Pickups?

[rancid]

Can anyone explain in a brief overview what are the advantages and disadvantages of the different pickups for the following pickups and any other pickups that they know of and recommend. Im currently studying the pickups affect on tone and its use of electrical potential in terms of being an active of passive pickup. If anyone here is a pickup professional or can help me out, that would be cool!
Single coil pickups
Humbuckers
EMGs
Seymour Duncans
DiMarzios
Lace Sensors

 

[dmt]

Most of them suck in comparison to Bill Lawrence pickups.

http://www.billlawrence.com

 

[lesterpaul]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_(music)
...click on music...looks pretty comprehensive...

 

[Rocky]

Most of them suck in comparison to Bill Lawrence pickups.

http://www.billlawrence.com

depends on what you like...I havent used a Lawrence (and YES I KNOW ABOUT THE REAL vs. FAKE STUFF) that I liked.

To say that all the others suck is pretty off base.

 

[rancid]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_(music)
...click on music...looks pretty comprehensive...

I've actually already read that, but I want other players opinions as well, because I find there are little things that other musicians say which are not listed on websites, but it's useful information, nonetheless.

 

[domct203]

Regardless of brand, I'll tend to stick with alnico magnet p'ups. For a passive p'up I really like the Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz models. In the actives, the Seymour Duncan Blackout is nice as well as the EMG 60A and 85 or 89.

A Single-Coil p'up is just that, One Coil. A Humbucker is Two single coils fitted together in such a way as to resist hum and noise.

EMG's are nice, but have a very distinct tone to them. They are extremely quiet (as are most active p'ups), and easy to swap around. There's a variety of models, each with their own pros and cons.

Passive p'ups tend to be more 'organic' sounding. Actives have alot of punch and authority.

Do some web research on p'up construction, magnet types, coils etc.

Hope that helps!

Dom

 

[rancid]

Regardless of brand, I'll tend to stick with alnico magnet p'ups. For a passive p'up I really like the Seymour Duncan JB and Jazz models. In the actives, the Seymour Duncan Blackout is nice as well as the EMG 60A and 85 or 89.

A Single-Coil p'up is just that, One Coil. A Humbucker is Two single coils fitted together in such a way as to resist hum and noise.

EMG's are nice, but have a very distinct tone to them. They are extremely quiet (as are most active p'ups), and easy to swap around. There's a variety of models, each with their own pros and cons.

Passive p'ups tend to be more 'organic' sounding. Actives have alot of punch and authority.

Do some web research on p'up construction, magnet types, coils etc.

Hope that helps!

Dom

Thanks!! Thats exactly the kind of advice i needed! Ill look into those Seymour Duncans and those EMGs!

 

[lesterpaul]

the tone you are looking for is a key player here-in alnico pups,different magnets crop up-Al II and III are generally softer,rounder sounding-found in a lot of jazz applications.....AlIV is associated with that vintage PAF tone,while Al V is used in a lot of more contempary designs("hotter")
-ceramic magnets are very powerful and lend themselves to fast tracking,lots of compression,lots of "heat"
-I like Al Iv and V best(Les Paul + Mark series amps)...I believe Slash is assciated with Al II..owned a set before, but they weren't my "cup o' tea"-

 

[aberrant]

Single Coil 250k
Humbucker 500k
P-90 750k
Active 1000k

 

[lesterpaul]

pot....yet another cool guitar / drug reference.... 8)

 

[rancid]

What are your opinions on Lace's Alumitone pickups?

 

[dmt]

Gibson 'Dirty Fingers'

Bill Lawrence L500XL

emg's certainly sound like **** in comparison...

::edited for stupidity::

 

[user 7737]

Single Coil 250k
Humbucker 500k
P-90 750k
Active 1000k

you mean that a p-90 needs a 750k pot ?

 

[plumptone]

As already said - single coil is just that. If you want the definitive strat or tele sound, these are the way to go, either Fender branded or Seymour Duncan or others already mentioned. The main problem with these though is the noise. 60-Cycle hum is an inherent problem with this type of pickup.

Fender makes some noiseless single coils, that stay pretty true to the strat sound, and really work in terms of getting rid of the noise. My experience with these pickups, however, is that they don't seem to have a real strong output. You can obviously compensate to some degree by adusting amp settings, but they don't seem to bark and bite the way a real single coil should.

Lace sensors are great, in my opinion. I have a 1988 strat plus that came stock with the gold lace sensors, and they rock. There's no noise to speak of, and they definitely cop the sound of a good old 50's strat pickup. The real advantage to these though is because there aren't the magnetic pole pieces sticking up, you can actually raise the height of these pickups as high as you want without any magnetic interference with the strings. What this means is that you can get a very hot output if you want. If you're going for a noiseless single coil-type pickup, these are the way to go in my opinion.

 

[crisis]

Anyone had any experience with Tom Anderson pick ups? I am looking at the H3+ for the bridge through a Single Recto for mainly high gain sounds.

 

[Rocky]

I collect Tom Anderson guitars. Have used most of his pickups. The H3+ is REALLY hot. If you drop it in front of a hot amp you will have buzzsaw tone. Mind you I think the Rec series sound like buzzsaws anyway.

A lower output pickup will sound much better with a hot amp. Try an H2 or an H2+....both are still hot but not over the top like the H3+

If you are a guy that splits coils a lot the H3+ is great....but most guys asking about super high gain arent into single coil tones.

 

[lesterpaul]

very popular pup-TA stuff kicks ***....dont know the specs...

 

[Rocky]

Tom's humbuckers are made with a completely different configuration from any other maker. There is more to them than just big pole pieces.

Regular pickup output ratings dont really work with anderson pickups.

 

[lesterpaul]

I collect Tom Anderson guitars. Have used most of his pickups. The H3+ is REALLY hot. If you drop it in front of a hot amp you will have buzzsaw tone. Mind you I think the Rec series sound like buzzsaws anyway.

A lower output pickup will sound much better with a hot amp. Try an H2 or an H2+....both are still hot but not over the top like the H3+

If you are a guy that splits coils a lot the H3+ is great....but most guys asking about super high gain arent into single coil tones.

..this is spot on,IMO-a lower pup sounds much better in my MK amps,fo sho'!!and I have played around with a bunch...for dynamics,wood,etc..the hotter pups are overkill-mileage , as always, varies

 

[crisis]

I collect Tom Anderson guitars. Have used most of his pickups. The H3+ is REALLY hot. If you drop it in front of a hot amp you will have buzzsaw tone. Mind you I think the Rec series sound like buzzsaws anyway.

A lower output pickup will sound much better with a hot amp. Try an H2 or an H2+....both are still hot but not over the top like the H3+

If you are a guy that splits coils a lot the H3+ is great....but most guys asking about super high gain arent into single coil tones.

The description on the website says the H3s were designed especially for Rectos. Thats what got my attention.