Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

[barbarianbrute]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

These three all not "tone" players. Not an insult to them, but that's what it is.

They use the guitar to get notes out of the guitar and they use the pickup and amp combination that delivers a constant tone that doesn't sound interrupted when play varied due to too much acrobatics. The high gain doesn't only mean that you can use an amp with too insensitive input. It also means that lower string vibrations get you something closer to what a full hit on the string brings you. So techniques that get you the notes you want but don't have constant "string gain" get evened out.

I also guess but have no direct knowledge that all three of these use pretty thin strings.

Having said all this, Morse (one of my favorites, just not for his tone) make use of quite a bit of single-coil play, he even has a real single coils in there.

i know you weren't knocking those guys, but most people i've ever known think satriani has great tone. i think his tone is awesome.

now when you refer to "tone players," i have to wonder if you refer to those guys who think everything's in the clean tones. players who use a lot of gain always get knocked by them for not having great tone from what i've seen. to be quite honest though, bands like lamb of god and shadows fall have awesome tone. maybe not what a jazz player would consider great tone, but we know it's all subjective.

to me, satriani and vai have better tone than petrucci. i think petrucci's tone is good, but he doesn't grab my tonal attention like those guys. in terms of clean tone, satch can from time to time go clean and it sounds great. so i have to respectfully disagree on some of your points.

the thing you said about string sensetivity i think though hits the nail right on the head. i'm sure some bad-ass player's going to pop up and say "i use high gain pickups for the sound and not because it's easier to play fast" or something. my opinion, however, is that gain and high output pickups make it easier to play at blazing speeds because it hardly takes anything to hit a note. like i said, put a duncan distortion in there and crank up the gain to 1 o'clock and you can play almost entirely with your left hand.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

Well before thinking of Vinatge vs Modern ,you have to think about application.
Bridge PU's sound thin when they're not hot enough...For my Rythm work ,i need articulation ,harmonics ,tightness and fullness..No low output PU can give it to me...So if i want to "change" the output lvl ,i just can dime the vol pot ,or use a volume pedal...Ofcourse ,the tone is more compressed ,but it's not allways a bad thing...
As i said ,application is the keyword here...

Neck position OTOH is another story...People who play solos on the neck PU can get much more string vibration ,and fuller tone..That's the same on cleans...So low output Neck PU is not a problem et all..The sound will be full ,and the low compression can give you lovely dynamics...

 

[WGTP]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

The short answer is they like the way it sounds.

I think of it in terms of the pickups and volume/tone controls being part of the pre-amp/distortion box/booster/whatever circuit your plugged into. They have resistance, capcitance, impedance, transconductance, etc. like the rest of the parts in the following circuit. A Evo will react differently than a Mo'Joe or VHPAF or Invader or Full Shred or Antiquity, etc. Most of the parameters change with the volume or tone at 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, etc. It's not just about how much drive the pickup has, or the EQ.

I think it is a good idea to get a pickup that is brighter than what you like. That way your tone control becomes useful. Otherwise, you might as well take it out.

 

[tc]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

i don't know about satch or vai or jp, but people tend to prefer higher output pups for way too many reasons. One being that super low output pickups usually, USUALLY, mush out when the amps is way too pushed. Other, is that yeah they thin out. I'm talking about uber metal stuff tho. It all depends on application of the music though. Because, lower output usually has a more open quality. I wouldn't say they have better tone. It's all a matter of personal taste and how it fits the music and your style. I haven't met anyone who played Cannibal Corpse with an Antiquity PAF...and except for Buddy Guy I havent seen anyone play blues with EMG's, and it's for a reason. And in the inmortal words of whoever defended the Dimebucker, there's always the tone and volume knobs. It's not the same but still...

Edit: Metalblaze, you got sigged.

 

[devastone]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

Hmmm, the DiMarzio Steve Morse bridge humbucker is higher output than Vai's Evolution, Jake E. Lee used a JB which is also a high output humbucker, I think Vito used EMGs in his Steinberger. They use what works for them. As far as Satch's Fred and Mo' Joe, they are medium output pickups, much closer to vintage output that the others. Also, FWIW, PAF Pros were in Vai's original JEMs in the late 80s, those are medium to low output pickups. So, no offense intended, but the original post kinda fell on it's face. As far as people's definition of TONE, that's totally subjective.

<$0.02...

 

[Metalblaze]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

Edit: Metalblaze, you got sigged.

Thank you 3nz. That's an honor.:fing2:

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

Because their pants are too tight, and they can't think straight.

Otherwise, they wouldn't be using DiMarzios in the first place! Duh!!! LOL

 

[uOpt]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

Otherwise, they wouldn't be using DiMarzios in the first place! Duh!!! LOL

I also don't get the point of these Music Man guitars.

is anybody playing a Music Man who isn't an endorser?

 

[GrooveHT]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

I also don't get the point of these Music Man guitars.

is anybody playing a Music Man who isn't an endorser?

Brad Paisley has an Albert Lee that he likes a lot, Paul McCartney has been seen playing one, Vinnie Moore played one for a long time (was an endorser without his own sig model), Blues Saraceno plays EB exclusively now, I believe Keef lauded the silhouette model pretty well, Neil Zaza's desert island guitar is an EBMM EVH model, John from Hectic Watermelon (killer fusion group) plays a Morse, Tony Levin, John Myung, Jordan Rudess plays a Petrucci model, Dave LaRue, Billy Sheehan has a Silhouette 6-string bari...do any of those count? Some of those, like Vinnie Moore, were endorsers, others just played them...none have a sig model.

edit: also, Dweezil Zappa, and James Humphries from Guitar Techniques magazine, Lisa Loeb when she and Dweezil Zappa were a thing...

 

[alashredder]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

I like to add that Steve Vai doesn't use a high gain amp. It is a modern amp but with a bit of a vintage twist to it. His signature Carvin's isn't considered a high gain monster. His high output Evo's help drive his amps and even then I don't consider his sound high gain whatsoever..(maybe that's why he prefers it that way?)

Satch as people said earlier uses medium output pickups. I believe he used a pearly gates at one point, but his signature Peavey JSX is consider a high gain amp as its modeled after the XXX amp. He does the opposite of what Vai does..let the amp's drive the pickups in situations where he needs more gain..again even then I don't consider Satch's tone as "high gain".

Petrucci on the other hand is a rack guy..his pickups and amps get lost in his huge rack system full of stuff. His sound has probably more gain than Vai or Satch. He does need a higher output higher gain stuff for some of the songs he does with Dream Theater.


Also, I guess it's safe to say that no matter what rig Vai, Satch, and Petrucci have, they will always sound like themselves..here's Satriani playing through a fan's cheap fender knock off and a cheap amp..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9v5e1TTwts

 

[JordanM82]

Re: Why do Steve Vai, Petrucci, Joe Satriani use high gain pickups?

I think it has something to do with the times during which they came of age as players.

I would agree with that as well, probably became preference after that and maybe that's just what they prefer now for tone, control and playability...