They both have nice qualities. The emg has an insane chugging tone, but the D activator is not as muffled sounding. it has more presence. and it's likely more versatile too.
I agree with the video assessment very much. The only thing I will point out from my experience is that the FEEL of a passive is much different than an active; HOWEVER, somehow Dimarzio was able to capture the FEEL of an active with the D Activator. Very impressed with that pick up.
very well-done video !! The EMG 81 is great for attack, nobody beats it, yet. But if you don't have active pickups in your guitar, D activator would be a good option. Still I think there are other passive pickups to consider with good attack, Seymour Duncan Nazgul or DIMEBAG.
Dimarzio has more bottom end and some more mids to it too. I literally have two guitars with these pups in them, so I'll do a comparison too to see how it sounds. I do like the mid bite the dimarzio has. Cleans are good too, but the dimarzios are better in the bridge and middle position for cleans. The EMG 60 I have is great on it's own for cleans. I like the punch and how quiet the EMGs are when you're not playing. If I had to get a passive set though, the D'Activator pickups would be it!
thanks for this vid. Right to the point A friend gave me an Ibanez XPT700 with the D activators. I love how it feels. It just doesn't have the punch or tightness I'm looking for with palm muting. The stock P-ups are good rock n roll pics ups. I'm used to playing my ESP m-1000 with EMG 81's and I never find myself ever fucking with any amp settings. JUST volume.
@fullfilm Just sounded better to me. I bought D Ac a while ago and i'm glad i didn't go with emg since D Ac has more bass and less low mid. Definitely wouldn't want any more low mid than the D ac has
I just got a guitar with EMGs in it and they've kinda opened my mind. But I hate the look and the fact that I have to rely on a battery, so I'm looking for passive alternatives to the 80/61 set.
x a n a x EMG Marty Friedman Passive Set, replaces EMG 81/60 Combo, Marty used 81/60 a long time but not anymore due that he got his own signature set and they’re passive pickups that sound like actives.
Did you run the EMG on 9 or 18 volts? They sound better on 18 volts with the pickup further away from the strings. That way your tone is better. Helps also with having at least a set of tens or heavier strings. Thanks for posting this video.
It's hard to tell on the video, but i've noticed the dimarzios have a much "thicker" tone and completely dominate the 81 in terms of output. They are also highly versatile, excellent bright clean tones. Active pickups in general add compression to the sound and tend to level out a lot of extra tonal noise and variation. This can be a good thing for some players looking for a very consistent pickup. passives tend make all sorts of noises depending on how you play and can be manipulated more by using the volume knob on the guitar. Took me a long time playing emg's religiously until I realized that I like passives a lot more, especially for metal. I've owned an ibanex xiphos for many years now with d activators and honestly have never played a better sounding pickup
Hi, Is there any chance I could ask where you got the pickup mount rings in purple? Im currently doing a Les Paul in similar colourway and struggling to get pickup mounts for it
Nice full saturated sound on both cases. Personally EMG`s sound very flat and sterile to me (depends on gear tough). PS. Well, some people installed blackout pre-amp to D-ActivatorX`s :D Nice guitars you have there! Cheers
The D-Activator is great. No batteries. They feel like the best of both worlds. The clean sound of the D-Activator is FAR superior to EMG. I have it on good authority that it's a pain in the ass to install the D-activator yourself.
Nice demo man! But the myth about EMG 81 being mid scooped has to go! There are three tests, one official and one from Jackson, the other from Zerocable. The EMG 81 is actually mid BOOSTED , and cut off at the very lows. Take note that the fundamental of 6th dropped to C is at 62hz, so there's still plenty of bass since it doesn't really cut off until 25hz imgur.com/fWUVxQP In fact the resonant peak is 3.2khz as well, so that's why it cuts through the mix. BTW, jealous or ur cool guitars!
I remember Alexi Laiho making the same statements in an old interview many years ago. His biggest complaint was how the mid of the 81 was almost overpowering in certain situations. I've always wondered what the hell people were talking about by calling the EMGs scooped. Not by my ears they're not. Now the 57 in my 7 string is more scooped than an 81 but it still has more mid than I need.
Been playing EMG81 for a long time but I find they lack the grinding mids, so they sound very shrill on open chords. It bothers me because it always sounds like the palm muting is so heavy then you play one open note and it’s like a can of bees attacking you
Dimarzio recommends 500k-1meg pots withe the d’activators. In case anyone is considering. I love my EMG’s. But if the D’activators are properly set up, they can be pretty wicked too.🤘🏻
Lasse Lammert I figured they were good pots. They sounded great Just making a general statement in case people are considering them. I like EMG’s . But it’s nice to have a few options. Where are you from? I’m guessing Germany, but your accent is very small.
It's hard to say one is better than the other, they sound great. Chugging on the power chords, to my ears, sounded slightly better on the EMGs but the single notes riffs were far better on the DiMarzio
Question what channel where you running the EVH on red? what was the gain settings, as I have the same amp and have to crank the gain on the red channel for anything usable for metal or use a boost in front.
I got to try the D-activators in the LTD Whitechapel sig guitars, and it was a shame because I particularly liked the Alex Wade model except the D-activators were so lackluster and dark.
I hear that. I bought an Ibanez xiphos when the d-activators were just coming out and was completely disappointed. I know the xiphos isn't the greatest guitar but my cheap epiphone classic with an 81 in the bridge destroys the d-activators
emg81 all the way even though the dimarzio wasn't bad. I've got an 81 in my lp and d-activators in my xyphos and the dimarzios sound like shit through my marshall for some reason
D-Activator X sounds so much better in my opinion, warmer and a bit fatter, but still stays tight. I had a set on an SG, could roll them back and do Sabbath. But when I dimed them, instant death metal.
I like DiMarzio for better versatility and cleaner sound, but hearing you on the EMG's with that Hetfield approach rhythm was excellent too. More meat from the EMG's and between clarity and lead with DiMarzio. Higher output I believe with them.
In my opionion, the EMG sounds cleaner and tighter. In my experience this tone works better in the mix. In my guitar (mahogany neck through with a Karelian birch top) I used to have D-Activator X pickups, but replaced them with EMG 81 in the bridge and 89 in the neck. They had similar tendencies in sound as the regular D-Activators. Not enough high mids, booming lows and a rather muffled sound in general. The guitar, because of construction and wood is bassy on its own, so these pickups further amplified those qualities.
Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci Chris Broderick, Ron Bumblefoot, Steve Morse, Herman Li, Sam Totman, Nita Strauss, Mark Morton, all use DiMarzio..but what do they know..
It's funny. I always think I need to try something different, but every time I go back to the old tried and true EMG 81. That being said and truth be told, I am an old fart. Get off my lawn. \,,/
not really I have a Ibanez zyphos with a string through body with d-activators and unless you have a very high gain amp they almost sound as if I'm on the rhythm pu compared to my les paul with emgs
playing through my marshall the emg 81 kicks the d-activators ass. On higher gain amps the dimarzio definitely catches up and they both are great pickups but if I had to pick one it would be the 81. Anyone have experience with Seymour Duncan blackouts and if so how do they compare to the emgs?
Funny. To do a comparison, you need to play nothing but the pickup. Not the pickup through 9 billion megawatts of distortion. Pickup, cable, amp on the cleanest setting, no effects, no reverb, no compressors, no delays, no nothing to alter the sound. If your amp has channel eq set everything to neutral. THEN you play ALL OVER the neck getting the lowest registers to the highest. You actually hear the tone of the pickup produced by your guitar's makeup (wood, pots, etc) through your amp's speaker. And if you happen to have shitty speakers, forget pickups.
Central Scrutinizer you couldn't be more wrong. To compare pickups it's extremely important to hear how it reacts for palm mutes, does it get woody or is the bass right, how fast tracking is the low end, does it et muddy...for that you NEED distortion. A pickups with a clean and round low end on a clean setting can sound horribly boomy for distorted palm mutes. Also has the distorted sound much more overtones and harmonics, so it reveals WAY more of the tonal qualities and potential shortcomings of a pickup
Well there you have it. 47 years of guitar playing and I don't know what I'm talking about. You evaluate pickups your way, I'll continue to do it my way. But I'm telling you Lasse, you're putting the cart before the horse. Every pickup has a "default" sound (based on variables such as wood, pots, strings, etc). How do find the default sound for your particular guitar's make up? Exactly how I told you. When you change anything, you are deviating from the "default" sound and creating a custom sound or "tone". Add distortion? You're creating a tone BASED off the default sound. Add distortion, delay, and change the EQ? Same thing, you're creating a custom tone BASED off the default sound. Get it? So to do a comparison between two pickups, first find the DEFAULT tone for each of the pickups, then you can do whatever you want with it. But for comparison, play the default tone of the first pup, then play the default tone of the second. This will let you hear the variance between the two, if any. And be sure to play the default tone all over the neck for each pup. This method will also help you dial in tones that sound great for your guitar's particular make up (assuming you have a good amp and speaker). You'll thank me later.
Central Scrutinizer Well, if I wanna show how tight a pickup reacts to palm muting under heavy distortion, a clean sound is not gonna show that. And I don't say you don't know what you're talking about, but that doesn't mean you're correct. There can be the best sushi chef in the world with 47 years of experience in slicing fish, but that doesn't mean he automatically knows how to raise a cow to get lean beef. And yes, I have only 25 years of experience in playing guitar, but I'm mainly basing this on my degree in music production and acoustics...in fact I did study physics before that and do. have to say I kinda know what I'm talking about when it comes to acoustics. I've been repairing and modifying guitars and amps for about 20 years and have been working full time as a recording engineer for about 10 years now. So much for my background, but to be honest....that's just comparing dicks, and I'm not caring about other men's dicks all that much, I got my own. Show me nice boobs and we're talking
Well, we have a lot in common, although I didn't formally study physics, I do have a keen interest in the subject and am currently reading on the subject of string theory, but I digress, we are getting off topic. Speaking of which, since you are a scientist, here's something you may find interesting. Consider it a token of my appreciation and respect for you, even if we disagree. If the world was all the same, it'd be a damn dull place. I think we both can agree on that. guitarscience.net/
Central Scrutinizer hehe, don't get me wrong, I always like arguing and discussing stuff, so although it might sometimes read aggressive, it's usually not meant that way. Bottom line of my argument was really just: if you wanna show how tight a pickups is or if it gets muddy on fast palm mutes under distortion, you'll need some distortion. Because clean a lot of bass just sounds big but can still sound tight. A lot of bass content BEFORE the distortion stages of the amp lets those frequencies get boomy once the distortion/compression kicks in (that's why a lot of people are using tube screamers for high gain amps, not to increase gain, but to cut bass before the distortion in order to get a tighter bass response). So a lot of bass in a pickup can sound great and tight clean but terrible distorted. And since I'm mainly working in metal and high gain here, it just makes sense to show how the pickup sounds once that distortion is applied. That does of course not mean this is always the best way to show or compare pickups, I'd always try to show them in the context they're most likely gonna be used in. So if I was comparing single coils, I'd definitely do it with clean sounds, for paf style pickups I'd probably use more of some sort of crunch tone. If I wanted to JUST show the sonic characteristics/frequency spectrum of a pickup, I wouldn't use an amp at all but rather just the DI from the guitar, preferably without the load from the pots. And about string theory...not a fan :)(interesting nonetheless)
EMG's sound like garbage live imo, and I've been playing them since the 80's. I went through the active phase. I use passives these days. The Scott Ian custom Duncan Diablo also smokes an EMG
1:03EMG 1:43dimarzio you can definitely tell that Dimarzio has more push behind it and emg sounds like compression
Tried both myself and I prefer D-activator. But as always, its a matter of personal taste. Both is really good pickups for metal.
Exactly right ☝️
I have an Ibanex Xiphos with D-Activators. I love it!!!
They both have nice qualities. The emg has an insane chugging tone, but the D activator is not as muffled sounding. it has more presence. and it's likely more versatile too.
Love them both, but I don't know, I prefer the EMG here, great video 👍
The EMG 81 is tighter on the muted stuff. I like it more.
I bet the dactivator would kill the emg if boosted. It would tighten the muting.
I prefer an open, punchy tone with little compression so it’s Dimarzio for me.
Bro you got some amazing guitars
I agree with the video assessment very much. The only thing I will point out from my experience is that the FEEL of a passive is much different than an active; HOWEVER, somehow Dimarzio was able to capture the FEEL of an active with the D Activator. Very impressed with that pick up.
Both can be used in a mix well. I'd probably use Activators for lead and EMGs for rhythm chugs.
Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for!!!
CLOUD CONNECTED
EMG81 sounds great for metal core riffs.
very well-done video !! The EMG 81 is great for attack, nobody beats it, yet. But if you don't have active pickups in your guitar, D activator would be a good option. Still I think there are other passive pickups to consider with good attack, Seymour Duncan Nazgul or DIMEBAG.
I like the warmer sounds of the DiMarzio deactivator better.
Thank you for this... incredibly useful...! seems like that nothing beats 81's surgical precision!:)
Dimarzio has more bottom end and some more mids to it too. I literally have two guitars with these pups in them, so I'll do a comparison too to see how it sounds. I do like the mid bite the dimarzio has. Cleans are good too, but the dimarzios are better in the bridge and middle position for cleans. The EMG 60 I have is great on it's own for cleans.
I like the punch and how quiet the EMGs are when you're not playing. If I had to get a passive set though, the D'Activator pickups would be it!
Sick guitars man I got my first Jackson USA recently and I super want a custom shop now!
thanks for this vid. Right to the point A friend gave me an Ibanez XPT700 with the D activators. I love how it feels. It just doesn't have the punch or tightness I'm looking for with palm muting.
The stock P-ups are good rock n roll pics ups.
I'm used to playing my ESP m-1000 with EMG 81's and I never find myself ever fucking with any amp settings. JUST volume.
Passive > Active.
they would be less of a headache wouldnt they
Active > passive
@@addamsapple1233 . Passive is overall > plus no batteries to use bro.
Thanks man
Thanks for watching
Reminds me why I never gelled with the D-Activator. Had a lot of low end and little high end compared to the pickup it was trying to copy.
DiMarzio ftw! 🤘🏻😜
Amazing tone btw
D-Activator
Daaaamn...so many nice toys
Which one is the fatter one to rhythm playing?
Awesome. Is this a Two Notes Mesa cab? Would love to check it out
Nah, it's my own IR, Sorry.
Oh no worries! Sounds awesome.
You have the most beautiful guitars. Are you a rockstar
I wish ;)
D activator
@fullfilm Necrophagist.
@fullfilm Just sounded better to me. I bought D Ac a while ago and i'm glad i didn't go with emg since D Ac has more bass and less low mid. Definitely wouldn't want any more low mid than the D ac has
Two different sounds. EMGs just bring that X factor to metal. The D Activators sound more organic
The EMG 81 is pretty much undefeated for me for metal. I much prefer passives for cleans, but that's the beauty in having multiple guitars.
I just got a guitar with EMGs in it and they've kinda opened my mind. But I hate the look and the fact that I have to rely on a battery, so I'm looking for passive alternatives to the 80/61 set.
x a n a x EMG Marty Friedman Passive Set, replaces EMG 81/60 Combo, Marty used 81/60 a long time but not anymore due that he got his own signature set and they’re passive pickups that sound like actives.
Did you run the EMG on 9 or 18 volts? They sound better on 18 volts with the pickup further away from the strings. That way your tone is better. Helps also with having at least a set of tens or heavier strings. Thanks for posting this video.
It's hard to tell on the video, but i've noticed the dimarzios have a much "thicker" tone and completely dominate the 81 in terms of output. They are also highly versatile, excellent bright clean tones. Active pickups in general add compression to the sound and tend to level out a lot of extra tonal noise and variation. This can be a good thing for some players looking for a very consistent pickup. passives tend make all sorts of noises depending on how you play and can be manipulated more by using the volume knob on the guitar. Took me a long time playing emg's religiously until I realized that I like passives a lot more, especially for metal. I've owned an ibanex xiphos for many years now with d activators and honestly have never played a better sounding pickup
mate have you ever tried and EMG passives?
HZ ???
Hi, Is there any chance I could ask where you got the pickup mount rings in purple? Im currently doing a Les Paul in similar colourway and struggling to get pickup mounts for it
I have the D Activators on an RG body and it sounds just as fat and saturated which is what u wanted at the time but my amp hates it
Nice full saturated sound on both cases. Personally EMG`s sound very flat and sterile to me (depends on gear tough).
PS.
Well, some people installed blackout pre-amp to D-ActivatorX`s :D
Nice guitars you have there! Cheers
Hey Lasse! Just subbed your channel, awesome riffs! I think I like the EMG better....both sound good. What tuning are you in?
Thanks.
This one was C
@@LasseLammert Drop C, for Cool! Heavy!
Todd Graf no, not dropC, just C standard (all strings downtuned by the same amount)
@@LasseLammert Even HEAVIER! Sounded great man!
emg81 vs fishman?
Nice. I'd like to try the Jeff Loomis blackouts
Holy diver to could connected 🤘🤘🤘
The D-Activator is great. No batteries. They feel like the best of both worlds. The clean sound of the D-Activator is FAR superior to EMG. I have it on good authority that it's a pain in the ass to install the D-activator yourself.
I got em. Glad i didn't choose emg. D Ac definitely has enough low mid for me
+Lasse Lammert
Thoughts on the EMG X Series?
definitely prefer the regular ones.
Because of the harder compression? The higher output?
smoother sound, tighter low end
This thing's Fuggin' beautiful! I love me wood grains, pointy guitars and the sweet sweet V's!
/w\ METAL HERE /w\
D-Activator X?? tried that?
No, but I'm curious
Wow dude... you got some nice axes on the wall!
Nice demo man! But the myth about EMG 81 being mid scooped has to go! There are three tests, one official and one from Jackson, the other from Zerocable. The EMG 81 is actually mid BOOSTED , and cut off at the very lows. Take note that the fundamental of 6th dropped to C is at 62hz, so there's still plenty of bass since it doesn't really cut off until 25hz imgur.com/fWUVxQP
In fact the resonant peak is 3.2khz as well, so that's why it cuts through the mix.
BTW, jealous or ur cool guitars!
I remember Alexi Laiho making the same statements in an old interview many years ago. His biggest complaint was how the mid of the 81 was almost overpowering in certain situations. I've always wondered what the hell people were talking about by calling the EMGs scooped. Not by my ears they're not. Now the 57 in my 7 string is more scooped than an 81 but it still has more mid than I need.
Been playing EMG81 for a long time but I find they lack the grinding mids, so they sound very shrill on open chords. It bothers me because it always sounds like the palm muting is so heavy then you play one open note and it’s like a can of bees attacking you
Hi lasse
that height has the Emg 81 close to the strings, 1 mm 2mm o what? Thanks
The EVH sounds great here..
EVH amp is a badass mfr
@@anthonydavella8350 Its that Torpedo Live (Mesa IR).
Dimarzio recommends 500k-1meg pots withe the d’activators. In case anyone is considering. I love my EMG’s. But if the D’activators are properly set up, they can be pretty wicked too.🤘🏻
These are 500K
Lasse Lammert
I figured they were good pots. They sounded great Just making a general statement in case people are considering them. I like EMG’s . But it’s nice to have a few options. Where are you from? I’m guessing Germany, but your accent is very small.
It's hard to say one is better than the other, they sound great. Chugging on the power chords, to my ears, sounded slightly better on the EMGs but the single notes riffs were far better on the DiMarzio
I like the tone of both, though, the EMGs sound measurably better, imo.
Can't really tell the difference tbh
in flames we trust
Question what channel where you running the EVH on red? what was the gain settings, as I have the same amp and have to crank the gain on the red channel for anything usable for metal or use a boost in front.
There must be something wrong with the preamp tubes in yours.
Gain to 4/10 is monstrous death metal territory already
song please haha i cant remeber the song name :O
Guitarmageddon Holy Diver
Holy Daiva
what strings do you have on guitars ?
Always d‘addario. Preferably NYXL, but the regular ones are great too
1:03 vs 1:43
I got to try the D-activators in the LTD Whitechapel sig guitars, and it was a shame because I particularly liked the Alex Wade model except the D-activators were so lackluster and dark.
I hear that. I bought an Ibanez xiphos when the d-activators were just coming out and was completely disappointed. I know the xiphos isn't the greatest guitar but my cheap epiphone classic with an 81 in the bridge destroys the d-activators
1:24
2:04
emg81 all the way even though the dimarzio wasn't bad. I've got an 81 in my lp and d-activators in my xyphos and the dimarzios sound like shit through my marshall for some reason
Low mids ROK. You can take out what you don't want but If you don't have them, you can not add that.
In my experience the DAs are so bright in the 3-5k region that they sound clanky compared to EMGs.
not a fan of either.
David Fuller agreed
D-Activator X sounds so much better in my opinion, warmer and a bit fatter, but still stays tight. I had a set on an SG, could roll them back and do Sabbath. But when I dimed them, instant death metal.
I like DiMarzio for better versatility and cleaner sound, but hearing you on the EMG's with that Hetfield approach rhythm was excellent too.
More meat from the EMG's and between clarity and lead with DiMarzio. Higher output I believe with them.
In my opionion, the EMG sounds cleaner and tighter. In my experience this tone works better in the mix. In my guitar (mahogany neck through with a Karelian birch top) I used to have D-Activator X pickups, but replaced them with EMG 81 in the bridge and 89 in the neck. They had similar tendencies in sound as the regular D-Activators. Not enough high mids, booming lows and a rather muffled sound in general. The guitar, because of construction and wood is bassy on its own, so these pickups further amplified those qualities.
I like emg 81 more but d- activator is good. depends personal taste
damn near identical if you consider one is passive
EMG 81 has more clarity, Dimarzio has more oomf to it.
John Doe No sounding harsher leaner is not more clarity.
Paul Gilbert, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, John Petrucci Chris Broderick, Ron Bumblefoot, Steve Morse, Herman Li, Sam Totman, Nita Strauss, Mark Morton, all use DiMarzio..but what do they know..
I prefer the EMG all the way for metal, just can’t be beat.
1:03, 1:43
It's funny. I always think I need to try something different, but every time I go back to the old tried and true EMG 81. That being said and truth be told, I am an old fart. Get off my lawn. \,,/
D activator is a very nice pickup, but i think it work better on hardtail styled bridges
not really I have a Ibanez zyphos with a string through body with d-activators and unless you have a very high gain amp they almost sound as if I'm on the rhythm pu compared to my les paul with emgs
@@dominicparenti6260 a string through isn't a hardtail bridge. My Jackson has a Floyd rose style tremolo bridge with string through body.
I love those guitars but they look tiny on me and I'm only 5'9. they were made for midgets!
Randy Rhoads wasnt the tallest guy
Yep Randy was damn near one:)
I'm 6'5", 250 lbs. and they look like a kids toy in my hands. It's comedy gold. 😂
Cloud connected sounds more authentic on dmarzio.
here I prefer the emgs
dimarzio is more open sounding i think it's better.
Gaaahhhh.....add mids man!!!!!
playing through my marshall the emg 81 kicks the d-activators ass. On higher gain amps the dimarzio definitely catches up and they both are great pickups but if I had to pick one it would be the 81. Anyone have experience with Seymour Duncan blackouts and if so how do they compare to the emgs?
The Blackout is thicker and more natural sounding than a 81. It also has a very nice growl. Its a 81 with the thickness of a 85 combined.
Much prefer the sound of the EMG equipped guitar in this test.
I have no idea why there is always such hate for actives.
Dimarzio sounds more muddy and not as punchy or hot
81 wins
they need to be on the same guitar. not a valid test.
EMG wins
Emg 81 destroyed it. The smooshlab sounds like you swapped out your guitar pick with a fluffy pink hamster.
Yikes that D Activator sounds terrible.
Funny. To do a comparison, you need to play nothing but the pickup. Not the pickup through 9 billion megawatts of distortion. Pickup, cable, amp on the cleanest setting, no effects, no reverb, no compressors, no delays, no nothing to alter the sound. If your amp has channel eq set everything to neutral. THEN you play ALL OVER the neck getting the lowest registers to the highest. You actually hear the tone of the pickup produced by your guitar's makeup (wood, pots, etc) through your amp's speaker. And if you happen to have shitty speakers, forget pickups.
Central Scrutinizer you couldn't be more wrong.
To compare pickups it's extremely important to hear how it reacts for palm mutes, does it get woody or is the bass right, how fast tracking is the low end, does it et muddy...for that you NEED distortion.
A pickups with a clean and round low end on a clean setting can sound horribly boomy for distorted palm mutes.
Also has the distorted sound much more overtones and harmonics, so it reveals WAY more of the tonal qualities and potential shortcomings of a pickup
Well there you have it. 47 years of guitar playing and I don't know what I'm talking about. You evaluate pickups your way, I'll continue to do it my way. But I'm telling you Lasse, you're putting the cart before the horse. Every pickup has a "default" sound (based on variables such as wood, pots, strings, etc). How do find the default sound for your particular guitar's make up? Exactly how I told you. When you change anything, you are deviating from the "default" sound and creating a custom sound or "tone". Add distortion? You're creating a tone BASED off the default sound. Add distortion, delay, and change the EQ? Same thing, you're creating a custom tone BASED off the default sound. Get it? So to do a comparison between two pickups, first find the DEFAULT tone for each of the pickups, then you can do whatever you want with it. But for comparison, play the default tone of the first pup, then play the default tone of the second. This will let you hear the variance between the two, if any. And be sure to play the default tone all over the neck for each pup. This method will also help you dial in tones that sound great for your guitar's particular make up (assuming you have a good amp and speaker).
You'll thank me later.
Central Scrutinizer
Well, if I wanna show how tight a pickup reacts to palm muting under heavy distortion, a clean sound is not gonna show that.
And I don't say you don't know what you're talking about, but that doesn't mean you're correct.
There can be the best sushi chef in the world with 47 years of experience in slicing fish, but that doesn't mean he automatically knows how to raise a cow to get lean beef.
And yes, I have only 25 years of experience in playing guitar, but I'm mainly basing this on my degree in music production and acoustics...in fact I did study physics before that and do. have to say I kinda know what I'm talking about when it comes to acoustics. I've been repairing and modifying guitars and amps for about 20 years and have been working full time as a recording engineer for about 10 years now.
So much for my background, but to be honest....that's just comparing dicks, and I'm not caring about other men's dicks all that much, I got my own.
Show me nice boobs and we're talking
Well, we have a lot in common, although I didn't formally study physics, I do have a keen interest in the subject and am currently reading on the subject of string theory, but I digress, we are getting off topic. Speaking of which, since you are a scientist, here's something you may find interesting. Consider it a token of my appreciation and respect for you, even if we disagree. If the world was all the same, it'd be a damn dull place. I think we both can agree on that. guitarscience.net/
Central Scrutinizer hehe, don't get me wrong, I always like arguing and discussing stuff, so although it might sometimes read aggressive, it's usually not meant that way.
Bottom line of my argument was really just: if you wanna show how tight a pickups is or if it gets muddy on fast palm mutes under distortion, you'll need some distortion.
Because clean a lot of bass just sounds big but can still sound tight. A lot of bass content BEFORE the distortion stages of the amp lets those frequencies get boomy once the distortion/compression kicks in (that's why a lot of people are using tube screamers for high gain amps, not to increase gain, but to cut bass before the distortion in order to get a tighter bass response). So a lot of bass in a pickup can sound great and tight clean but terrible distorted. And since I'm mainly working in metal and high gain here, it just makes sense to show how the pickup sounds once that distortion is applied.
That does of course not mean this is always the best way to show or compare pickups, I'd always try to show them in the context they're most likely gonna be used in. So if I was comparing single coils, I'd definitely do it with clean sounds, for paf style pickups I'd probably use more of some sort of crunch tone.
If I wanted to JUST show the sonic characteristics/frequency spectrum of a pickup, I wouldn't use an amp at all but rather just the DI from the guitar, preferably without the load from the pots.
And about string theory...not a fan :)(interesting nonetheless)
EMG's sound like garbage live imo, and I've been playing them since the 80's. I went through the active phase. I use passives these days. The Scott Ian custom Duncan Diablo also smokes an EMG