When Glenn Fricker says the guitar & pickups don't matter..

  • Thread starter Thread starter GJgo
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TheGreatGreen said:
Of course pickups matter. They can make a massive difference in the feel and response of the guitar.

Changing speakers might technically make more overall difference than changing pickups in a mix, but they affect an entirely different part of the sound, so it's almost a moot point. If you have shitty, muddy pickups that sound like you always have the Tone knob on 0, and you only change your speakers to something brighter, you're still going to have a shitty muddy sound with no definition, it's just going to be a shitty, muddy sound with a lot more treble frequencies present at the end of the chain.
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I think maybe with good pickups, it doesnt matter with close mic. Maybe. Never tried. But some of the pickups that come in bargain guitars.... They have devastated me through very expensive amps. Muddy with tone on zero is perfect way to describe them.
Honestly this is why i dont even have tone knobs on guitars and i dont understand why anyone uses them.
 
I replaced the AHB-2B with an EMG81 two days ago. No change in amp settings, surprisingly big change in sound.

I don't care about Glenn and his channel. But of the few his videos I've seen, the best one is about the photography :)
 
mcstinger said:
I replaced the AHB-2B with an EMG81 two days ago. No change in amp settings, surprisingly big change in sound.

I don't care about Glenn and his channel. But of the few his videos I've seen, the best one is about the photography :)
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I checked out when he said that he made a living making ugly people look good. He mustn't own a mirror.
 
braintheory said:
My personal favorite for Bill Lawrence humbuckers is the ‘70’s L100’s and then the L90, 500L, 500XL, 550XL and then the L900 I’ve got, but I’ve had almost all their vintage models now including the HB-R/HB-L and they all sound great, imho much better than anything you can get made today in terms of sound & feel (much more alive than current made stuff). Even his vintage single coil strat & Tele’s pickups are great. For Dan (the guy that mentioned it) I’m guessing he’d likely be looking at L90’s & 500L’s or 510L’s based on style, but a bunch could work well
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What do you think of the l-500xl these days, the ones you can buy brand new??
 
anomaly said:
What do you think of the l-500xl these days, the ones you can buy brand new??
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I’m honestly not sure. I’d have to try them and just wasn’t that interested. I remember the 500XL in the Dean CFH guitar I used to have seeming quite different, but that was many years ago now, so I just can’t say. All I can say is these vintage ‘70’s & ‘80’s ones (‘70’s even more so) sound & feel great, a lot better than anything I’ve tried that’s non-vintage. I enjoy some of their other models even more than the 500XL fwiw, but it’s good too. I have a ‘70’s 500XL Prototype that sounds much better than the production XL’s I’ve got and I believe no epoxy either on it

Really I’ve yet to try a not good sounding vintage pickup (like pre ‘80’s) other than a few Dimarzio’s maybe. They all have that organic, raw sound that the pickups today don’t have. Even the ‘70’s Carvin pickups I have are good, just imo not as good as things like BL’s, Mighty Mite’s or Dirty Finger’s
 
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braintheory said:
I’m honestly not sure. I’d have to try them and just wasn’t that interested. I remember the 500XL in the Dean CFH guitar I used to have seeming quite different, but that was many years ago now, so I just can’t say. All I can say is these vintage ‘70’s & ‘80’s ones (‘70’s even more so) sound & feel great, a lot better than anything I’ve tried that’s non-vintage. I enjoy some of these other models even more than the 500XL fwiw, but it’s very good too

Really I’ve yet to try a not good sounding vintage pickup (like pre ‘80’s). They all have that organic, raw sound that the pickups today don’t have. Even the ‘70’s Carvin pickups I have are good, just imo not as good as things like BL’s, Mighty Mite’s or Dirty Finger’s
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I like the l-500xl for that Pantera sound, but I find it doesn't work for every amp and tone I use. I gotta try and find a vintage L-500L to compare.
 
anomaly said:
I like the l-500xl for that Pantera sound, but I find it doesn't work for every amp and tone I use. I gotta try and find a vintage L-500L to compare.
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My XL’s sound thicker, more low mids, my L’s are more articulate, less compressed, tighter, more upper mid presence & aggression and really not that far behind in hotness. If I were to play Pantera riffs I still might choose an L despite Dime being know to use the XL’s. The 510L is also cool. Very similar to the 500L, just slightly clearer and less hot

The ‘70’s L90 & L100 are my 2 favorites of their humbuckers and surprisingly overlooked (L100 is my favorite overall). They are more articulate, open, nuanced, more toneful imo than the 500 series and to me still plenty hot and aggressive. The L90 in particular gets a good sizzle, bite and tight over other BL’s if you get a good one (they vary a bit IME)
 
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