Kirk Hammett: “Maybe the age of active pickups is over”

The people who dig actives will keep buying them, those who don’t won’t. I’m not even a huge fan of active pickups, but have EMG’s in 3 guitars and a bass while I’ve got Fishmans in another because they all serve specific purposes for those guitars and I have zero interest in pickup shootouts that’ll take me a year to find a passive equivalent. I’m not even sure I could find an equivalent for the Gilmour EMGs.
 
Comparing an active pickup installed on one guitar to a passive pickup installed on a different guitar reminds me of the experts A/Bing the tone of power tubes, like a set of EL34 and a set of 6L6. The problem was the EL34 was on a Marshall, and the 6L6 on a Mesa. Just like Greenback vs V30, but in different cabs. They guarantee they are only hearing the small piece they are judging, and that the rest of the instrument has no influence on the tone at all.:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
SBlue said:
Comparing an active pickup installed on one guitar to a passive pickup installed on a different guitar reminds me of the experts A/Bing the tone of power tubes, like a set of EL34 and a set of 6L6. The problem was the EL34 was on a Marshall, and the 6L6 on a Mesa. Just like Greenback vs V30, but in different cabs. They guarantee they are only hearing the small piece they are judging, and that the rest of the instrument has no influence on the tone at all.:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
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Bro we all know the guitar/instrument doesn’t matter. As long as it looks great with the nicest looking AAAAAAA top, has the most perfect fretwork, sleek neck and convenient knob placement that’s all that matters in a guitar. Who cares about its sound. That would be like judging a restaurant on how the food actually tastes. I just want a guitar drenched in poly that everyone else goes gaga over for immaculate “build quality” and looks. A paf in those guitars will clearly sound identical to how it would in my overrated and highly outdated vintage guitars
 
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Never really cared for actives myself. I've always like passives with a high gain amp. Gain only gets your tone so far before it just starts becoming too much. Less is more IMO. A lot of high gain players rely on it to cover shitty playing.
 
It can go both ways IMO.
Some do rely on gain to mask their poor technique, but it doesn't ever really work.
Playing (picking and palm-dampening/muting) very precisely while using high gain can be much more of a challenge than doing it with lower gain IMO.
 
I remember around 1988 doing some recording at a friends place. He had an old Charvel that had EMG’s in it. He let me try it. I remember how quiet it was when not playing. But didn’t like the attack it had, very smooth. He used a 50’ guitar cable and those pickups would drive it no problem. Good for going thru a bunch of rack stuff too.
Used the Duncan Metal Livewires for awhile, cool but only one tone.
Still like the Blackout for 7 string stuff.

EMG’s pretty much sound the same in everything, at least the originals. Can’t comment on newer / diffErent models.
 
dave74 said:
It can go both ways IMO.
Some do rely on gain to mask their poor technique, but it doesn't ever really work.
Playing (picking and palm-dampening/muting) very precisely while using high gain can be much more of a challenge than doing it with lower gain IMO.
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i agree, being able to control searing amounts of gain which are usually the tones i tend to like is an art form.
 
I like EMGs. I like passive high gain pickups. They all get the job done with different characteristics. The EMGs still have clarity that passives lack, so its not just gain. That does come at a cost of character though.
 
I'll add that as much bad as I hear about Hammett now, a relisten to MoP or One or other songs of that era still rip. He's great on those IMO.

They lost me after that, but thats fine. I still love the four original albums a lot, and even the Black Album is pretty darn good.
 
rstites said:
I'll add that as much bad as I hear about Hammett now, a relisten to MoP or One or other songs of that era still rip. He's great on those IMO.

They lost me after that, but thats fine. I still love the four original albums a lot, and even the Black Album is pretty darn good.
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Same here. I never got into the black album, but if I judge it as a hard-rock/radio-rock album it is great.
IMO mop and ajfa are their crowning achievements, although I know they themselves would probably disagree.
 
Rex Rocker said:
I think any PAF type chuggs no problem. Some better than others. But Bill Steer uses Duncan '59's in his Les Pauls. And Joe Duplantier's signature DiMarzio is just an overwound PAF-type.

My favorite recorded Metal(core) tone was recorded with Burstbucker Pros.

I do tend to favor A5 for the chuggs, personally. I find A2 PAF's slightly soft and underpowered. I had some Burstbucker 3/2's that sounded pretty weak and thin. I think the Burstbucker family in general is voiced that way. But I'm sure they can be made to work.

I mean... this is the BBP:



Might not be the heaviest most brutal Death Metal, but I mean... heavier than what Kirk is currently playing for sure.
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Phil and Nick were EMG players in those days. Doesn’t mean that they recorded with them on that album though.

do you think the pickups had much to do with the tone as opposed to mic and cab, quad tracking and mixing?

A greater foundation is probably my favorite by them sonically. I tend to like Colin Richardsons work
 
I don't think Metallica was ever an undergound cult band either, were they? I mean, other than maybe Kil 'Em All.

I do like the Black Album, though. But you're right. It's more of a radio rock record.

But for me, their best tones have always been active pickup driven. Each to his own. The more they try to go for an old-school approach to their tones, the worse they get, IMO.
 
Faded Abyss said:
Phil and Nick were EMG players in those days. Doesn’t mean that they recorded with them on that album though.

do you think the pickups had much to do with the tone as opposed to mic and cab, quad tracking and mixing?

A greater foundation is probably my favorite by them sonically. I tend to like Colin Richardsons work
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On the making of DVD, they mention Phil did most of the rhythm tracking, and they show him tracking guitars with a stock LP Standard. Or at least, that's what it looks like. Nickel covers and all. You can see pics of him playing live with that guitar as well with the nickel-covered passives too which he later swapped out for the EMG 85's that he was using in An Ocean Between Us.

I like the tone on An Ocean Between Us as well, and overall, I like Colin's drum tones better, but the tone on Shadows Are Security certainly doesn't sound like actives to me. It sounds raw, edgy, and unpolished (at least compared to the contemporary The End of Heartache tone), but that could very well be the Krank they got reamped through doing its thing. The thing I love about that tone (and that record in particular) is you can really hear the Gothenburg-y influence to the aesthetics of both the music and the production. IMO, of course. The tone reminds me a bit of Colony and the riffs remind me of a less edgy Slaughter of the Soul at times.

I used to be a big fan of that band before Tim went nuts, LOL. And up to this day, I obsess about the tone on that record. I feel kinda nerdy discussing those kind of details like people do about Van Halen or other like way more iconic tones, LOL, but that's just what I like.
 
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Rex Rocker said:
On the making of DVD, they mention Phil did most of the rhythm tracking, and they show him tracking guitars with a stock LP Standard. Or at least, that's what it looks like. Nickel covers and all. You can see pics of him playing live with that guitar as well with the nickel-covered passives too which he later swapped out for the EMG 85's that he was using in An Ocean Between Us.

I like the tone on An Ocean Between Us as well, and overall, I like Colin's drum tones better, but the tone on Shadows Are Security certainly doesn't sound like actives to me. It sounds raw, edgy, and unpolished (at least compared to the contemporary The End of Heartache tone), but that could very well be the Krank they got reamped through doing its thing. The thing I love about that tone (and that record in particular) is you can really hear the Gothenburg-y influence to the aesthetics of both the music and the production. IMO, of course.

I used to be a big fan of that band before Tim went nuts, LOL. And up to this day, I obsess about the tone on that record.
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Same! When I first heard Confined I was like okay… these guys have something going for them. And spot on with the Gothenburg reference. I later went on to learn about At The Gates.

it’s weird watching Phil do play through of songs. It looks and sounds kinda like he doesn’t dig in very much, which makes me also think that this is how he was able to get quad tracking so tight which in turn made for that squishy yet barky midrange.

I only say squishy because everyone is still going for the Meshuggah bazooka chugs and when you go back and listen other stuff you start to hear elements differently and layers jump out of the speakers a bit better
 
Faded Abyss said:
Same! When I first heard Confined I was like okay… these guys have something going for them. And spot on with the Gothenburg reference. I later went on to learn about At The Gates.

it’s weird watching Phil do play through of songs. It looks and sounds kinda like he doesn’t dig in very much, which makes me also think that this is how he was able to get quad tracking so tight which in turn made for that squishy yet barky midrange.

I only say squishy because everyone is still going for the Meshuggah bazooka chugs and when you go back and listen other stuff you start to hear elements differently and layers jump out of the speakers a bit better
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Yeah, looks like he's not a super hard picker. You're right.
 
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