Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

[ItsaBass]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

They all sound about the same to me. I think the only differences from example to example can easily be chalked up to differences in the way they were played, and/or string variation set to set. They could all easily be equalized with minor changes in amp settings, pick choice, and palm muting. #1 sounds like my favorite, but I really had to split hairs to decide that.

[Jeffrec]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

I love the sound of #3. Nice clarity with the right amount of sustain. #1 was too distorted IMO

[esandes]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

#1 for the rich, clear harmonics. #2 is a close second but not as good as #1.

[zenmindbeginner]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

That's a pretty harsh characterization. A lot of people like that kind of honk in their pickups. Isn't that a quality people look for in vintage PAF's?

"Extremely annoying" is total hyperbole but we all know that GuitarDoc is full of piss/vinegar and wakes up on the wrong side of the bed nearly 300 days a year.

I liked Number 1 the best but they all sounded good to my ears.

[Myaccount876]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

#2 by far. Nice and smooth, not ice picky, balanced to my ears.

#3 was way too thin for my liking, #4 wasn't as bad. #1 would be my second favorite, but had a little bit too much bite, but sounds good. #2 just sounded the best all around.

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

Update coming soon. Try to upload tonight.

[JHN]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

#2 for me

[Myaccount876]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

So what are the pickups?

[scarr]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

Initially, I setup the amp and mic using the guitar with pickup 3 so I think the settings complimented that pickup but weren't optimal for the other pickups. I think this was the basic flaw in my test. Pickup 1 is the most balanced of them all so I probably should have used that one to set up the recording.

This is a flaw in most pickup comparisons. If your rig is setup in a way that most everything sounds good through it, and you change guitars for flavour, then it's ok. If you tweaked for one particular guitar, and then run a different guitar and/or pickup through it, it won't complement that guitar/pickup as well as if you retweaked for it. For example, if you turn the treble down to warm up a Strat, a fat modern humbucker will sound muffled. (Not an attack on UMD; general "you"s intended throughout.)

[J E C]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

I like #2 for it beefy low end and #3 for it nice nasally wine on the high end. Don't know if I described it right, but my two cents worth. So dos inflation affect opinion? Cause I'm sure when that term was coined you could buy one hell of a lot more with your two cents then than you can now! LOL

[Ascension]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

I went 4 and then 3 was second.
I hear something smooth and sweet in the attack and compression of 4 that I don't hear in the rest. 3 was close but lacked that smooth compression 1 was overly bright and harsh and 2 has a nasty fuzzy fizzy hair to it that I don't care for.

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

So what are the pickups?

They're all Dimarzio pickups except #4 which is a PATB-1. The first one is a Dimarzio Breed. The second is a Dimarzio Norton. The third one is a Dimarzio Norton with a nickel base plate and an unpolished A2 magnet - HOWEVER, I highly prefer a polished A2 magnet than the unpolished one. The polished A2 sounds more like the A5 and has more output than the roughcast, but still retains a lot of the cool, smooth qualities of the roughcast A2. I have a polished A2 with the copper base plate in there now by the way. Although the nickel base plate is slightly more buttery, the copper base plate gives it a more pronounced "aw" sound and a little more punch.

This is a flaw in most pickup comparisons. If your rig is setup in a way that most everything sounds good through it, and you change guitars for flavour, then it's ok. If you tweaked for one particular guitar, and then run a different guitar and/or pickup through it, it won't complement that guitar/pickup as well as if you retweaked for it. For example, if you turn the treble down to warm up a Strat, a fat modern humbucker will sound muffled. (Not an attack on UMD; general "you"s intended throughout.)

No offense taken and thanks for taking the time to comment. When I initially did it, I didn't realize how effective the EQ controls were on my Goldfinger 90. Just a couple of little tweaks and it sounds a lot different.

[Myaccount876]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

They're all Dimarzio pickups except #4 which is a PATB-1. The first one is a Dimarzio Breed. The second is a Dimarzio Norton. The third one is a Dimarzio Norton with a nickel base plate and an unpolished A2 magnet - HOWEVER, I highly prefer a polished A2 magnet than the unpolished one. The polished A2 sounds more like the A5 and has more output than the roughcast, but still retains a lot of the cool, smooth qualities of the roughcast A2. I have a polished A2 with the copper base plate in there now by the way. Although the nickel base plate is slightly more buttery, the copper base plate gives it a more pronounced "aw" sound and a little more punch.



No offense taken and thanks for taking the time to comment. When I initially did it, I didn't realize how effective the EQ controls were on my Goldfinger 90. Just a couple of little tweaks and it sounds a lot different.

Nice, knew I liked the sound of the Breed, but surprised I liked the Norton. Never really considered that pup but I will now. Also would like a Tone Zone with an A8, and a Super Distortion. Been really getting into Dimarzio pickups lately.

[UberMetalDood]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

Man a Tone Zone with an A8 sounds like it would be way too thick and hot, but it would interesting to hear how it turns out. In my experience, you can usually get a real good idea of what a pickup will sound like with another magnet if you're familiar with the pickup and qualities of different magnets. However, sometimes you get something totally unexpected. The A2 Norton was a real surprise to me and apparently people overwhelmingly like it. Let me know if you ever do that mag swap.

[sosomething]

Re: Listen to these 4 bridge pickups and tell me what you think

I preferred the breed. It had a bit of midrange honk and an audible pick attack, but was still open enough to sound lyrical.

I didn't think any of them sounded terrible OR incredible, though. No real strong feelings one way or the other.