Guitar pickups

bradlente

Hello all,Hoping to get some opinion on guitar pickups in general from anyone round these parts in the know;)

I mostly record and play metal in its various forms as far as guitar is concerned.I have a few different guitars on the go and am thinking of changing the pickups on 1 just to get a different tone going.

Would anyone have any interesting recommendations in this area?It doesn't have to be a pickup thats particularly good for heavy metal,Just any good experiences with some pickups people have bought would be nice.

PaulBrewer

bradlente wrote: »

Hello all,Hoping to get some opinion on guitar pickups in general from anyone round these parts in the know;)

I mostly record and play metal in its various forms as far as guitar is concerned.I have a few different guitars on the go and am thinking of changing the pickups on 1 just to get a different tone going.

Would anyone have any interesting recommendations in this area?It doesn't have to be a pickup thats particularly good for heavy metal,Just any good experiences with some pickups people have bought would be nice.

Depends on the guitar , amp , player , what you want etc etc .

Experiment I'd say . There's no definitive on this.

bradlente

I'll look into it a bit more then,thanks for the reply.My only problem really is that experimenting can sometimes be expensive:o

stateofflux

check the gear set up for your fav metal guitar players...i'd say you will find a few pickups that come up again and again. also look at pickup websites which often have audio samples for tone comparison (i know seymour duncan does for sure)....

TelePaul

Lots of research to be done, but I suggest you make Bare Knuckle Pickups your starting point. I can't stress how great Tim is to deal with and the end product is pretty amazing. I've really come to appreciate them when ABing with stock pups on tape.

bradlente

Never heard of them,Look really interesting and have a nice site too.I'll put a bit more research into their range and then maybe get something from them.I've only really looked at Paul Gilbert's Dimarzio pickups he used for his last album,I think they sound very nice.

Ash.J.Williams

TelePaul wrote: »

Lots of research to be done, but I suggest you make Bare Knuckle Pickups your starting point. I can't stress how great Tim is to deal with and the end product is pretty amazing. I've really come to appreciate them when ABing with stock pups on tape.

I was just looking at them yesterday. Hand made and up there with the best!

OP...
personally i have just fallen for the beauty that is passive pickups. I had a guitar loaded with active EMGs and found it ok until i got meself a mahogany beast with passive pickups ...only then did i realise what i was missing....
with actives i found the sound was either "on" or "off" with the passives there is so much more inbetween!!
Now i notice when i play hard it sounds hard, when i back off the sound backs off...the guitar basically does what i want it to do!!
so that's my tuppence on pickups!

and i would really go and check out the bareknuckle site....they seem to be a great company!

bradlente

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

I was just looking at them yesterday. Hand made and up there with the best!

OP...
personally i have just fallen for the beauty that is passive pickups. I had a guitar loaded with active EMGs and found it ok until i got meself a mahogany beast with passive pickups ...only then did i realise what i was missing....
with actives i found the sound was either "on" or "off" with the passives there is so much more inbetween!!
Now i notice when i play hard it sounds hard, when i back off the sound backs off...the guitar basically does what i want it to do!!
so that's my tuppence on pickups!

and i would really go and check out the bareknuckle site....they seem to be a great company!

Cheers,Thats food for thought.I always thought there would be more dynamics in an active pickup but your experience makes me think twice.

hidinginthebush

What amp are you using OP? Your choice in amp will make a much bigger difference in tone than pickups, plus if you're playing through a poor amp, no amount of pickup change will have that much of a beneficial effect on your rig.

Paolo_M

IMO: any decent humbucker on a decent, well set up geetar, through a decent, well maintained metal amp (5150, Dual Rec etc.) and a solid technique will do. The solid playing technique being the most important factor by a long shot followed by the amp.

In the list of parts to make up the whole I'd say the specific type of hum-bucker is right down at the bottom of the list.
Even then it's purely for different flavours and not improvement.

For recording metal guitar purposes I'd say that ReValver MKIII.V would be a far better investment in tonal variety than any hum-bucker. Couple it with LePou's stuff and the multitude of free IRs.

Maybe not what you want to hear seen as you appear set on a new hum-bucker but that's my 2c.

FYI, I use, and like, Seymour Duncan JBs, DiMarzio Super Distortions, EMG 81 and 85 active and straight up Gibson burst-buckers (I really like the new ones) for metulz.
The decision on which to use is normally dictated by what tuning the guitar on which they're installed is in, the tonal difference are not worth resetting up the guitar for me.

bradlente

hidinginthebush wrote: »

What amp are you using OP? Your choice in amp will make a much bigger difference in tone than pickups, plus if you're playing through a poor amp, no amount of pickup change will have that much of a beneficial effect on your rig.

Eh well right now quite ashamedly nothing!I've a friend that has an old version of something like this http://www.thomann.de/ie/marshall_mg102fx.htm I widdle with the odd time and might take off his hands soon.

Right now my amp is more than often my headphones.I just play through a pedal through an interface but I find its decent enough sound wise,Its a bit more rigid for my recording technique right now which I prefer.I don't have mic's for amps yet and I'm not sure what my room is like with reflections and all.

Am I wrong to be going for pickups at this stage do you think?I understand a good amp will always bring out the nuances of the guitar tone but I didn't think it would be completely fruitless going for something different and adding it into the set up I have now.

bradlente

Some good information there Paulo,Nice one;)

I think you've effectively answered my question.Might be a bit too early to be going for a different pickup.I should worry about a nice amp first and recording it a little.Glad I asked around here first before I splashed out on something.