Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

[Mr.Stratocaster]

Hello!

Sorry for another similar thread, but I think my previous thread "Live Wires - Classic or Hot ?" has incorrect title, that's my mistake. Sorry.

Actually I wan't to know anybody's experience in getting Malmsteen-style of sound using EMG-SA, EMG-S, SD LiveWire Classic, SD LiveWire Hot. You know, it's high gain sound with lots of presence, articulation and attack in it, but it should not sound harsh or fizzy or too agressive. Is it really possible with actives ? I think I'm looking for DiMarzio YJM/HS3 pickups but in active format. Can anyone help me choose pickups from those four models which will be fine for this sound ?

Thanks everyone who answered in my previous thread!

 

[Farkus]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

This is a tough one.

The thing is, Malmsteen uses LOW output pickups (that's what the YJM's and HS-3's are) and boosts the signal with a DOD preamp pedal. I personally don't think that SA pickups, or any active I've tried for that matter, sound that close to a HS-3. Why are you specifically looking active? The HS-3's and YJM are hum cancelling as is...are you wanting more versatility for different styles, etc? Also the guitar and amp/pedal setup is important, too, so let us know that info as well.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

I can get close with my EMG DG20 set with a bit of knob twiddling, though they are a bit dark. The SAV's wi the EXG and SPC control should get you closer.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

I have a Malmsteen Strat. The HS-3 and YJM's are very low output that help maintain the clarity after it's boosted through an overdrive pedal and cranked amp. I don't know how you'd be able to get it in an active format since active pickups are too hot and would get muddy

 

[shogunlegend]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

malmsteen uses low output pickups and plays 50s strats. that's how he gets his sound and you can't duplicate it unless you do two things:
1. play his style
2. use his gear
i've played the emg sa pickups before and they sounded pretty vintage. you might even try using the david gilmore set. that's probably as close as you will get to malmsteen tone with actives. this is just my opinion of course.

 

[Orange]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

Malmsteen's sound is pretty basic and hasn't changed much since 1984.

Get a random strat with stock pickups, a marshall and a good boost (the Malmsteen DOD pedal...) and there you are.
Malmsteen is a fan of Hendrix and is setup goes this way.

Dimarzio produces a YJM pickup but it's only a strat pickup with a more balanced tone. And even less output.
The hard part will come when you start playing.
It's probably the hardest sound to control out there.
Quacks from the single coils, low ouptut make splaying extremely challenging up to speed, and the distortion is noisy as hell.


Actives are definitely NOT going to give you this same exact sound.
Malmsteen's pickups are
- vintage, they squack twang and cling and the sound is very pure, hot, bright, open and musical. Wheter EMG's are:
- Modern, hi-fi, cutting, clean, noiseless high ouput, compressed

In Short: the EMG's philosophy is the OPPOSITE !

 

[Mr.Stratocaster]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

Thank you all for your answers!

Yeah, I'm going active because I just want to try actives, and I already have good guitar with passives.

Well, my guitar is strat-style, poplar body and maple neck.
Sound chain is Rocktron Piranha plugged into Carvin tube combo's power amp.

I want to say that I'm not trying to copy Malmsteen sound EXACTLY, I just use his tone as example to what I like. I'm just wondering - will I get at least close to this kind of cutting, sharp tone with EMG or LiveWire active singles or not ? I really like that HS-3's clarity under high gain. You can hear every note in the solo! Will active singles give me that ?

About Malmsteen's low output pickups and booster/overdrive pedal......
I'm thinking about this concept in different way. As far as I know active pickups have coils with small amount of windings. This means that output from actual coil to internal preamp is really low. And then internal preamp boosts signal to the normal level. Well, it really looks like Malmsteen's concept "low output pickup into booster pedal", how do you think ? I mean that active pickup alone may try to emulate "HS-3 to DOD 250" chain (of course, if DOD's drive knob on minimum, clean boost). Am I right ?

P.S. Do EMG/LiveWire singles have quack in their sound ? I mean, some kind of sharp attack sound.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

Thank you all for your answers!

Yeah, I'm going active because I just want to try actives, and I already have good guitar with passives.

Well, my guitar is strat-style, poplar body and maple neck.
Sound chain is Rocktron Piranha plugged into Carvin tube combo's power amp.

I want to say that I'm not trying to copy Malmsteen sound EXACTLY, I just use his tone as example to what I like. I'm just wondering - will I get at least close to this kind of cutting, sharp tone with EMG or LiveWire active singles or not ? I really like that HS-3's clarity under high gain. You can hear every note in the solo! Will active singles give me that ?

About Malmsteen's low output pickups and booster/overdrive pedal......
I'm thinking about this concept in different way. As far as I know active pickups have coils with small amount of windings. This means that output from actual coil to internal preamp is really low. And then internal preamp boosts signal to the normal level. Well, it really looks like Malmsteen's concept "low output pickup into booster pedal", how do you think ? I mean that active pickup alone may try to emulate "HS-3 to DOD 250" chain (of course, if DOD's drive knob on minimum, clean boost). Am I right ?

P.S. Do EMG/LiveWire singles have quack in their sound ? I mean, some kind of sharp attack sound.

You're absolutely on the right track. EMG's are extremely low output stacks with built in preamps. they can get something similar to Malmsteen's tone and a bunch of other tones, depending on your rig and set up.

BTW, my DG-20 set is the quackiest set of strat pickups I own.

 

[jmh151]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

My malmsteen strat into my Marshall JCM800 nails malmsteen's tone. His playing is a different story, once I pick up the scalloped board Malmsteen strat I sound closer to Blackmore

 

[Ang3lus]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

i don't like scalloped sound, it sounds like the guitar has been made out of 1mm aluminium pieces.

as for your question, actives will never be able to sound like low output single coils, something about the quality of actives makes them "warm" i can't really tell for sure, i just "hear" and "feel" warmer qualities of sound when i pick up my guitar fitted with active EMG-89,60. imho, malmsteen sound is ****, it sounds like strings attached to a tin can, he's one of the worst guitar players i've ever heard too. if you want good active sound try david gilmour, zakk wylde, james hetfield, steve lukather, vince geil etc.

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

i don't like scalloped sound, it sounds like the guitar has been made out of 1mm aluminium pieces.

as for your question, actives will never be able to sound like low output single coils, something about the quality of actives makes them "warm" i can't really tell for sure, i just "hear" and "feel" warmer qualities of sound when i pick up my guitar fitted with active EMG-89,60. imho, malmsteen sound is ****, it sounds like strings attached to a tin can, he's one of the worst guitar players i've ever heard too. if you want good active sound try david gilmour, zakk wylde, james hetfield, steve lukather, vince geil etc.

Have you ever played a strat with SA's, SAV, oR LivewIre Classics?

 

[Ang3lus]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

SA's yes i have a guitar with them, SAV yes i had a guitar with them, a bit too glassy i think, livewires no

 

[fullfistrock21]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

maybe you should try a livewire classic they are supposed to me more ttraditional like regular pickups and have a bell like quality from what I read...the hots specs and soundclips seem less quacky and more modern. I hear the sa's are supposed to have a voicing similarity to old strat pickups too. the classics would probably have more output so you wouldnt have to boost it so much....i think the classics or sa's sound closer to malmsteens formula with vintage pickups

 

[Dr.Mavashi]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

Aren't his marshalls non-master volume amps? I think that plust the classice start geometry have just as much to do with that tone as pick ups do. Never could understand those neo-classical dudes who blast their stuff with Ibanezs' with actives through mesas and racks .... not the same type of mids ...

 

[Orange]

Re: Malmsteen Sound In Active Pickup Format - Please Help!

Aren't his marshalls non-master volume amps? I think that plust the classice start geometry have just as much to do with that tone as pick ups do. Never could understand those neo-classical dudes who blast their stuff with Ibanezs' with actives through mesas and racks .... not the same type of mids ...

Definitely. Someone here said malmsteen's tone is ****. Well msalmsteen's playing sure in not the best around, but is tone is absolutely a reference. No one can sound like him. The reason why neoclassiical dudes buy ibanez with high gain pedals is: it makes it easier. Something you can play with added sustain and high gain pickups that tend to flat out the attack.

In short, give them a srtat and a marshall and they wouldn't be able to play because it would reproduce so many of the failures in their playing.

Same for me BTW....