Are high output pickups outdated?

[Securb]

Bottomline for me is - I can roll back the volume on a high gain pick up but I can't roll up the volume on a low gain pickup. I feel like I get more range and dynamics out of my Black Winters and Dimebuckers. If I need something lower output, I switch to my neck pickup or split the coil.

 

[Rex_Rocker]

again, this sounds like a lot of work to fix something that isnt broken

Agreed.

 

[weepingminotaur]

again, this sounds like a lot of work to fix something that isnt broken

Yep, and if those high-output pickups are stock in your guitar, why not just ... use them instead of trying a whole bunch of workarounds that may come with their own issues?

I'm with Rex in that I tend to the medium/high gain camp for metal applications. But I'm also a Black Winter cultist and the way the Winter sounds in my LTD is phenomenal and unique. Cutting, defined, thunderous, perfect for what it needs to do, and it is a high-output passive.

To the OP, my counter-question would be: why do people mess around with actives and the batteries that slowly die in this day and age of high-quality, high-gain amps, compressors, dirt pedals, noise gates, and so on?

(I'm mostly joking. To each their own. But I've never run into a situation that makes me long for EMGs or Fishmans or whatnot.)

 

[Sam SG]

Its the chain reaction. Your pickup output hits the first gain stage of your amp. Which hits the gain knob which is cascaded( series'ed) into the second gain stage and subsequent stages after. If you have a hot pickup hit the first stage harder then set your gain to your liking you get a sound....using a lower output pickup hits the first gain stage less hard which makes a cleaner clearer sound to get the same distortion you raise the gain knob sending more signal to the next gain stage and there after....the sound is different. Which you like is up to you.
Its all voltages. More into the input less out the gain knob to the second( general terms) is going to sound different that weak into the input then feeding and amplified signsl hotter into the second stage.

 

[AdrianSD]

What kind of noise do compressor pedals add? Is it similar to single coil hum? Can a noise gate fix it?

Low output pickup - compressor - noise gate - amp
Vs
High output pickup - amp
Why add all these extra moving parts to get you there? Except, of course, if changing the low output pickup for something else isn't an option for whatever reason.

 

[Sam SG]

I know for me even with more vintagy pickups. Running the amps gain lower and kicking it up with a pedal. Sounds less compressed than just straight in and bringing up the gain.

 

[AdrianSD]

I know for me even with more vintagy pickups. Running the amps gain lower and kicking it up with a pedal. Sounds less compressed than just straight in and bringing up the gain.

Yes, that's what I do, I always push the amp's front end with an OD set as a clean boost and lower the gain on the amp.

 

[Artie]

A hot wind isn't just about output. The hotter the wind, the greater the inductance. The greater the inductance, the more treble roll-off there is. So "hot" pickups tend to be warmer, or less bright, than lower wind pickups. I can't EQ a Distortion to sound like a Jazz, and vice-versa.

 

[uOpt]

A hot wind isn't just about output. The hotter the wind, the greater the inductance. The greater the inductance, the more treble roll-off there is. So "hot" pickups tend to be warmer, or less bright, than lower wind pickups. I can't EQ a Distortion to sound like a Jazz, and vice-versa.

You can make a lower wind pickup have a similar resonance peak (amplitude and frequency) as a higher wind pickup with a load capacitor. That solves the basic EQ problem you point out.

My experiments in that field didn't turn out great, though.