Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

[h00jraq]

Hello everyone,

I've bought guitar which I've really did not tested (I've just starter learning guitar) and later for 4 weeks I was playing without amp and now I just can't get the sound which I want.
I've tried to get nice AC/DC sound and Iron Maiden with 2 different amps and Guitar Rig and I just could not get the sound which I want. Later today I've plugged my friend Ibanez RG 350 into my Yamaha THR 10 and man, that was the sound I was looking for! Darker and fatter, I would say there was more "meat"in that sound.

Sad thing is that I can't return my guitar because I've bought it more then 30 days ago so I have probably 2 options:
1. Sell guitar and loost some money
2. Change neck single and bridge humbucker into something else but I'm not sure if this is really worth the money I would have to invest... Guitar feels great so maybe I could make some invest and make it even better. All pickups are Alnico V and are made by Yamaha so I have no idea how they compare to SD or DiMarzio.

Help guys, I'm really lost. Yamaha 212 is of course great guitar and I've even asked my friend so he can test it and it sounded really nice in some classic rock & blues tones. I'm just more metal/hard rock guy who love Maidens/Metallica/BS & DP.

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

If you like the guitar, it's worth putting better pickups in it. I suggest finding out what pickups your friend has; that should give us a better idea of what you like.

 

[Jacew]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Pacificas are great guitars, definitely worth of upgrading if it feels right for you.

There are people here far better suited to answer your question about pickups, but my instict would be to look at JB first for what you want. (AC\DC and Iron Maiden are quite far apart tonewise BTW...)

 

[Blille]

Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Just like I said in the other forum, JB or custom in the bridge brah lol

This is a good place for advice [emoji4]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[h00jraq]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Not sure if I'm deaf but I can't hear really big difference between SH-4 and SH-5 or disortion humbucker on SD website. To be honest there is like no difference at all. I guess the difference should be quite noticable. I hear bigger difference on youtube videos...

 

[Clint 55]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Yeah the Duncan sound clips on the site aren't very helpful. Youtube works much better.

 

[h00jraq]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Unfortunately I can't find how sh-r or sh-5 compare to yamaha. I've read some review that stock yamaha pickups are to bright(can agree with that). I could probably invest 100 $ just for bridge pickup change but I think this will(or can be) be waste of money. For 420$ I can buy Yamaha 421 for example (this one with 2 humbuckers) or something else with HSH (maybe Ibanez RG370?). For the next few month I can get better with my yamaha and then with better skills I will be able to properly test new guitar.

Maybe Santa will bring me new pickup?

 

[Mincer]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

I think starting with the bridge pickup is a good idea. Do you know the specs for your current bridge pickup? If we know wht pickup it is, and we know what sound you are going for (which we do), then it might be easier to suggest a replacement.

 

[h00jraq]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Bridge Pickup is Alnico V (like other pickups) but this is all that I know. All pickups in my 212vfm are made by yamaha. If I'm correct tone & volume pots are 500K (but I will ask Yamaha to be sure). If they will respond I will post their answer here.
At this moment I have problem with identifying if I need more output or maybe warmer/fatter tone. I thought that for more fatter tone I need medium output, not really high output but of course without knowing E.Q of yamaha pickups it can be difficult to judge. In this video https://youtu.be/j7whx_ntCog?t=144 I can probably see that DCR for single coils is 7.5k but can't be sure if 112v has same pickups as 212v (they should be the same according to yamaha) but DCR really say nothing about how pickup will sound. I hink E.Q is more important.

 

[Aceman]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Just a warning....

You are asking for a pickup to get blues, classic rock, AC/DC, Maiden, and Metallica. There is no ONE pickup that will nail the harder end of those and the more mellow side.

With the right amp, a generic 59 can do a lot of that...but it will always be lacking somewhere. I could easily say a SuperDistortion will give you the Maiden sound, or a Duncan Distortion early Metallica, Fat blues would not be my choice with either of those. I could say an A2P for blues and classic rock...but not really Maiden/Met.

If I had to pick one all around for those...I might go with a 59/Custom hybrid, or maybe a SuperDistortion. Maybe a JB...maybe not.

 

[Hank-]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Not sure if I'm deaf but I can't hear really big difference between SH-4 and SH-5 or disortion humbucker on SD website. To be honest there is like no difference at all. I guess the difference should be quite noticable. I hear bigger difference on youtube videos...

I'm not sure if the clips on product pages of the duncan website were made using same guitar & amplification. On youtube there be clips of them in different amps, speakers & guitars. Also not a very reliable source to follow if you are already unable to hear a difference on the duncan clips.

But here's a clip on youtube that may help in distinguishing some https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KbRlcdNHYDM

Unfortunately I can't find how sh-r or sh-5 compare to yamaha. I've read some review that stock yamaha pickups are to bright(can agree with that). I could probably invest 100 $ just for bridge pickup change but I think this will(or can be) be waste of money. For 420$ I can buy Yamaha 421 for example (this one with 2 humbuckers) or something else with HSH (maybe Ibanez RG370?). For the next few month I can get better with my yamaha and then with better skills I will be able to properly test new guitar.

Maybe Santa will bring me new pickup?

Probably best to wait, get better at playing & hearing what you don't like in the stock pickups.

Bridge Pickup is Alnico V (like other pickups) but this is all that I know. All pickups in my 212vfm are made by yamaha. If I'm correct tone & volume pots are 500K (but I will ask Yamaha to be sure). If they will respond I will post their answer here.
At this moment I have problem with identifying if I need more output or maybe warmer/fatter tone. I thought that for more fatter tone I need medium output, not really high output but of course without knowing E.Q of yamaha pickups it can be difficult to judge. In this video https://youtu.be/j7whx_ntCog?t=144 I can probably see that DCR for single coils is 7.5k but can't be sure if 112v has same pickups as 212v (they should be the same according to yamaha) but DCR really say nothing about how pickup will sound. I hink E.Q is more important.

Yeah, it's tricky to get an idea if the sound of the pickup will work in your guitar using the dcr & eq values until you get more than two pickups & hear how those relate to eachother according to the specs published.

For now, I suggest you grab a ruler with 'mm' scale & a screwdriver. Adjust the height of the bridge pickup & see if it improves the sound by lowering or raising the two screws holding the pickup in the pickguard or mounting ring. The usual height guidelines to start with are 2mm on the bass strings side & 1.6mm on the treble strings side, its the distance from the polepiece to the bottom of the E & e strings when the string is depressed on the last fret.

 

[h00jraq]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Ok I will play with height adjustment for bridge. I'm curious what result I can get doing this.

I understand that one does simply play all the sounds . Maybe instead of focusing on which band I like the most I just would like to say that I want to get warmer/fatter tone. I know that it will not sound exactly the same and I'f fine with that. If changing bridge pickup will do some magic then I will think about changing single coils. Humbucker is my priority for now. I just hope that anything will be upgrade over stock pickup.

 

[MFA]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Your Pacifica is a fine guitar. The 112 models and above are very under-rated. I have 5 of them. Is your major concern is the distortion sound?

 

[h00jraq]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

Your Pacifica is a fine guitar. The 112 models and above are very under-rated. I have 5 of them. Is your major concern is the distortion sound?

Sorry for soo late response... but I've listen to some post to get better and check what I like/dislike in my guitar tone and...yes, disortion sound is kind of a problem for me. I like the guitar and I've got better skills since my last post here . I will have to do some digging in pickup change topic again. I've asked Yamaha about pots but they did not said anything unexpected.

Hi, for Humbucker pickup, it is 500k pots whereas for single-coil pickup, it will be 250k pots

 

[Benjy_26]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

What kind of amp/speakers are you playing through?

 

[h00jraq]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

I play mostly using Mercuriall Spark/Reaxis and Bias FX Pro. I'm using headphones which are AKG K550 MK II and my Studio Monitors (less often then headphones in last times). I have Yamaha HS8 and Edifier RT 1600 TIII. Both are great. For guitar interfafe I use Scarlet Solo II 2Gen.
I was trying to find comparision between Yamaha 212VFM humbucker and for example Super Disortion but could not find anything :/.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Yamaha Pacifica 212V pickup upgrade

I would think through an actual guitar amp you could hear what the pickups truly sound like. Presets in software are really geared toward one specific tone, not a rage of them. I might start with hearing the guitar through the amp, and trying to mimic that within the software.