Signature Pickup Whoas?!

[Mr 9finger]

I'm seeing this more and more frequently. Not just here, but other boards as well. People go out and buy "person x's" sig. pickups get them home and are disappointed. I think this where things like DC resistance and such should really be tossed out the window when looking at these sorts of pickups.

Maybe people should look at sig. pickups under a different light. For instance...

Look at the who the pickup was designed for
What kind of playing style does he/she have
What are the body & neck woods?
What type of bridge are they using.
Typically what kind of rig do they play through?
Is their signal usually overly processed?

I don't think people really take into consideration these things when looking at sig. pickups and they should. I'm positive 99% of the time that when these pickups are designed for "player x" that all these things ARE taken into consideration for said player. Why should you as a consumer NOT take these things into consideration?

Just a thought....

 

[Pierre]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I got some Evolutions but I don't sound like Steve Vai. PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I couldn't help you if I tried, you're French...:bigthumb:

 

[theodie]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

Brent, dont ask such big questions! Go back to your favorite past time of knob polishing! LOL!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jackson Distortion]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I'm seeing this more and more frequently. Not just here, but other boards as well. People go out and buy "person x's" sig. pickups get them home and are disappointed. I think this where things like DC resistance and such should really be tossed out the window when looking at these sorts of pickups.

Maybe people should look at sig. pickups under a different light. For instance...

Look at the who the pickup was designed for
What kind of playing style does he/she have
What are the body & neck woods?
What type of bridge are they using.
Typically what kind of rig do they play through?
Is their signal usually overly processed?

I don't think people really take into consideration these things when looking at sig. pickups and they should. I'm positive 99% of the time that when these pickups are designed for "player x" that all these things ARE taken into consideration for said player. Why should you as a consumer NOT take these things into consideration?

Just a thought....

I personally would never buy any signature pickup 'cuz pro guitar players design their pickups based on their favorite pickup-- they tweak it to their own specs, so why would you want that? You should have your own idea-specs, so personally I don't see how anyone, besides the tweakee, would want tweaks so specified to someone elses taste.

I mean you normally buy a pickup based on someone else's idea, but when a discrimanating artist further customizes on this design, anything short of trying to mimic an artist's specific sound is a little odd. Well, maybe not odd, but you'll probably won't be bowled over the signature tone if you've been tweaking your own tones for years, that's what the artist is doing, forther bettering THEIR signature tone.

 

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I personally would never buy any signature pickup 'cuz pro guitar players design their pickups based on their favorite pickup-- they tweak it to their own specs, so why would you want that? You should have your own idea-specs, so personally I don't see how anyone, besides the tweakee, would want tweaks so specified to someone elses taste.

Aye! I have to agree w/ you 95%. That being said, I guess I'm one of the few people that actually love the Screamin Demon....But, I use it as it was designed to be used. All maple body/neck and floating Floyd. So I know what to expect out of it and what it's capabilities and limits are for my own usage.

 

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

Brent, dont ask such big questions! Go back to your favorite past time of knob polishing! LOL!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry dude, fresh out of Brasso. Had to find something else to take up my time.

 

[idsnowdog]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I think it is possible that many pro players have such a heavily processed sound that they exagerate eq curves to fit their sound. They are compensating for signal loss in their chains. Or they are suffering from frequency deafness and are overcompensating.

Snowdog

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I love the sig pickups I have and I sound nothing like the artists that designed them.

I currently have many Pearly Gates, a Jerry Donahue Lead, a Screamin Demon, and a JB (which I like in certain guitars and situations).

 

[ibanezrocks]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I have an evolution, and I don't like Steve Vai either!!!
My setup is also nothing like his based on the fact that I plug straight in to the amp. I really don't buy things because of who uses them. I would almost be tempted to get AP2s because Slash uses them, but then I think his tone is more from how he plays and what he plays rather than from a pickup. I took a really critical listen to some of his stuff the other day and decided that his tone isn't edgy-enough for me.

I understand buying a certain guitar or amp because someone famous uses them to get a sound you really like, but a pickup won't make you sound like them and should really only be used as a reference to what it could sound like in your rig.

 

[viewaskew2k5]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I'd only get a signature pickup, if i KNEW it wouldnt sound like the artist did through my rig, but if it sounded GREAT anyways, all the better. Its all about your own tone!

 

[jdm61]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

Is the Pearly Gates really a "signature" pickup? To my mind, it a standard PAF that Seymour goosed a bit. Pretty mainstream and versatile. Some of the other signature pickups were built for a specific player's style and guitar but the PG's seem more like a good "generic" hot PAF that will work dfor a lot of folks. I've seen Pearly Gates work in pretty much every Gibson solid body made and a lot of other brands. It rescued the POS sandwich body 70's Deluxe i had as my first electric........well, as much as one of those dogs can be rescued.

 

[acosmicmessenger]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I would almost be tempted to get AP2s because Slash uses them, but then I think his tone is more from how he plays and what he plays rather than from a pickup.

In that case, a bottle of Jack ought to get you pretty close...

 

[viewaskew2k5]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

Oh and you have to O.D on herion atleast once

 

[gripweed]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I usually don't correct peoples spelling mistakes, I make enough of my own. I can't help myself here. It's woes not *whoas*. Whoa is what you say to a horse.

I don't think of the A2Pro as a sig pickup. It was a Duncan pickup before Slash started using it.

 

[Loserchief]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I have a set of Evos in my Jackson DXMG and i didn't buy them because i want to sound like vai(though i'm somehow gasing for a Ibanez Universe seven string). My thoughts went something like this:
-the price for the set was great(about 40% of retail price for a set of mint evos)
-the Jems the pups were designed for and my DXMG aren't so far apart spec-wise(Alder body ; Bolt-on ; Locking trem ; Maple neck, 25.5" Scale),so the pups should sound "right" in the axe
- All the Evo clips on the forum and everywhere else sounded great to my ears

Guess how it turned out? I love those pups, but i don't even remotely sound like Vai(pretty obvious considering my rig). What they give me is real tight and aggressive metal tone with lots of cut and tight bass. Couldn't be better and i'm actually thinking about getting more of them.

About the same line of thoughts is the reason why i have two dimebuckers

 

[Zerberus]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

I don´t use the Dimebucker becasue I want to sound like Dime.. I use it becuse the pickup itself sounds great in MY guitars for MY style

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

Is the Pearly Gates really a "signature" pickup? To my mind, it a standard PAF that Seymour goosed a bit. Pretty mainstream and versatile. Some of the other signature pickups were built for a specific player's style and guitar but the PG's seem more like a good "generic" hot PAF that will work dfor a lot of folks. I've seen Pearly Gates work in pretty much every Gibson solid body made and a lot of other brands. It rescued the POS sandwich body 70's Deluxe i had as my first electric........well, as much as one of those dogs can be rescued.

The PG is based on the pickups in Billy Gibbons' LP, which he calls Pearly Gates. I do believe that the solo for "Cheap Sunglasses" was recorded using Duncan's PG pickups.

 

[Mr 9finger]

Re: Signature Pickup Whoas?!

Whoa, this got a little off track here. Maybe I didn't explain myself clearly enough. I'm not saying people that buy sig. gear in general to sound like that person.

I'm saying when looking at these types of pickups for your particular guitar.
For instance.

Someone takes pickups that were designed for a guitar player that uses alder bodied floating Floyded equipped guitars and puts them in a Les Paul type guitar and the end result wasn't really what they were expecting.

This probably is because those pickups were designed for something else and not being used in their intended environment. If the person likes the results then all the better.