Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Pickups => Topic started by: matteo on March 05, 2006, 05:07:21 PM

Title: what pickups?
Post by: matteo on March 05, 2006, 05:07:21 PM: hi all!

i know theres a million posts on here about which pickups work best for which guitars but ive only been playing a year so allot of the technical jargon means nothing to me!! i play a yamaha rgx420 (2 humbuckers and locking trem) thru a peavey bandit. im looking for something versatile as i play a wide range (well try and play anyway!!) from ac/dc to guns n roses to van halen! im not looking for a shred monster but id like it to be able to handle it if i ever get good enough! ive been looking on the site and at the moment the vhIIs seem to be the ones that would suit me? any info or advice is greatly appreciated!!

thanx 8)
Title: what pickups?
Post by: indysmith on March 05, 2006, 05:25:00 PM: i think ur right to be going for the VHIIs bro, but i have to say that through your peavey, there's not going to be that much difference in tone - you won't instantly start to sound like your heros. Before replacing ur pickups, i'd reccommend a small valve amp...
Title: what pickups?
Post by: matteo on March 05, 2006, 05:59:03 PM: yeah my bandit is well beat up and i dont have the footswitch :( what are the advantages of a valve amp? iv been looking at the new laney hc30s i think. but i dont think they are valve amps?

ill need more than a new amp and p ups to sound like my heroes! about 10 years practice!
Title: what pickups?
Post by: WITH FULL DISTORTION on March 05, 2006, 06:03:32 PM: I agree with Indysmith BUT.. i also want to add that you MUST get rid of that peavey amp, it´s one of the most bad sound amps out there.
i´m not bashing your amp, but if you wanna get a really good tone, get another amp.

you can also get a hybrid or a SS 40 watts amp like a marshall, crate, or the likes...only if you don´t have enough $$$ to go all tube amp.
if you have the $$$then get a marshall.
EVH is using a custom marshall i guess.
with a charvel signature now
I own a 5150.
but i can´t coment on it´s sound enough yet
Title: what pickups?
Post by: Searcher on March 06, 2006, 12:48:49 AM: Quote from: matteo
what are the advantages of a valve amp?

They sound better. :) That's about the only advantage, coz they weigh more, cost more to buy and maintain, and are usually a bit more fragile.

for pickup recommendation, i reckon you ought to email Tim and ask him what you should go for. He's good with suggestions. My suggestion would probably be for the VHIIs or Riff Raffs.
Title: what pickups?
Post by: _tom_ on March 06, 2006, 12:13:14 PM: I prefer the feel of a valve amp to a solid state, sounds weird till you play one, but they feel so much more alive. I'd say for a budget valve amp go for a Laney of some sort, although I've not played one everyone seems to love them. LC-15 or LC-30 should be great. Dont go over 40-50w on a valve amp though, it'll blow your head off with the volume :lol:
Title: what pickups?
Post by: indysmith on March 06, 2006, 12:24:06 PM: +1 on Todge's claim that valve amps 'feel' better - they REALLY do, the feel yu get from a driven poweramp is worth any money :P
Title: what pickups?
Post by: matteo on March 07, 2006, 04:27:01 PM: thanx for the input guys :D

how much more do they cost? ive set a limit to 300 for an amp but ive got a feeling thats not even close!! why are they more fragile and what sort of maintenance is required? something to do with the valve?
Title: what pickups?
Post by: WITH FULL DISTORTION on March 07, 2006, 04:28:12 PM: the tube amps i don´t know, but the Solid state ones run about 100, 150 usd.
the crate one i refferred.
Title: what pickups?
Post by: Kilby on March 07, 2006, 04:31:22 PM: What wattage are you after ?

Valve amps are louder (or atleast appear to be) than the equivalent solid state amp.

Rob...
Title: what pickups?
Post by: matteo on March 07, 2006, 04:39:39 PM: bout 30 watts wll be fine.its only for jammin in my room!!

ive just read on another page bout the guy whos just got an lc30 i think? im goin to look into it a bit more. dont know if i can handle valves yet!
Title: what pickups?
Post by: sambo on March 07, 2006, 04:44:22 PM: i got my lc30 for £180 off ebay.....
Title: what pickups?
Post by: matteo on March 07, 2006, 04:54:39 PM: theyre over 300 new! theres one close to me on ebay for 200 its got marshall valves in tho????

i like the look of the line 6 spider its got loadsa built in effects i think i would break a valve amp!!
Title: what pickups?
Post by: sambo on March 07, 2006, 04:57:48 PM: dude im 15 and always mash up my gear and abuse it terribly and i havent damaged my laney (yet)- so if i can manage it- anyone can..!
Title: what pickups?
Post by: booboo_bass on March 07, 2006, 06:28:37 PM: jammin' in your room you say...a 30watt valve is loud. very, very loud. You probably dont need a valve for bedroom use (sound cr@p quiet anyway). Get a half decent solid state and your sorted.
Title: what pickups?
Post by: tewboss on March 07, 2006, 07:12:33 PM: No I'd say buy a low power valve amp. I was never happy with my solid state amp, and any valve amp with a master volume control would be better. You can also buy solid state amps that have valves in the pre-amp stage (such as the higher powered Marshall Valvestates) as these tend to warm up the sound because most solid state amps sound a little sterile. Much of the distortion comes through the power amp valves so having a Valvestate doesn't really equate to a real valve amp.

I'd also ask what type of music you listen to. The reason is that some solid state amps are used with heavy music - Dimebad used solid state Randall amps when he played with Pantera. If you after bluesy music or blues rock then one of the basic Epiphone amps would sound good with an overdrive pedal in front of it.
Title: what pickups?
Post by: sambo on March 07, 2006, 07:25:49 PM: what are master volumes meant to do!?!?!?!? the one on my lc30 is just like an ordinary volume control it does nothing to suggest anything different is going on...!??!!
Title: what pickups?
Post by: _tom_ on March 07, 2006, 08:20:36 PM: I think on single channel amps they are so you can crank up the pre-gain to get a saturated sound but to keep it lower volume... I think... but thats still not power tube saturation. My amps master is the same as yours, it just controls the level of the drive channel, whilst volume is the clean volume.
Title: what pickups?
Post by: Crazy Gra on March 07, 2006, 08:23:05 PM: I go with the valve amp advice.

My 22 watt Fender DRRI is bloody LOUD! But when it starts to break into distortion it's tone HEAVEN. But to run it that loud for any length of time would get me evicted and possibly a visit to the hearing aid specialist.

Anyhow the point I'm making is that you should be aware that even 5w valve amps can give good tone IMHO. Is there something like that available in the UK? The Mesa Lonestar Special can run down to 5w (class A) but it's damn expensive, and still quite loud at that.
Title: what pickups?
Post by: sambo on March 07, 2006, 08:39:07 PM: the first thing that comes to mind is the matamp minimat....?
Title: what pickups?
Post by: matteo on March 10, 2006, 04:32:34 PM: i think the lowest i seen is a laney 15w and its about £200. my guitar teacher says valve amps are best for gigging and solids are better at lower volumes. im still in 2 minds.

i listen to all sorts mostly guitar gods,hendrix, velvet revolver, van halen, metallica, satriani, bb king!! ac/dc, you get the picture!! so many tones but id rather have my own!!