NEW SHOOTOUT! various BKPs doing Du Hast riff

[dheim]

2/5 edit: added MM bridge

my previous shootout was focused on lead tones, now i've done something completely different: a chugging twin guitar rhythm track. this time i let the last chord ring, if you prefer the "old" formula of modular riffs that can be chained together for direct comparison let me know...

bridge pickups involved:

Painkiller, Nailbomb, A5 Warpig, Cold Sweat, Holy Diver, A5 Mule, EMG 85, Miracle Man (new!)

neck pickup:

PiG90

scroll down for further samples

[dheim]

guitars involved:

Ibanez SA2020 - NB set
Ibanez S470 - PK set
Epiphone LesPaul Gothic - WP + PiG90
Gibson LesPaul Classic Antique - Mules
Gibson SG61 - CS set
USM Hornet Performer - HD set
LTD EC1000 - EMG 85 + 60

[MDV]

The only ones I can here much difference between are the neck p90, the PK and the 85. The neck is obvious, the PK has the PK high mid attack and articulation (even the POD couldnt take it out!!!) and the 85 sounds flatter and duller.

Damn your POD, dheim, damn it to hell! (And mine too)

Oh, I'm kind of assuming its a pod, cos I know you have one and it sounds like one. And having one I know that it sounds like a pod all the time, pretty much regardless of the guitar drving it.

[dheim]

you're right!  :)
BUT, and it's a big BUT, mp3 compression really kills every difference in those tracks... in cubase they sound A LOT different!
unfortunately i can't but use the POD at home... one day i'll buy an AxeFx and everything will be better. i think.

[MDV]

you're right!  :)
BUT, and it's a big BUT, mp3 compression really kills every difference in those tracks... in cubase they sound A LOT different!
unfortunately i can't but use the POD at home... one day i'll buy an AxeFx and everything will be better. i think.

I'm pretty sure you still have to export the Axe-fx recordings to something else later ;)

The compression sure doesnt help, but you cant blame it all on that! The tonelab and DIs from amps dont show the same extreme guitar-equalising the POD does, even after compression.

[hunter]

Indeed differences are subtle, but the Warpig/Epi seems to sound the best to me.

[dheim]

the difference (apart obvious extremes like the neck pickup) is indeed subtle. partly because - and MDV is damn right - the POD is quite obtrusive in hi-gain models... low gain tones let the guitar come out much more clearly... (even if real amps do almost the same on lead channel...).
and partly because... i don't know. maybe compression, maybe the fact that the greatest difference is "felt" more than "heard" while i play... different pickups react very, very differently.
but i think that those shootouts are still useful. one thing i discovered is that if i leave something unchanged in every clip (for example the bass, but another guitar track is even better the difference is much more evident than if i recorded just a guitar line... but still we talk about subtle changes in tone.)

[Mr. Air]

I must say I'm impressed by the Mule. I didn't think it was quite up to delivering this kind of brutality. If I ever get my hands on a LP style guitar I'm diggin' in for a set of long-eared-horse-like pickups. YEHAA!

[dheim]

I must say I'm impressed by the Mule. I didn't think it was quite up to delivering this kind of brutality. If I ever get my hands on a LP style guitar I'm diggin' in for a set of long-eared-horse-like pickups. YEHAA!

mules sound very good, but can't be directly compared to the high gain beasts i put them aside...
curiously in this recording the difference is not too perceivable (as previously stated partly due to POD's tone leveling and partly because of compression), but while playing them all the mules sounded a lot lighter!
anyway with some brutal distortion they sound pretty nasty as well...

[dheim]

Ibanez RGA121 - MM set

[the prince of shred]

ah the MM doesnt sound quite as 'brutal' as i thought it would.... the HD actually has more of those lows that i like.... is that the guitar the MM is in??

[dheim]

MMs are quite bright from a side, but they've got a dark overtone that maybe got lost in compression... i hear it. HDs are darker, and the guitar they're in is darker than an RGA (that's mahogany but thinner)... too dark, actually! i will swap them with a Rebel Yell set and keep the divers for a future maple neckthrough or for a much thinner ibanez S

[the prince of shred]

i can hear it its just not as strong as i thought or expected it to be....(partly compression or the pod?) ... i like the sound of the HDs but then again may sound diff, and overdark in real life.... ah ..... i guess i just have to buy them all...... :P

[JMP2203]

the diferences are to subtle, i belive that a pod its not good for comparison clips

anyway the nailbomb sound the best to me.

[indysmith]

They are very very VERY VERY similar sounding clips... Wow @ POD