Single coil pickups and Hi gain amps

gtr31

Well-known member
I know I will get raked over the coals here by many but, other than the Few Gilbert ,Petrucci ,Malmsteen .I really do not care for the sound of single coil pickups and high gain.

The slow sustaining lead lines in a ballad and in a few places works great but to me anything fast becomes a blur of mush . Add to the fact the added quality of 60 c hum they just don't work for me.

Any othesr find they just do not dig the single coil high gain combination . I think I just noticed recently when watching demos on you tube and so many people love to use single coil guitars and I am like Yuck
 
Gilbert is using dimarzio injectors
Those are single coil i believe
It's not everyone
Just many demos you hear on YouTube
For the record i guess gilberts set up would
Not really be a recto type drive
Neither is malmsteen
 
Soundgarden made Telecasters into Retcos sound awesome. I love single coils into all the channels of the VH4.
 
gtr31":31bu5xlx said:
I know I will get raked over the coals here by many but, other than the Few Gilbert ,Petrucci ,Malmsteen .I really do not care for the sound of single coil pickups and high gain.

The slow sustaining lead lines in a ballad and in a few places works great but to me anything fast becomes a blur of mush . Add to the fact the added quality of 60 c hum they just don't work for me.

Any othesr find they just do not dig the single coil high gain combination . I think I just noticed recently when watching demos on you tube and so many people love to use single coil guitars and I am like Yuck


it only becomes mush if you cake all that gain which can make humbuckers sound worse IMO. the trick is getting them to sing with your hands and approach and a good amplifier thats not full of preamp tubes.

some of the best leads ever recording were on single coils, but then again thats when there was a pletora of amps out there with high gain. a pedal and amp is all u needed...or need IMO.
 
70strathead":37fvejnr said:
gtr31":37fvejnr said:
I know I will get raked over the coals here by many but, other than the Few Gilbert ,Petrucci ,Malmsteen .I really do not care for the sound of single coil pickups and high gain.

The slow sustaining lead lines in a ballad and in a few places works great but to me anything fast becomes a blur of mush . Add to the fact the added quality of 60 c hum they just don't work for me.

Any othesr find they just do not dig the single coil high gain combination . I think I just noticed recently when watching demos on you tube and so many people love to use single coil guitars and I am like Yuck


it only becomes mush if you cake all that gain which can make humbuckers sound worse IMO. the trick is getting them to sing with your hands and approach and a good amplifier thats not full of preamp tubes.

some of the best leads ever recording were on single coils, but then again thats when there was a pletora of amps out there with high gain. a pedal and amp is all u needed...or need IMO.

Great post Ant.


IMO hot buckers were created during the days of low gain to push old marshalls harder, zero need for hot pups in todays highgain market.
 
I think single coils can really wail in a high gain amp if the amp is set right. It does come down to preference though, as what I like out the amp may be different than you. Reza had a clip of a strat into a Hagen and it rocked :rock: :rock:
 
i actually love humbuckers for rhythm, but for leads? i much prefer single coils in the neck. most humbuckers in the neck position seem to overpower the notes your trying to convey, i believe setting the amplifier to accept both is key - not too much gain, but not too little either :rock:
 
I use P90s into high gain all the time. The results are really cool. Very tight with a lot of midrange, and a neck tone that doesn't turn to mud the way a humbucker will.

The key IMO is the tone knob. Strats for instance get that crushed glass effect going on with the tone on 10, but you can always fatten them up with the tone knob.
 
I think it's a touch thing too. Guys like Gilbert, EJ and YJM can get away with high gain and single coils because they have great touch. If you just hack on the strings with high gain and single coils it can sound rough sure, but that's more a result of the player than the fact it's single coils iMO>
 
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