Modern voicing?

Jazz Rock

Jazz Rock

New member
What make a pickup have a modern or vintage voice?

I am wondering because the pickup of my new tele are low output but they don't have the vintage voicing of my MQ, Mule or '59. They just react the same way to amp settings.

For instance the tele with the middle to the metal sounds better for late 70's early 80's ZZ top than my LP. And it react better with the tight mode of the FOD than the LP, which is really at home with the loose mode.

So , if you can explain to me the magic behind all this I'd appreciate very much :approve:
 
Re: Modern voicing?

... the FullShred is modern voiced. Really high fi, tight in the low end, quite bright...

PAFs are looser on the low ends, are less clear, a bit less bright... More old school.

Mostly it depends on how the pickups make you sound, or on the amp, pedal, or even players... There are A LOT of factors.

The best thing to remember is that stuff sounds like it sounds, and that's it.
 
Re: Modern voicing?

This is all very well, and everything is relative... true enough.

But with a given player using a given rig. What inside the pick up is gonna give a more modern or more vintage voice.

Like what make the difference between a '59 and a Jazz, which have approximately of the same output. Or a APII and a '59. Different winding, material for the coil... ??? What gives a tight bass response to a pup or an hi-fi feel?

I am not trying to steal Seymour's recipes for making good pups and start my own brand :bling:. Just curious.
 
Re: Modern voicing?

It's all a combination of things. But magnets make the low end slightly tighter as you go from A2 to Ceramic I find. But it depends a lot on the wind and polepieces too.
 
Re: Modern voicing?

"Modern" is an interesting word....yeah, the Full Shred is not a "vintage" pickup, but it's hard for me to think of it as "modern" since it sounds so '80s. (That's a good thing in my book! But it's no longer cutting edge). Is "modern" what the current crop of harder bands are using, or new technology? Then Blackouts, EMGs, DMZ D-Sonic....maybe the Alt. 8 and P-Rails?

Or is "modern" just not '50s sounding?

Cheers!
 
Re: Modern voicing?

Another thing I have noticed in modern pickups besides what Pierre mentioned is they tend to have a slightly scooped sound to them.
 
Re: Modern voicing?

heymcz said:
Or is "modern" just not '50s sounding?
Click to expand...

Indeed :) I used modern in opposition to vintage. But as I am not too keen on the 80's sound I was more thinking of the 90's sound, if there is such a thing.

But maybe all this is too vague to actually call for an answer... So let's take a more chronological approach and be more specific. What are the difference between the pups of a strat made in the '60s and the pup from a strat made now, living aside re-issue stuff? So between an American standard strat from the '60s (or equivalent approved) and one from the '00s?
 
Re: Modern voicing?

There isn't a single "modern voice". It just basically refers to pickups that don't aspire to be reproductions of vintage pickups in terms of output, tone, construction or appearance.

A lot of what is considered an era's tone probably has more to do with audio production rather than specific equipment. Although some equipment is very representative of the times.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top