pickups and rack gear

[dnewhous]

Someone said something in another thread that made me want to start a new thread altogether. I use mid price rack gear, GSP2101 into a Rocktron Velocity (looking to add a Rockmaster when I get around to it), and I am looking for a pickup change because the Screamin' Demon I use in my old guitar doesn't sound right in my new one.

I've seen marketing claims that low impedance pickups (active) sound better than passive pickups through FX gear. I read a Harmony Central review of someone that used Duncan SC's through an amp and they sounded great but switched EMG SA's when he started going straight into an FX processor. And I just read here that DMZ pickups are designed to go into recording/rack gear more than Duncans. Can anyone elaborate on all of this? Why is DMZ supposedly better with rack gear?

My Screamin' Demon is currently too twangy but what I don't want to give up is the open sound of the pickup, which I guess is a trademark of Duncan pickups all around.

EMG pickups look like they are designed for metalheads. I have wondered, would it be worthwhile to pick the best sounding Duncan pickups and have the custom shop make me active versions?

 

[LReese]

Re: pickups and rack gear

It is probably the low impedance preamp that is the difference. There's less loss driving the effects, not as affected by the capacitance of the cable. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the buffers used in these preamps load the pickups a little differently, which provide a more hi-fi sound. Low impedance will also match the effects unit better.

You don't need a specific low-impedance pickup - get a pickup you like and if you want put a preamp in the guitar. Search around on the net - I remember someone had instructions on building a preamp into a phono plug.

I have bought my first rack unit with the last 8 months, to try to provide a low noise practice enviroment (I'm micing a speaker in an iso-cab). I'm using it post amp to provide reverb/echo. Sounds very natural.

 

[tone4days]

Re: pickups and rack gear

it is a silly assertion that rack gear needs active pups

i have rack gear that sounds great with my passive pups .. so does robert_s .. so does mincer ...

decide what you want your tone to be, and tweak from there ...

what kind of guitar?

 

[frankfalbo]

Re: pickups and rack gear

I use the 2101, but my guitar hits an 8-way buffered splitter first, and feeds 5 different preamps simultaneously. Then I can select which preamp feeds the 2101, or blend them. But the only reason I use the buffer is so I can have more than one send. If I was going straight into the 2101 I wouldn't need it. I don't like the 2101 preamp, so I would always have some preamp in front of it. The point is, once you hit a preamp (inside the 2101 or outboard) it's irrelevant whether you had active or passive pickups. The signal goes through the preamp, and comes out the other side buffered. It's not like the signal remembers that it used to be passive or active while it's going through the effects. Technically it becomes an "active" signal right after it hits the front end of the preamp.

The hype about active/rack vs. passive/amp is totally built on stereotyping and assumptions about what rack guys want vs. amp guys. Also, there's a lot of crappy rack gear out there with lousy preamp sections (2101 possibly included) and an active pickup can make it sound a little better, by feeding a hotter, juicier signal to it. But it's a compensation for the lackluster preamp and gear, not a "rack vs. amp" variable. Another assumption is that you lose fidelity and frequency range when you pass through a bunch of rack gear. But compensating for that with the wider frequency response of active pups changes the overdrive character. That's not what I want. My rack tube preamps are just the front end of an amp jammed into a rack chassis. Especially my Mesa Quad. And I can bypass all my other boxes if I want and go straight to my tube power section. That Mesa, or my Hughes & Kettner preamp straight into my vintage Fender head IS a smokin' AMP, not a "rack." so for me it's irrelevant. Besides, there are lots of active pickups that squash dynamics, and compress and sterilize the sound anyway. Why would I want to ADD that to my rack when the accusation is that the rack has the same effect?:smack:

Choose your pickup strictly by the tone and dynamics you want. Like LReese said, if you want to buffer the signal so it hits the 2101 cleaner and hotter, add the preamp later, or put it in a cable or little outboard box.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: pickups and rack gear

I have found some Dimarzio pickups to have voicings that go real well with rack mounted gear while some of the duncans are straight to the amp beasts.

 

[Voxman]

Re: pickups and rack gear

the 59 bucker do it`s best in a tube amp!

 

[LReese]

Re: pickups and rack gear

http://www.till.com/articles/PreampCable/

 

[Robert S.]

Re: pickups and rack gear

Welcome to the SD Uger Group Forum dnewhous!

Ok, thats a lot of stuff.

First off neither Dimarzios, Seymour Duncan, Gibson, PRS or any other makers pickups are specifically better for rack gear. I don't know where you picked that up but take it back and leave it there. Rack mounted amps are no different than head/cab or combo amps. They are all designed to have guitars plugged into them.

Rack processors are different. Effects units most often are designed to accept line level signals, not guitar signals. Even units with a -10/+4bd switch to take instrument level signals usually sound best with a line level signal. It doesn't matter whether you have a guitar with active or passive pickups, it's still not a line level signal. If you want to get the best out of a processor you need to preamp the signal first, at least IMHO.

If your tone is now too bright in the new guitar, that can be addressed with a pickup change, either passive or active depending on what you might think is best.

 

[pinto79]

Re: pickups and rack gear

DiMarzio advertize that the PAF Pro is more "Transparent" thus providing an un-coloured and nice clean signal for heavy effects users...

I dunno...

 

[Mincer]

Re: pickups and rack gear

i use my jb & ap2 into a boss gt-pro, and it sounds great. I know what you mean about the 2101- I had a 2120, which I hated. I also didn't like the SansAmp PSA-1, or PODxt either. I guess it all depends on what other gear you have, but i doubt a pickup will make or break a rack setup.

 

[madguitar26]

Mincer

Mincer

im curious as to what didnt you like about the psa-1.is it some what better then the podxt or worse sounding?
are there any boss devices not so expensive and as good as the GT-pro just for the cosm distortions?
thanks

 

[guitarslinger213]

Re: pickups and rack gear

dimarzio players = petrucci, vai, satch, michael angelo,

= all rack players

= perfect for fans of those players

=advertised as being ideal in racks

=some degree of truth.

many higher output dimarzio pups sound weird by themselves. However, they can sound awesome through LOADS of gain, delay, chorus, harmonizing. ex: evolution.