The power of pickups

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tallcoolone said:
The only time pickups really matter for me is when a neck/body/combo are flat. That’s where the right combo of wire to magnet can really make a difference. A great guitar sounds great with anything IME
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It may sound great with anything but it will still sound different with just about everything.
 
Every little piece of your rig effects the tone. Even down to the fucking wires. Some just effects the tone more than others. I learned from trying dozens of kazoos made from different woods that wood does make a difference, but only to instruments where you listen to the instrument itself. The electronics in and amplified signal matter more because the end result is electric. There is still a relationship between pickups and wood that needs to be respected. Otherwise you wouldn't have loads of guitarists love a JB/59 in their Mahogany guitars, and hate them in Alder or Ash.
 
I don't judge any pickup without a really well made pot, lie the R&S Superpots.
 
Geo said:
I don't judge any pickup without a really well made pot, lie the R&S Superpots.
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You know, this is an interesting point. I have had some terrible pickups that were in cheap guitars, but possibly the pickup wasnt bad. I always changed out all electronics at same time, so never tested the pickup with a good pot.

Seymour duncan low friction are my favorite, but the dicks at jackson put an evh round pole pot in my guitar despite my instructions, so i roll with those for now. They are bigger, so if you change back, you get that looseness that irritates the fuck out of me
 
It's funny, I have had amps where almost all hot pickups sound the same. An example wouls be the EVH 5150 Stealth 100. Most of my guitars and pickups were very similar. While others, like my Koch there us a huge difference.
 
Smashedguitaris⸸ said:
You know, this is an interesting point. I have had some terrible pickups that were in cheap guitars, but possibly the pickup wasnt bad. I always changed out all electronics at same time, so never tested the pickup with a good pot.

Seymour duncan low friction are my favorite, but the dicks at jackson put an evh round pole pot in my guitar despite my instructions, so i roll with those for now. They are bigger, so if you change back, you get that looseness that irritates the fuck out of me
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If i could get away with it I wouldn't have pots at all, and just use a volume pedal.

But i'd have to put pots in the guitar if I sell it anyways, so they go in.

I don't notice a huge difference in brands of pot tbh, but there's a huge difference in a 440 and a 500, and a big difference in caps.
 
DanTravis62 said:
If i could get away with it I wouldn't have pots at all, and just use a volume pedal.

But i'd have to put pots in the guitar if I sell it anyways, so they go in.

I don't notice a huge difference in brands of pot tbh, but there's a huge difference in a 440 and a 500, and a big difference in caps.
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I do not use caps. Only a volume pot. But i thought about wiring straight to output, but i heard it is noisy
 
I suppose you would have to put cap to ground in that scenario..just wonder what would be your ground. I guess the output ground would catch it all.
 
Smashedguitaris⸸ said:
I do not use caps. Only a volume pot. But i thought about wiring straight to output, but i heard it is noisy
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I have used a push-pull pot for this..
When up it was going straight to the jack...

it gives you more output and more high-mids...
 
Smashedguitaris⸸ said:
But when it went straight to jack, did it have a load?
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Honestly this may be much simpler than i accounted for. Glen fricker could be more correct than not.

The les paul has volume/tone/cap. Whereas the jackson has a volume. This could easily explain the darker tone. Now here is the real question. What value resistor should i go to ground with? 470? 300?
 
Well, an Alnico 8 loaded pickup (especially in a Les Paul) might just be darker than a Custom/59 Hybrid.
I have one in my main LPC and it is a great pickup. Paired it with a Pearly Gates neck. 🤘
 
To my ear, you have to look really hard to find a guitar that does not sound great with either a Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid or an OG ceramic mag Duncan Custom. Of course, some guitars respond better than others, but I have yet to find a guitar in which either one of the aforementioned didn’t sound really, really good.
 
PDC said:
To my ear, you have to look really hard to find a guitar that does not sound great with either a Duncan 59/Custom Hybrid or an OG ceramic mag Duncan Custom. Of course, some guitars respond better than others, but I have yet to find a guitar in which either one of the aforementioned didn’t sound really, really good.
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I dislike both of those pickups tbh :dunno:


I love the Custom 5 alnico (sh14) though. The sh-6 can sound fantastic for certain types of tones too.

Ceramic customs sound boring and/or "stock" to me, even when someone famous is playing them.

I'm pretty sure this is a taste thing and not an objective one though - lots of people love both of those pickups. They just don't seem to work for me.
 
DanTravis62 said:
I dislike both of those pickups tbh :dunno:


I love the Custom 5 alnico (sh14) though. The sh-6 can sound fantastic for certain types of tones too.

Ceramic customs sound boring and/or "stock" to me, even when someone famous is playing them.

I'm pretty sure this is a taste thing and not an objective one though - lots of people love both of those pickups. They just don't seem to work for me.
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I always wanted to try a custom or custom 5. Now is not the time to go somewhere new, but back to familiarity. I went boutique and love the ironman and wicked 8. Hopefully i still like the 59/custom. I want a medium out put to not hit the front so hard
 
Should work then. The C/59 Hybrid is a hefty medium, not high output. I use it mostly in a 70s/80s classic rock/hard rock coverband.

Custom 5 is nice as well with a bigger (but still toight) low end, but lacks some of the mid kerrang and sizzle that the C/59 Hybrid has. C5 is maybe more polite/balanced.

FWIW, I use the Custom 5 (in my ESP Horizon NTII) in the same band and I had it before in the same Les Paul Custom where it sounded yuuuge too. 🤘
 
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