Deciding on pickups is tough

  • Thread starter Thread starter sandman
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sandman said:
Im obviously an 80’s fan but im wondering about Dimarzio At1 and a cruiser in neck. I like melodic and ambient stuff also so Im not sure what to do lol
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Dimarzio AT-1 is my favorite passive pickup. Super fat with great feel and articulation under tons of gain.
 
thegame said:
Active Intervention
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It sucks that most of their best music has their worst tone (and a TON of people confuse those two things)

But that's the way shit goes, it's rare that "Everything lines up perfectly" even for artists that accomplished

Unfortunately after that, it became the 90s and slayer turned into a meme band with baggy pants, singing about drinking the piss and sucking the dick and pretending to be juggalos
 
I like Seymour Duncans and usually a JB or a Custom, or even a 59. Keep it simple....

Theres something artificial with Dimarzios that I dont like, which gives me Steve Vai (P&W) vibes.....but not in a good way, like its super compressed, brittle kind of wierd unorganic artifact...kind of way...

And as for EMGs. Feels wierd, but record very very well, hard to beat an EMG81 for metal, and EMG85 in the neck sounds very good.
 
Sick Michael said:
I like Seymour Duncans and usually a JB or a Custom, or even a 59. Keep it simple....

Theres something artificial with Dimarzios that I dont like, which gives me Steve Vai (P&W) vibes.....but not in a good way, like its super compressed, brittle kind of wierd unorganic artifact...kind of way...

And as for EMGs. Feels wierd, but record very very well, hard to beat an EMG81 for metal, and EMG85 in the neck sounds very good.
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I've always wondered what exactly it is about dimarzios that I dislike so much - i've traditionally been a duncan guy as well, though I like emgs, and the last few years i've really loved Wagner and Tone Nerd and a few others

Whatever "it" is, it's not in all dimarzios, but the main popular pickups have that weird upper mid artifact thing is always there. I don't know of any material/construction difference between dimarzio and other brands, so I really have no idea what this thing is.

I should bug @scottosan about this, he would know.

Scott, what in god's name is the cause of that "signature dimarzio sound" that people either love or hate? It's like a brittle transient sound that's really apparent in palm muted notes on a super distortion. (thought it appears in other pickups they make to varying degrees)

Slayer's old stuff is actually a good example tone of what the haters are talking about - instead of the palm mute "booming" or "blooming" its like a smaller, more constrained "tick tick" or "scratch scratch" sound. You can hear it really well in a couple of other "classic" tones as well, like the early Kiss stuff.

When you compare it to like the famous JB or Mighty Mite tones of the same time period, it's not there. What the heck IS going on?
 
DanTravis62 said:
I've always wondered what exactly it is about dimarzios that I dislike so much - i've traditionally been a duncan guy as well, though I like emgs, and the last few years i've really loved Wagner and Tone Nerd and a few others

Whatever "it" is, it's not in all dimarzios, but the main popular pickups have that weird upper mid artifact thing is always there. I don't know of any material/construction difference between dimarzio and other brands, so I really have no idea what this thing is.

I should bug @scottosan about this, he would know.

Scott, what in god's name is the cause of that "signature dimarzio sound" that people either love or hate? It's like a brittle transient sound that's really apparent in palm muted notes on a super distortion. (thought it appears in other pickups they make to varying degrees)

Slayer's old stuff is actually a good example tone of what the haters are talking about - instead of the palm mute "booming" or "blooming" its like a smaller, more constrained "tick tick" or "scratch scratch" sound. You can hear it really well in a couple of other "classic" tones as well, like the early Kiss stuff.

When you compare it to like the famous JB or Mighty Mite tones of the same time period, it's not there. What the heck IS going on?
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My observation is that a lot of the DiMarzio neck pickups use the cheaper higher gauge wire. They also used brass baseplates on quite a few models which are cheaper. If I want to make a less expensive recipe pickup, the recipe is there with many of their models.
 
scottosan said:
My observation is that a lot of the DiMarzio neck pickups use the cheaper higher gauge wire. They also used brass baseplates on quite a few models which are cheaper. If I want to make a less expensive recipe pickup, the recipe is there with many of their models.
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Those are both interesting points - i've noticed a ton of humbuckers I don't like tend to have brass plates. I'm not sure if it's a correlation/causation fallacy or there's some connection there.

The weirdness, though, is in how consistently their pickups drive me nuts though, and I wonder if there's part of their construction method that affects sound/performance in some way that's hit and miss with people.
 
I really love the Alnico2 sounds but with some attributes of the A5 like the tighter lows and more attack
Is there any pickup that kind of blends the 2 worlds like having a Slash 2.0 or a Frankenstein but with the tightness of an A5 ?
Or is it kind of similar to amps
Comparing the sag of a recto (a2)
To a Fortin (a5) for example
Would a UOA5 or rough cast tighten up an A2
Also any tried the 3rd power riot bucker ? Or praxis. For high gain
They look intresting
 
I think it is until you really settle on what you like. I still like to experiment, but at this point in my life and playing guitar, I have a good idea of what I want from a humbucker. (Singles are a different story as I don't play them much) If its not there, I move on fairly fast.
 
BABMusic said:
Funny for me is that I found the EMG85 is a better bridge pickup for me than the 81. The 81 just sounds thinner on lead playing, especially on the 7th fret area on the higher strings. The 81 is slightly tighter and maybe better for rhythm, but I found the 85 sounded great for open chords. Give it a try if you've never used the 85 as a bridge.
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The 89 is the 85 but spiltable with a separate preamp for the single.
 
gtr31 said:
I really love the Alnico2 sounds but with some attributes of the A5 like the tighter lows and more attack
Is there any pickup that kind of blends the 2 worlds like having a Slash 2.0 or a Frankenstein but with the tightness of an A5 ?
Or is it kind of similar to amps
Comparing the sag of a recto (a2)
To a Fortin (a5) for example
Would a UOA5 or rough cast tighten up an A2
Also any tried the 3rd power riot bucker ? Or praxis. For high gain
They look intresting
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The perceived looseness is relative. Swapping an A2 into a pickup that had an A5 will increase inductance and lowers the resonant peak of the pickup. You can certainly wind a tight A2 pickup by adding tension or increase the winds per layer. You may like Alnico 8s
 
DanTravis62 said:
They're both using super distortions and it sounds like a can of bees lol
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Haha, nope one of them is using a Duncan distortion. I think the tone on that album is one of their better recorded tones.
 
I haven't read through 5 pages BUT to make it worse, pickups are often guitar specific. Also are you running no tone pot? All have an effect. Some pickups work pretty well across the board but still some will be that sound in that guitar and won't be the same in another. That's why I keep it simple... alnico 2 hot bridge pups, chopper or quarter pounder in neck usually pretty good or a simple Duncan 59 in the neck position. But again, you just gotta roll pups in the specific guitar before it feels right. I removed a tone pot in one of my guitars to do some splitting on the neck pup and guess what? Lost the mojo. So many small things to consider.
 
scottosan said:
The perceived looseness is relative. Swapping an A2 into a pickup that had an A5 will increase inductance and lowers the resonant peak of the pickup. You can certainly wind a tight A2 pickup by adding tension or increase the winds per layer. You may like Alnico 8s
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I have one of your alnico 8 prototypes in one of my strats and it is insane! So yeah, in the right guitar the 8 is a bit of a sleeper out there.
 
rsm said:
IIRC, Vivian Campbell used X2N on Holy Diver....but back to the hate...

IIRC, TGP hates the X2N as well.

just sayin'

are those tan pants permanent press, AND with elastic waistband? :D
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Most people haven't even heard an X2N set properly. On most superstats you need a flat/neck ring at the bridge and the pickup needs set down almost flush with the ring, depending on the strings and action of course. You have to set it by fretting each string individually at the very highest fret and lowering the pickup until the wavering goes away completely. Having it too close is where the whole "too much of everything" description comes from.

Personally I only really like it in basswood bodies because those usually have a slightly spongy nature in the lows, which breathes some life into compressed X2N.
 
DanTravis62 said:
That's SDs as well, and is produced a lot better than RIB, but still nowhere near as good of a guitar tone as Seasons
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I much prefer the SOH tone because it's darker and thicker IMO. RIB sounds too crystal clear for me,,,really brash and trebly, but that does fit the tone I think of as "thrashy".
 
Call me crazy but it seems like the lower output and vintage pickups generally have a better balance, hence easier to get a more ear friendly tone.
 
Ceramic Lion said:
Dimarzio AT-1 is my favorite passive pickup. Super fat with great feel and articulation under tons of gain.
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I like the at1 in the right guitar. It has too much bass for a les paul, great for super strats. The dimarzio pickup picker on their site does a pretty good job when you're trying to wade through their offereings.
 
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