Best amp to hear differences between pickups?

[sumitagarwal]

Kind of a funny question, but if you were to pick a single amp, not specific to any genre, to really bring out the differences in tone between pickups which amp would that be?

Presumably such an amp would also be ideal for showcasing the difference between wiring configurations, build/hardware/tonewoods of the guitar as well.

[Securb]

I would say the Roland JC 120, it is very neutral by design without a lot of colorization of tone when playing it dry. Or some type of Fender, preferably a Twin.

[GuitarStv]

I think you just want an amp that you know very well and that works in the genre you play. My preference would be lower gain/edge of breakup type stuff. Lots of compression and gain can mask the sound of pickups.

A tweed deluxe and a blackface deluxe reverb are wildly different sounding amps, but I could see either one working great for this.

[sumitagarwal]

Yea, I'm thinking the amps mentioned would be good for hearing the core tonality. What about also factoring in the way different electronics and pickups allow for moving into and out of grit through picking technique and guitar knob position?

[Securb]

Yea, I'm thinking the amps mentioned would be good for hearing the core tonality. What about also factoring in the way different electronics and pickups allow for moving into and out of grit through picking technique and guitar knob position?

I would say the same amps with some type of Marshall-in-a-box in front of them or simply a Marshall.

[NegativeEase]

I would say the Roland JC 120, it is very neutral by design without a lot of colorization of tone when playing it dry. Or some type of Fender, preferably a Twin.

This is absolutely the answer

[Ewizard]

The amp that I build

It's not the amp so much as the speaker I feel for that kind of comparison. If you have an amp with a real clean channel, the speaker is what is going to make any changes more evident. Think full-range response. You need the lows, the mids, and the highs, not a speaker that will mask the brightness of one pickup over another.

[ICTGoober]

Ultimately, you'd want something with a flat response - but most players don't like that sound.

[sumitagarwal]

Ultimately, you'd want something with a flat response - but most players don't like that sound.

Agreed. I'd also argue that the response affects how the player plays, and that will vary based on pickup output, attack, etc. So you'd need an amp that at least responds interactively with that.

I've been playing a Fender Super 6G4 clone and a JTM45 clone. The Super feel really neutral but interactive in a way that plays uniquely with each pickup. The JTM45 has more crystalline clarity to show the detail of each pickup, but retains much less of the dynamics since it goes into grind so easily, especially on the high end.

[Ascension]

For me a good responsive touch sensitive tube amp. I prefer some thing like say a JCM 900 MK III Marshall or my PRS Archon that really responds to touch and will clean up with the guitar volume control. At the least some thing like say a good Fender Deluxe Reverb. My biggest thing is how any pickup responds to picking dynamics, volume roll off ect. I will also run straight amp with no effects as I want to hear the pickup and the amp interact and nothing else.

[Securb]

Ultimately, you'd want something with a flat response - but most players don't like that sound.

Which is why I suggested the JC 120. It was designed as a guitar and keyboard, so it is relatively flat and even across all frequencies. The speakers are full-range, designed to capture all of the tonal ranges of a synthesizer. It was also designed to sound "cold" the engineers did not want the warmth of a tube amp coloring the sound. For these reasons, the amp is an incredible pedal platform. It is also fantastic at capturing the tone of the guitar/pickups.

[Mincer]

For me, either a Twin of a Deluxe on 1 or 2. Something I am familiar with across several types of guitars and pickups. I wouldn't want any breakup at all, since I want to see if a pickup compresses the signal and if so, how much.

[Ascension]

Which is why I suggested the JC 120. It was designed as a guitar and keyboard, so it is relatively flat and even across all frequencies. The speakers are full-range, designed to capture all of the tonal ranges of a synthesizer. It was also designed to sound "cold" the engineers did not want the warmth of a tube amp coloring the sound. For these reasons, the amp is an incredible pedal platform. It is also fantastic at capturing the tone of the guitar/pickups.

For me I want the total opposite. I more than anything need to hear how a pickup will respond at gain through a real tube amp to touch and technique. Playing clean through a hi fi amp like the JC 120 ( and have owned a couple over the years BTW) is pretty useless for me to evaluate a pickup for my needs. Has to do with how I learned to play primarily running a high gain single channel amp and using my guitar volume and touch to clean up and open up the tone. Playing pure clean is deceptive for what I want a pickup to do. What you are looking for with the clean tones may be completely different.
Example is this spontaneous thing here playing my Carvin DC 400 with a Sentient and Hybrid through my little Boogie Subway Rocket. I running mostly on the gain channel here pretty dirty with very few effects in the loop. I'm using the guitar volume and touch here to open up my tone and running pure clean to demo these pickups wont tell me if this pickup combo will do this.

Saying this because for my needs as a player I need to evaluate a pickup and how it responds differently evidently than you do. To decide what amp to use can be dependent on what a individual player is looking for in how a pickup responds to certain things. I do agree with you on how the JC 120 takes some pedals though. There is a reason i have owned several of those amps over the years I just don't want to carry a JC 120 around to much anymore LOL.

[JB_From_Hell]

Which is why I suggested the JC 120. It was designed as a guitar and keyboard, so it is relatively flat and even across all frequencies. The speakers are full-range, designed to capture all of the tonal ranges of a synthesizer. It was also designed to sound "cold" the engineers did not want the warmth of a tube amp coloring the sound. For these reasons, the amp is an incredible pedal platform. It is also fantastic at capturing the tone of the guitar/pickups.

My teenage rig was a JC120 with a Peavey Rockmaster tube preamp in front. I didn't know crap about effects loops at the time, so I plugged it into the input. At the time, the tones I was chasing were Slayer, Master of Puppets thru Black Album Metallica, and Pantera. My cleans sounded like Dime's, and the high gain was absolutely ferocious.

That Pedal Show did an episode trying the JC120 as a pedal platform amp in response to all the hate it gets. Mick and Dan were thoroughly impressed and got the usual array of killer sounds they get with any amp. Their bottom line was basically if you don't like that amp as a pedal platform, it's probably because you've never tried one.

[Securb]

My teenage rig was a JC120 with a Peavey Rockmaster tube preamp in front. I didn't know crap about effects loops at the time, so I plugged it into the input..

You did the right thing. I plugged my Chandler Tube Driver into the loop of the JC once and did not like it at all. It sounded too sterile. Plugged in the front of the amp, the Chandler makes the JC sounds like a very powerful well, defined Marshall. IMO the JC 120 is a great amp for high-gain applications.