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

differences there in the OP are what I'd expect. Not sure what it proves, sometimes that difference matters and sometimes it doesnt. If I was in the studio and dialling in tones then there's a clear difference in the tone that would lead you to picking one guitar over the other.
 
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.

Right on man. Switching speakers certainly makes a difference, but it’s generally nothing that a bit of eq’ing can’t approximate. Cab sims are proof of that.
Pickups can change the overall feel of a guitar on top of just the tone. It’s harder to replicate within a signal chain than a speaker swap.
I have a shelf full of speakers and a drawer full of pickups so I’m certainly not opposed to swapping stuff out, but if I had to change one thing to fine tune my sound, it would be pickups
 
1. Glenn Fricker is wrong even when he's right, because of the clickbait of the title.

Yes, a speaker change effects things most, but pickups have a massive difference in the response of the guitar, and thats what changes how you play, and by extension, the tone.

It's misleading and shitty to pretend that pickups ToTaLlY dOnT mAtTeR, but honestly, if pickup prices go down because of it, all the better for me.

I hope it catches on with the idiot zoomers so I can find vintage bill Lawrences for cheap.

2. @Bram576 T75s don't suck, they just aren't ideal for most basic bitch modern metal tones - they aren't going to do the mids on mids on mids tone. They aren't FOR that.
What vintage Bill Lawrences are ppl talking about? HB-R HB-L from Gibsons?
 
1. Glenn Fricker is wrong even when he's right, because of the clickbait of the title.

Yes, a speaker change effects things most, but pickups have a massive difference in the response of the guitar, and thats what changes how you play, and by extension, the tone.

It's misleading and shitty to pretend that pickups ToTaLlY dOnT mAtTeR, but honestly, if pickup prices go down because of it, all the better for me.

I hope it catches on with the idiot zoomers so I can find vintage bill Lawrences for cheap.

2. @Bram576 T75s don't suck, they just aren't ideal for most basic bitch modern metal tones - they aren't going to do the mids on mids on mids tone. They aren't FOR that.
Yes!!!!!

I enjoy Glenn’s content for what it is. And I think most get their Jimmie’s rustled when they hear “pickups don’t” matter. But even Glenn says there are differences, how big are those differences to justify the expense?

NOW…he also says those comments are aimed at younger players looking for “better” tone in their recordings. I can get behind that. I also think the speaker, mic placement, etc all make bigger differences in tone than pickups, but pickups make the list.

Tone isn’t feel though, pickups can definitely change dynamic feedback/response with your playing in the room which ends up effecting how you’re playing and that definitely matters in the performance captured (if you’ve recording).

With all the material our band has released my “tone” is pretty consistent. But…no less than 6-7 guitars have been used for all those songs. So we have multiple tunings, string gauges, pickups (active/passive), “tone woods”, etc. I have 1 amp, 1 cab, and 1 mic. I change mic placement over the 4 rhythm tracks I usually do for each song just to even out the frequency spectrum, but that’s it. So there’s some legitimacy to it. I’m more concerned with the final recorded product than my in the room tone, but your context always matters. I’m sure not everyone here records and releases songs.

My $.02
 
Guitar 1 is brighter and has more bite on the Rhythms...kinda the opposite for the leads, neck pickups I am guessing..

Guitar 2 is more scooped / compressed / smoother sounding.

Definite difference between the 2 on my monitors.
 
What vintage Bill Lawrences are ppl talking about? HB-R HB-L from Gibsons?
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
 
There's no single tone that's going to capture or expose what a good set of pickups does in the right guitar.

If you play different amps, and use a variety of tones in different situations, no one sound clip is going to capture that. It's not a huge secret that any decent set of pickups, into a rig that's not total garbage, can usually produce a useable tone.

But how do they make that particular guitar sound & feel when it's actually in my hands? How easily can I zero in on a useable sound plugging into whatever random amp or rig I might need on a given day? If I feel like drastically changing my tone for whatever reason, are they still giving me whatever it is I like about them, or am I going to find myself reaching for another guitar altogether?

Some guys spend a lifetime playing with their volume & tone knobs on 10, picking like a machine & sound great. Others are using their volume & tone knobs constantly, and playing with all different types of dynamics and nuance, also sounding great. That's a whole area where pickups respond vastly different from one another, that rarely has the same effect on any two given players.
 
Right on man. Switching speakers certainly makes a difference, but it’s generally nothing that a bit of eq’ing can’t approximate. Cab sims are proof of that.
Pickups can change the overall feel of a guitar on top of just the tone. It’s harder to replicate within a signal chain than a speaker swap.
I have a shelf full of speakers and a drawer full of pickups so I’m certainly not opposed to swapping stuff out, but if I had to change one thing to fine tune my sound, it would be pickups
I'd just change guitars; I have solidbody, hollowbody, semi-hollow, with different pickups, bridges, necks, etc., that I use for different things.
 
Lol
This frigging guy. The ultimate clickbait youtube channel.

Not ONCE have his videos informed me of new info, nor influenced my opinion on a given product. I unsubscribed.

Discussing or debating anything he posts only contributes to him posting more of these “hot takes”.
 
Yes, that’s certainly half of it. The other half is that he’s not even a fraction as good of a recording engineer as he thinks he is. So even if he’s recording a highly skilled player, what comes out of his studio lacks realism, nuance, detail, etc. While not terrible, his productions/tones/mixes/what have you just don’t sound pro or world class for a plethora of reasons.
True. If he was world class, people would put up with his madness and he would be doing big gigs. I worked in the music industry, and watched some engineers do crazy things that you would think would earn them a lifetime ban, but nope. People would put up with Fricker and hire him if he was good. But, he is like higher end hobbyist level, with skewed opinions, bad ideas, and incessantly jabbering away about basically a whole lot of nothing, all while trying to seem highly knowledgeable and profoundly insightful.
 
its funny how riled up glenn gets people. i say good for him being the little guy making it big with 500K subs, i know i get pumped when im on my treadmill and i see his stupid ass face with some absurd statement, i know im gonna be entertained for 15 minutes and maybe ill learn something too.
 
I'm going to sell a Glenn Fricker signature pickup. The specs? Unimportant......
The GF Sig “Winder’s Choice”… no two are alike, and they work perfectly in both neck and bridge. You can charge an arm and a leg for those booteek one-offs. 🤘
 
Glenn Fricker‘s pickup lines are ridiculous as well. “Hey babe, wanna come to my place and shootout some old and new Vintage 30’s?”
 
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
I only have a set of those. Let them lay in my drawer then. Thanks for the info.
 
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
I only have a set of those. So let ‘em stay in my drawyer then. Thanks for the info!
 
Back
Top