Do pickups matter more played through a tube amp??

[SepultuRick]

Hi, i have recently acquired my first tube amp. I have stock pickups in my les paul copy. been looking for a reasonably priced duncan distortion on ebay for a while now. anyways just wondering if pickup quality makes more of a difference when it comes to tube amps??

[Scott_F]

Re: Do pickups matter more played through a tube amp??

There are links that make up the Tone Chain. Pickups are an important link. As you increase the quality of one link, weaker links often show their faults in a much more obvious way.

[greendy123]

Re: Do pickups matter more played through a tube amp??

Yeah you can tell the difference easily between good and bad pickups quickly if you use a good tube amp. You can also hear more sensitivity changes from picking between pickup with different outputs.

[OlinMusic]

Re: Do pickups matter more played through a tube amp??

Pickups matter, but I think a good tube amp with good tbes matter FAR FAR MORE. In fact, I think Caps and Tone pots matter a lot more than people think. My friend redid his strat with Callaham parts, WOW what a difference.

Most pickups are like chicken - its all chicken but some people have that extra sauce.

I put much more stock in getting a GREAT tube amp! Cheap pups on a good guitar thru a Bogner SHIVA will still rock if you ask me.

[some_dude]

Re: Do pickups matter more played through a tube amp??

There are links that make up the Tone Chain. Pickups are an important link. As you increase the quality of one link, weaker links often show their faults in a much more obvious way.

That's pretty much what I was going to say, except you said it way better than I could've.

[shredaholic]

Re: Do pickups matter more played through a tube amp??

Yes.

[aleclee]

Re: Do pickups matter more played through a tube amp??

Tubes themselves don't make a difference so much as the overall quality of your signal chain. You'd probably hear a similar difference through a quality non-tube amp.

The way you dial in the amp also makes a difference. It's possible to set things up such that you can hardly tell the difference between neck and bridge pickups, let alone between pickup models in the same position.

I'm a firm believer in the "weakest link" theory. The biggest improvements are going to be made by upgrading the weakest link in your signal chain.

[JacksonMIA]

Re: Do pickups matter more played through a tube amp??

Good point, Alec. If you've got a 59 Les Paul playing through a couple of $300 pedals into a Bogner, but you use a 30 year old, rat eaten Radio Shack cord, then you're probably gonna sound like dung - during the limited time the signal actually makes it to the amp.

That said, you'll be able to tell how much better those real PAF's sound than those $30 generic humbuckers by playing it through the Bogner than through a $50 Epiphone SS amp.