Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

The cool thing about high output pickups if you decide they're too dark is . . . you can just back the off of the strings. This both makes them brighter and reduces compression. I find that there is less of a usable range of adjustment with low output pickups. They tend to sound good in one spot only.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Zhangliqun said:
It's not so much that some higher winds sound dark, per se, more that they sound brittle and 2-dimensional, which creates the infuriating sonic paradox of a pickup that is both too bright and too dark at the same time. A few winds come to mind but none more so than Gibson's 498T and 500T. If you try to tame the brittle treble, it turned to mud. If you tried to clear it up some, it became a detail-free icepick. (They also are on my Mt Olympus of Pickups That Got Me Into Winding...)

On the other hand, there are truly dark high output pickups, some apparently on purpose. I often bought the Invader back in the 80's, very cool looking pickup to be sure. The bridge was a bit dark, the neck even more so. I then discovered upon removing the surround tape that the Invader neck had a little cap (don't know what the spec was) directly from hot to ground. Apparently the fear was that the ceramic mag would make the pickup too bright but I would always just cut it out of there and it always sounded much better.
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Interesting way of wording it. I love the Gibson 496R and 500T. I modded them with Hex Screws which seemed to tighten the tone up a bit. But I have them in an all Mahogany strat with a Rosewood board, so its a very warm combo.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

treyhaislip said:
So...which high output pickups from experience sound dark?
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They tend to sound darker in comparison with a vintage output, pickup. For example A 59 sounds brighter to me then a JB. But yes the JB sounds more brighter/ livelier to me then the stock lower output pickup in my Ibby. Hope that makes sense.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Jocelyn said:
They tend to sound darker in comparison with a vintage output, pickup. For example A 59 sounds brighter to me then a JB. But yes the JB sounds more brighter/ livelier to me then the stock lower output pickup in my Ibby. Hope that makes sense.
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That makes more sense–I've never had a higher output pickup be darker than what I was replacing but those were stock pickups that were muddy sounding. Thanks!
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

GuitarStv said:
I find that there is less of a usable range of adjustment with low output pickups. They tend to sound good in one spot only.
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:bsflag:

Seriously, this is just not accurate. There is a huge usable range on low output pickups! One spot only? I guess all of us low output users better find that one spot and use it!
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

treyhaislip said:
That makes more sense–I've never had a higher output pickup be darker than what I was replacing but those were stock pickups that were muddy sounding. Thanks!
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Yeah that is what makes a difference between a good aftermarket pickup and many stock pickups. I swear that the JB made my Ibby sound very livelier.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Zhangliqun said:
They often have that problem but they don't have to. I'm known primarily as a vintage-to-mid-output guy but judging from my R&D with metalhead models, there is no reason on God's green earth that such a wind has to be any less clear and 3D than any vintage clone.
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I am not a winder, but with the existence of really cool high output pickups that can do the clear, and 3d tone, I agree. But there was a time not too long ago, when I would say most high output pickups I knew about were a trade off in clarity for output. It was almost viewed as you could have one or the other in the circles I ran in.

My tendency is to really like a high output pickup with great clarity and use my volume & tone knobs. (I don't tend to do that much with my low output pickups.) IMO, I would say in the last few years I have seen a lot of builders make high output models that just flat out sound good, which makes it a great time to be a player. I dare say that 10 ears ago, there were nowhere near as good of options.

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People saying low output pickups or high outpicks are picky about height adjustment seems kind of silly to me. There are certain pickups that are picky. Some of the low output tv jones line for example, like the Magna'tron, I find to have a narrow band in which it sounds good. My wolfetone blisterbucker was also not one you could just go with any height. I think some pickup models are really picky about placement. I have had low and high output culprits that really were temperamental. But I suspect that is a function of the whole guitar you are adjusting as well.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Afaik, the whole reason for active pickups was to get high output and clarity at the same time.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

DreX said:
Afaik, the whole reason for active pickups was to get high output and clarity at the same time.
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Actually it was for lower noise floor, with less feed back and less string pull to increase sustain. At least this was EMGs original vision... cant say it was this for all active companies...
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Zhangliqun said:
...none more so than Gibson's 498T and 500T. If you try to tame the brittle treble, it turned to mud. If you tried to clear it up some, it became a detail-free icepick.
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Hybrids made from the two (basically unbalanced coils) alleviate much of that and actually make a good sounding pickup. I kinda like both to start with though.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

SnakeAces said:
:bsflag:

Seriously, this is just not accurate. There is a huge usable range on low output pickups! One spot only? I guess all of us low output users better find that one spot and use it!
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Easy there cowboy. I like and use low output pickups as well, and am not saying there's anything wrong with them.

What I mean is, you can adjust a high output pickup close to the strings for the bassier more compressed tone, or farther away from the strings for a brighter clearer tone. With vintage type pickups they go from bright clear tone to just sounding weak when backed far away from the strings.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

GuitarStv said:
The cool thing about high output pickups if you decide they're too dark is . . . you can just back the off of the strings. This both makes them brighter and reduces compression.
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I think that would have to be a perceived thing, because the peak resonance is a fixed quality of the coil, and when graphed out, it looks like a mountain, where those 'bumped up' frequencies always get more amplitude representation than all others above or below. Picking lightly might deliver less amplitude in the mid range and make them seem brighter, but the disposition of the pickup remains the same. My Air Nortons seem pretty dark, I can't say that I've noticed light picking really makes a difference, but then again even if it did, I would not want to have to lighten my pick attack to win back clarity.
 
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Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

DreX said:
I think that would have to be a perceived thing, because the peak resonance is a fixed quality of the coil, and when graphed out, it looks like a mountain, where those 'bumped up' frequencies always get more amplitude representation than all others above or below. Picking lightly might deliver less amplitude in the mid range and make them seem brighter, but the disposition of the pickup remains the same. My Air Nortons seem pretty dark, I can't say that I've noticed light picking really makes a difference, but then again even if it did, I would not want to have to lighten my pick attack to win back clarity.
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I mean you can back the pickup off of the strings. Moving it two or three times further from the strings than you would with a low output pickup will brighten it up, and you don't have to change your preferred picking style.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Have you been in a coma for 40+ years or something? We are lucky to have so many great options that AREN'T hot these days. It was hard to get away from that **** for sooooo long.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

GuitarStv said:
Easy there cowboy. I like and use low output pickups as well, and am not saying there's anything wrong with them.

What I mean is, you can adjust a high output pickup close to the strings for the bassier more compressed tone, or farther away from the strings for a brighter clearer tone. With vintage type pickups they go from bright clear tone to just sounding weak when backed far away from the strings.
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Well howdy ho neighbor Joe, hot damn! Guess what? You're still a bit off. I run a set of jazz humbuckers pretty far away from the strings on one of my guitars and they do not sound weak at all while still maintaining a great balance of plenty of bass mixed with a clear balanced tone. Measurements with string depressed at last fret: Neck = 1/8", bridge = 3/32" away. Now, if we were to take measurements from all jazz humbucker users they would vary quite a bit from that. A few might be lower and many would be higher but all would probably sound great.

So, in your original post you claimed only one position was possible for vintage output pickups to sound good and in this post you backed off that statement (which was wise) but still, I do not think you will find too many vintage output users to claim they sound weak when backed away from the strings at all. It's a preference thing and a bit of of an opinion thing. I respect your preference but what holds true for you does not mean it's true for everybody.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

IMO, the magnet strength is most responsible for determining coil/string interaction relative to height, not anything having to do with the coil.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

SnakeAces said:
Well howdy ho neighbor Joe, hot damn! Guess what? You're still a bit off. I run a set of jazz humbuckers pretty far away from the strings on one of my guitars and they do not sound weak at all while still maintaining a great balance of plenty of bass mixed with a clear balanced tone. Measurements with string depressed at last fret: Neck = 1/8", bridge = 3/32" away. Now, if we were to take measurements from all jazz humbucker users they would vary quite a bit from that. A few might be lower and many would be higher but all would probably sound great.

So, in your original post you claimed only one position was possible for vintage output pickups to sound good and in this post you backed off that statement (which was wise) but still, I do not think you will find too many vintage output users to claim they sound weak when backed away from the strings at all. It's a preference thing and a bit of of an opinion thing. I respect your preference but what holds true for you does not mean it's true for everybody.
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I find that vintage humbuckers sound good in one spot. Wasn't trying to imply some law of pickup setting, of course it's not going to be the same spot for everyone. It's good that you found the one spot that your jazz pickup works in for you. Your measurements aren't far off the strings at all though.

Try moving a vintage bridge pickup 1/4 inch away and see how it sounds. With a Tone Zone it get more dynamic range and takes on some vintage pickup characteristics at this distance. With a Seth Lover it just sounds weak and terrible. Hence what I was talking about . . . there's more range you can adjust a high output pickup and get usable sound. You can't make a vintage humbucker sound high output, no matter how close you raise it to the strings.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Joe Naylor from Reverend Guitars created the Railhammer pickup. Probably the most articulate pickup I've ever heard. Strumming or picking individual strings, there was a lot of seperation you could hear no matter how much gain you have on tap. Amazing pickup for the heavier tones.
 
Re: Why are hot pickups the trend these days?

Detroitblues said:
Joe Naylor from Reverend Guitars created the Railhammer pickup. Probably the most articulate pickup I've ever heard. Strumming or picking individual strings, there was a lot of seperation you could hear no matter how much gain you have on tap. Amazing pickup for the heavier tones.
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I haven't tried the Railhammer but I just got a Dimebucker and I would say it is the most articulate pickup I've ever used. I'll have to check the Railhammer out
 
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