Is Changing Pickups Worth It?
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- Опубликовано: 13 июн 2024
- My webstore for Captures, presets etc: ko-fi.com/sonicdrivestudio
Thanks for watching my video on swapping electric guitar pickups! Let me know your thoughts in the comments below! Cheers!
Gear used in this video:
- ESP LTD Phoenix Black Metal
- ESP LTD Phoenix Arctic Metal
- Seymour Duncan Nazgul
- Seymour Duncan Distortion
- NDSP Archetype Petrucci
- ML Drums by ML Sound Lab
- Cubase 13 Pro
- ML Sound Lab Cabinet Impulse Responses
- Klotz Cables & DI Box
This channel is sponsored by:
ML Sound Lab: ml-sound-lab.com/
An original song of mine with me on vocals: • My First Song w/Vocals...
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#pickup #swap #worthit
Disclaimer: this video is sponsored by ML Sound Lab but as always all thoughts and opinions are 100% my own!
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Is it worth it to YOU? That's the question! Also, did you get the "message"?
Totally agree with you, it’s not only about the sonic differences because in most cases they can be small but a pickup can totally change the way the guitar feels reacts to your playing, which can inspire the player and overall can make the guitar better .
Yes! Thank you!
The subtle difference is not worth it imo, coming from a person who always swap every guitar I bought to bareknuckle pickups. Now I'd rather spend that money on other things
It’s all so subjective and subtle. Ultimately whatever you like.
The pickups don’t matter thing has been massively overblown. Even Glen Fricker has always said they make a difference, just a relatively small one.
Pre RUclips the prevailing wisdom was that pickups were THE most important thing.
So yeah of course it’s worth swapping your pickups, if you have the money, time and inclination, but if each purchase is a big deal then this video really supports the view that pickups have minimal impact.
It should be mentioned that Glenn Fricker’s specific argument is ‘expensive’ pick ups won’t necessarily give you a better tone than cheaper or stock ones particularly when it comes to recording high gain guitars, in addition to which the speaker being used has a much more pronounced and final effect on the overall tone.
The point a lot of people appear to miss is that guitars in general depend on a range of different factors so just going out and spending a couple of hundred on Seymour Duncan’s may not be the answer.
Found your channel because of your love of Phoenixes, which I share. Love the changes you’ve made to those two, they look sick and sound great.
Awesome! Thank you!
Really good video
Also I encourage you guys to check the Nazgûl and the Distortion on each guitars
I mean ->
- checking the Nazgûl on the BLACK LTD 2:32 - WHITE LTD 8:13
- checking the Distortion on the BLACK LTD 6:51 - WHITE LTD 8:03
Pickup height can be diffrent there of course, but you can hear some difference between the same pickup on a different guitar
Glen really got guitarist going all out lol
Wouldn’t be able to pick it out blind but I think that difference is more for the player than the audience.
No, it's more for the people that can hear it, most peoples ears aren't that good....
Great video Jon! Have a killer weekend ✌🏼
Finally someone willing to say it isn’t always about the audience. I think a tiny bit of honest perspective can be quite healthy lol
I agree we use gear that inspires us. If we like our tone and what we're playing, it comes out in the performance I believe. I also notice the extra bottom end with the Nazgul. I noticed it on my M1000-MS tuned to C# standard. I wasn't sure if it was the pickup or how that guitar resonates in that tuning. Switching to that from my 7 with deactivators, it's like someone cranks the depth or resonance on the amp. Otherwise I still really like the Nazgul and Sentient as a set
Just to add something. Before you decide to swapping the Pickups, you can try to adjust pickup height and adjust pickup pole pieces.
If it's to muddy, then you can try lower your pickup height and raise pole pieces height. Vice versa
There is definitely a difference, especially on any palm mutes. Anyone who says pickups don't matter either doesn't know what they're talking about or is simplifying things. That being said, as I'm sure you know, changing an IR would make a much bigger different than changing between these pickups. It is good to know that sort of thing for people who feel like their tone isn't quite there; start with the IR/cab, and then amp, and lastly pickups.
The swap made the both of them look much better. 👌
Ballsy topic. The differences are so in the subtleties but how an instrument feels to the player is so important and even harder to convey. In a the digital age everything is on demand. The importance of nuance is lost. I think it's great you addressed it. It's very easy for players today to overlook that but so important to discover it. Great video!
If you’re working with DI - why would it matter? The signal is going to be put thru what ever chain you so choose. I feel like you can hear pickup nuances more so by jamming in an amp to your ear. Not so much in tracking context, especially if re-amping is the go to like SDS.
@@stevierylifts9652 When jamming an amp, you can't quickly A/B the two guitars, so the sound differences you are hearing are based off of memory, which can be deceiving. Pickup distance from the strings gives a far greater difference in the sound of the guitar than two similarly voiced pickups such as these two. Want more bass, raise the pickups.
@@stevierylifts9652 It's an overall thing, pickups can make a huge difference to how a guitar feels, and how it reacts to your playing, now of course not everyone is a good enough player to realise that, and from my experience, there's very few people with great ears. Everyone hears things differently. I'm a 100% ear player for 40 odd years, everything I do with music is done through my ears, I mean, I work everything out on guitar, piano, bass, any instrument, all by ear.... As far as recording, they still make a difference, I can make certain pickups sound like they are feeding back while recording using Amp sims, I have one, a high output alnico 8 that is especially good, great overtones and reacts to my input better than any other pickup I've owned, and that's a lot...
@@MickH60That’s wonderful. I’m talking specifically about working with DI tracks, when re amping.
It’s easy to notice pickup nuance and feel to one’s ear, especially by jamming, as I’ve stated.
Do you work with DI tracks? Do you use reamping as your technique for your sound? Or do you track your tracks without this technique?
I’m not talking about what we can notice just by jamming thru an amp in a room, or by simply tracking the tone you hear at the time of tracking.
Here’s a video with DI being reamped - sounding practically IDENTICAL, despite different pickups being used:
ruclips.net/video/zvKRM0NljNU/видео.htmlsi=IUoaVGGvYHM8CRN7
@@MickH60I do not believe that. You can't just claim you to have superior abilities, and therefore, you are right and anyone saying something different is wrong.
The only way to really test your claim would be to have you play the same guitar through the same rig, but with different pickups, and you don't know which is which and you have to identify them. And then repeat that 5 times, and if you score better than would be expected by chance, then I'd believe you.
I mean, Nuno Bettencourt is a phenomenal guitar player, but he claims the paint job changes the tone, which is clearly bs. And Eric Johnson has tried different batteries for his pedals to see which sound best. My point is, people who are masters of their craft aren't immune to superstition.
It's obvious that an amp responds differently to pickups with different outputs. But other than that?
The difference between good pickups with the same type can be little, sonically. But i agree: i play way different with different pickups and performance is king.
Sometimes the small difference can be way more, too. I was struggling getting a modern metal sound i like. I got pedals, i had the Framus Dragon, i had a V30 cab... I switched the pickups in my Schecter Hellraiser C7 and there it was. That little spice that was missing. The thing that wasnt there yet.
I change the pickups in every guitar I buy. I do think I've ever been a fan of stock pickups in any I've owned because of the handwound options available out there.
Apart from strings, this probably the most subjective issue.
Personally, I have always swapped out pickups. I like what I like, and what works best for my playing.
For instance, I just swapped out a SD Black Winter set for a SD Distortion set. For me, the difference is mind blowing.
The distortion reacts to the way I play, and my set up in ways the Black Winter never could. However, I know people swear by the Black Winter set - showing it's a purely personal thing, and should never be about popularity.
Great topic, and well worth talking about.
For me, is it worth it? Absolutely.
Totally worth experimenting with pickups
Agreed!
Definitely agree that the most important thing is how it feels.
I'm glad you did the AB the way you did because the Artic guitar sounded brighter than the Black guitar.
It did seem like the differences, while super subtle, were more pronounced in the Artic guitar than the Black.
It could be psychosomatic, but they both sounded "more balanced" after the swap.
Yeah! Agreed!
It's worth it. Recently got a guitar which had a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, good pickup but not for me. Replaced last week with a Seymour Duncan 78 and I love it now.
Feel definitely matters. Have you ever played a couple pieces of gear that felt so different that you swear they sounded miles apart but when you listen back the tone is more similar than what you recall? I had this situation before and I could have sworn I didn’t like the tone of some particular gear but turns out I absolutely hated the feel of it instead and it made change my technique to accommodate.
Nice video!!!!!
Yes the differences are really subtle, but..... there are differences.
If the difference is noticeable for me (when I play), then it matters, and if it works I'm happy with it.
That's my opinion.
Experiments can be really cool.
Please do more.
Definitely looks much better with the white pickup and pickguard on the black guitar! Also same with the other and I did the same thing to two of my guitars.
I think another difference in the white one being bright is the stainless steel frets. I have two Les Pauls. Very close specs but one has stainless steel frets and it’s much brighter to my ears.
Pickups definitely matter. But much like everyone else is saying, it’s more of a feel thing. I prefer medium output pickups. Especially running into high gain amps.
Yeah the frets might make a difference too although with the Nazgul the guitar definitely is less "klangy"
Changing Pickups Worth It? Its a great first approach, then I like to start down and drop tuning until satisfied 😁For example , I cant stand a Duncan JB below Drop C#, as the low end sound is as similar to an EMG81 drop A# 🍻 Then you have to account for string gauge / scale length...The rabbit hole 🤘
I've always been of the mind that you can get any sound out of any pickup, BUT the feel is going to totally different from pickup to pickup. The feel is arguably more important because it's going to mean it reacts to your playing a certain way.
I think the Sound from the Pickup is MASSIVE difference! if I play the BcR Bich with Dimarzio Xn2 & Super Distortion compared to my BcR KKBstV with Seymour Duncan Nazgul - Sentient through the same AMP 8x12 in ported cabs Won't LIE to you 3:)
Yeah, that's why there's a market for it, people get real critical to their tone. Same with amps. S.S or Tube's? What Voicing? Etc...
I have the seymour duncan black winter and the pegasus&sentient sets in my amazon cart. Just let me indulge in consumerism in peace (love your videos)
Maaan what great video!! Thanks
Cheers!
I love the SD Nazgul audio. I think it's my favorite pickup regardless of the guitar. It has a presence in the mid-bass... I have the SD Pegasus but it is too flat, it looks like my old 498T. Gracias Jon!
Great video, as always! As you noted, the differences are indeed subtle in the recordings, but I could hear them! To me, the Nazgul added a bit of fatness to the white guitar that it lacked, and the Distortion added a little brightness/sizzle that the black one lacked. Great demonstration!
Damn man, your songs and your riffs are awesome!
I couldn't hear a difference, I was listening without looking at the video. I think it looks cooler now with the contrasting color. I changed from a black winter to a custom and the sound difference wasn't huge but the feel when playing was much better.
I've now watched many, many videos on this subject. Some were better than others, especially in terms of attempting to control variables such as setup (action, pickup height/output, picking dynamics, etc.). Some _appear_ to demonstrate that pickups make next to no difference while others show that there is a significant difference, at least in terms of what I can hear.
In my own experience, it _can_ be worth it. I have a Fender American Standard Strat that had an anemic stock bridge pickup. It didn't matter how I adjusted it, it sounded like garbage and I never used it. I've played that guitar now for over 17 years and know it better than I know myself. I decided to try some new pickups, do the whole A/B recording thing, solo, in a mix, various amps and styles, etc. I may have gone overboard, truth be told, but I was really curious. I tried a Seymour Duncan Custom Staggered and it sounded great on its own, but not great when paired with the middle pickup. I thought that perhaps the instructions were incorrect and that I had wired it out of phase, but when I switched the wires it got even worse! I then tried a Dimarzio Injector and that was the one; it sounded better in every context. I used to live on the neck or neck/middle position, but, now I find myself using the bridge and bridge/middle positions almost as much. I liked the bridge pickup, and especially the hum-cancelling, so much that I decided to try Dimarzio Area 61s in the neck and middle and, again, it was worth it and better in every context.
I'm not rushing to replace pickups in any of my other guitars, but I think that if you're really unhappy with what you've got, it may be worth trying something new.
Yeah minimal difference on a recorded track... often it's a FEEL thing or noticeable nuances that you can't capture on a track that makes a BIG difference in the room when interacting with your guitar. I found a MASSIVE difference between Iron gear metal machine humbuckers which were dark and low output funny enough compared to my favorite humbuckers which are Dimarzio X2N's though!
tbh I listenend through my studio monitors with closed eyes and I didn't hear any significant changes in tone. So if there is a slight difference you will never notice in a mix. I'd rather change the EQ on the amp or use a EQ pedal to change the tone. I guess the perceifed differences is mostly the diffent output of the PU and how your amp compresses differently as a result.
But as long as you are happy with the result and play your instrument more, changing the PU is worth it.
And Maybe it's your ears ? I'm not trying to be a jerk but I know I hear more than most with music because of the way I learned to play everything by ear.....
I'm sure not. And no worries, you are not a jerk. I did a pickup comparison a while back and there was no real difference betweeen Diamrzio, Seymour Duncan, EMGs and Lace PU. I have the video up on my channel if you want to check it out.
Just last week I was doing some pre-production where I recorded 6 different guitars with different pickups through the exact same chain, trying to decide which ones was going to use for a particular song: the interesting thing is that while playing them I could definitely hear - or feel - a significant difference, when it came to the listening comparison the differences where very subtle, to the point that after adding drums and bass it was hard to tell them apart. Perhaps after capturing the sound with mics some of these differences I can hear in the room disappear, or perhaps it's the feel thing, or both.
I think it only makes sense if your changing from passive to active or vice versa or if your pickup is somehow defective like excessive noise or to low output
With the pickups swapped over, they both give a very Rick Nielsen vibe. I like it. Also, like you said, the differences were subtle but I think they both were improved over the originals.
Feel (in this case how the guitar responds to your playing) is vitally important to good guitar tone. If a pickup change improves how you work with your guitar, the easier it will be to get the best performance. Can you get to the same general place tonally with post processing without a pickup swap? Maybe, but it will still have the same, less-than-perfect feel from the source. In the end, does it matter if there is a perceptible difference to the listener? I’m not sure how I’d answer that myself, but if it makes you pick it up more and feel better while playing, it’s a positive change.
🔥
Watched this on my tv. Weirdly, I could hear the difference in the white guitar, but not in the black one. Fwiw, I think the Nazgûl in the white one is the right call.
I totally get your message, in all my guitars I use Häussel Pickups, which are more on the expensive side of pickups you can buy. I buy them because I know that they sound good, but also they feel great when I'm playing, so for me it was worth it. I have to say though that sonically in this video and in many videos I've watched about this topic, the differences between Pickups are generally very subtle. If someone would tell me that he is not quite happy with his tone and asks me if he should change his pickups, I would definetly answer no, because there are way more simple and generally more affordable things you could do that will get you there that are quite more efficiently. I would suggest to try out different Pot values on your volume knob of the guitar, use different cables, get a different OD-Pedal or an EQ Pedal, switch your string gauge, and on and on. There is so much stuff you can do to change the tone of your guitar, but Pickups still stand sort of in the spotlight for so long, it's one of the first things you think about. It's definetly not the most efficient though.
the White one looks like Richard Z. Kruspe's New (?) Guitar that he plays onstage. Almost the same color, black pickguard, and phoenix shape
I like the distortion a lot better.
Hey Jon, that was a fantastic video!
Thank you!
Have a different n but a good sound SD pickup... just choose which one best for u n all pickup have a own clarity
It does matter to me. My favorite 2 pickups are the Seymour Duncan Invader and Black Winter. The difference between them is very noticeable live, and the feel as well when playing.
I also agree with studio producers that they do not matter, from the studio producer's perspective. In the studio, minor differences like that can be dialed out/in.
Def more mids in the distortion pickup, but the Nazgul was tighter
Thank you for the comparison! In the past I tried very often to improve the sound of guitars I owned and didn't like by changing pickups. It was very expensive and I never got a guitar I didn't like to sound like I wanted, if the guitar sounded muddy, the muddy feeling remained even with brighter pickups. For an american telecaster I spent over 600€ changing pickups never being satisfied. Picking up a different telecaster it sounded right from the start. Now if I don't like the sound of a guitar I tend just to send it back or sell it, I think I might consider swapping pickups only if the sound is 80% there to get the last 20%.
The sound and feel of the actual guitar, wood and materials is soooooo important to! All of that, including the pickups, has to be in harmony
If pickups dont fight you and get you the tone you want, then they are for you. If you notice, the people who say pickups dont matter arent known for their guitar playing or tone.
I thought there was a bigger difference with the white one. Well done
I had swaped fishman fluence modern to emgs 57/66 set on my ltd ec-1000s fluence and now this guitar feels for me much better, it handles fuzz and cleans, more dynamic and predictable for me. And emgs fit to fishman's wiring, so swap was very easy and no regrets)
I really like the 57/66 set. I have them in 2 of my ESP E-II guitars.
I have a bairtone Viper that still has the stock cheap ESP pickups in it. The bridge pickup actually sounds great, BUT, it "feels" slow. So, it will be swapped out for that reason and that reason alone.
It would be interesting to hear if there's a difference with the new Seymour Duncan custom 14 in the new LTD Phoenix 1001 vs the 2 guitars in this video.
Would love to try that model!
Did you gain match the pickups? The Duncan Distortion is higher output, so if there’s more gain introduced by the pickup then that may be why it sounds brighter
The way I see it, pickups and even strings have a big impact on how the instrument sounds. I perhaps understand those who say that if you want a greater difference, try changing the speaker (or IR), but in some respects the pick-up can also help bring out the notes you are playing and give the right boost in volume. I did an experiment with my 3 7-string guitars that have different pick-ups and they all have a different impact on how the instrument sounds and how they influence the definition of the notes played
Swapping pickups can make a difference, depending on what you're swapping to and from of course. There are definitely a lot of cheaper areas you can make equal strides in though - string gauge, string height, pickup height, and neck relief being big ones here.
I used to swap pickups in pretty much every guitar I bought, but now I'll do what I can to exhaust alternative options first. I will always tell people to at least their stock pickups a decent chance, even if they're in some bottom-of-the-barrel Harley Benton. I would be shocked if there were no cheap pickups out there that sound identical to the Bareknuckle Ragnarok, the Lundgren M8, the Seymour Duncan Pegasus, or whatever other coveted pickup you want to name.
Swapping pickups definitely isn't always necessary but sometimes you just know it when a guitar can benefit from a different pickup
Looks alone would justify the swap imho 😅 and additionally the tonal nuances are noticeable too!
Sometimes it is
Subtle improvements but slightly noticeable. I'll bet you could have gotten the same results with an EQ pedal though. I definitely think they both look really good with the color combinations. I only change pickups when I'm really not liking a set and can't fix it with adjustments or EQ. In your case though, since it only cost you some time, there wasn't anything to lose. This is making me consider some swaps between a few of my guitars.
As I talk about, the improvement isn't just in the sound that you're hearing. That's important to note
Did you measure the pots?
i swapped a lot of pickups. and i continue to do so, cause it's fun, and it can change the feel a bit.
in the end, i get both perspectives. for example, what glenn fricker says is completely true when you take his perspective. if your mix sounds like shit, a pickup change is not going to fix that, and you shouldn't waste time or money messing around with the pickups when you have no idea what you're doing with the rest of the signal chain. similarly, when you hear a great sounding mix, going "oh that's cause he's using (insert pickup model)" is nonsense. what matters more than anything gear related is production skill. i'm pretty sure i could hand you a150 bucks strat, a metal zone and a bunch of ownhammer impulses and you'd manage to put together a banger mix.
on the other hand, when you're sat in front of an amp and cab setup you know insisde and out, small changes are noticeable, and might be meaningful to you. it's just important to keep a sense of proportion. with my favourite amp and cab, i can chuck literally any guitar that is somewhat functional in front, and it will sound good. and it will also sound familiar. if you don't like how your amp and cab sounds, a pickup change won't fix it. if you have a small nitpick about how one guitar sounds compared to another that you have throught the same rig, and you want to tinker with it, go for it. i'm super happy i swapped the tb4 in my DK3 for an sh10, and i'm super happy that i swapped the emgs in my schecter for an sh6 and sh2 set. but i recognize that it's not make or break for recording or live playing.
I believe it does. You can absolutely hear the difference in sound between a JB, a PAF-style, and active (e.g., EMG) pickup. It's not the only tone-shaping component of your sound by any means, but I believe it does make a huge difference.
You're the feedback in your signal chain. Your play depends on how you feel/perceive. Despite "subtleness of the difference in sound". It might be huge difference in your play. It's good if it feels good. If it feels good - don't touch it. If it doesn't - swapping pickups one of ways to fix that. That might make your guitar much-much better. But also might not work from first attempt. It's not precise science since it's not science at all.
It would be interesting to do this same test but using a real amp and cab instead of the plugin.
I did a couple comparisons on the channel with these Duncans (plus the JB), 2 EMGs and a Fishman through both a modeler and real amps. It's worth checking those out!
My opinion, there's little to no difference between them. My thoughts are if you're happy with the way it sounds, even if you're slightly not happy, it's not worth the extra lay out for pickups. And certainly not if it's Bare Knuckle Pickups. There might be slight differences, is it worth the extra if you have to buy them? Not in my eyes
Glenn Fricker will not like this 😂🤣🤣, I do agree with you though!
Unpopular opinion but I hate the Nazgul. I had one and it sounded like a cocked wah at least in my guitar. I do love the Pegasus though
The only test that really makes any difference would be to put the sections of each pickup in the two different guitars back to back. So we compared the nazgul pick-up in guitar one versus the nazgul pickup in guitar two directly. I would bet the difference is almost nothing. Once you play the other clip in between the human brain is no longer capable of being objective about it.
But that would be testing the effect the guitar has on the tone, not the pickup.
But what I think would have been mandatory is a blind test, as well as only playing very short portion of the riff and switching back and forth.
The nazgul sounds too djenty. Don't think i would adapt to that sound
It's subtle for sure, but i hear it. It's always comes down to if it makes you play better. For me, especially when playing live with in ears, anything that gives me a litte more chugg helps me a lot!
if nothing else it Looks Killer 3:) = can't tell due to compression from the camera's Mic
Changing pickups doesn't come through super strong in high gain samples, but for clean/crunch/rock you definitely notice. Feel definitely changes more to me.
I know you're far away but there's a pickup builder here in Ohio that hand winds them for a ridiculous price ($60 US per pickup) that you should try if you can get them shipped, I use them in all my guitars. Bootstrap Pickups
Even though you might not hear a big difference in the clips, even with high gain it definitely matters if you notice a difference while you're playing.
@@SonicDriveStudio oh definitely, I consider that part of the feel but there's still a tone difference. Not huge in the mix but you can hear it no doubt
@TheKLeifheit13 agreed 100%!
I bet the Korean one is african mahogany and the Indonesian one something else... (palaquium)
"WEll, HElllllOooooo Everybodddddddayyyyy!"
Personally I liked SD Distortion more on both guitars.
The guys who say pickups don’t matter are either mixing engineers, hack guitar players, or both.
All of the absolute legends of rock and metal guitar had very specific pickups they loved, or signature pickups they helped develop.
That should tell you everything right there.
How a guitar feels, plays, and inspires you is everything, and pickups are a huge (obvious) part of that.
Exactly, if you can’t hear or feel the nuances that different pickups deliver, you haven’t developed your hearing or playing quite enough. I probably couldn’t hear or feel differences between pickups the first 2-3 years of me playing guitar. It’s something you develop as you go.
But they also gotta pay bills through endorsements
Pickups don't matter. It's all about the tone wood!!!!.......................................................................................... /s
@@stephenchow5161 Oh for sure, I agree, and obviously that is a huge reason why artists get signature pickups.
But when you look at their gear history going back before they made it to that point, they typically almost always have a select few pickups they use, if not just one type.
And then when they do get a signature, it’s usually very closely modeled to what they were using.
@@MarcusW87 That’s a fair point. When I was a beginner I only had one guitar with the old EMG 81/85 set, and that’s what I learned on.
I still remember playing quality passives the first time, and at first I hated it because all of a sudden all my shitty uneven dynamics were on display lmao.
But now years later I don’t own any active pickups.
Why didn't you switch the pickup rings? Looks weird.
Because it looked weird
What’s the guitar tuning? Please?
Drop C
Thank You
It’s easily discernible. It’s fine if people don’t want to care about pickups. But for some big mouths out there trying to say every guitar player is basically a moron for feeling pickups matter a lot, they are just ridiculous. I build guitars and over the years I’ve amassed dozens and dozens of pickups for experimenting in different builds to find the right tone. And being a small builder I can swap a few pickups around before I offer it for sale to just find the perfect tone. And matching pickups to each specific has gotten results I want for my guitars and builds. I’ve absolutely had numerous occurrences where I wasn’t happy at all initially, and some pickup swapping I was able to turn a guitar into one of my all time favorites! I don’t understand how that type of an effect/result can be labeled as “pointless” by some.
Thank you for saying this! It's good to hear perspectives like these
Unfortunately I’m pretty sure I won’t find any difference when in a mix :( my ears aren’t that good haha
One reason I didn't get the snow white is be ause they become yellow . Ugly😢 to me. But my favourite design guitar.
I think sound is a no win debate. Everything changes even our ears.
I love define ,tight and aggressive sound sometimes I need to fight for what was saved maybe new strings maybe my own mood and energy ????? I would buy that distortion instead of nazgul.
Neck through guitars have more bass then any others so having a pup with low bass it helps overall sound hunting.
Poly finishes don't turn yellow.
That's lacquer.
I get the “Feel” thing. I also understand that in a mix there would be almost no perceived difference if any. A mild EQ would clean up the difference if any. I do believe when it comes to feel and inspiration pickups and even construction materials (tone woods) actually matter but on a recording it is of very little consequence.
Yeah but the point is that there's much more to it than how the listener hears it
@@SonicDriveStudio I agree
Subtle, but there is a difference. Pickups matter lol ;)
Subtle in the clips maybe, but not in my hands (and ears) while playing
@@SonicDriveStudio I couldn't agree more. Those small differences can feel huge in the hands. Great video
Pickups matter. Pursue conflict with me.
If they are that subtle its a waste $150. Could be eq'd.
Subtle doesn't equal useless
In my opinion you made the wrong comparisons. What would be much more interesting is if there is any difference of sound coming from the same pickup when swapping the guitar behind it. I am guessing zero.
I think the difference can also be neutralized or even reversed by slight changes in pickup height. To me, tone and everything else really should never be about the audience. It’s like the Henry Ford quote about faster horses. Artists make artistic decisions. You can’t guess or chase what you think the public will like with any success. I’d rather be unpopular with music I personally care about based on my own choices than make more popular music because I mimicked a trend while it was still popular. I got into music to make myself happy.
Glenn Flicker wants to know your location.
Team Pickups swap matter!!!! #getbentfricker!
Meh..in a mix pickups aren't really important. The player notices differences but an audience doesn't, nor do they care. Let's be honest, the real reason we swap parts is because it's fun. As long as it's fun, that's more than enough justification!
Its funny how all people in this topic thinks pickups are a matter of life and dead....dont waste your time with pickups guys for real. Use your time dealing with cabs and amps, thats where the tone comes from...
If a guitar doesn't sound or feel right, and amp or speaker won't be able to fix that....
Give it a rest with the absurd hyperbole, dude. We are talking about guitars. Nothing here is "life and death". But if you've been playing guitar for any length of time and you can't tell the differences between pickups then I really have to question your ear. I agree that amps and speakers make a larger and more easily recognizable difference in the overall sound, but the (mostly) subtle differences in pickups can definitely have a big impact on whether or not a particular guitar works for you. Also, amps and speaker cabinets are much more expensive than pickups are...so experimenting with different amps is financially out of reach for many players, whereas most people with a job can drop $100 on a new pickup.