded tone, sensitivity, and output without muddiness.
The Joe Barden HB Two/Tone Neck Pickup is a full-sized dual blade humbucker pickup designed for players who are looking for the maximum amount of tone, sensitivity and output, without being saddled with an inherently distorted or muddy-sounding humbucker. The HB Two/Tone provides incredible low-end clarity and overall high sustain characteristics that make it suitable for virtually any musical style, from blues to rock to jazz.
The HB Two/Tone is an additional refinement of the HB pickup. The HB Two/Tone was designed to be the ultimate pickup for Hum/Single/Single or Hum/Single/Hum guitars, as it is literally two pickups in one: you get the HB (humbucker) tone when the pickup is in full mode, and when you hit the switch (a DPDT mini-switch or push/pull pot), the tone and output change to that of an single-coil-sounding S-Deluxe, so that in combination with the middle pickup, you get the perfect "in-between" sound. There is no switching noise and no hum in either mode. The HB Two/Tone is available for both neck and bridge positions.
The design is a complete improvement over any kind of series/parallel or split-coil wiring, as it gives you the same tone and output level as the S-Deluxe. Many musicians have told Joe that the HB Two/Tone is like a Strat pickup that turns itself into a humbucker (Or, a humbucker that can turn itself into a single-coil-sounding pickup - but without the noise normally introduced by coil splitting of a standard humbucker)
The HB Two/Tone fits into standard humbucker body routs with no modifications to the instrument. HB Two/Tone pickups use 6 conductor shielded cable and are supplied with wiring diagrams and mounting hardware to facilitate installation.
