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Author Topic: Pickup Hotness  (Read 3126 times)

Devon8822

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Pickup Hotness
« on: May 04, 2007, 09:40:43 PM »
Im owndeing about how pickups react to amp tone and sitoriton level... liek if you have a NON-hot paf playing gore metal through a mesboogie it will sound bad right? I have a 72 Marshall superlead and it isn't uber distortion at all its more of a light - mid distortion level. So im wondering if I get a pickup meant for uber distorted metal would it sound bad if im goign for more of a just an 80s metal tone... Will for example a miracle man in a low gain (plus a overdrive) sound bad if its not at that uber distortion level? I didnt describe my issue the greatets but I hope you caught on... help me out? thanks :D

Davey

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« Reply #1 on: May 04, 2007, 10:03:11 PM »
no good pickup will sound bad through a good amp, with a good pedal.

it might not have the midrange push, or the tight bottom end you want to go for, but any pickup will do a LOT of styles pretty damn good.

and you have to remember, a music style is not dependent on the pickup. Music is in the player.



imagine it like this:
Two samurai, one is a REALLY good fencer, but has a dull blade, the other is a bad fencer, but has a sharp blade. no matter how much flailing around the bad one does, he will lose.
the pickup is your blade.

I_cant_play

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« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2007, 06:55:46 AM »
I think I know what you mean. It shouldn't sound bad either way. you may not get the sound you want but it won't sound bad especially with a tube amp. Here's an example, if you've ever heard the Trans-siberian orchestra, one of their guys plays a strat with EMG singles which are very high output pickups through a marhsall plexi reissue and it sounds awesome. All it means is that the high output pickups will "cause" more distortion to occur in the amp and you'll get a more compressed sound. Either way, I can't promise you'd love the tone since every amp and guitar combination is different but a no gain knob amp and a high output pickup is not necessarily a recipe for disaster.

good luck
Epiphone Les Paul Standard - Mules
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MDV

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Pickup Hotness
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2007, 01:08:51 AM »
In general a very powerfull pickup will sound better running through lots of gain than not. A weak pickup is still tonefull under high gain, but perhaps not pleasing in a metal sound sort of a way.

The reason is that powerfull pickups use longer peices of wire, which tend to attenuate highs more noticably, and the sound is normally less detailed and dynamic. This is fine for a tonne of gain, but you notice it much more in cleans. However, powerfull pickups also tend to have a more pronounced attack to the sound, which gives heavy riffing and fast lead focus and punch. Weak pickups dont do that to the same extent (though the majority of this is in the way you play: the pickup can help! Espesially if you want to play something that needs a lighter touch and precision, but you want it to sound in-your-face)

It has to be said, though, that BKs powerfull pickups, right up the the C-Pig, are still very useable for cleaner sounds, and I often find my warpig in particular and C-Pig in parallel to be better than many more common pickups, naming no names *cough*DUNCAN*cough* for cleaner sounds. They still have more life, responsiveness and depth. Also, crawler bridge is a freak for this: medium-high power and can achieve vintage sounds and entry level capital-M Metal (to me thats metallica, megadeth et al) with equal aplomb.

HTH AMPS

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« Reply #4 on: May 06, 2007, 09:45:01 AM »
^ +1, the Crawler is a very versatile pickup (I have one in my Les Paul).

 :twisted:

Alex

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« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2007, 10:07:34 PM »
Devon I think I know what you mean, I use mid-gain settings most of the time and I feel that the Miracle Man, while being "hot" is not as hot as some pickups from other companies. I used to use a Seymour Duncan Invader, JBs, EMGs and a DiMarzio ToneZone. Somehow all of these drove the preamp more, but the Miracle Man has even with an overdrive pedal a really great and articulate tone. I played it the other day and then switched to a guitar with a JB and noticed immediately how the JB had slightly more gain but sounded so much more muffled. It was quite sobering actually.

To sum it up: Even if BKP have less gain, it is not much of a problem. You can substitute gain easily with pedals. You can't substitute clarity and tone.
Current BKPs: Miracle Man, Nailbomb, Juggernaut, VHII
Past BKPS: Holy Diver, Trilogy Suite, Sinner, Black Dog

Devon8822

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« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2007, 11:42:07 PM »
Quote from: I_cant_play
I think I know what you mean. It shouldn't sound bad either way. you may not get the sound you want but it won't sound bad especially with a tube amp. Here's an example, if you've ever heard the Trans-siberian orchestra, one of their guys plays a strat with EMG singles which are very high output pickups through a marhsall plexi reissue and it sounds awesome. All it means is that the high output pickups will "cause" more distortion to occur in the amp and you'll get a more compressed sound. Either way, I can't promise you'd love the tone since every amp and guitar combination is different but a no gain knob amp and a high output pickup is not necessarily a recipe for disaster.

good luck


Interesting, I know TSO, whihc guitarist is the one you are talking about I'd like to look into this? is there any info anywhere on his gear?

Devon8822

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« Reply #7 on: May 14, 2007, 01:25:54 PM »
... anyone know which guitarist is the one in TSO who used EMGs and a plexi?

_tom_

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« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2007, 02:39:00 PM »
You dont need a high output pickup to play metal, in my opinion. I think I prefer the sound of low output pickups anyway, I can play metal with my LP with Mules and get good tone.

What goes after the guitar is more important anyway, at least I think so..

Crazy_Joe

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« Reply #9 on: May 14, 2007, 02:47:26 PM »
I agree, any pickup can do any style, just some do it better than others. You can't say a Mule won't do metal because it is low output, many classic metal uses low output pickups as they was the only pickups available at the time, like Randy Rhoads' Les Paul which had standard pafs in it i believe.
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Previous BKP's: Riff Raff, Holy Divers, Painkillers, C. Warpig, Nailbomb, Miracle Man.