Best Pickup in terms of Technical Specifications, not Tone

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Best Pickup in terms of Technical Specifications, not Tone

Hi,

What is the BEST pickup in terms of Technical Specifications.


By this, I mean which PU meets MOST of the following technical specifications. All PUs, brands, types, active, passive count here.

-Frequency response (the wider and flatter the better)
-Noise (the Lower the Better)
-Output (The higher the better, without compromising Sustain via string pull)
-Sustain (the higher the better, without compromising Output)
-String Pull (the lower the better)
-Dynamic Range (the higher the better)

Only tech specs. Terms such as 'Transparency', 'Response', etc don't count.

Please fell free to comment. I'd be happy to hear your thoughts.

Regards,
Danny Bullo

No matter what, you're going to run into personal preference. "Wider and flatter" frequency response does not always mean "better" to everyone. Some prefer a more focused pickup that sits in a specific place in a mix.

Same with output - not everyone wants the most powerful pickup. Some prefer a lower output pickup.

[dr. ad]

Re: Best Pickup in terms of Technical Specifications, not Tone

OP, i would suggest abandoning this thread and starting another thread with a different title, ie "pickup modelling*?"

what you'll see here is that, as the metalmaniac has pointed out, forum members tend to glance at a thread title and go in point blank/shoot from the hip/go off half-cocked/miss the mark, or similar marksman-related figure of speech.

i was tempted to throw some blackouts vs dimarzio 31st anniversary fuel on the fire myself, or something about piezos being **** (*being australian, my own idioms are of course based on alcohol, vandalism, or general obscenity).

welcome to the SDUGF!

[bullo]

Re: Best Pickup in terms of Technical Specifications, not Tone

Thinking that a linear frequency response is useful in a pickup simply betrays ignorance. Ever heard of "resonance frequency"?

You know...I've heard....a lot....i know a lot...and i like to learn more....THAT IS WHY I ASK THIS QUESTION.

the ignorance in yours and those who think that the 'correct thing' is what they used to. A DI guitar sounds bad? NO!!! depending what you want!

I just isolated the most common specs and noted what I think it could be better. IE. for me the stronger the output the better becase it means you wont need too much pre amp gain, and thus you will have a cleaner signal...


of course there is a limit based on the conventions...otherwise you will overdrive the amp input a lot! same in mixing consoles....line level is standard at around 1.2V peak to peak....

you know....i LOVE the image of an OLD TUBE TV set I had when I was a kid.... It had a very distinctive image.....however....no one will question that any LCD will display the image "BETTER" . AND....
BETTER=WITH MORE FIDELITY
MORE FIDELITY=MORE SIMILAR TO CAPTURED SIGNAL (video in this case).

Last: I've got very tired of CD vs Vinyl back in 2000 when I was doing a lot of electronic music...the same as here....you may love vinyl....but CD is better based on the above. Period. You wont make a vinyl sound like a CD. You def can make a cd sound like a vinyl...

[bullo]

Re: Best Pickup in terms of Technical Specifications, not Tone

Sounds like you want a condenser microphone on a guitar with no pickups. Everything else is going to color/compromise the sound in one way or another.

hehehe....pretty much.......not practical but that id wht i aimed to.....

[AlexR]

Re: Best Pickup in terms of Technical Specifications, not Tone

Problem is.....what 'perfect signal' are you trying to capture here. I can understand getting a perfect picture on your TV, as we all know what grass and trees look like, and more fidelity means more like what our eyes see. No 'guitar tone' ever produced is a perfect capture of a solid body guitar, and its the 'imperfection' that we all strive for.

Thats the issue I think that a lot of us (me included) have with this theoretical chase.
I mean if you want to try, there are plenty of small mics which you could fit in a pickup cavity.....I'd be 99.9% sure you'd hate what you heard though.

[Natman]

Re: Best Pickup in terms of Technical Specifications, not Tone

But even if he is displaying ignorance and doing it wrong, how is he going to learn if we're busting his chops? Ignorance isn't a choice. I think it's better to point out where he's got it wrong and inform him without being harsh or he'll miss the point and just assume we're a bunch of *******s, not take away anything and go somewhere else with the exact same point of view.

Agreed -hope I didn't come off like that. Bullo, we're mostly a decent crowd here and kudos for questioning. I just don't think there's much more to investigate here? Take a look at Taylor's acoustic pickup system. That's a pretty complete way of reproducing the original signal. But if you're going to go to that much trouble, just mic the guitar! Doesn't carry over to a solidbody very well however

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Best Pickup in terms of Technical Specifications, not Tone

Can't compare tube TV vs LCD, as either one has its pros and cons. I have yet to see any TV of any type from tube to LED to LCD to plasma that has consistently true-to-life color. If I can't look out my window and see a tree or grass or water the same color as it is on my tv, the tv does not have true color.

Of course, my TVs don't cost $5000, either.

As for the cleanliness of signal, a high output pickup will overdrive the amp's input unless the string is plucked just-so consistently, which cannot be done.

I think what you may be looking for is a Variax.
Or simply get used to the idea that if you want a Les Paul tone, get a Les Paul, and if you want a Strat tone, get a Strat.