Pickup comparison YT channels.

[Music&Chaos]

Here are some comparison channels I dig.

They do both do a ton of pickup comparisons.

I get there are a lot of factors that go into how pickups sound, but still find these enjoyable, and thought some of you guys might as well.


Channel 1:

Channel 2:

 

[BABMusic]

I've listened to a bunch of those videos from that channel. You know what surprised me? I just learned recently that the guitar has just as much effect on the sound. I tried two different Duncans recently in the same guitar and they almost sounded the same. Guitars really do have a character or personality that cannot be changed unless you go with actives. I just prefer passives.

 

[Music&Chaos]

I've listened to a bunch of those videos from that channel. You know what surprised me? I just learned recently that the guitar has just as much effect on the sound. I tried two different Duncans recently in the same guitar and they almost sounded the same. Guitars really do have a character or personality that cannot be changed unless you go with actives. I just prefer passives.

I also agree that the guitar itself makes a difference for a number of reasons. I would say that the electronics, wiring style, cap type, and cap capacitance used can affect the tone considerably.

I have had several Epi guitars across my bench where they only wanted to upgrade the pickups in them to the Gibsons OR they already came with that set and just didn't have the same sound.

Well, the Epis use different pots and caps - which I have found that I personally hate with any set of pickps in any guitar I have tried.

The pots are OK - it's primarily those caps I have found kill mid frequencies we tend to like in guitars.

Also, the Epis use different cap style/type and values than their Gibson counterparts - Gibs use .033 ceramics primarily.

Also, swapped in a set of awesome pickups into an S-style a few days ago that came across the bench. They just weren't quite delivereing. I swapped the cheap cap out in the circuit and the pickups opened right up!

All this is to say - there could be a number of reasons electronically why you may or may not enjoy pickups in a guitar as opposed to the woods it may be made of, or the distance from the bridge to the pickup, etc.

 

[BABMusic]

Very interesting. I never thought about what would happen if I didn't solder the cap on my tone pot. I read that it makes your guitar a little brighter, but you cannot control the tone knob.

I have an old Fernandes that sounds nice and bright (like a metal guitar) and I don't know if it's because of the pots and parts or if it's because of the wood and neck, etc. My Strat is way more warm and less bright, and can't really dial that out by swapping pickups as I've learned. I'm a student to all this stuff.

 

[Music&Chaos]

Very interesting. I never thought about what would happen if I didn't solder the cap on my tone pot. I read that it makes your guitar a little brighter, but you cannot control the tone knob.

I have an old Fernandes that sounds nice and bright (like a metal guitar) and I don't know if it's because of the pots and parts or if it's because of the wood and neck, etc. My Strat is way more warm and less bright, and can't really dial that out by swapping pickups as I've learned. I'm a student to all this stuff.

You find all sorts of weird things. Unexpected treble bleeds, etc.

You can take and just go through different cap values of the same cap type and there is a tonal difference. Like .015, .022, .033, .047.

Higher values make the sound darker, warmer, rounder.

Habe a strat I hate with the setup with a standard .047 due tonhabing A3s which can be dark on top. Made it sound like a bass guitar.

Went back to my lower value cap, and there the sound was!

Throw in that each cap type has its own sound, and there you go.

Yes, just as mentioned, you can also remove the circuit entirely for a different sound as well.

Even when the tone knob isn't engaged, the cap is affecting the high end frequencies and certain resonant frequencies of the instrument.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

PRS uses a twisted pair of one capacitor, one resistor as a bass cut on some of their guitars, most popularly in the 24-08. It's on a switch so it can be toggled. The rating of the capacitor controls the bass cutoff frequency and the rating of the resistor controls how much the lows that don't freely pass through the cap are cut.

You could easily wire that in series after your bridge or neck pickup to clear up some muddy lows.

 

[Music&Chaos]

Currently, I have a tele wired with a single in the neck and humbucker at the bridge. Run it with 500k pots and a .033 to split the difference and it sounds great.

This covered tele pickup really thumps!