Pickups for worship

[Stevie22]

Re: Pickups for worship

Thanks for all the responses guys! It looks like ya, the general agreement would be SC's and one day down the road I'm sure I'll most likely pickup a Tele and dedicate it solely to that, but with guarantees on when that can happen I think the general vote here is for at least a Jazz in the neck and a toss up between a Jazz and PG in the neck. I'll check some videos on both and try and get an idea there. Splitting too sounds like a great idea so I'll def. take a look there.

Hi and welcome!! First, aside from the pickups, how do you like the guitar? I haven't played one, but like the looks of that model!! Next, you can do P and W music on anything. Yes, single coils would be good for some stuff, but dont think from the previous posts that your guitar isnt capable. I used to play my Explorer at church... However, I do suggest as gibson175 pointed out, get pickups with 4 conductor wiring so you can split them. That way you have more colors on your tonal palette. Pearly Gates would cover alot of ground as prev mentioned. (plus the name is fitting too huh??) You mentioned your own stuff. What do you do otherwise? Again the PGs cover alot of ground. A WLH set is very sweet sounding and covers alot of ground, as would an AIIpro or Slash set.

I gotta say I absolutely love the feel. Before circumstances forced me to liquidate my old stuff, I had a US Gibson Studio and I hands down prefer the feel of the Zach Myers. And don't get me wrong, even the stock hardware is excellent considering the price, I just need something a bit more targeted to my needs. Don't get me wrong, I do have some good sounds and could easily do things fine. It's just not...."my sound" that I want and I want to try and start at the guitar rather than the pedalboard. Outside of worship stuff I Jam with some buds and write some punk/rock style stuff.

 

[EDX]

Re: Pickups for worship

as long as it sounds clear and pristine on clean channel any pickup can do worship, better concentrate in the attitude you want your pickup to have, a PG is a solid option, also a WLH or a 59, but you can easily get the job done with a high output monster pickup like a distortion or a dimebucker if you know to ride your gear well, so you can concentrate on a pickup that delivers at best for punk and rock, and then squish the worship with your rig and riding the controls on your guitar


and if you wonder, a couple weeks ago i filled on guitar on the church for a friend, needless to say my rig was drastically different to the other guys, they had fender amps, line 6 multi-fx units and Ibanez RG's, while i have an GE-7 Eq a OD-3 Ovedrive a crybaby from hell and a cheap noise gate in front of an old peavey transtube and a Dimebucker equiped washburn V (a very metal oriented rig) , it was funny as hell as we were on front of the congregation, imagine a guy with a black and mirror flying v on loose camo shorts and a black tee with a winged skull playing on the church, i only needed to set the dime on parallel and ride the knobs and my wah cooked to get done, on the rehearsal before the service one of the guys even comented on how could i get a so fendery tone out of a single humbucker guitar so i just unleashed the dimebucker with a really heavy dist just to annoy him haha.

 

[LtKojak]

Re: Pickups for worship

I can't believe nobody has yet named the Seth Lover set. :scratchch

 

[beaubrummels]

Re: Pickups for worship

I can't believe nobody has yet named the Seth Lover set. :scratchch

The OP mentioned artist/groups "Hillsong, Jeremy Riddle" by name, which I don't believe Seths would cover very well. Seths, IME, have a mid-honk to them that upstages the Fender'y spanky clean needed.

 

[devastone]

Re: Pickups for worship

On a side note - some weeks when I play there is a piano, synth pads, a Hammond B3, and sometimes a cello or trumpet also scheduled, so the midrange it quite overcrowded and it doesn't matter what I play 8^0, it's buried unless I boost it over the top. I usually clean most of that stuff out of my Aviom to my in-ears, but then I never know where my guitar sits in the mix through the FOH. Took me a long time to just play and not worry about that, well, still working on it...

Listening to Hillsong and Jeremy Riddle on youtube, a lot of their stuff is the same way, there is such a wall of instruments that it's hard to nail down a specific guitar tone unless it is put on top of everything else. So, I guess I would recommend something that cuts, doesn't necessarily need to be singles though, lots of hb guitars in the videos.

 

[Artie]

Re: Pickups for worship

I worship my Pearly Gates.

(Double entendre intended.)

 

[Shooter.556]

Re: Pickups for worship

Depends on what you wanna worship?
The devil, I'd go Black Winters..
Jesus, I'd go Pearly Gates..

 

[Humbugger]

Re: Pickups for worship

I have no doubt that some pickups will lend themselves to your target style better than others. One thing I would say though, is to not over-think it either. A lot of the sound is based on your technique. For example, when I was playing rhythm and fills for contemporary worship teams I used lots of arpeggios and "U2" style chord shapes with drive and delay. This approach covered a lot of the things you hear on Sunday and on the radio as well. I have used Strats and LP's both, with both hot and vintage sounding pickups. In the end, I always sounded like me - just with different tonal shades. And while I had lots of compliments on my playing, no one could tell if I was using a JB in the bridge of my LP or a Pearly gates - they just knew it sounded good - whatever it was. So yes, the pickups matter - but don't overthink it either, your style and approach are the final elements that shape your overall sound. I drove myself nuts for years trying to achieve perfection with my gear, only to realize that what mattered most was me.

 

[devastone]

Re: Pickups for worship

I have no doubt that some pickups will lend themselves to your target style better than others. One thing I would say though, is to not over-think it either. A lot of the sound is based on your technique. For example, when I was playing rhythm and fills for contemporary worship teams I used lots of arpeggios and "U2" style chord shapes with drive and delay. This approach covered a lot of the things you hear on Sunday and on the radio as well. I have used Strats and LP's both, with both hot and vintage sounding pickups. In the end, I always sounded like me - just with different tonal shades. And while I had lots of compliments on my playing, no one could tell if I was using a JB in the bridge of my LP or a Pearly gates - they just knew it sounded good - whatever it was. So yes, the pickups matter - but don't overthink it either, your style and approach are the final elements that shape your overall sound. I drove myself nuts for years trying to achieve perfection with my gear, only to realize that what mattered most was me.

/\ This, find what makes you enjoy playing, wish I had said that ;-)

 

[MichYank]

Re: Pickups for worship

I've played for our church for 23 years with small groups and orchestras. My #1 is a '76 335 with APH-2's. It does everything. I play directly through the house with a Line6 Pod XT Live. HumBugger's right. At the end of the day, it's all about what's in you that comes through. Best wishes, church is a great laboratory to get better!

 

[Mincer]

Re: Pickups for worship

You may find yourself radically EQing your guitar and amp and using a sound you would never use on its own when you have such a dense sound. When I played with a busy B3 player, my normal sound struggled to be heard. I had to use less mids than I normally do.

 

[jmcorey]

Re: Pickups for worship

I've played for our church for 23 years with small groups and orchestras. My #1 is a '76 335 with APH-2's. It does everything. I play directly through the house with a Line6 Pod XT Live. HumBugger's right. At the end of the day, it's all about what's in you that comes through. Best wishes, church is a great laboratory to get better!

Couldn't agree more. 1) It's all about what YOU like about the tone that makes you want to play. 2) Playing at church is the thing that put me on the spot so that I really did improve.

 

[jmcorey]

Re: Pickups for worship

I play with a Transition in bridge and a Titan in the neck with a Dimarzio super switch. Bridge, Inside coils combined, Both (hate this sound), outside coils combined, neck.

Most versatile setup I've ever ran with.

Have you compared the titan neck to the transition neck? If so, how do they compare?

 

[Liko]

Re: Pickups for worship

Hey Guys,

So I'm just looking for suggestions for pickups that'd be good for worship music, specifically bands like Hillsong, Jeremy Riddle, etc. I'm running a PRS SE Zach Myers into a Blackstar Club 40 at the moment and I'm just finding the tones muddy, edgy and stupid bassy (especially in neck). I've tried dropping posts to no luck. If I try and EQ the bass out, it gets to "twangy". My heart want's to slap a pair of Slash Pickups in there just in case I ever do a cover band again, but the primary focus would be on worship. Any suggestions?

I asked a similar question about pickups for an Epi LP Studio that would be used in much the same environment. The consensus was a Jazz/JB set (aka the Hot-Rodded Humbucker set); both pickups work really well clean or dirty, with the JB taming the twang you typically get in the bridge position while the Jazz clears up the often-muddy neck. They both coil tap really well too if you really want that Tele-ish sound out of your LP.

 

[Liko]

Re: Pickups for worship

Welcome to the forum.

You need single coils. That kind of music is done on Telecasters and Jazzmasters and Jaguars.

I disagree; The OP mentioned Hillsong, and they use just about anything they can get their hands on, as many worship teams of this type tend to. Francesca Battistelli's debut album was recorded with a 335 as the primary electric. The team backing Jeremy Riddle rotates people week to week, and the instruments follow the players. Lincoln Brewster himself normally plays a Strat but the band backing him in this video - Lincoln Brewster - Our God (Live) - has an LP and a Tele to either side of the frontman. I'd say in the CCW genre it's a fairly even mix of HHs, all other electrics, and acoustics.

Singlecoils are more prominent in CCW than in certain other genres, for two reasons; first because the genre doesn't push guitars into heavy distortion (that's Christian Rock) so singlecoils don't have any output disadvantages, and second because the genre is highly influenced stylistically by other popular genres in the Bible Belt (mainly country/southern rock) which also commonly feature singlecoil tones. However, it's an oversimplification to the point of being wrong to say that all CCW is played on singlecoils.

 

[treyhaislip]

Re: Pickups for worship

I disagree; The OP mentioned Hillsong, and they use just about anything they can get their hands on, as many worship teams of this type tend to. Francesca Battistelli's debut album was recorded with a 335 as the primary electric. The team backing Jeremy Riddle rotates people week to week, and the instruments follow the players. Lincoln Brewster himself normally plays a Strat but the band backing him in this video - Lincoln Brewster - Our God (Live) - has an LP and a Tele to either side of the frontman. I'd say in the CCW genre it's a fairly even mix of HHs, all other electrics, and acoustics.

Singlecoils are more prominent in CCW than in certain other genres, for two reasons; first because the genre doesn't push guitars into heavy distortion (that's Christian Rock) so singlecoils don't have any output disadvantages, and second because the genre is highly influenced stylistically by other popular genres in the Bible Belt (mainly country/southern rock) which also commonly feature singlecoil tones. However, it's an oversimplification to the point of being wrong to say that all CCW is played on singlecoils.

My dad only ever used Humbuckers when he was an active CCM musician. Majority of what I use are humbuckers...even the HSS setups I've used were Hot Rails in the neck and mid so HHH.


Pickups are only part of the equation. Processors vs. amps and then are you micing the amp or going out (if applicable on that amp,) do you have a knowledgeable sound guy (someone who doesn't know what they are doing will make the whole thing sound terrible regardless of what gear you are using)....

Just so many things that go into it than "single coils" vs. "humbuckers"

 

[jalguitarman]

Re: Pickups for worship

I have been wondering the same thing as the original Poster as I play Contemporary Christian music and was wondering the best pick ups to put in my Bernie Marsden SE. I have been very much leaning towards a Pearly Gates set but looking at Antiquities and 59s as well as the Seth Lover set. My playing can be a little shreddier than many in that genre but I do tend to use the same chord structures as are used on the recordings. I think this is a confirmation that the Pearlys will work well for me. That and of all the demos I have listened to, the PG set seems to be the one that excites my ears the most.

 

[Artie]

Re: Pickups for worship

Probably 75% of what I do is Christian Worship.

I always figured you for about 25% Death Metal.

 

[crusty philtrum]

Re: Pickups for worship

I guess the Screamin' Demon is out ?

I don't understand why you ask this question here ... surely the Big Guy himself would tell you ? Does anyone even know what his musical tastes are ? Has anyone even asked ?

 

[Liko]

Re: Pickups for worship

I guess the Screamin' Demon is out ?

I don't understand why you ask this question here ... surely the Big Guy himself would tell you ? Does anyone even know what his musical tastes are ? Has anyone even asked ?

Oh sure, He told me the other day He's all about djent. But, it'd cause a bit of a traffic jam at the pearly gates if the worship teams all suddenly started playing what He likes, so He understands if we back it off a little.

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