Help to understand EQ in Pickups

FerMetalhead1

New member
Hi again!

Recently I posted a thread to decide which pickup to replace my neck pup. However, I got explained that lack/plentiness of certain frequencies give you a total different sound, but not necessarily a good one or bad one, just different. That's why I would like to have a sort of explanation/guide to understand how bass, mid, treble, output, resonance pick and resistance influence the final sound of a pickup, and how to properly combine them with certain woods. I´d really appreciate having that information.
 
There's at least 10 years of threads discussing those nuances on here. I couldn't recap that in 1 post here. But one thing I'll say that doesn't get often mentioned: much of what makes pickups different from each other happens in the frequencies in between the Bass, Middle, Treble that manufacturers try to summarize with. There's really a curve from bass to treble and knowing that curve is what helps mating certain pickups with certain guitars.
 
1) There is no way to "properly combine pickups with certain woods". Run FAR and fast from that mindset. Every guitar is different and every player's tastes, ears, rigs, etc. are different. Even when everything else is held equal, including the player, a pickup that sounds like "crap" in one Les Paul, could sound "glorious" in another...same woods, hardware and all.

2) DC resistance only relates well to output when comparing 2 pickups of completely identical construction, materials, coil geometry, etc. This means same coil shape, wire gauge, wire tension, magnets, etc. In that case, the more wire you put on the coils will increase the resistance and inductance and, hence, the output, while also lowering the resonant peak (making the pickup sound darker, while boosting the mids, etc). As soon as you change any other component in that design, it's no longer accurate to think of output based on resistance specs alone.

3) If you want to become better versed in the elements that make pickups sound the way they do, read up on resonant peaks, magnet types, magnet wires (gauges, insulations, min-nom, nom-max, etc), inductance, Henries, alloy grades...then come back and we'll give you another list :biglaugh:
 
Every guitar --> strings --> fingers --> plectrum --> pedals --> amp --> cab --> room --> ears chain is different and there are very few hard and fast rules. A worthwhile goal, but at some point you're better off trying some pickups and making your own comparisons on your own gear with your own ears. That's part of the fun!

However on a broad basic level PAFs and P90s in mahogany, modern-voiced pups in basswood, single coils in alder/ash are classic combinations.
 
(I have to break this down into multiple posts, bear with me.)

I wouldn't worry about DC resistance since it is only useful when trying to compare two pickups you already know are very similar. For example, if you know two single coil Strat pickups are both wound with .42 wire and use A3 magnets, but one is wound to 6.8k and the other is wound to 7.2k, you know the second pickup will be hotter and have a little more in the mids. But if you're just presented with a single pickup by itself and you're told it's 8k... that really means nothing. For the DCR to mean anything you need to know the type of wire used, if there is more than one coil in the pickup you need to know how each coil is wound individually (e.g. evenly matched or mismatched) and how they are joined (e.g. series/parallel), and you need at least one other pickup to compare it to.
Even when you do have two or more pickups to compare, though, DCR isn't always going to tell you a lot. For example, the SD Hot Stack Tele has a DCR of 21.4k, which sounds like it might be a very high output pickup. But that particular pickup is constructed in such an unusual way that it actually isn't much higher in output than a regular Tele bridge pickup. Meanwhile an Invader has a DCR somewhere around the high 16.x mark and sure is a lot higher output and much thicker than the Hot Stack is. Comparing the DCR of the Hot Stack to the Invader is, therefore, meaningless.

Resonant peak is the same kind of deal; by itself it doesn't tell you a whole lot. A peak of 2.7kHz would usually occur in a slightly bright pickup, but it is not impossible to get that kind of peak in quite a dark pickup, too. For instance, the EMG 81's peak is 1.63kHz while the 85's is 1.87kHz, which might make you think the 81 is the darker of the two, but it's actually brighter and has more treble. Additionally, the peak varies greatly depending on the other electronics in the chain, especially the tone control. (Even when it's left on '10'.) A pickup by itself may register a peak of 2kHz, but then once you factor in the volume and tone controls the peak may shift down to 1.8kHz. Adding a metal cover will also change the peak (especially if it's a brass cover, though nickel covers do affect the peak, too). Like the DCR, if you know everything about how a pickup was constructed then the peak can give you a very vague idea of the sound, but most of the time it's best left ignored.

Okay, so now you know what to ignore, here are the bits that are actually useful.
When we rate pickups on their bass, middle and treble, that rating is usually about how loud that range of frequencies are. Very rarely do people give those ratings based on how sharp/tight or smooth/loose the pickup is. So if you see a pickup where the bass is rated 7/10 you know the low strings will be loud, but you don't necessarily know if it'll be a tight or a loose sound. The EQ lets us know what volume to expect but not the style.

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As a very general rule, bass is the most subjective part of the EQ and has no particular advantages or disadvantages. Some people like their low strings to be loud, others don't. Usually if you're tuning low or using very thick strings, which will naturally produce more volume, you'll want a pickup that has less bass to balance the sound. 6-string electric guitar tuned to E Standard doesn't produce much in the way of bass frequencies so this is the part of the EQ you'll notice the least if you're not tuning low.

Mids are often the most important are of EQ and, personally, I like to break them down to 'low-mids' and 'high-mids', since just 'mids' covers such a wide range of frequencies. The lower-mids are where you get the 'punch' when you hit a powerchord and is what stops single notes around the middle of the fretboard on the 4th and 3rd strings from sounding weak. Low-mids are the friend of rhythm players but can make a pickup seem 'muddy' to fast-picking, high-gain lead types. The high-mids are the reverse of this, giving you most of the guitar's clarity and making any single notes really jump out. Where low-mids 'punch', high-mids 'cut'. Whenever you hear someone talking about 'cutting through the mix' or similar, they're talking about the upper half of the mid range. Have you ever seen an amp with 'resonance' and 'presence' controls? Those typically (not always) work by adding back in the lower-mids or high-mids, respectively, after the preamp section of the amplifier. You can think of a pickup's mid response in the same way: the lower half of the mids gives a pickup more resonance while the upper half gives it its presence.
When a manufacturer or random person on a forum only talks about 'mids' being strong/pushed or weak/scooped, without specifying whether they mean the higher or lower mids, it doesn't really tell you much since scooping the higher mids is a very different sound to scooping the lower mids, and the same is true when one part of the mids is pushed. If all the mids are being pushed/scooped, which tends to only be the case with really high-output pickups with very closely-matched coils, you get either a hollow, thin sound (scooping every mid more than treble or bass) or you get a kind of 'AM radio' tone (pushing every mid more than treble or bass). Cooler pickups and especially ones with mismatched coils have a very hard time affecting all of the mids equally and instead tend to favour either the lower half or upper half.
Whether lots or reduced mids (of any type) is better varies wildly depending on the amp, amp settings, speakers, and of course playing style. With some rigs having a lot of mids gives you clarity while with others you only get clarity by having less mids. The balance of low-mids/high-mids/all mids, and the rest of the guitar and amp set up is too complicated to possibly cover every scenario here. As another very general rule, getting a pickup that has its mids balanced opposite to your amp and the guitar's construction is how you get more clarity, whereas if you want to scoop your mids at your amp you're usually best off having pickups that produce a lot of mid power. But, as I said, it really depends on which part of the mids we're talking about and... y'know, I'm just going to end this part there, or I'll be going on for days. The point is, the mids are the most important part of the pickup's EQ since that's where most of the guitar's frequencies are found, but whether that means you want a lot or a little comes down to every other aspect of your music.

The treble you get from a pickup is often one of the more obvious characteristics, since guitars are capable of putting out quite high frequencies and a lot of modern amps reproduce high frequencies more accurately (i.e. loudly and clearly) than older amplifiers, especially if you compare (most) transistor amps to (most) valve amps. (The same is true of recorded music. One of the downsides of vinyl is it simply can not reproduce the extreme treble and bass that digital can cover, but the upside is a lot of people find that lack of 'extreme' treble to be more comfortable to listen to.) Personally I believe this is why so many people these days are only asking to either get more treble or smooth off the treble and few ask about bass.
If you play a lot very high up the neck on the 2nd and 1st strings then you're going to want a pickup that people rate for strong treble, since those screaming high notes can't really be heard if your pickup doesn't react to them well. Strong treble is also needed if you want each note in a full chord to ring out clearly. Conversely, some people want the notes in their chords to smear together into a single solid sound, which is where treble-deficient pickups like the Invader come in. Like bass, how strong you want your treble is highly subjective and isn't as reliant on your amp (or pedals, etc) as the mids are.

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As a quick-n-dirty shorthand, most pickups fall into one of four balances:
Strong bass and treble, weak mids = sounds very dynamic for making clean chords 'sparkle' and each note in very fast playing sound clear, but risks sounding weak overall.
Weak bass and treble, strong mids = sounds strong but risks a lack of definition and impact at the lowest and highest ends of the neck since neither extreme can really leap out.
Strong bass and mids, weak treble = a recipe for 'muddy' riffs, but great impact for simple chord rhythm.
Strong mids and treble, weak bass = a recipe for 'icepick' leads, but great clarity and articulation.

Of course those aren't the only four sounds pickups fall into, but they're the most common ballparks.

Compression, dynamics and articulation is really a combination of the whole pickup's construction and isn't decided by one factor alone, so you can't really predict it unless you know every part of how the pickup is made. The magnet(s) used is the main contributor to compression in any pickup, and second to that in humbuckers is how similar or different the two coils are. Strong magnets with closely-matched coils often (but not always) results in more compression while weak magnets and mismatched coils often (not always) leads to a more dynamic, open sound. But, like I said, it also depends on the EQ of the pickup, and it depends on the overall output and how the pickup is set up with your particular guitar (especially the distance to the strings) and how your amp responds, too. Really you just have to play a pickup for yourself to find out how compressed or dynamic it might feel with your particular playing. Active pickups are the exception since they are easily and predictably compressed whenever their preamps are inefficiently powered, regardless of the magnet or wind of the pickup, e.g. old EMGs running on 9v.

Output is only a major concern if you have limited control over your amplifier. (And that's the sentence that is going to draw the most arguments.) Pickup output is a critical choice with single-channel valve amps, like a Marshall Plexi for example, but is nearly irrelevant with ultra-customisable modelling systems like a Kemper. It's not the 1970s any more and most of us do not need a DiMarzio Super Distortion into a Tube Screamer into a wall of 100w Marshalls cranked to 11 through eight 12" speakers just to get a little classic rock drive and be heard at the back of the room. Some people like to use high-output pickups even with very controllable amp systems anyway since having more output at the guitar lets you get more range out of the guitar's volume control, whiles others like to use very low output pickups even with lower-gain single-channel amps since they get more finesse out of their guitar's volume control... really it's just down to personal preference. Still, as the most general of rules, high output is for driving an amp harder for when you are already maxing out your amp and still want more, while low output tends to result in more clarity and a less compressed feel for when your amp can take care of all the drive by itself. Using a very high output pickup with an already high-gain amp tends to just result in an extremely compressed and muddier sound and using a very low output pickup with a very low-gain amps tends to result in you simply not being very audible, at least in most heavy blues or harder genres. (Jazz is another matter entirely; by all means, use an ultra-low output pickup into an ultra-clean low-power solid state amp if jazz is your thing.)

Guitar woods/construction and balancing pickups... let's just put it this way, you see how much I've written so far? Are you even still reading this? Did you give up yet? Well I could write five times more about guitar woods and construction. If you want some quick answers on what woods sound like what, check out Warmoth's pages on their body and neck woods, since they have most species covered. When it comes to balancing pickups with guitar wood or construction, it's entirely personal but most people tend to go one of two ways: 1) use pickups that have the same EQ as their guitar so they emphasise particular sounds, or 2) use pickups that have the opposite EQ as their guitar so they even out all the sounds. No one way is right or wrong. Like the mids, it'll depend a lot on every other factor in your music. People with simple set-ups who only play with one type of tone often favour pickups and guitars that emphasise the same sounds so they can really nail that one sound, while people with more complicated rigs and/or who play with a variety of tones tend to favour pickups that will 'counter' their guitars' natural tones.



... And if you read all that, well, I'm in lockdown and ill, so I've got nothing but time on my hands; what's your excuse?
 
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It is helpful to compare pickups to something you already know (like, "my pickups are too thin, I want thicker sounding ones") than to just go by descriptions. Obviously, the more you are aware of what you want, the easier the choice becomes (and not so much a sideways step). EQ descriptions are not so helpful on their own, but are more helpful describing one pickup vs another. Hotter pickups mean more signal to the amp, but that changes the 'feel', in that the signal will compress more. Some styles need this, and some styles don't work with this added compression. Again, the more you know about what you don't like, the easier the choice becomes. In some cases, you just have to start experimenting.
 
... And if you read all that, well, I'm in lockdown and ill, so I've got nothing but time on my hands; what's your excuse?

Wow! These posts were really enlightening for me, and I bet for all the community too. I really thank you for your time and all the information. Now, I hope I can distinguish one pickup from another in terms of sound and determine which one would be better for X style. Sorry for the delay, I left the city for a while.
 
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