pickups and amps?

[roadstar II]

I noticed that the same pups i did not care for through my old amp(peavey XXX)
now sound great through my new amp(5150)
what i wanted to ask is this, does the amp play just as a important role of the way a pup will sound as the guitar it is in?
for instance the air zone sounded OK when i had the XXX but now i LOVE the air zone and it is in the same guitar as it was before with the other amp!

 

[ErikH]

Re: pickups and amps?

The amp has more to do with your sound than most people think. It's better than 50% of it. A really good amp can make anything sound good but a really good amp and a really good guitar with good pickups can make for "great" tone, not just good or decent.

 

[roadstar II]

Re: pickups and amps?

The amp has more to do with your sound than most people think. It's better than 50% of it. A really good amp can make anything sound good but a really good amp and a really good guitar with good pickups can make for "great" tone, not just good or decent.

thats what i thought!
so when choosing a pup one should always think of the amp and its tonal character?
like mesa's are very midrangey and bottom heavy so certain pups will not jive with one?

 

[JacksonMIA]

Re: pickups and amps?

Yep. It's all part of the "total package." A great amp will let you hear the finer nuances of your pickups and your playing. A different amp, even if it's not necessarily "better," can really bring everything together for you.

 

[roadstar II]

Re: pickups and amps?

Yep. It's all part of the "total package." A great amp will let you hear the finer nuances of your pickups and your playing. A different amp, even if it's not necessarily "better," can really bring everything together for you.

yeah 5150 is really allowing me to hear the air zone now
the XXX i guess was just too fizzy with gain?
I was going to get the JSX but had heard it is just about the same as the XXX?
the 5150 reminds me of a souped up marshall!
really underated amp
i lot of guys say these all just gain but i got some insight from a guy named VHoholic and could not be happier with the amp.
I just wish the duncan CC would have worked out with it but it was too middy:crazy:

 

[ErikH]

Re: pickups and amps?

Really? I thought the CC played great with the 5150. I did turn the mids on the amp down. That helped a lot.

 

[roadstar II]

Re: pickups and amps?

Really? I thought the CC played great with the 5150. I did turn the mids on the amp down. That helped a lot.

was the CC tight enough for you?
I like the pup to be kind of tight for the paul gilbert type lead stuff
the air zone really nails that, the tone zone was too much but the air version is sweet and so is the EVH dimarzio.
the AZ is even tighter than the EVH one and believe it or not gets a better old school VH tone???
I wanted to try the CC since i had heard he used one and it has good tone but was too loose for me

 

[ErikH]

Re: pickups and amps?

was the CC tight enough for you?
I like the pup to be kind of tight for the paul gilbert type lead stuff
the air zone really nails that, the tone zone was too much but the air version is sweet and so is the EVH dimarzio.
the AZ is even tighter than the EVH one and believe it or not gets a better old school VH tone???
I wanted to try the CC since i had heard he used one and it has good tone but was too loose for me

It sure was. Even through my Marshall now it's plenty tight, and plenty loose. I like how it's teetering on the edge of being either too loose or too tight. It makes it that much sweeter to me. Through the 5150, I played with the resonance and presence controls and it got tight real fast. Through the Marshall, it's perfect, right on that teetering edge.

 

[OlinMusic]

Re: pickups and amps?

It's a combination of everything.

You have to note that some amps are more responsive, or add more color, or more transparency, etc etc

The one thing you can always depend on is that some PUPs were tested/designed SPECIFICALLY with certain amps in mind - like the whole Tone Zone / Air Zone thing is a long tested pairing with the 5150. APH1s have been used tons by Slash thru JCMs. ****ey Betts and Warren Haynes use PAF style Duncans thru their rigs - so you get a GREAT benchmark. It's wonderful to have a great benchmark like that.

 

[zionstrat]

Re: pickups and amps?

When you think about it, the historic matching of Gibson guitars with Marashal amps and Fender with Fender was for a very good reason- Gibsons tend to be dark, warm, muddy or thick, whatever you like to call this, and marshalls are great at scooping the mids and holding distrotion together-

On the other hand, Fender guitars tend to be brite (or whatever you like to call this) and their amps are warm, so from the beginning people have tried to match amp and guitar sounds.

It's not surprising that there aren't a lot of amps that sound really, really good with Fender or Gibson- Cheers

 

[Guitar Toad]

Re: pickups and amps?

Ya, what Erik and Olin said....and zionstrat

My thoughts are that pickups get you in the neighborhood of where you want to be. The Amp gets it the rest of the way. The right pickups through the wrong amp is going to be very unsatisfactory. Your right pickups needs your right amp.

I changed the tubes in my Hellhound and it turned my amp and guitar into a totally different tone set-up. The right amp with the right tubes is key. I would say the amp is more important than having exactly the right pickups. 55% is amp 45% is pickup/guitar

 

[roadstar II]

Re: pickups and amps?

It's a combination of everything.



The one thing you can always depend on is that some PUPs were tested/designed SPECIFICALLY with certain amps in mind - like the whole Tone Zone / Air Zone thing is a long tested pairing with the 5150. APH1s have been used tons by Slash thru JCMs. ****ey Betts and Warren Haynes use PAF style Duncans thru their rigs - so you get a GREAT benchmark. It's wonderful to have a great benchmark like that.

wow you really have something here!
i can understand now why the TZ sounds bad through other amps but great with a 5150, it was designed with one on mind?
i liked the duncan JB a lot more through my old amp than i do with the 5150 i use now and now i see why.
some amps just dont like certain pups i guess?

 

[marvar]

Re: pickups and amps?

Not only the guitar, pickups, and amp, but the speakers, tubes, effects (if used), all of these have an effect.

 

[ranalli]

Re: pickups and amps?

Gibsons tend to be dark, warm, muddy or thick, whatever you like to call this, and marshalls are great at scooping the mids and holding distrotion together-

Marshalls have tons of mids....they scoop nothing that I can hear. The difference between Marshalls and Gibsons is that Marshalls are generally bright while Gibsons tend to have a bigger bottom end that compliments that.


But then again, the JB in a super-strat sounds good through Marshalls too so your mileage may vary.

 

[some_dude]

Re: pickups and amps?

thats what i thought!
so when choosing a pup one should always think of the amp and its tonal character?
like mesa's are very midrangey and bottom heavy so certain pups will not jive with one?

I've found that Rectifiers don't jive with alot of stock pups....they seem to have too much boom in the bottom end to use with that amp.