Do Aftermarket Pickups Matter Anymore? - The Beard Files
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- Lets talk about something close to all of our hearts: aftermarket pickups!
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I discovered that my guitar sounds best when I stop worrying about upgrades and just play the damn thing.
It's all that matters.
Tune a Strat to drop c and play some death metal on that stock single coil bridge pickup. Now THAT will cause you do the exact opposite, playing less. Point being, one needs the proper tool for the job.
Amen!
@@toriandicapmond161 tried it. actually sounded pretty cool.
@Nick P probably doesn’t use stock pickups lol
If you are replacing cheap stock pickups with premium aftermarket pickups then YES, it does matter. If you are replacing premium pickups with similar aftermarket premium pickups then NO, it doesn't.
Agreed
Beat me to the punch, this is pretty much how I feel on the matter.
Agreed people are bonkers and their own worst enemy
Agreed. Replacing Duncan Designed pickups or buying one of the 117 million guitar models out there that comes stock with the Duncan JB and '59 combo,I understand why you'd want to try something different. Not every pickup behaves the same in every guitar.
That’s not relegated to just cheap pickups there are some terribly voiced name brand pickups out there. Particularly when you get into extended range instruments and some of the earlier offerings from manufacturers in that instrument subset. They were still figuring out how to voice a pickup that had enough power to drive the front end of an amp and adequately cover the entire range of a 7 string guitar.
It's simple:
Cheap/Budget guitars benefit from after market pickups. No question about it.
Changing stock pickups on high-end/premium guitars is a lateral move based in personal taste and what you're going for.
yes
Agreed, I never understood someone taking out the stock pickups of an expensive American made guitar and putting in a set of aftermarket pickups. Much of the sound of that Gibson, PRS or Fender are the stock pickups. I've swapped the pickups out of my Mexican Fenders, Yamaha Pacifica 311 and it made them sound like professional quality guitars. I swapped the pickups out of my G&L Fallout Tribute that had American made G&L pickups for a Bareknuckle True Grit P90 and a Seymour Duncan JB and the sound was pretty close to the same. My Gibson SGJ I stock pickups are probably my favorite pickups out of all of my guitars. I also love the pickups in Gibson Les Paul Studio and DC Jr. Gibson really make great humbuckers and P90s.
Chief Thundercock
Duncan Design?... Lol 😂
No. Just, no.
Yeah he's not saying all pickups sound the same, he's saying that you can get to the sound you're looking for with pretty much any pickup, as long as it's at least a decent quality one
It depends on application. For digital recording, the only real difference is between passive and active; anything can be produced to sound anyway you want it. For live, jacked-in performance, depending upon the mass/shape/material of your instrument, a pickup can fundamentally change its sound profile. Go further and the difference between small and large stage performance, pickups can may a big difference. Paradoxically, 'cheap' pickups can sound better than some premiums, due to the inconsistency of the coil windings.
In short, if you're heavily processing, no, it doesn't matter. If you're listening to your amp and cab, yes, it does matter.
I noticed a lot of these "nothing matters! Tone is in your fingers" videos from people who have a fleet of cars worth of amplifiers and 30+ guitars
yes.
And if that's true, then why dont professional guitar players just play crate amps with Hondo guitars, with paper picks?
Ye, because they have it and use it all, so they can really experience that all that zoo of gear doesn't matter. It's just fun to have it and enjoy nuances and different aesthetical vibes. There are not so many properties of gear that really matters and all changes that really matter cost not so much. Really, modern Indonesian 600$ guitars are good enough to do whatever music, tour, record. They built good and look good. We basically do not need high tier made in USA or Japan guitar for musical purposes. It's only aesthetics now.
@@NinthDensity Ok, LOL, please enlighten me
@@NinthDensity MY point that I was making was,,, if tone is all in your fingers like so many claim, then why do the pros use special expensive gear,,, its all in the fingers LOL
Take all the sound processing out and plug straight into your amp. Then you will hear a big difference beween guitar with different pickups.
Amen to that.
Totally, most people plug pickup X into their rig and act upset when it doesn't sound better, or like, their last set up. Gotta build up to the sound.
Yep.
That’s not the point though... I mean, who cares if two different pickups sound vastly different when plugged straight into the amp, if you’re playinv a gig, you’re probably going to play with your pedalboard, and if the pickups don’t sound that different in that setup, then it doesn’t matter.
I still think they do make a difference though, even when running the signal through a pedalboard, so yeah 🤷🏻♂️
@stirange i guess the real question is, are people hiding behind their effects board?
I never practice except on the clean setting without delay or reverb.
So I can really hear how shitty I actually sound lol.
Why should I care? I'm still just a freaking drummer.
Why did you click on the vid? 😂😂
beard
wrong channel
Haha !!! Because drummers need to know these things
*peasant*
"We have DISTRESSED THE COVER!"
Every metal guitarist was laughing their ass off at this.
yes I indeed was
Lol
the avid Bare Knuckle enthusiast came to mind hahaha
Of course it makes a huge difference, just try everything you can with amp eq and effects pedals and use stock pickups on a $400 guitar and it’ll still sound muddy and without any sustain
@@deicide666100 adjust the tone knobs on your fingers before you say you can't get clean signals with distortion
Go demo a stock pickup out of a 200$ Ibanez. You're basically saying: "I stopped reviewing supercars because they were all so good!"
A 50$ used Invader can help a kid with a 100$ guitar feel like Tom Delonge. Aftermarket pickups will always have a place.
Schwurbel maybe the problem isn’t pickups, maybe it’s that people want to sound like Tom Delonge lol. Sorry I couldn’t resist!
Very accurate! I was that kid. I bought a low end Jackson for $200 and it was just lacking...got an Invader, just like you mentioned. The change was night and day for me. It was much louder, more clear, way better tone for the metal riffs I was *trying* to play.
Lol I still can't get my head around the fact that Tom and Kyle of Nile use the exact same pickup :D
@@337camo
played the sh8 invader myself, its a total monster of a pickup, very aggressive and grindy
I was the kid who wanted to be like Tom Delonge with my Duncan Designed Invader. Such shame...
"These pickups, custom wound with the exotic copper only found in the mountains of Appalachia, nestled deep in the Heart of Moonshine Kentucky...."
If you listen closely... they'll sing "Country Roads, Take Me Home" even when unplugged. The magnetic north of the pickups will always face West Virginia...
That'll explain the "warm vintage tone."
@@DavidGossettMusic this is a bad thing?
@@DavidGossettMusic let me guess, they're tele pickups aren't they?
free range, grass fed, and organic too
Sorry late to the game on this one. Agreed that pickups matter less now than in the past. There are a couple of exceptions - single coil vs humbucker - big tone difference. And - pickup output. Even with digital gear (I don't use an amp), I have a distinct preference for lower gain pickups. That being said, I rarely ever feel the need to do a pickup swap.
We think alike... I have loved every stock pickup that I've had. Hahah. I guess I embrace the different tones as I buy based on the sound of a guitar as well as feel. Go figure? HHahah
You make me sick. Full digital? You’ll go to hell for helping ruin music.
@@justinTime077 oh no someone is using an sim what a tragedy. Why don't you go write all your music on a lyre and never record it because technology clearly ruins music
@@LiamFarleyMA thank you for the advice. I am going to Lyre Center right now
True, but sometimes you just have to get that special tone in that special guitar that you can't get anywhere else... That's why I installed BKP's in my strandberg. You cant buy anything remotely close to a strandberg, and strandberg doesnt sell a single guitar that comes stock with BKP's.
"WE DISTRESSED THE COVER...."
I died when he said that! XD
*cough* Beardcombers *cough*
I hate that shit. Oh, man, I REALLY hate this "relic" shit. If you buy something brand new and DON'T want it looking pristine and shiny, you should be hanged in the town square as a mad heretic.
I totally get what you’re saying fluff, one thing I feel you didn’t mention though, is that a lot of (cheaper) pickups are lacking clarity. No matter what amp/effects/plugins you use, you won’t gain clarity that’s not there!
Truth! I will second that. I have a cheap Schecter 7 string (the Omen) and those stock pickups have NO clarity whatsoever. They are muddy as hell and there's only so much I can do to clean up the tone (amp EQ, tightened overdrive, etc). But to Fluff's credit, I realize he's probably talking more in realm of semi pro/professional level guitars, not a $350 Schecter or Ibanez.
I also agree. In the video with Rob Scallon, he mentioned that those Schecter 9-string pickups simply were not designed for that sort of low frequency, and sound horrible as a result. Really, a 9-string is a bass in Drop C, but with pickups only designed for guitar-range frequencies. Of course, we will not talk about how stupid 9-string are to begin with. That is a different rant for a different Beard Files.
In addition, I know people do buy Squire Classic Vibe, switch out all the hardware for Hipshot, and switch out all the electronics for Seymour Duncan, so they can turn that Classic Vibe into something the quality of a Fender Elite for not even half the cost.
Guitar Nerd 9-strings are just absurd! I have an 8, and that’s fairly ridiculous 😂
I love getting a cheap guitar and putting decent pickups in. #Valueformoney
that was my exact question, like what about cheap pickups ? I have a cheap Ltd with Ltd pickups in it, I'm no tone genius, but I'm pretty sure they sound horrible cuz I havent had the opportunity to play pro guitars. and one more thing, what about active and passive pickups and difference in tone? aren't there any major differences cuz I'm actually planning to go back to passive. but a great topic to discuss actually :)
@Anas Azkoul Most if not all cheap/mid range guitars have watered down pickups to provide a more budget friendly purchase. Not saying this is a bad thing but it's probably best to do a pickup swap. As mentioned in another comment, stock swap is a good way to improve a tone but aftermarket to aftermarket swap has little difference.
Cannot wait for a video that will be exactly the same but about Tube Screamer/Overdrive type of pedals :D
I'm curious as to how many od pedals have the same exact circuit except an extra knob or switch involved.
Exactly my point. If pickups doesn't matter than 234th TS copy also doesn't matter :D
And probably 90% of OD's are same circuit with minor changes :)
A LOT! But you can check out Son Of Screamer (DIY TS) - it's actually cuts down parts to bare bone TS that make's up a TS.
How does this factor in to your decision to change to fishmans?
"this pedal is amazing to push an amp on the verge of break-up" is the most overused line in all of the guitar's world marketing... couldn't agree more on how overdrives are just overdrives...
On a cheaper guitar, I think they make a huge difference. The trap I fell into years ago was the whole boutique pickup thing. I found the only thing that they did over Seymour Duncan or Dimarzio was make my wallet quite a bit lighter. Only my opinion but I do not think they are worth the price. I will stick with Duncan, Dimarzio or possibly something else along those lines.
DiMarzio is a great choice. After all, they invented the Aftermarket pickup.
I installed EMG pickups in my guitar and it made a huge difference
of course it does.
But if you put in a Seymour Duncan or a DiMarzio or any other passive, the difference will not be that big.
Most stock pickups are not that much worse than the brand name ones. Some sound even better.
The rest is just bias and marketing.
@@mercatorjubio3804 I have bought a guitar kit recently, and so many have suggested to get some after market pick ups in place of the ones that come with the guitar. I didn't listen to them, well, because I didn't have the cash to get after market pick ups of any kind.....
What I'm getting at here is, the pick ups that came with the kit, are actually some really decent pick ups!!!
I absolutely believe you! Exactly my point.
There are some very different passive pickups.
@@mercatorjubio3804 It makes a difference if you make an upgrade to noiseless pickups from standard.
There goes your bare knuckle endorsement
W E D I S T R E S S ED THE C O VeR
Chief Thundrecock clearly you have never played a bareknuckle then...
they sound alright, but it's just a pickup like any other (competently made one)
no less, no more
Chief thundercock i swaped alot of pickups and bareknuckles are expensive (not overprieced) but they make every guitar better especially a good quallity guitar
Michael Lux I really wanted to like them. I tried few guitars, and the last two were the same but one with dimarzio Fusion edge (Ibanez only stock pickup) and the aftermaths. And I really wanted to love them like everyone seems to do. But I genuinely liked to fusion edge 10x more in every aspect.
Of course it‘s also personal taste but I didn’t see a reason for ~400€ mark up in price.
Guys that go straight into their amp are going nuts right now. :D
I didn't scroll down far enough before responding and ye i did... :D
Right? Half the time I write tunes I just plug straight in and maybe put on a Reverb and/or delay if necessary
I am in the same boat as Dead Horse. I reckon that if I require a ton of effect pedals to get a decent tone, my guitar sucks.
Couldn't have said it better myself, and he explained it himself in the video. It's a quicker means to achieve the tone you desire without spending time and money on tweaking extra electronics.
I hit a NuTube Screamer into a Mesa Triple Rectifier and still hear the differences. Hell, I heard a very clear difference between my Jackson Dinky with the Duncan Designed equivalent of a Seymour Duncan Distortion and a Jackson V with the same pickup. Worse, throw in the MojoTone Black Magic set Vs EMG 808 VS Lace Rainbow set and you are going to hear clear differences. If you don't hear differences on both clean and dirty channels, you need a better amp or to dial back some of the pedal/amp settings.
Was actually having a beer when it said to take a drink every time you said pickup. I made it to 1:06 before I belched loudly and realized I was in my 30s. Great video though!
Pickups are basically a microphone.....Rosanne and Whitney both sang the national anthem, and nobody ever credited or blamed their microphone for how they sounded.....
Haha! Good point.
True - but remember that some microphones are just sonically Better that others - not unlike guitar pickups.
my point being.....regardless of the pickups you use, or the microphone you sing through, it doesn't matter if you can't play, or sing.....
Replacing pickups, or buying a Sennheiser isn't going to make you a virtuoso.
@@TJEvans98 I don't think anybody here said installing new pickups would magically make somebody into a BadAss ... but let's Face it - Better is just BETTER. The day I traded out my stock pickups for a Serious set of Duncans, it made my guitar Roar.
+@@-WolfMan-
You can make any guitar roar -- just wound the missing turns and slap neodymium magnets to the pickups.
I recently replaced the volume potentiometer of my strat from 250K to 500k without changing pickups and the results blew me away. There are so many factors in this topic.
Yeah you could go on and on about guitar electronics. Is your guitar body shielded? Do your pickups use ceramic or alnico magnets? What size conductor are you using? Again like you said what rating of potentiometer? Are you doing split coil if you're using humbuckers? And hell we can even go down to the type of capacitor that's on your tone switch?
Although if we're being real for a second I can see where he's coming from for most of the pickup reviews that he did. Most of his reviews were based on high distortion metal tones which you dial in with whatever effects loop that you have. Also most metal pickups use high output ceramic magnets, so you don't get much of a difference if you swap out with another ceramic PU.
Anyways I LOVE metal, but hate the clean tones of ceramic pickups, so I always switch to alnico because I'm looking for something more versatile to start my base tone from.
500K cuts out more high end than 250K does
@@thoryan946 Alnico in the neck, ceramic on the bridge. Or do what I do, I cut a ceramic in half and an alnico in half. Ceramic on the treble side and alnico on the bass side. Just make sure the poles are correct
I think it basically comes down to types of pickups.
Humbuckers vs singles vs 90s
And then high vs low out put.
Everything else is a matter of getting to the desired tone quicker, unless you're just plugging direct into an amp like they did in the 70s and 80s.
And the output isn't even that important. With boost/drive/eq/volume pedals in front of your amp you can easily turn one into the other. ;-)
You forgot active vs passive and ceramic vs alnico
@@FrankiorMusic I find it is because you can't really take out.
I like lower output pickups because I find them to have a clarity higher output pickups don't even when distorted to hell.
As far as boosting though, yeah you can make weaker PAF style pups do the modern humbucker thing.
@@Mr.Goldbar True.
I'd say ceramic vs anything really because I hate ceramics lol.
@@NJSmithMusic I only have one guitar with a ceramic pickup, but the Alnico V on my Schecter C7 Deluxe sound more ceramic than these lol
i don't see how this question would even arise. everyone is doing a hype-flip about fishman right now just like they did about bare knuckle before fishman. and pickups still make enough of a difference imo.
well, kinda.. I got a Painkiller in my Ibby Apex and Fluence Moderns in my MH1000, both got some crushing tones. but if I have to be picky, them Fluence are tits. Just like Fluff said, I only need to tweak a different preset on POD to compensate for the lack of bass frequency with the
painkiller.
i don't know, i still think it makes a difference in texture and response more than in EQ. i've swapped my trio of favourite duncans (sh10, sh6, sh5) around numerous times in the bridge position of my schecter, and i think each one offers a different sound. now none of them would make or break a record, so i can see where fluff is coming from, but more from just a guitar players perspective when you're in the room with your amp these little nuances do matter to me and can't really be emulated with EQ. the smoothness of the sh10 vs the insane bite of the sh5 for example is a massive contrast when you're playing them side by side imo and makes me come up with different riffs, even though on a finished mix i'd be totally fine with either.
@@givemeajackson 100%. In the room you can tell the difference and when you play you want your favorite.
My EMGs and Dimarzio Dactivators sound very similar on two pretty different guitars. To the point, where i honestly wouldnt really be able to tell a difference on a recorded track. But the feel sooo very different, its not even funny. For me, thats really the difference that the pickups do for me.
it's really about that for me these days. guitar is my hobby, it's about the experience, not the end result. i have the same thing with tube amps and modellers. from a professional's point of view a kemper is a godsend, easily sounds good enough on a record and saves you so much trouble that you'd be stupid not to have one, but an actual amp in the room is so much more fun for the guy playing and so much more inspiring when you're just noodling around.
Rig 1: Guitar-cable-plexi
- Pickups is a huge Factor.
Rig 2: Guitar-insert prefered toneshaping tools- cabsim-frfr monitor
- a Line 6 Variax would do the job.
In the motorcycle world there is a saying, "the most important accessory you can buy for your bike is gasoline." It doesn't mean that accessories or upgrades aren't good. The expression just points out that people put so much time and energy(and money) into thinking about these things, when they should just be riding the damn thing. Or playing their instrument, in this case.
Some 25 years ago, before there was RUclips or internet, I had an epiphany. Everyone around me was using JBs or other high output pickups for rock tones. I realized I probably don’t need a high output pickup to drive my high gain amp. I got a Duncan ‘59, and through my Dual Rectifier, it was bliss.
It‘s like car engines. Let‘s say V8-Engines. There are plenty of them. They all do one thing: ignite fuel. Yet they sound/feel/react in different ways. Some differences are very small and some are enormous. That‘s how I see pickups as well
Nice analogy!
Because the designs are different between engine makers. Theres only so many ways you can wrap wire around a magnet though...
Unleash The Fury thickness of the wire, amount of wraps, tightness,...
I disagree for multiple reasons.
1) Pickups in stock guitars can occasionally be bad - if you want your stock Squier Jag to sound better, you could opt for some Seymours or something
2) A pickup change could make a bad guitar into something you enjoy playing. I wasn't keen on my HSS Fender until recently I swapped the stock Humbucker for a custom made humbucker sized P90. (Which can also be rewired for phase reversal, which I will eventually do)
3) Some stock humbuckers don't have enough wires to enable coil splitting, aftermarket ones often do.
4) Single coil sized humbuckers are a great mod for a Strat style guitar - especially with a coil split option.
The list probably goes on. I find also while your point is quite valid with tone shaping other than pickups, combinations of pickups are hard to emulate past the guitar. I find my coil splitted strat bridge with my humbucking neck pickup is quite a unique sound that would be difficult to emulate without a specific guitar.
Several of these points were addressed. Id def toss the Squiers in the trash
Perhaps for metal the pickup matters less than for other genres... I don't know - I'm not a metal player. But for classic rock and blues, the pickup is a very important part of the tone. After much swapping of pickups, I've found that the Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates is my pickup of choice. The difference in tone from the stock pickups (or any of the other pickups I've tried) in my guitars is enormous.
It matters more for metal, not less. For classic rock, just use any pickup.
@@fredriksvard2603 -Oh, no, my friend. For classic rock, the difference in tone from one pickup to the next can be huge. You can't just 'use any pickup'.
@@fredriksvard2603 Well, that's the stupidest thing I've read today.
@@MarcCoteMusic yes you can
Actually, there are a few more innovations that you missed. Lace Sensors, for a start - they didn't exactly take over, but the design is markedly different to other pickups. Their Alumitones are another design entirely, too. Then there's the difference in response caused by magnet choice - if you take alnico magnets as the base, there is a "recovery time" for a disturbance of the magnetic field during which is settles back to its undisturbed state. Ceramic magnets have a markedly shorter recovery than alnico magnets, which is why - for a similar strength magnet - ceramic pickups tend to sound tighter in the low-end, and that's not a function of EQ (it's more akin to compression, but still not quite the same). Then you have neodymium magnets, which have an even shorter recovery time; they're not widely used, because so many people who've tried to use them in pickups have been stupid and used magnets which are far too big for the field they generate and thus pull a lot more on the strings.
That's another thing - reducing string pull *does* increase sustain, so there's another fundamental change that you can't reproduce with pedals (unless you just whack the gain up). And I think it's pretty much a given that single coils sound different to humbuckers, so single-coil-sized humbuckers are another good reason for aftermarket pickups. Then there are stacked humbuckers, which sound pretty much like single coils but without the noise...
tl;dr - I think there are *lots* of reasons to go for aftermarket pickups. I personally go for Lace Sensors in all of mine in the basis that the more powerful models sound similar to humbuckers and P90s, but without the massive string pull and with a slightly enhanced initial attack.
I was going to mention Lace Alumitones as well. very different than other pickups. I have those in a few guitars.
Really enjoyed reading and learning from your comment. I agree you can hear base differences much easier from pickup to pickup on clean with no pre amp really changing the sound.
But I also think stock pickups in a lot of guitars today hold their own and can be just as usable as some aftermarket pickups. For example I particularly love the stock pickups on my cort g290, even more than the SDs that come with the model up... the cprt voicedtone ones just had that cutting brightness that I love and struggle to find in buckers just cuz they tend to be warmer where as I can dial in warmth if needed on my amp but the base tone and brightness really makes them stand out in a mix and compared to mu duncan welding axes.
I think they do if you want to change your sound. I have a thinline tele with wide range humbuckers and I’m swapping out the neck for a strat pickup and the bridge for a seymour duncan jb
Is this a 10 minute ad for Fishman?
yes
seriously...
Long story short, yes.
You are the first person I have heard that brand from. Thank you! Dialtone pickups are pretty sick too.
Fluff should check those out, sounds insane that you can pan individual strings in stereo image and what-the-hell-else you can do with those.
I think pickups ultimately effect the feel as a play the most as a player, and as you say it's the base to your sound, I think it has a big impact as a player. The way in which a pickup is made and wound has an impact on the sound, i agree those trying to claim they've reinvented the wheel is bollocks
Pickups are like pizza; sure it’s “just” dough, sauce, seasoning, and cheese, but everyone makes it a different way. Pickups are “just” magnets and wires, but they sounds worlds different to me. I have 12 guitars, all with different pickups, and all sound and feel completely different.
But sure Fluff, tell us more about how awesome Fishman Fluence pickups are if they don’t matter.
I don't think the point was that they don't make a difference. I think the point is that difference can be accounted for with all the other gear we buy. As I'm sure you're aware, the tonal shaping options on modern tube amps is immense. To take it a step further, I have a Kemper and the EQ shaping I can do with that can get me pretty damn close to the sound of any pickup through almost any amp using damn near any guitar.
Fishmans...as innovative as they are, can't really keep up with EMGs in terms of metal. But they're great for everything else. And yes ..I gave guitars that have both pickups.
@@JRs-guitars tell me more, not mocking just curious how in your eyes they don’t keep up in metal cause I keep seeing more metal guitarists using fishman
@@thinkingjack I think newer metal guys are going for a toned down heavy sound compared to past metal tones..
@@PackinForSuperbowl yeah, but also, the Kemper is such an incredible machine that when I pick up a Les Paul and play through a Fender deluxe reverb, it sounds like a Les Paul into a deluxe reverb, if I plug a strat into the same patch, sounds like the strat into a Fense deluxe,,, yeah. You can mess with the EQ,, but to me,, the shine of the Kemper is that it DOESN'T sound like some processor. It sounds like an amp.. and amps definatley react differently to pickups. But I wouldn't came this about other processors... I would say the PUs matter less like you said. Blender tone comes out of the speaker anyway.
Pickup type and position mattter, a single coil in the neck will never sound like a bridge humbucker, you’re right though brands and stuff are irrelevant
Imagine Eddie Van Halen NEVER using humbucker pickups & Floyd Rose tremolos!!!! I know those two hands and those 10 fingers WERE MAGIC, but, take away the humbuckers. Would we have THE BROWN SOUND??!!??!!
I'm so glad you made this video. And it's funny reading all the comments and how sensitive people are about this. There's a difference between horrible pickups and everything else and there's a difference between kinds of pickups but swapping your 150$ Seymour Duncan's for your 250$ BKs is the equivalent to spending the extra money and time to just adjust the eq on your amp. I am very interested in the Fishman stuff because for better or worse it is a real change in the way pickups work.
I agree the technology is old. But why fix it, if it ain't broke?
I disagree the aftermarket pickup industry no longer matters. Several reasons, some of which you said yourself in the video:
1. It's a fundamental part of your tone. Yes, we can argue about your fingers, wood, fret material, neck construction, nut material, string gauge, orange-drop caps vs oil and paper, etc... but it hard to argue that pickups aren't a fundamental part of your tone. They convert the strings vibration into electrical signal. I'll choose a pickup based on the tone I'm going for.
2. Budget. I may not be able to afford a modelling amp or racks of digital processors. Swapping a pickup is a relatively inexpensive option.
3. Desire. Maybe I don't *want* a ton of processing equipment. For a lot of reasons. Ease of use. There's less to break. Less of a learning curve. Swapping a different pickup in may work.
4. Dependency. If you use signal processors to get the sound you want, you are dependent on them. What happens when you accidentally delete your settings? or there's a power surge that fries your processor? or...
I think it makes a giant effect on the tone. If you buy a $300 Epiphone Les Paul and slap a set of $150 Bare Knucles or Duncans in it it will sound better than a $500 Epiphone Les Paul. If a guitar feels good but sounds meh, slapping a pair of great pickups in it usually makes a big difference.
actually true. My bk coldsweat has upgraded my rg1527z to a whole new level of sound
I think some pickup/ guitar pairings direct from factory (even on mid to high end guitars) are so unusable that they can't be fixed by adjusting everything else. A friend of mine had some EMG MetalWorks pickups in a limited edition LTD he bought and they were fear fatiguing on any setting in any application- so much presence baked in that EQ simply moved the hump right or left and actually made it worse. The stock pickups in my PRS, back when they were using the mid 00s HFS and Vintage Bass pickups were also too hot to be pleasant. Even when adjusting tone and volume on the guitar, it affected the output too much and made the guitar unusable for certain genres. Instead of making everything suit the pickups in my guitar, it seems like a no-brainer to simply change the pickups in my guitar.
@@chickenbeek
most non-gibson/epiphone guitars come with crap pickups stock unfortunately. My epi lp is the only guitar that I will not the touch the pickups on.
The pickups in my Gibson came out for some pickups from The Creamery, a small pickup builder in the UK. The Gibson ones were too bitey for me so they came out and the Creamery ones went in. But you still got to look out for whether you NEED it. No point in swapping out pickups for the Seymour Duncan/DiMarzio equivalent if they're going to sound the same, just so you can say "yeah dude, it's a Seymour Duncan..."
I don't think pickups are a small part of the overall equation. Personally, I find trying different pickups an inspiring and interesting exercise. The problem with marketing them on RUclips is that they are a product that must be tried in-person, like furniture. Everyone's hands and ears will produce and prefer different things. Having said that, the pickup market does seem saturated. Some of the big manufacturers keep introducing products that are very similar to existing items, especially for the "metal" pickup market.
Edit: I don't speil gud
Wouldn't the answer always be "Depends on what you want and what stock pickups you're getting..."? Pickups are all about personal taste, it's not like stock pickups are "worse" or "better".
If you really want an epiphone LP, but really want the sound of the Seymour Duncan Nazgul, then yes they definitely matter. However, if you want the sound of the stock ones, then no they don't matter for you. If I want the Keith Merrow Fishman set, then it's a maybe. If I'm going to get his signature guitar, then no it doesn't matter because it comes with them. On the other hand, if I want those PU's sound but I'm going to buy a PRS custom 24, then yes because I'd have to buy them separately and install them. This seems like a weird question to even bring up or try to answer lol.
As far as just dialing in your amp/pedal to compensate, you're always going to be limited to what those knobs affect. A bass knob is going to be different on every amp/pedal, so if you want to boost the 200hz range, but your amp affects more of the 110hz range (just random number examples), then you're kind of screwed to get the tone you want. To just EQ the exact sound you want out of your pickups would require like a graphic EQ in a DAW where you have nearly infinite control, which you can't do much of outside of a recording. Plus it's really one of those "the better your ingredients, the better/easier to get your end product will be". Even then the less you have in your chain the more they matter. I only really run a Wampler Dracarys into my amp, and with just that and the amp settings, I can't get my old Dean ML to sound close enough to my Schecter C1 Apocalypse for make the Schecter irrelevant that's for sure.
I would definitely agree that none of it is new, but different pickups can sound very very different. Plus your pickups dictate your "12 o clock tone", so you can only cut/boost so much of something from there. If you want a ton of mids, but have super scooped PU's, you can't EQ as much mid from those as you cam from some more neutral or mid-heavy PU's. There again, you can only boost the mids that your gear affects anyway. So if you want to boost high mids, but your pedal/amp's mid control is more of a low mid, you're stuck.
Dude, (I think) hes a Fishman rep now. There's a reason why he's talking about how "pickup tech hasn't changed in 70 years"... and dogging on wound pickups....he wants you to buy Fishman but for some reason he won't go all the way and just say it.
When I swapped the burstbucker in a les paul for a jb, it was night and day. If I just adjusted the gain and eq to compensate for the burstbucker, it would just sound mushy.
This is a really interesting opinion. However, it's only discussing a signal chain which will for sure be using significant amounts of sound processing with pedals and onboard effects on a DAW, as he mentions. In which case, yes, agreed, a humbucker is pretty much a humbucker. However, if like me and *so many* others that are making a living playing the guitar, you use a quality guitar, with few and pristine effects, plugged directly into a quality Tube amp that's mic'ed up for recording or live playing...then it makes a *huge* difference. When you're using the pickup dynamically, rolling back the volume for tonal shaping and gain control, every little thing in your chain; string gauge, tone cap., leads, even nut material all add up together to make a very unique tone. The big players in that scenario are scale length, body material, bridge type and most importantly pickups. Basically, it boils down to what your setup is. If you just want to chug and will be plugging into your laptop with a USB interface and using Neural DSP you could use pretty much anything - as he says - and you're good to go. If you're after a real musical relationship/interaction with your guitar and amplifier, where the gear is what also inspires your music, then, if you're happy with your guitar's set-up, the pickups are the *first* place to look to dramatically re-shape your tone.
There are some complete crap pickups on cheap guitars that do need to replaced.
Like the cheap ceramic pickups on really low end squiers and epis.
The only good pickups I've heard are the Schecter Diamond pickups in the SGRs, Deluxe series and Omen guitars. I have the C7 deluxe and these pickups sound extremely good! When plugged to a JCM800 style preset boosted with a Joyo Ultimate Drive it really slices through anything lol. A friend of mine who has an Omen Extreme 7 regrets swapping the bridge pickup with an Invader lol
Different monster, but Ibanez is really good at making their own active bass pickup too.
@@kambion
Plenty of good stock pickups out there.
Generally the sucky ones are on really cheap guitars.
Honestly most epiphone and squier pickups are pretty good on their mid to upper range instruments.
All my Ibanez friends will know about powersound
I swap out my stock pickups for Bill Lawrence L500 XL's and Seymour Duncan's!
Tell this to my prs 7 string. The stock pickups in that thing were POOP
Do you own the Mark Holcomb sig? Because if so, i'd be disturbed to hear that considering the Alpha n Omega pups in it garner such a reaction
D:
@@Axel_Xirics_Music No, I have one of the original 7 string SE's
@Tyler Clark i swap my jackson pickups (japan dxmgt, amazing build) for a pegasus, its sounded worst, i hate that pickup, i put a seymour duncan sh5 and omfg, that pickup sounds sooo fucking brutal, nice mids, low end, my boss katana sounds like a chainsaw now and my neural plugins sounds so much clean and nice
Ibanez ARZ with thick ass mahogany body amd stock ibanez pickups. so god damn muddy. couldnt even hear my low b half the time (axe fx could barely fix it lmaoooo)
Cheap stock pickups usually suck.
I don't think the aftermarketness was ever the story and SD invader still sounds quite diffrent than JB. If pickups are "just wire around pole pieces" theg guitars are "whatever with more than couple of strings on it". It's just matter of where you put the threshold of likeness.
I really like when someone comes with a new idea that hasent been said before and this is new to me. Thank you Riffs beards and gear!
I think your point is well taken. That said upgrading from a low end factory pickup in a beginner/intermediate guitar still makes a difference in my opinion.
There are "cheap" pickups that sound good too. But sometimes more expensive stuff make you feel you have a bit more premium instruments and also its fun experimenting. In most cases you will hear a difference but this difference doesn't necessarily mean better. I am not comparing the ultra cheap range of low budget brands or random guitars from ebay or w.e but most low-mid range guitars (good squier/epi models and above) do sound very decent nowadays. If you can afford it though just buy it and have fun.
Only time I buy the expensive stuff is when I get it cheap second hand and that is simply to increase the resale value of some guitars I have. 7 string pickups are cheap 2nd hand but a 7 string guitar with a nice set of pickups installed sells easily.
Replaced my weak Dean branded pickups with $50 unbranded ones from Amazon and not only was the output higher, but they resembled Active pickups, and looked really good on the guitar, so I'd say it was money well spent.
You just inadvertently also brought to light the tonewood debate (*takes cover)
I guess I am just too old school. :) After 26 years of playing, I JUST bought my first Tube Screamer, and the only pedals I have ever used, and kept using are a wah and reverb for my amps that don't have it. So, being a guy that basically goes straight to the amp 90% (or more) of the time, pickups can make a huge difference. I just don't like adding a bunch of crap if I don't have to. I appreciate modern tech, and make use of it often enough, but for me, using a bunch of effects, EQ, etc. to get a good sound out of a mediocre guitar with mediocre pickups, out of a mediocre amp is like using a ton of salt and spices to make a piece of bad meat taste good. If the main ingredients of a recipe aren't of superior quality, it will never taste quite the same. Oh great, now I'm hungry. :-D
Thanks for taking the time to make the video.
best comment so far, agree 100%
Nice analogies, I use the multi pedal to make my cheapies sound pretty decent for me and not much difference from the RR1 to the Korean Eagle V but the cheaper is definitely weaker and needs adjustments to make it crunch. MY BASS VI would be dead without the pedal, it's 1960 JApanese and has one WEAK working middle single coil that SHREDS metal in 2 vids.
JunkfoodZombie Don’t feel bad that you concentrated more on actually playing the guitar and practicing than buying overhyped gear in the hopes it will make you sound better like most of the kids these days seem to like doing.
Andy
It's a philosophy, I guess, but one that applies to much in life. For instance, I am a huge firearms enthusiast (as is very apparent from the videos on my channel), and while I have been shooting for roughly 35 years, I own very little in the way of high-tech gear. I do have a couple red dots, scopes, and an ACOG, but most of my shooting is done with iron sights. I could buy a lot of gear, but what I buy instead...is ammo. Why? Because ammo is practice.
No matter what your hobby or passion, gear/accessories can be great tools to give the edge to a skilled individual, but buying gear does not buy skill.
Many years ago, when my cousin started teaching me guitar, he picked up my no-name guitar and played it through a no-name practice amp (this was the early 90s when pretty much ALL practice amps sounded like ass) and he sounded pretty damn good. Why? Because 20 years of practicing hard made him a great player. He owned two guitars and one amp. It's still the only amp he owns (Mesa/Boogie MkIII) Did he sound better with his Les Paul through the Boogie? Of course. Quality gear. My stuff could never sound as good as that, but if I plugged into his rig, I would have sounded horrible, no matter how good his stuff was.
So, good stuff can be good, but it can't make you good. Just like post processing can enhance a great sound and a great performance, but it can't work miracles.
You just gotta spend time picking strings, or sending rounds downrange. There is no substitute for it. That's just my cranky old bastard opinion. Feel free to disagree. I'm fine with that. Freedom is Everything.
This. Comparing a minimal signal chain approach to a more heavyweight signal chain approach is apples vs. oranges. Especially if it's two fundamentally different styles of music, e.g. blues vs. metal.
I want to kind of add that like a guy kinda already said if you use a very raw old school ‘straight into the amp style tone ‘ it does matter when you replace stock pups with aftermarket ,also branded pups can determine the choice of guitar in the first place ,most brands use sd,Emg or dimarzio once you get above £400-500 ....nice video
You say a pickup is the base of your the ne chain, well, like every fondations, if you don’t like the base, how would you like the end ?
i always appreciate your opinions, but this time im gonna have to disagree. if you are talking about "reinventing the wheel", then yes, pickups havent moved forward in that aspect in awhile and in my experience, the fishman was a massive step back. for all the hype and promotion for it...i have tried them and still cannot find a use for that pickup. HOWEVER, i would say that as an artist that uses pickups from The Guitarmory line, every pickup that i have used from them has a different sound and feel that is both individual to the pickup and also drastically alters the tone. whether it be a high or mid or even low output pickup, each has a nuance to them that makes picking up the guitar a new experience every time. so in that respect, i believe that pickups, while they may not have changed in the TECHNOLOGY aspect as you have described, are just as relevant and important in choice for the guitarist as ever. im not looking for the "axe-fx" version of pickups, im always interested in the real sound that a guitarist can produce in every different situation.
He DID say that "signature pickups" or a player swearing by a certain make/brand pretty much simplifies the whole aspect of ones sound, ie it makes it quicker to get a certain sound. And that´s what it´s all about in the end, isn´t it? So he´s not saying that pickups don´t affect tone, because they do, he´s just saying that a pickup in and of itself is not the most critical thing in your signal chain basically. You CAN make a ´59 PAF give you a great metallica sound through a Mesa/Boogie 2C++, but you´d probably have to dial the amp in, a little different and perhaps use some other effects to get the equivalent sound of an EMG81 laden guitar, straight into the amp.
It's my duty as an alumnus of Appalachian State University to say...
It's App-uh-latch-en
One small argument. Lets say I want a tight metal sound, for example. If I'm running a weak, no cut humbucker, I then need to add too much pedal boost causing extra noise in the signal chain. Yes I could get there, but its not ideal.
Then it is not a quality pickup he is not saying that all pickups are the same. He is saying buyer beware if you already have quality pickups look elsewhere to try to get a tone. Thats it I am done defending what he is saying guitar players sometimes only hear what they want to hear and yes I have done this myself. Knock yourself out buy $750 for a pick up that I saw on Duncans site so you can have that name on your guitar. Because if I spent that much money for one pickup I would swear to anyone that it sounds vintage, warm, crips, smooth like butter, dynamic, bright but dark too, good tone, bad ass, and unbelievably. Did I miss any
Yes it does matter.....if you have been playing a long while you develop style, technique, etc, and you need pickups that match your style to get the best out of it.
Extreme example - Dimarzio X2N high gain pickup for soft blues? Not the best choice. And Vice versa, low output strat pickup for grindcore.
In between all this are the millions of PAF spinoffs, low to high output, loose to tight, and everything in between.
So yes, it absolutely does matter. Yes, you can get results out of so-so stock pickups, but its like putting cheap gas in your Ferrari, you won't get the best performance...
To the best of my knowledge, the first 24-fret electric guitar was (is) the Red Special, owned, and still played today by Brian May - built by him and his father around 1965. It, being a one-of-kind, places it in a totally different avenue from "manufactured" guitars.
BTW - I TOTALLY agree with you. I'm not exactly a guitar tech/geek, but I believe the quality of the pots, and the source/quality of the capacitor has more to do with tone than the pickup itself.
Didn't Lace come out with Alumitone pickups like the Deathbucker that have no coil windings well before Fishman Fluence?
Yes. He completely missed that Lace Alumitone stuff.
Cattle Dog The significant difference with the Alumitone is it’s topology. It utilizes a current driven design as opposed to the voltage driven design that everyone else uses.
I agree for metal tones but for the stuff I do all I'm adding is reverb and delay, I like having a super good pickup sound so I have less eq work in the mixing proscess
Just want to say, most aftermarket pickups will pick up the "new string sound" for FAR longer than the ones coming in sub $300 guitars.
From what I can tell about pickups: the pole shapes, coil resistance, inductance and magnet type are the only things that matter. High resistance pickups aren't really needed anymore since it (apparently) just reduces the high-frequencies and we don't really need the higher output due to more powerful amps now than were available 20-30 years ago. Magnet type matters somewhat but is relatively easy to slide it out and put a new one in. Higher inductance also produces a larger signal but will reduce the sustain since the stronger magnetic field dampens the string quicker, but produces more induced current in the coil.
However pole piece head shape does affect the tone somewhat. Small pole pieces create a more focused magnetic field which is better for the bridge position or high-tension string setups where the strings don't move much. Larger pole pieces (like the large, dome-headed hex poles or blades) are better for maintaining a constant volume where the strings move a lot, like in the neck or if you do really big bends.
Other than this, I agree that pickups don't really matter much. It's just thin copper wire wrapped around metal poles/screws. Yes wire thickness matters somewhat due to packing density but it's quite minor, especially once you throw in some OD, distortion or fuzz pedals. I don't think pickups are worth £100's, you're better off buying just better speakers for your cabinet since crap speakers won't be able to even produce the sounds your guitar/pedals/amp make anyway. Not in a way that actually sounds nice at least.
Note: I'm a Physicist that deals with magnetism and electromagnetic inductance nearly every day. However this is all my opinion drawn from my knowledge of the science this is all based on, so I could be wrong since I lack the funds and time to do actual tests on this stuff :P
Not sure I agree 100% on this. I play clean a lot and there is huge variation in pickup sound, and no amount of tweaking can help some of them. With distortion? Yeah it's not as noticeable.
right, and i mean there are videos like this playing the same thing on a dozen different bridge pickups: ruclips.net/video/0FE2PDH61h0/видео.html
and just for high gain there are pretty significant differences and that's just between these 'high end' ones, not even talking about the difference to a cheap 'designed' pickup that would come on a $500 guitar...
I bought about 25 guitars since 1995 and there was't even a single one that I couldn't noticeably improve by changing the pickups. The most recent was a 2017 Gibson Les Paul Standard. Out the Burstbucker Pros (and all that crap PCB electronics), in a pair of custom Monty's. Night and day difference. Aftermarket pickups matter a lot no matter what price point of the guitar (well, almost).
David RF i used to build or restor strats for fun. I experimented a lot and found that every guitar has a potential and it can be revealed by the right pickup/string gauge. I’m proud to say all my strata sound very different but they all sound incredible even the cheapest squier.
I just swapped out the 57 classic pickups in my 2011 Traditional Standard. Kept the stock pots and everything else. Just dropped in a JB/Jazz set, and the guitar came to live. It's a friggin monster now! Prior to the swap, I just wasn't sure what to do, because the guitar felt great, but sounded lifeless.
Well, burstbuckers are trash
"We have distressed the cover" :D
Made me laugh :)
Unless you're like me and your RG had those god awful Infinity pickups, then yea you need some old 81 85's
The reason for my other comment comes from something I did recently. I needed a pickup for a cigar box guitar I built. So I cut some smooth pieces from some 3/16" bolts I had laying around. Took apart a wall adapter transformer for the wire, and bought some cheap magnets at Home Depot. I made some bobbin pieces from some thin wood. I used a drill to wind the wire. I tested the thing when I was done and I was shocked! It actually sounds incredible! So is there really a need for these expensive aftermarket pickups? Sure, you can use different gauges of wire and different types of magnets, but with all the effects made today, does it really make a difference to pay $200 plus for a set of pickups? I don't know? I never spent that much on them. Maybe someone could tell me from their experiences?
I agree with you when you said it was a small factor in a larger equation. Pickups, pedals, amp, cab, etc. are all involved in shaping your tone. I appreciate the video. It's nice to hear a different perspective.
When it comes to the stock Jackson JS22 models, I would definitely swap them. They're SUPER hot like, almost peaking sound levels hot. Otherwise amazing guitars
I kind of agree with you but only for metal, slightly overdriven or clean sounds to me seemed to be changed a lot by pickups. Just my opinion though
Tucker Guthrie Totally agree... near the end of the video it becomes clear that his view is based on metal tones (I should have realised this sooner from the other videos of his I’ve watched before 🤦🏼♂️) with lots of drive which do mask to a degree the nuances of different pickups. With clean or crunch sounds pickups make a huge difference which I) many people don’t want to have to replicate afterwards through EQ, and II) are so nuanced that it would be virtually impossible to replicate through EQ (how many band EQ do you have? 😛).
I suspect this is an attempt to create a video on a subject that is likely to be controversial just to get as many views as possible. I’m not even sure he believes in what he’s saying (outside of heavily driven metal tones arena).
It’s an interestingly opposite perspective to the “tonewood debate” though. 😛 Suddenly the pickups don’t matter at all and it’s the rest of the guitar that matters. In reality it all matters... pickups, electronics, hardware, wood, construction... everything has some effect.
Hey dude, you should know that there is something magical about certain pick-ups in real old guitars. Some companies have captured those classic rich and full sounds of yester-year as you well know.
If you’re a beginner guitarist or just a hobby guitarist who plays at home, does it really matter what pickups you use? I’ve been playing guitar for a year and a half. I have an $80 squire strat, a $500 squire classic vibe Tele, and a $700 Epiphone ES-339. I run them through a $200 Boss Katana 50. At home volume levels, I don’t hear a big difference in tone. I guess it also depends on your ear, and how much experience you have with a wide variety of pickups
100% agree Fluff. I was so disappointed in 1991 when I swapped my EMGs for Seymore Duncan's... the change in my tone was so miniscule and I ended up needing an overdrive pedal to get the same amount of distortion on my amp, lol. There may have been a little more control of dynamic when I played with the Duncan's but I really don't care about that stuff anymore. Whatever is in the guitar is what stay, unless something is wrong with the pick up... but I usually start by replacing pots if something isn't working right.
Practice matters more than anything.
I feel like its more about the quality of pickup, ive got a beginner guitar that i got on trade for an old bass i didnt need anymore and the pickups on it are so loose sounding and wishy washy. im not sure what i wanna get but it doenst matter what i do with my boss katana that thing just doesnt chug right, its sounds like garbage. Cant play blues with it because the clean tones are flat and unfeeling. Ive compared it to my ibanez, my dads 85 usa strat, and his gibson es335. those guitars all sound amazing through my amp, but this little LTD beginner guitar is just not doing it. in this case i think pickups will make a huge difference.
Yeah they're bad, I've tried to put em in a few guitars for fun and they kind of work for jazz but that's it. At least they are 4 wire, I'm just using them to make circuits with now, maybe will try again one day lol
Dont forget the amp really does the most to your actual tone. Anything good or bad about your guitar is gonna be quite literally amplified. A boss katana is not a great amp for tone in my opinion, so plugging in a usa strat or a semihollow is gonna help YOUR AMP sound good to be fair. Your ltd through a tube amp would probably be bearable, but it still is amplifying all the bad about the guitar. So if you want more chunk put something hotter in, ceramic pickups have a tight treble frequency which will help down tuned guitars and tightening up palm muting and high gain chords. to have a bluesy sound go low to medium output and try to avoid ceramic. Down the road a tube amp maybe a better investment than a new guitar though! Best of luck!
actually I noticed relevant differences between a SD "invader", a DiMarzio "D-sonic", an EMG 81; agreed, they'r part of a chain, but they still give the tone its basic characteristic to emphasize - or fight against - along the rest of the "equation".
This has been my experiences, as well. You can tell the difference in the harmonics and low end. I don't want my gear to make up for a tone that I can shape with my guitar. Seems like putting basic tires on a race car. It all matters to some extent.
Ooh this is a hot take lol. I mostly agree. If you're running some monster 15 pedal board your pickups are an afterthought.
On the other hand I play a strat with texas specials and while I agree that I could eq my guitar to sound a different way... Its just an uphill battle. Like playing metal with a telecaster.
Personally don't agree unless a style of pickup is already preinstalled, personally dislike Duncans, Emgs need an 18v mod and Dimarzio get it right every time.
But its all about what suits your tonal adventure, some people like the bell chime of a Mesa or the tightness of a diezel Amp.
It's perspective
Aftermarket pickups matter a great deal if you're looking for a pickup that sounds good and does everything you want it to do and if you want it to function like the gear your favorite guitarists use that's one thing they'll do or if your amp's not giving you the sound you're looking for or you can't afford the amp that sounds like it should be in a professinal guitar players rig aftermarket pickups could be an affordable option
stock pickups from a £300 guitar or the same guitar with emg's or semour duncans ect.
Here's the thing. How much more processed is the signal chain actually getting?
I can kind of see the argument for high-gain metal tones - and even then, did the specific pickup *ever* matter there? Because frankly, metal bands nowadays aren't actually using that much more gain than some of the heavier bands from the eighties. In their case, as long as you're using a high output pickup it really doesn't matter too much which specific one you're using. You're not going to hear the difference it makes how thick the coil-wire is, or how much space is between the magnet core and the coil, or what the precise alloying mix of the magnets is.
However, for a mildly-overdriven or clean tone? You can absolutely tell the difference that the number of windings, coil spacing, etc makes. Yes, you *can* in theory dial in those nuances with a detailed enough EQ - but a lot of people don't have that.
Your kind of contradictory saying they don't matter but then go on a diatribe about adjusting things to get your tone instead of the pickups doing it.
I'll agree that pickups are alot like headphones in that at the top of the heap there isn't alot of difference, just flavor, but at the bottom it's a ton of difference.
Also pretty funny that you just swapped a new pickup in your Gibson RD ;P
Pickups actually make up most of the sound, so they are extremely important. There are people that made a cardboard guitar sound good with the right pickup..
I disagree, I'd say the major voice mod is the speaker in the amp. That, is major. If not the most important thing in the tone chain, then it is equal to the pickups.
@@caiusmadison2996
try playing some muffy pickups and get a good tone out of that just by changing the speaker, wont happen.
a speaker does not influence the character of a guitar but only shapes the final product into one equalized product.
@@ezassegai4793 amp+speaker>pickup>pick and picking style>strings and hardware>wood and construction
@@darktempest53 You can pick the greatest amp. If the pickup is muffy you will sound like shit. there is only so much you can do with eq and compression.
I took the Gibson 490R and 498T out of my Les Paul Smartwood Studio and installed a pair of Seymour Duncan Sentient/Pegasus. Wow, what a difference, these are a bit hotter but also much clearer and pleasing to the ear.
I'm huge about leaving a guitar stock, and not purchasing it if I do not like how it is on my rig. My problem with sticking this and that into a guitar is that it just doesn't work as well as many claim it does. I went through a slew of pickup swaps in several guitars, and came to the conclusion that the pickup swap robbed my guitars of their initial magic that made me want them in the first place. I then realized that, tone wise, I'm just more into what is in the signal chain, and what speaker is in the amp as well as the tubes, to shape my tone further. It's just how I've come to realize the pickups are either a win or not for me.
This video is literally an advertisement for Fishman Fluence pickups.
I dont think pickups matter as much as the market wants people to believe. It's all in your head. Some pickups have more output and some have less. I think that's about as far as it goes. You cant convince me that a pickup can be custom "voiced". It scientifically doesnt even make any sense.
I don’t get the “advertisement” vibe. He only mentioned Fishman like twice. Relax.
Not trying to be rude, but your comment appears to betray a lack of understanding of the physics of pickups. Tone is affected fundamentally by the inductance of the pickup and it's relationship with capacatitive elements in your tone controls and all the leads as far as the first buffer in your signal chain. The length of string the pickup senses has a significant impact on tone as well. String to string balance is fundamentally affected by the shape of the magnetic field in relation to the strings. Output is determined by magnetic field strength and the length and resistance of the wire. All these contribute to the 'voicing' of a pickup.
James, how do you figure? One of the first things Fluff mentions is that he put Lace pickups on his strat.
James Martell it’s not in your head. It’s physics. String vibrations creates tone so anything from pickup to the type of wood and strings you use affects the signal, as well as the magnet and the gauges that transform the signal into analog sound. They all need to work in the same direction, if they dont you lose sustain, clarity, or end up with a shalow brittle or dark sound.
@Jeremy Robertson Jeremy Robertson sorry, I've not checked back for a while so missed your questions. Firstly I should say I'm an engineer, so I come at things from a certain perspective. I'm not a luthier but I do have fun modding my guitars so I've done some research and tried to develop an understanding. I hope I'm a well informed amateur, happy to be put right by any pro's out there. Some specific answers to follow.
Yes they matter. This honestly isn't even up for debate. You're using extreme examples like people over selling their pick ups to prove a point when factually many pick ups behave drastically different from one another. Just because you can get a decent metal tone with an old Les Paul doesn't mean anything when you start to get into the specifics of what kinds of things you want to actually do with your music
You do know that he is a perfectionist when it it comes to sound editing and it is not just metal. After you use quality parts for the pickup and the wrap is done right what else it there that makes a difference that you can notice. Once you got that quality it is the electronics in the guitar pots, good wiring technics and circuit boards in the guitar then there is pedals and amps. If so explain yourself tell us about the design that make a good pickup and tell us what part of a design that can get you a different tone in a pickup that he did not already mention. He did not say just get cheap pickups and the amp can take care of everything else. You can disagree and you did respectfully so that means you are a good person but tell me what I need to look for and why the pickup sounds different by just the pickup. I think you misunderstood what he was saying it was kind of a buyer beware. He said he is suspect of a company saying this is the newest and greatest thing to happen to pickups. We kind of already know what pickups are good quality.
It's just my opinion and they'll probably be haters of it. I studied electronics in school and worked with electricity most of my life. To me, a pickup is just magnets and wire. I've built them myself and got incredible sounds with very low cost...like $5. I think there is an over emphasis and inflated prices on aftermarket pickups.. With all the effects today, I think you can pretty much make any pickup sound good!👍😎🎸🎶
Same here, and agree 100% haha
@@HansHeidman cool!👍😎🎸🎶
In my experience Yes. I have a 2012 Mockingbird that came with some sort of BC Rich humbuckers and they sounded kinda blah. I found an old Super Distortion and wow made a huge positive difference! So yes it does.
I hear what you're saying and for the most part agree with you. The only departure from your point of view that I will make is this; I play into a tube amp, I like the sound of the aggressive overwound pick up sound with a subtle boost into the preamp. With upstart companies producing decent sounding after market pups at a fraction of the cost of these larger more established companies, if you have the know how they are a viable option for crafting the tone you're after. That said , I feel it all comes down to personal preference. I can buy a $100 pup set and a $40 boost/OD or a $250 pedal and a $500 rack system to achieve my tone.
Lace also made major innovations when it comes to instrument pickups.
Well, it's a bit hypocritical coming from you, no offence.
I get what you're saying, the tone is personal to the player and changing just the PU in the whole setup won't change drastically the overall tone. It's true, but in a small amount it does, you can't honestly say that a PAF sounds the same as an EMG 81 which doesn't sound the same as a Super Distortion. It's just a tool to bring you closer to the sound you have in your head.
But the same could be said about amps or pedals or even guitars. I mean you did comparisons of amps of the same model, was there more difference between a 5150 and a 6505 than between any two pickups? Not to mention a comparison between like 4 maxon OD, you mean you couldn't get the same sound out of every one of them?
What I mean is I can agree in part with your point, but given that you have a channel mostly dedicated to guitar gear this way of thinking would be like a car tuning channel saying "who cares what wheels I put on my Mustang, if it moves I'm golden". You see it's hypocritical.
I think a good idea for a video would be doing a comparison between the same guitar and amp but with different pickups (I mean radically different PUs like PAFs, EMGs, even single coils), it would be a good followup to this video.
personally i think the aftermarket pickups still matter
atleast for me. if i get a cheap guitar for a project ill change the pickups first
An EQ, boost and compressor will give you the tools to give you the cut and output of an aftermarket pickup but you will need to tweak it every time you switch guitars.
However you tend to do some tweaking regardless every time you switch guitars. This video really shows the value of having a good EQ, boost and compressor!
Pickups matter a lot IMO, but with nuances. I have bareknuckle pickups in most of my guitars and I can hear almost every note of a chord, even under really high gain. The other big thing I've noticed is that you won't hear as much of a different between pickups through as multi-effects processor as you do a real tube amp. Once you mess with different pickups through a real amp, the contrast can be pretty stark. The more pedals you have, the more it will effect your signal, but you can still tell the difference, especially if you are playing high gain and don't necessarily want to add an overdrive pedal for more "push."
They have their place, without a doubt. When you're buying a cheap, say 400 dollar guitar, that's a great couple of pieces of wood that really feel great to play, but have pickups like Duncan Designed, or even worse, when the brand of your guitar is stamped on your pickups, a set of aftermarket pickups to your taste and even a simple bridge and tuner swap can make that 400 dollar guitar, to YOU, better than that 1000 dollar guitar you pulled off the wall at Guitar Center and noodled around with. Because they're pickups you put the research in on, your bridge is actually name brand, and your tuners are locking and never go out of tune, and you had to tune the G string twice in 20 minutes with that guitar at Guitar Center. And granted your 'budget' guitar expense added up, but you didn't have to shell out the immediate 1000 dollars. You bought the 400 dollar guitar. 3 months later you decided on your pickups and your bank account allows the 150-200 bucks for them. Then another couple months down the line you get your 75 dollar Hipshot bridge. And then, hell, at this point you ask for your locking tuners from your mom/wife/whatever for Christmas. Still spending less money, can do small amounts at a time, and end up with a guitar you love rather than like.
Along with the whole budget thing, as a person who plays guitar as a hobby and was once in a band that made no money, the 'platform' of pickups in going to matter a lot more. Because it took tons of cash to wind up with a tube amp. And I don't really have like, double tons of cash to buy a Kemper or an Axe FX or something. So I don't have tons of simulators and shit at my disposal to make a cheap guitar sound good. I got six knobs for 3 channels, spring reverb and an EQ, OD, and noisegate. So if I want a good sound, it's going to have to start with a pretty good guitar/pickup.
But then you got the other side of the coin. A dude like you, music is how you make money. So you make the investment. You have the digital stuff to make whatever you have sound good. And you have stuff like your signature Balaguers, and that ridiculously awesome PRS you just put up a video for, that don't need to be, and blatantly shouldn't be modified. Because guitars at this cost point (usually) are going to have the best accommodations possible to make the guitar the best it can be.
I do agree with you on companies trying to claim they're reinventing the wheel with their totally normal passive pickups is just marketing nonsense, though. And that's coming from a passive guy. I buy my pickups after playing a new guitar for months and finally deciding something along the line of, "It needs less bass." "It needs to be hotter." "I can't hear all the strings when I play a chord." or something of that nature. Not "I want precious metals from the bottom of the deepest ocean cave on the planet." I think the only thing innovating that companies have done to passive pickups since inception was put an Alnico and ceramic magnet in one pickup. You kind of get the best of both worlds. But still, just magnets and coils at the end of the day.
HavokStrifeX have you tried changing your speaker in your amp? That's huge to what kind of increase in tone you get. People always say pickups are the biggest, I say it's more like quickest, as a swap can be done with a lil time, a lil cash, and a lil solder. The amp takes being dialed in between speaker and tubes , but that morphs all your guitars into a much better sounding troupe. Like what happens when ya switch a crappy Eminence designed for Fender into a Celestion Vintage 30. Night and day, for all your guitars.
Aftermarket pickups make more of a difference when you are playing straight through a tube amp to me. Once you start adding digital components to the signal chain the become less relevant.
absolutely...also after market pickups are vaccuum wax potted so they don't get that brutal harmonic squeal with a high gain tube amp like may of the cheap stock pickups out there.
I wouldn't say a PAF is the same thing as a Seymour Duncan Nazgul for example, they're tonally different
He didn't say they weren't. He stated that you can get the same tone with both by using different amps, EQ, post-processing etc. And you know... he has a point.
George Dömse Well... post processing what? Presumably your guitar signal before it hits the front end of your amp because those two different pickups mentioned are going to cause your amp to react massively differently due to the big output difference.
And then how much EQ are you really going to be able/want to do? And again this needs to be before the signal hits your amp in order for the amp not to react differently (not just in EQ but the amp’s reaction to the signal from the perspective of “drive” etc). Maybe the amp’s reaction in terms of drive doesn’t matter so much at the two extremes where you’re either playing with a clean amp with such headroom that no matter what the guitar signal is doing you can’t overload the preamp input and cause it to break up, or where you’re using so much preamp gain (for a metal tone) that the signal level into the preamp gets totally masked. However, for most guitarists not at those two extremes the way their signal from the pickups hits the front end of the preamp has a massive influence on the reaction of the signal chain and their end tone. In such cases to “equalise” different pickups you’d have to do all of this signal processing before the front end of the amp.
So that begs the question... how many band EQ do you need? Is that practical? If so, can you really set it to be the “same” as what you want to hear/what the other pickups give you that you like (question of your own capability/competence)? And even if the answers to these questions are yes, how much is it going to cost you for a multi-band EQ (I don’t think a Boss GE-7 is going to have enough bands to do it, for sure not between a PAF and a Nazgul! 😛) and wouldn’t it just to cheaper, simpler and more fun to use those pickups that you like in the first place?!! 😃
I put an SD Phat Cat in the bridge and a LIndy Fralin P-90 in the neck on my 300 series Yamaha Pacifica, and it made a huge difference. In fact it totally changed the character of the guitar, and it's far easier to dial in good tones than it was before. Were the stock PUPs bad? No, but these are far better, as in night and day difference, changing PUPs was the best guitar decision I made this year. My other Pacifica came stock with an SD and I've felt no need to change that one.
I will say some companies do innovate. I changed to EMG pickups which are truly a huge difference from stock Fender Jazz Bass stocks because they’re 100% noiseless in every pickup configuration. I think the sauterless option (idk who came up with it) but I think that’s pretty much the future of the industry. I do believe they’re a little expensive, plus a bit tricky by seling knobs sepparate and making pots incompatible with other knobs there’s a huge difference between the regular sautering route that has been common for so much time and just simply connect and disconect.