It is currently Tue Mar 17, 2020 12:16 am

All times are UTC - 7 hours



Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 36 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next
Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next

which pickups are the best?
Poll ended at Thu May 22, 2008 3:23 pm
Seymour Duncan 76%  76%  [ 19 ]
EMG 12%  12%  [ 3 ]
DiMarzio 12%  12%  [ 3 ]
Total votes : 25
Author Message
Post subject:
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:27 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Thu Aug 02, 2007 1:02 pm
Posts: 718
Without question to my ears and in my humble opinion, after trying numerous pickups including humbuckers, single coils, vintage noiseless, hot noiseless SCNs, dimarzios, and even listening to all Kinman's samples the greatest of all pickups in my humble opinion are -
'
Fender custom shop single coils, with reverse polarity middle p'up for hum cancelling. Accept no substitutes. Accept no fascimiles. Why not EMG? Why not Dimarzio? Why not SCN?

Kinman's really impressive and he actually explains it well on his web site when he goes through the qualities of the sound made by the pickups. He even givest the SCNs their due - which is boost the eq to maximum and they can sound decent. The classic Custom Shop Fender single coils have the complex tone that makes Fender Stratocasters unique and beautiful. Cleans are like bells, with the neck adding an extra dimension of a chorus like soft bell sound, and the bridge more ringing bells. With the gain up, my CS Tx Specials take things to another level with liquid tone pouring out of my little Blues Junior. Nothing else I've played in a lot of experimenting - including not just noiseless and other makes but also Fender's oem single coils in the Highway One and American Standard - comes close to my Custom Shop pickups. Also, the Custom Shop pickups are very quiet. They have little hum in any position. Something about how Fender is doing them. With hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4, there's no hum at all.

Fender's best is the Custom Shop. It is the best, and quiet too. Forget the other stuff.

_________________
"Now, bring me that horizon."
-Capt. Jack Sparrow


Top
Profile
Fender Play Winter Sale 2020
Post subject:
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 4:16 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:48 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Houston
Quote:
Well, that's an inaccurate assessment, too. No pickup I've ever encountered works "like an on/off switch," and the EMGs I've been playing for over a decade certainly don't. They are extremely touch sensitive. As for sounding "the same reqardless of how you strike the strings or where you have the volume or tone controls..." that's just pure eyewash.


Well, since you weren't there you can't really make an accurate assesment of the three guitars (Jackson, Epi SG clone and modded LP Studio) I've played with EMGs can you? FWIW, maybe these weren't set up right. No touch senstivity (thank you for defining the term I was looking for BTW) at all and that's why I didn't like them. Maybe yours are set up differently since you've been playing them for as long as you have. Maybe it's diffent playing techniques, or signal chain, but I stand by my comments on the ones I've played.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:33 pm
Offline
Hobbyist
Hobbyist

Joined: Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:47 pm
Posts: 9
Gravity Jim wrote:
flyingarmadillo wrote:
I My opinion is that EMGs are soulless, the same sound whether they're in a Strat or an LP.


It's true that there is no "best" pickup, but because I use EMGs (the SV 'Strat Vintage' model) in my main guitar, this comment always bugs me.

Different models of EMGs don't even sound like each other, let alone sound the same in any guitar. Yet, the "soulless" and/or "sterile" (I guess as opposed to soulful and dirty) riff gets repeated over and over, often by people who have never even played a guitar with EMGs in it.

Armadillo, what frequencies should be cut or boosted to produce "soul?" Can you describe the frequency curves that produce more or less soul?


I've placed EMG in many of my guitars, and yanked them out. The have no heart, just plain and bland.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:46 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:44 am
Posts: 7282
Location: Washington
strat58cat wrote:
... the greatest of all pickups in my humble opinion are - Fender custom shop single coils, with reverse polarity middle p'up for hum cancelling. Accept no substitutes. Accept no fascimiles.


Any low-output, Alnico magnet single coils will work for me.

Luckily, that's what most of my Strats came with ...

_________________
Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Image


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 9:43 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Sat Jan 19, 2008 4:04 am
Posts: 464
Location: Hungary
Vintage Noisless is fav now :wink:


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 2:22 pm
Offline
Amateur
Amateur

Joined: Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:42 pm
Posts: 156
Have EVERYONE listed on at least one of my Fenders. The one's on Strats are:
Seymour Duncan Lil 59 (2)
" " Hot Rails (1)
" " JB Jr (1)
" " single coil (1)

Dimarzio SD-1 (6)
Dimarzio Fat Strat (1)
Dimarzio DP100 (1)
Dimarzio "unknown humbucker" (1)
Dimarzio "designed" single coil (2)

Fender Lace RED (3)
Fender Lace Humbucker (1)

Fender Allan Holdsworth Humbucker (1)

stock Fender Alnico (too many to count)

I own 15 Strats SO.......

Different pickups for different sounds


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 5:06 pm
Offline
Rock Star
Rock Star
User avatar

Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 3:47 pm
Posts: 4294
Location: Somewhere near Seattle
Considering that David Gilmour is one of the most toneful and soulful players I've ever heard and the fact that he uses EMG's on one of his most famous strats.....I'd say the EMG's are fine pups. I'd say technique has a lot to do with your tone no matter what pickup you use.

_________________
"is that a real poncho...i mean
Is that a mexican poncho
Or is that a sears poncho?
Hmmm...no foolin ...." FZ


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:18 pm
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician

Joined: Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:48 pm
Posts: 336
Location: Houston
Actually Gilmore is on record as saying he doesn't particularly care for the EMGs because they sounded "to much like humbuckers and not enough like a strat" but they where neccessary because the large venues they were playing had too much RFI and other electric/electronic noise for the vintage strat pickups he prefered. I do agree he gets a pretty nice sound out of them.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 6:17 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:31 am
Posts: 940
Just because I get weary of the "EMG's have no life, they're 'soulless' and 'sterile'" routine, I'm going to prove a point.

EMG makes lot of single coils and humbuckers, and they don't all sound the same... so making any statement that beings "EMG's sound like..." is already wrong.

For example, I use the SV's, which stands for Strat Vintage. They have exposed pole pieces and are voiced with the same kind of percussive snap that old Strat pickups have. Unlike flat-capped EMGs, they do exhibit a concentrated magnetic pull above the poles, and need to be cranked down for best tone. They are not extraordinarily high output, but they are the quietest pickups in the line, creating so little self-noise they are virtually silent.

This is what they sound like, plugged straight into a 5-watt tube amp through a vintage 10" Eminence speaker.. Ignore the fluffs and the nasty dead note near the end of the second phrase... just notice the touch sensitivity, remarkable sustain and vocal quality of these pickups, all while remaining silent (with this guitar plugged into this amp, you can't tell if it's turned on or not without looking at the jewel lamp).

http://www.gravitymusic.com/audio/SoGreenSoBlue.mp3

I hope this will enlighten some of you to the fact that the "EMG's are sterile" bit is echo chamber info.

BTW, this track is © 2007 Gravity Music (ASCAP), all rights reserved.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 6:57 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 4:57 am
Posts: 13164
Location: Peckham: where the snow leopards roam
Hey, nice track, Jim. Great respect to you, sir.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:43 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:31 am
Posts: 940
Ceri wrote:
Hey, nice track, Jim. Great respect to you, sir.


No respect sought or required, sir, but thanks for the kind words.

A good friend custom built the amp for me, and I was so knocked out that the day it arrived I knocked out this track just to share the sound with him and others. The amp is covered in green Tolex, hence the goofy title.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:48 am
Offline
Rock Icon
Rock Icon
User avatar

Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 4:57 am
Posts: 13164
Location: Peckham: where the snow leopards roam
Gravity Jim wrote:
No respect sought or required, sir, but thanks for the kind words.

A good friend custom built the amp for me, and I was so knocked out that the day it arrived I knocked out this track just to share the sound with him and others. The amp is covered in green Tolex, hence the goofy title.


You just knocked that out. Uh-hu.

Time to switch off the computer and get back to my practicing, quick...!


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:56 am
Offline
Amateur
Amateur
User avatar

Joined: Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:24 am
Posts: 119
One vote here for Burstbuckers.

Nice track Jim!

Rat


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:02 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2007 11:31 am
Posts: 940
hrt4hoops wrote:
One vote here for Burstbuckers.

Nice track Jim!

Rat


Thanks, man. Burtsbuckers are swell... my fave humbucker is the Pearly Gates.


Top
Profile
Post subject:
Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 10:14 am
Offline
Aspiring Musician
Aspiring Musician
User avatar

Joined: Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:56 pm
Posts: 875
Location: Oregon
Gravity Jim wrote:
Just because I get weary of the "EMG's have no life, they're 'soulless' and 'sterile'" routine, I'm going to prove a point.

EMG makes lot of single coils and humbuckers, and they don't all sound the same... so making any statement that beings "EMG's sound like..." is already wrong.

For example, I use the SV's, which stands for Strat Vintage. They have exposed pole pieces and are voiced with the same kind of percussive snap that old Strat pickups have. Unlike flat-capped EMGs, they do exhibit a concentrated magnetic pull above the poles, and need to be cranked down for best tone. They are not extraordinarily high output, but they are the quietest pickups in the line, creating so little self-noise they are virtually silent.

This is what they sound like, plugged straight into a 5-watt tube amp through a vintage 10" Eminence speaker.. Ignore the fluffs and the nasty dead note near the end of the second phrase... just notice the touch sensitivity, remarkable sustain and vocal quality of these pickups, all while remaining silent (with this guitar plugged into this amp, you can't tell if it's turned on or not without looking at the jewel lamp).

http://www.gravitymusic.com/audio/SoGreenSoBlue.mp3

I hope this will enlighten some of you to the fact that the "EMG's are sterile" bit is echo chamber info.

BTW, this track is © 2007 Gravity Music (ASCAP), all rights reserved.


Sounds good to me!


Top
Profile
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 36 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next
Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next

All times are UTC - 7 hours

Fender Play Winter Sale 2020

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to: