What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

Dying Flesh said:
DC Resistance (Ohms) is the output of the pickup, so he left the k out.
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No. That is wrong. A pickup with a total dc resistance of 6 kiloohms and a huge ceramic magnet will be MUCH hotter than a 10 kiloohm pickup with a tiny A2 mag ;)
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

Erlend_G said:
No. That is wrong. A pickup with a total dc resistance of 6 kiloohms and a huge ceramic magnet will be MUCH hotter than a 10 kiloohm pickup with a tiny A2 mag ;)
Click to expand...
Of course a big magnet will increase output.

You said:
A pickup doesn't "put out ohms"
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

A pickup doesnt put out ohms. It puts out voltage and current. ;)
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

Right. Output can be measured in mv's but it doesn't put out ohms, it resists them, to a measured degree when a controlled amount of electricity is passed through them for testing

As for the Mars pickup deal, I don't want to get flamed, but it's not that important. I'm not saying he stinks or his tone is lousy, but he's one of those guys who pushes amps so hard that his tone is more about the amp and speakers than the pickup. There are certain players that it doesn't matter what they use. And I'm not talking about the "tone is in the fingers" debate. I'm genuinely talking about how he's using a lot of midrange saturation and amp overdrive that it's far less relevant what's in the guitar than a Twin and TS9 for example. My guess would be if you got his rig, and then swapped out various superstrats and LP's the difference would be far more ambiguous than a more vintage rig. In other words, if you like SRV's tone, you should be starting with some vintage singles, and go from there. If you like Mars' tone, you should start with a certain preamp or head, and go from there. I hope that makes sense.
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

frankfalbo said:
As for the Mars pickup deal, I don't want to get flamed, but it's not that important. I'm not saying he stinks or his tone is lousy, but he's one of those guys who pushes amps so hard that his tone is more about the amp and speakers than the pickup. There are certain players that it doesn't matter what they use. And I'm not talking about the "tone is in the fingers" debate.
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Agreed totally. There comes a point where so much gain is used and studio "improvement" done that the pickup or the guitar construction matters little. You can't tell whether he is playing a Les Paul, a BC rich, a Superstrat or a PRS or whatever. His tone has always been like that since TFFL. You'd never know most of that album was a Les Paul.

I love Randy Rhoads but he's another example, where his tone was so gained out and eq'ed to hell where if you din't hear him use a bar, you'd be hard pressed to know if it was the sandoval V, a Jackson or the Les Paul. You could not pick out a PAF type tone on his Les Paul, even tho that is what he used in that guitar.
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

He used 59's and A2Pro's in the Kramers circa Theater of Pain. Source is a Guitar mag interview
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

he says in a swedish guitar-mag interview that he uses with alnico magnets.
not PAF but the kind with a T on, and he think Bob Bradshaw is making them now.
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

Bob Bradshaw makes pickups??? i thought he just did crazy custom rack setups.


oh also, Mick has never ONCE been 100% honest about his pickups. he tends to keep them a secret since he feels they are a huge part of his MASSIVE sounding tone (live or studio). is he right that they play that much of a role...who knows. but he sure doesn't like to share about them.

-Mike
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

I remember reading in an article once that he challenged anyone to have tone as thick as his. Aside from a few exceptions, he's got nothing to worry about.
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

I've never liked Mick's studio sound. But watching the latest DVD (Carnival), he has an amazing live tone. So heavy yet so clear. The guy might not shred on leads, but he's a helluva rhythm player and comes up with tasty riffs.
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

JacksonMIA said:
I remember reading in an article once that he challenged anyone to have tone as thick as his. Aside from a few exceptions, he's got nothing to worry about.
Click to expand...

i'm taking that on...seriously. my tone is MASSIVE and want it even fatter. i love to piss off bass players LOL.

i LOVE Mick's live tone. he's one of the few guys that makes Marshalls sound good to me...well, modded and mixed with soldanos to add to the missing low end hehe.

-Mike
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

Rev Donzo said:
duncan hines brownies

Looks like a JB
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No, I think it's a "Duncan Doughnuts" pickup.
Because America runs on Duncan!:hijacked:
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

BluesGuyJ said:
I'd love to see Motley Crue.
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DO IT...if you get the chance, i saw them when they were here in NY last and it was killer!!!

-Mike
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

His sound was always too harsh for my tastes.. But I did I like the first two albums overall, but thought they went down hill with Theatre of Pain.. that is unrelated to his tone though. I hated the fact that they did the first 'power ballad' which gave us groups like Warrant,Poison..ect. ect.. The most annoying guitar tone would have to be CC Deville from Poison which is much worse than Mick Mars by a long shot. It is subjective of course.
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

XSSIVE said:
i'm taking that on...seriously. my tone is MASSIVE and want it even fatter. i love to piss off bass players LOL.

i LOVE Mick's live tone. he's one of the few guys that makes Marshalls sound good to me...well, modded and mixed with soldanos to add to the missing low end hehe.

-Mike
Click to expand...
Awesome!!! I love Mick's tone, too. I don't think I fully appreciated it until I saw them live, though.
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

Lets drop the childish semantics, Mick Mars is a LEGEND!

I'd love to hear more on his tone. I dig it... lots.
 
Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

Rainmaker said:
Lets drop the childish semantics, Mick Mars is a LEGEND!

I'd love to hear more on his tone. I dig it... lots.
Click to expand...

Really? You consider him a legend? I find that very odd.

While he has a good ear for writing a catchy riff, I never thought he was much of a player (and one of the worst for musical plagiarism. Listen to God Bless the Children of the Beast and then Listen to Bijou Pleasurette by MSG/Belladonna by UFO. Damn near note for note Rip-off).

As for his tone..I saw the Crue open for Ozzy on the BATM tour. Micks tone was thin, shrill, oversaturated, and buzzy like he was running a distortion pedal direct into a board. He was horrendously sloppy playing wise and most of his lead work (including his horrible solo spotlight) was just a bunch of noise and whammy abuse combined with alot of delay.

When Jake came out the difference was night and day in tone. Not even close. Jakes tone was huge, thick and permeated your whole body while remaining warm and crystal clear (and cleaned up beautifully with his vol knob). Mick's was the proverbial icepick in the ear.

I think Mick owes his success to a solid band, not to any ability of his own (EDIT: not that I mean he's a horrible player, just unexceptional). Were he the guitar player for any number of not so popular bands, we'd have never heard of him.

Mike (Xssive), I'm surprised you feel that Soldanos add bottom end? The SLOs I've played are very thick in the mids, but I don't find them to have the bottom end of a good 2203 (JMP or 800).
 
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Re: What pickups does Mick Mars of Motley Crue use?

I saw him last year, and he sounded nearly identical to the albums. His playing was spot-on.
 
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