A set of Apaches compared with the stock pups in a new Fender Highway One Strat

[Andrew W]

I did this little demo for my own curiosity but I thought it might be worth sharing as it highlights some qualities of the Apache pickup in the Highway One Strat.  What I did was once I'd ordered, and was impatiently awaiting, my Apaches I recorded a little over a minute of noodling with the stock Fender pups.  Aside from installing a set of 10s and lowering the trem so it's flat against the body the guitar is completely stock.  I received my BKPs on Friday, soldered 'em in on Friday night and once I'd got home from work on Saturday recorded the rest.  The second chunk of guitar from 1:20 to around 2:30 is recorded using exactly the same settings on the Line 6 Pod XT as was used for the recording of the standard Fender pickups.  To me the new pups seem more expressive and they're even better than the Line 6 allows for since the digital box of tricks doesn't really handle dynamics very well.  That increase in dynamic response was what I was hoping for from the BKPs as the guitar had always sounded really alive when played acoustically but had seemed a little cramped in sound when plugged in with the old pups.  For anyone with a Pod XT and who wants to compare I used the "Blackface Lux" preset and mostly the neck pickup for both parts one and two.

The final section is a high gain setting I rolled myself.  I think it started out being based on the "Eruption" preset but it's diverged a long way from that now.  For this part I was interested in what sounds a lowish output pickup could make when really given some welly by the amp.  I was really pleasantly surprised at how sweet it sounded, it's bridge pickup all the way from now on. Again the Line 6 doesn't cope well with a lighter attack on the strings or backing off the volume knob so there's a lot more that the Apaches can do than is represented here; in order to get the best sound out of the Line 6 I find I have to hit the strings pretty hard throughout, which would not be my natural way of doing things.

I also tried the new pups through my Cornell Plexi Seven and it sounds great, and that amp can handle the full range of dynamics so I know the Apaches are capable of delivering them.  Unfortunately I lack the kit to record it so you'll have to take that on trust.

Overall I'm really pleased.  The new pickups are much more responsive which is exactly what I was hoping for.  Now I just need to recalibrate my fat fingers to not just play really heavily or really lightly as I have pups that can do shades in between.  That is going to take some time but it's all part of the treatment.

[AndyR]

That's a nice comparison :D

Our wives, girlfriends, mothers, etc, might not be able to hear a difference to begin with (:lol:) but it's there all right, and it's even more noticable to the player holding the guitar, isn't it? For some reason you just play better with BKPs - my playing has come on in leaps and bounds in the last year, and some of it has to be down to the BKPs passing more of your performance on up the chain and encouraging you to reach further... (the rest is probably just practice!)

I was using an XT Live when I started buying BKPs (I still use it sometimes, mainly for bass though). Sometime last year I switched to a VOX Tonelab LE. I miss some of the features on the XT, but I find the Tonelab gives me much better Fender, VOX, and early Marshall type tones - the guitar volume control stuff works a tad better than on the XT as well.

Nice playing by the way :D

[tomjackson]

I thought it all sounds good, very Gilmour :D

[38thBeatle]

Interesting comparison though my PC speakers are too good at showing the subtleties up. Nice playing!

[blueman13]

I think the difference is pretty obvious! Much more harmonics and clearer, rounder sound. Thanks for that clip! Nice playing  :)