Unmistakeable Pickups

[Silence Kid]

Some pickups have their own voice, but can still be tweaked to have say a "generic humbucker" or "standard Fender" sound to them. A listener could strain to tell whether any uniqueness in the tone was from the amp, guitar itself, or the pickup. I'm thinking of pickups that *aren't* like that.

I'm curious to hear opinions on pickups whose unique tone is most challenging to dial out. Immediately my mind jumps to the JB, or an EMG set. Any other "un-mistakeables?"

(I'm mostly thinking of standard humbuckers/single coils variants; not so much answers like Rickenbacker or Teisco pickups.)

 

[Demanic]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

I dare you to try to dial the tone out of a Distortion, Alt8, X2N or a Deathbucker.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

 

[Blille]

Unmistakeable Pickups

Not sure I would pick up for sure something beyond a JB but good candidates with a characteristic sound are Hot Rails and Quarter Pound. QP particularly in tele and PBass.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

The Dimebucker always sounds like a Dimebucker.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

The L500 always sounds like an L500, it might vastly different in different guitars, but you can always tell that it's still good ol' Bill's magic recipe.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

I dare you to try to dial the tone out of a Distortion

The thing is, I think the Distortion is a pickup with an even & clear enough response that it cleans up quite well; versatile if you dial back the volume or tone, at which point it quits sounding like a Distortion.

The JB on the other hand seems to lean all sorts of different ways to avoid you, when you try to back-off EQ/volume/tone or try anything else to make it do anything other than what it wants to do from the factory. Killing the mid-spike (if you can do it) just muds everything else out.

 

[Demanic]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

It might clean up well, but to me, it just sounds like a clean Distortion. Not a different pickup.

Sent from my Alcatel_5044C using Tapatalk

 

[Mincer]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

If I was the player I *might* be able to guess. If I was the listener...probably no way I'd be able to.

 

[Mononoaware]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

Super D usually sounds like a Super D to me. Which is a good thing.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

I am with Mincer on this one. There are so many other variables involved that I don't think I can pick out any one pickup with any accuracy. Maybe Eric Johnson can, but not me. Heck, I have moved pickups, including a Super Distortion and a JB, from one guitar to another and had them sound very different.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

The wiring of the guitar has huge effect in the way pickup sounds so any of that is only valid, if you expect the pickup to be wired in a normal way. Load JB with 1M pot, then tweak the tone to balanced with rc circuit and no one will be able to guess from tone what pickup it is.

That said. Rail pickups have definitely distinct tone, but different construction makes comparison bit invalid. Same with L500 and QP.

From single coils, I think Texas Specials have a distinctive tone to them. JB has too. Many SD pickups to my ear tend to be smooth and really balanced, making them more versatile, but also less distinctive than most.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

On a PC anything can be dialed in or out EQ wise. The only point where I feel it gets difficult is the initial character of a distorted signal, that varies among different pickups if everything else is not altered betweem the guitars & the amplifier input. But even there I think some tricks can be performed on a track to get things sounding a particular way if needed.

Of the pickups I have the ones that track uniquely to a certain degree are Duncan SH5, Dimarzio Chopper, FT2 & SuperD.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

On a PC anything can be dialed in or out EQ wise. The only point where I feel it gets difficult is the initial character of a distorted signal, that varies among different pickups if everything else is not altered betweem the guitars & the amplifier input. But even there I think some tricks can be performed on a track to get things sounding a particular way if needed.

Of the pickups I have the ones that track uniquely to a certain degree are Duncan SH5, Dimarzio Chopper, FT2 & SuperD.

Yep. Modeling is it's own thing in that matter.

 

[Reaper of Doom]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

I went through changing pickups almost every month. I dropped a Super Distortion in one time and I instantly thought it sounded too plain and generic. After a few days I realised it sounded generic because the Super D has been on pretty much every hard rock and metal album ever. As it happens that generic sounding pickup stayed in my axe for 2 years and I got one of the best recorded tones I've ever had.

Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk

 

[dave74]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

If I tried to guess pickups as a listener I would be wrong 10-20 times more than I'd be right,,,,unless I simply made my guesses based off knowing the most popular models for a given genre. I'd do much better just guessing like; emg81 if it was extreme metal,,,,would be right probably 20-40% of the time even now lol.

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

I recognize Cobain's Hot Rails in his Strats and his JBs in his Mustangs. I already know that they're there but they do sound distinct.

 

[mojosman]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

I think Lace Sensor pickups have a sound of their own. I've had the gold ones in two strats, and they had this sterile sort of almost strat tone. Like a strat sound, but not quite. If you listen to Clapton post Blackie when he started playing the Clapton sig model strat with Lace pups, his tone changed. I mean he was still Clapton, he still has the chops and vibrato, but his tone wasn't the same. I guess he plays the newer vintage noiseless ones now, and I don't think I've heard those as of this point.

 

[Blille]

Unmistakeable Pickups

I think Lace Sensor pickups have a sound of their own. I've had the gold ones in two strats, and they had this sterile sort of almost strat tone. Like a strat sound, but not quite. If you listen to Clapton post Blackie when he started playing the Clapton sig model strat with Lace pups, his tone changed. I mean he was still Clapton, he still has the chops and vibrato, but his tone wasn't the same. I guess he plays the newer vintage noiseless ones now, and I don't think I've heard those as of this point.

I was tempted to put Lace Sensors too on the list because of Clapton but then I wondered if it was the pickups or his whole setup.

 

[Silence Kid]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

Sensors don't sound like standard singles but they're still close in the ballpark to me; like G&L S500 MFDs to a degree. Maybe ceramic cheap single coils are "distinctive" in their own way though.

 

[Jeff_H]

Re: Unmistakeable Pickups

Seth Lovers.