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Hey guys,
What are the approximate frequencies SD uses for their BMT designations? I find relying on the BMT numbers to be a mixed bag, at best.
For me, when mixing, I find about 0-400 to be lows, 400-1000 to be low mids, 1000-3000 to be upper mids, and 3000-7000 to be highs.
Yet I feel like if I get an SD pickup that emphasizes what they consider mids, I'm getting largely unusable lows and low mids.
To put this further in context, the following is my experience with the BMT system.
Note: all below is opinion. Haters need not comment.
For years and years, I used EMGs and more recently Blackouts, because I found them tighter and more consistent than passive pickups. The Blackouts especially are the single best pickup set I have ever used. Thank you, Seymour Duncan.
A few years ago, I got into standard tuned Marshall type tones with complex mids. Think Guns n Roses or The Cult. I began to use passive pickups for this purpose with more success than with actives. Normally, I use import Jacksons--alder, maple/rosewood, licensed Floyds.
However, I found myself in the minority of what most SD users seem to like. I am highly critical of the JB, the Distortion, and the Alternative 8, to name a few. I find these pickups to be muddy/boxy, shrill, and gritty, respectively. Meanwhile, I absolutely love the Full Shred set, which is somewhat obscure compared to their more popular lines.
I'm not sure why the popular lines are popular, given that, very generally, I find most SD pickups to be overwound with too much of an emphasis on lows and low mids. This also goes for their Basslines P Bass pickup, which is extremely bassy and hot. Going back to a vintage P felt much more balanced even though I play metal.
The result of all this is a tendency toward scratchiness and a lot of mud in the low end. I also think you lose dynamics and touch with hotter wound pickups.
I don't think it's because these pickups are "too heavy" or "too aggressive" for me. I'm a death metaller. But I prefer to have the control and clarity of something like the Full Shred and to let the amp do the work, not the pickup, because it's hard to dial the grit out of a hot pickup, but you can easily saturate an amp pre. I've done it to compensate for a vintage pickup like a Gibson Classic + in the bridge and I had pretty good results. Meanwhile, I couldn't tame an Alt 8 backed all the way into the cavity with very conservative amp settings.
Note that this is not a criticism of the worksmanship of their product, but rather an observation of what I find to be their "default" sound.
Using the Full Shred as a guide, it seems that, for me, anything over 5 on the BMT scale is too much, especially in the B and M.
Further, another of the best pickups I've ever tried, the Gibson 498t, is very similar to the Duncan Custom 5. Or so I've read thread users comment. Yet a lot of people seem to hate the Custom 5 because it lacks mids, which I find strange considering how much I like the 498t.
Much of this will simply be differences in taste, but, in my opinion, things like Invaders are the problem. Is everyone still playing out of very trebly amps with very little preamp distortion? I can understand an Invader through a Fender or Plexi at the time an Invader was designed, but an Engl, Diezel, Mesa, or Rivera?
Of course, taste is why so many pickup lines are made, but I just kept noticing the bassy/overwound thing from model to model until it felt like a pattern, and I thought I'd ask if anyone else has had similar conclusions.
My guess is the emphasis in pickup marketing is whatever is overwound/hot/boosted gets a lot of attention, especially from young metal players, and so pickups are designed to primarily be loud and saturated to create a wall of sound without attention to other tonal characteristics. You know: omg omg omg, it goes to 11!
In my experience, I've never had a problem with too little hotness/volume, save replacing a Gibson Classic 57 in the neck with a Gibson Classic 57+. Doing so cleaned up the muddiness of the 57, and the 57+ was just hot, bright, and saturated enough to balance the 498t.
Again, this isn't to bash on SD. The Blackouts are still the best I've tried. But the passives to me have been hit or miss. Based on my preferences, it would seem that only the Screamin' Demons would also fit what I like of the older, established lines (that is, not counting the Pegasus/Sentient/Nazgul/Becker and other newer lines).
Thanks.
What are the approximate frequencies SD uses for their BMT designations? I find relying on the BMT numbers to be a mixed bag, at best.
For me, when mixing, I find about 0-400 to be lows, 400-1000 to be low mids, 1000-3000 to be upper mids, and 3000-7000 to be highs.
Yet I feel like if I get an SD pickup that emphasizes what they consider mids, I'm getting largely unusable lows and low mids.
To put this further in context, the following is my experience with the BMT system.
Note: all below is opinion. Haters need not comment.
For years and years, I used EMGs and more recently Blackouts, because I found them tighter and more consistent than passive pickups. The Blackouts especially are the single best pickup set I have ever used. Thank you, Seymour Duncan.
A few years ago, I got into standard tuned Marshall type tones with complex mids. Think Guns n Roses or The Cult. I began to use passive pickups for this purpose with more success than with actives. Normally, I use import Jacksons--alder, maple/rosewood, licensed Floyds.
However, I found myself in the minority of what most SD users seem to like. I am highly critical of the JB, the Distortion, and the Alternative 8, to name a few. I find these pickups to be muddy/boxy, shrill, and gritty, respectively. Meanwhile, I absolutely love the Full Shred set, which is somewhat obscure compared to their more popular lines.
I'm not sure why the popular lines are popular, given that, very generally, I find most SD pickups to be overwound with too much of an emphasis on lows and low mids. This also goes for their Basslines P Bass pickup, which is extremely bassy and hot. Going back to a vintage P felt much more balanced even though I play metal.
The result of all this is a tendency toward scratchiness and a lot of mud in the low end. I also think you lose dynamics and touch with hotter wound pickups.
I don't think it's because these pickups are "too heavy" or "too aggressive" for me. I'm a death metaller. But I prefer to have the control and clarity of something like the Full Shred and to let the amp do the work, not the pickup, because it's hard to dial the grit out of a hot pickup, but you can easily saturate an amp pre. I've done it to compensate for a vintage pickup like a Gibson Classic + in the bridge and I had pretty good results. Meanwhile, I couldn't tame an Alt 8 backed all the way into the cavity with very conservative amp settings.
Note that this is not a criticism of the worksmanship of their product, but rather an observation of what I find to be their "default" sound.
Using the Full Shred as a guide, it seems that, for me, anything over 5 on the BMT scale is too much, especially in the B and M.
Further, another of the best pickups I've ever tried, the Gibson 498t, is very similar to the Duncan Custom 5. Or so I've read thread users comment. Yet a lot of people seem to hate the Custom 5 because it lacks mids, which I find strange considering how much I like the 498t.
Much of this will simply be differences in taste, but, in my opinion, things like Invaders are the problem. Is everyone still playing out of very trebly amps with very little preamp distortion? I can understand an Invader through a Fender or Plexi at the time an Invader was designed, but an Engl, Diezel, Mesa, or Rivera?
Of course, taste is why so many pickup lines are made, but I just kept noticing the bassy/overwound thing from model to model until it felt like a pattern, and I thought I'd ask if anyone else has had similar conclusions.
My guess is the emphasis in pickup marketing is whatever is overwound/hot/boosted gets a lot of attention, especially from young metal players, and so pickups are designed to primarily be loud and saturated to create a wall of sound without attention to other tonal characteristics. You know: omg omg omg, it goes to 11!
In my experience, I've never had a problem with too little hotness/volume, save replacing a Gibson Classic 57 in the neck with a Gibson Classic 57+. Doing so cleaned up the muddiness of the 57, and the 57+ was just hot, bright, and saturated enough to balance the 498t.
Again, this isn't to bash on SD. The Blackouts are still the best I've tried. But the passives to me have been hit or miss. Based on my preferences, it would seem that only the Screamin' Demons would also fit what I like of the older, established lines (that is, not counting the Pegasus/Sentient/Nazgul/Becker and other newer lines).
Thanks.