Single Coil vs Humbucker Pickup Tone Comparison
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ต.ค. 2017
- There are a lot of factors that go into a guitar's voice and the pickups are definitely one of the big ones. We're continuing our educational series with a single coil vs humbucker pickup shoot out with a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Les Paul for a real time compare and contrast to see what kind of tones you can achieve. Let's take a closer look and listen to what goes into the construction of these pickups and how it affects each instrument.
**Demo begins at 8:53
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Some people may get antsy and just want you to get to the 'comparison'... but I am so glad you go through the 'why's' and 'how's' of what you are comparing. You really are a wealth of information ...especially for those of us who haven't learned it all yet. Thanks
Totally agree.
Nope. Actually not some but most people would go "STFU and play!"
@@melodica5407 and that's why you'll never be good
@@nostalgiafactor733 Because i'm not supposed to live up to your expectation
i've been playing guitar for 17 years yet never realized that the neck pickup sounds warmer and bassier because the strings are less taut there. awesome info.
I find that CLEAN the single coil has so much more character to is whereas the humbucker is muddy and flat. In a high gain setting however i find the humbucker can soar above the single coil
Ikr. I honestly miss playing a starter strat. I play a humbucker telecaster now and strayed away from distortion, now I find my guitar tone to be boring and weak sounding, but I'm just going to get thicker strings to see if that makes it sound fuller.
Absolutely
@@tash5540 did thicker strings make the difference? I've been thinking about getting heavier strings so that I'll have a wound g-string (not the underwear obviously) because the g sounds so flat on my electric
Like when I do the solo from wish you were here, the G is so bad compared to even a $60 acoustic guitar
I like the humbucker both on gain and clean the best
Comparision starts at 8:52...
savior!
Thank you!!!!!!
Thanks
Comparison starts at 0:00
Thanks
If you play rock or metal, humbuckers are the way to go.
If you play jazz, funk or if you are John Frusciante single coils are the way to go.
If you play punk it doesn't even matter just bash those chords as hard as you can.
I have a semi acoustic archtop guitar and I find that they are perfect for jazz and vintage. It also uses humbucker
@@Ernest-From-England You can use everything you want ofcourse, it all depends on what you prefer.
I think single coils are actually very capable of holding their own in rock, listen to jimi hendrix for example.
I have single coils and what I do is murder the strings and turn up the distortion pedal
man punk is very hard ok? And yeah im john so i guess ill get single coild whatever i play XD
Probably the most straight forward and clear video about musical equipment I've seen on the internet.
Thanks!
If you play guitar for any length of time, you will own them all! I've owned two Teles, three Strats, one Les Paul, and one SG over the years. They're all great but they have different tones. It depends on what kind of music you want to play and how you want to sound. On the other hand, you can play any style of music on any guitar you choose to play.
I am a newbe who started out as a drummer and I found this video very informative. Playing with various guitarists made me like various tones and I never knew the reasons for their having multiple guitars till now. This helped me in my search for the right one foe me.
You have effectively armed people with what they need to look for to get the sound they want. Adding in how the pickups work differently was perfect and the tone comparison was spot on. This is by far the BEST video on this subject I have ever seen. Subscribed!
A lot of shootout vids set the amp to sound great with one guitar and play all the guitars without adjusting. The amp in this vid is no exception. It sounds great for the strat and the Les Paul suffers. If you set up so the les Paul sounds good, the strat would sound like an ice pick to the ear. Set the amp to match each guitar just like you would if you weren’t doing a shootout.
Great point!
Very very very informative/educational video about this awesome topic! Thank you for this! I now finally understand the difference! Thanks! 😊👌
I'm building a super squire strat right now with humbuckers and I'm super excited to play it.
Hope it comes out great
Brett Maher have you built your guitar?
Well im trying to upgrade to a Epiphone or Gibson SG which i think come standard with humbuckers but i could be wrong.
Alkize06 -_- it turned out a lot like a fender double fat strat, it plays super well! I literally haven’t used a pedal sense I finished cause it just does what I want👌
This is the first time I've heard an explanation between the two that actually made sense. Thank you.
Mate, this is the first time someone puts it clear. Thank you. Your explanation is fire!
Quite possibly the best informational video on TH-cam ever. Thank you.
Chris you really do a great job with comparing guitars in detail. I love to watch you do Acoustic comparison. You just have a way of explaining the differences on guitars. Keep up the great work.
I appreciate that!
What a fantastic video!! Exactly the description I was looking for!! Thanks SO much for sharing your knowledge with us.
Very informative. Good explanations of how it works and why it's important.
Thanks for the clarification. I love the look of open coil humbuckers, but previously didn't know how to describe what those were. My next guitar will have this style.
Thank you! This was the perfect tutorial on pickups for a knucklehead like me. Really well done.
Excellent review. Excellent delivery too thanks man
You are so dedicated. Thank you so much 🌟
Thanks for the comparison. A brief educational experience.
Thank you for this video. Straight to important points, no BS, just spot on. I learned a lot
that's strange, when hearing them side by side with headphones on humbuckers sound as if i plug my ears or somthing
That's essentially the "compressed" sound. He mentions it while describing the Humbucker
Great informational video! I subbed because of how informative this was! This answered almost all of the questions I had on this topic!
This video had a lot useful information for me before buying my first guitar
Thank you very much!
Single coil = Light Crystal sound. Humbucker Heavy muddy sound.
I feel the same..
Excellent teaching points and very simplified - thank you!
Thanks for explaining that, that was really educational for me.
Thank you for this great video!
Incredible comparison and amazing playing.
Very interesting and all of this is basic electro acoustics. Studying the auditory system and how all of these “sounds” get interpreted will blow your mind. Thanks you!
It really took a lot to get to the test, but every bit of information you passed was useful and interesting, amazing video.
Great explanation! Keep up the work!
Thanks for the great video!
Thank you for the comparison! I remembered my strat sound. :)
That was very informative! thank you!!
The only video you need to understand this. Nicely explained.
Great clear, interesting video giving good info. Thank you.
Wow! Great video! I really had this romantic impression that humbuckers would make me sound "better".
I love Both for different kind of music. They are completly different that's the beauty in it.
Thanks for this!
Thanks a lot, a very complete explanation . Excellent video
That was very educational for me since I’m new at playing guitar 🎸 thanks
Cant say one is bettter then the other , the single coils sound a bit more clear while the humbuckers are really great when playing chords and such.
It just depends a little on what you are playing and what kind of mood you try to create.
Im thinking about to change one of my guitars to humbucker style , bought a new single coil pick up guitar a while ago and did some mods to it and now I really like that one.
The old one needs some work to shine , I have the humbucker pickups already so all I need to do is some soldering and cleaning up....its nice to have both styles of guitars I think.
Excellent explanation. Made me suscribe.
Pretty cool that google links you to this video. Good job!
very informative, thank you
Very well explained - thank you 🙏
Thanks for the info on the difference between the two
Excellent explanation!
Now I know what to buy. Thank you so much..! I'll definitely try towards humbuckers
Interesting comparison between the types of pickups
Great video 👍🏻
I came here looking for basic humbucker info....now I'm a Pick ups connoisseur...I will also start my new job at guitar center tomorrow. They were impressed.
what a fantastic explanation of strings vibration property as if a science professor, so beautifully presented , really enjoyed it
Just what I was looking for 👍
I prefer the the sound of both it just depends on what your playing.
Super helpful. Thanks.
Super specific: Anyone with the SponsorBlock extension on your browser and just skipped to the highlight, I encourage you to watch the whole video (even at least an increased speed since I would too). It's one thing to just hear the difference (which, you can hear at the highlight point) but it's another to _understand_ the sound for what genre you're going for.
thank you for this!
I have both a strat, a Les Paul and an archtop. I like all of them the way they are.
I saw an American Strat (Performer) set up with Humbucking pickups. Sort of a bright Les Paul sound.
That strato tone... jesus! :D
This is super helpful! Is the demo at 9:48 from a longer song/piece?
Thank God I picked up a Strat as my first electric guitar.
Awesome. Thanks
I mostly play blues, so I find that gritty humbucker sound quite useful. Of all my guitars, my Gretsch is the most used, but I do have an American Fender HSS Strat, which has two single pick-ups and one dual pick-up. I can switch between single or dual, but even with my Stratocaster, I find that I use mostly use the dual pick-up setting. In the end, if you're running it all through a pedalboard, then I don't think any of this matters too much. If you find the sound you like, then more power to you! It's all subjective anyway.
Yup single coil way too bright for blues.
This comment was helpful. Im about to buy an hss strat and this comment just sealed the deal for me
@@geargemelendrops7279 Glad my comment helped. You'll love the guitar. I've been playing it a lot lately and I'm now running it through my Marshall Code 100 amp. If know anything about this amp, then you'll know its a beast. No pedals needed, just plug right in and play! It's almost as if this particular amp was made for an HSS strat.
@@RumbleFish69 I just bought my first gretsch a few days ago, upgraded from a lower quality Ibanez with lace pick ups I got put in ( really only useful for metal) and I'm really loving the gretsch. :) it's really getting me into more jazzy licks
Yes, Gretsch guitars will do that! I have an Electromatic and it's so comfortable to play that it improved my jazz and blues playing significantly. This guitar is super fun to play and will be hard to put down for the first few months! Enjoy your Gretsch, my friend!
very informational
Thank you!
Excellent deep explanation :-)
I've checked out many videos on youtube about this topic and this is the first video that very clearly demonstrated the difference both theoretically and practically and where I could really tell a difference. Can I ask what amp you were using ?
Thanks for the info, great video. Now I know.
It should be noted most modern gibsons actually use 300k linear taper pots. Now some use 500k audio taper which were correct for almost any old Gibson.
The thing about tapping a single coil has to do with power too. Lets say a nice vintage wind humbucker is 8k or 9k ohms. Vintage Single coils are usually 6k to 7k. Now if you tap the humbucker in half, you're likely to get a much weaker tone than a single coil being that the tapped coil is now at 4k to 4.5k ohms (half of the humbucker 8k or 9k) which is much less than the single coil.
so the weaker resistance and higher pot value usually makes a very bright and unconvincing sound to my ears. the single coil in its entirety sounds sweeter than a tapped "vintage" humbucker. Now if you have a 13k or 14k humbucker split it will have a similar ohm value to the single coil, but there are other factors such as resonant frequency and overall construction of the coils that make it sound different.
The best lead sounds I've heard are from old PAT no. Humbuckers or slightly overwound single coils. (Particularly the bridge pickup wired to the tone control instead of the middle pickup, and tone rolled off a little ala Eric Johnson. It can have clear, very resonant, and liquid like tones with warmth if done right).
So helpful
Great vid
I enjoyed your guitar playing so much, I forgot what I was listening for. lol
Thanks!
Hi Chris, thanks for this great comparison! I consider buying a new guitar since I revived playing guitar again recently (at age of 58 I still got my Morris "Fender telecaster" replica with humbuckers, made in Japan, which I bought when I was 16 -only used to "playing" along with the Sex Pistols for a few months - and recently unpacked again after 42 years in storage, still sounding....punk ;-). Might opt for single coil after watching your YT video!
Awesome! Let us know if you need help picking one out!
@@AlamoMusic Hi Chris. Since I am still a rookie gitarist I purchased a Harley Benton guitar with P90 pickups (dirt cheap but great value for money and great reviews: at Thomann Germany). Unbelievable great sound, much different compared to humbuckers! Such clear and vibrant tones, love it. Thanks again for your comparison!
I am glad you went into detail man, i am trying to get into learning to play guitar and i have been searching for a video that can explain to me the basic general type of pickups and u helped me a lot. i like the sound for a humbucker so i might get that type of pick up on guitar. This video is old but i am still going to ask this, do you recommend a brand for beginners since u say it matters how a guitar is built or does brand not really matter that much?
What about guitars with HSS configuration?
I'm a broadtron humbucker (gretsch guitar) pickup fun. Love it in clean, gain, distortion mood
Thank you! :)
I just bought an SSS Strat; I already had an SSH Strat. Comparing the SSS bridge pickup to the SSH Strat with the coil split (I added the circuit for that) ... is a challenge. And for sure, any difference is easily made up in the amp settings. I just wish I could play better.
I'd love to see neodymium magnets used in building a custom guitar
That's a pretty good explanatory video. Thanks. I will try to understand the electromagnetism
Just wondering are you using the pre 08 standard (traditional) or the “Modern” standard?
It starts at 8:52 btw
In what style would you typically want a humbucker les paul as opposed to a single coil guitar? Are les pauls better suited for high gain? Like rock, blues metal??
I wish I have a same guitar brand like yours
Humbuckers sound like you've put a carpet on a speaker, if you get the idea.
+David Demelier
This dude mess up with knobs on Les Paul. (no offense) ))
The guitar is ok . (despite i hate Gibson more than Fender)
no, they don't
Sound like you put your speaker in water
@@fatihrime no, they don't sound like it, you liar
@@user-rm4ql2vx4i :) why you mad?
Thank you for the video. You find a lot of confusing, not accurate videos here, but yours was very straight forward, didactic and to the point. I had helped me make up my mind on which kind of guitar I will buy.
I like the single coil sound better
Les Paul standard should change your mind 😁🎸
Did not do the humbucker justice by leaving out it on a distortion and high gain setting. As a fender telecaster player, i often feel the thin and crisp sound not as fitting as the humbuck player in my band. But i love both :) nice comparison
Yea single coil is more for songs that use single string playing and humbuckers are for power chord playing bassically
Well get a tele deluxe or a 72 custom!! (Or mod ur tele)
Very nicely done. You just confirmed somethings I kinda figured out on my own but wasn't sure about.
I thought sure I'd like the Les Paul better, but I didn't. I wonder if adding distortion would flip my opinion because I like that low-end, muddy, stoner-Black Sabbath sound.
Get a Strat and tune it down. It actually handles lower and Drop tunings really well and can deliver a twangy heavy rock sound on the bridge like that.
After years of not playing guitar I recently started again. But my Epiphone SG has a twisted neck and the neckdive is also a major issue. But I'm low on money, so I was thinking about buying a Squire Affinity Strat with HSS setup. I've heard that the humbucker on that guitar isn't great, which gave me an idea: What if I'm able to swap the pickup from my unplayable SG to the Strat?
I have no clue if this is even possible though... Do you know a bit about this?
We all know Les Paul and Strat Teli SMOKE in there way. Love that
They buck the hum. Of course now it makes so much sense!
Thank you was very helpful for a person like me just starting out. I was thinking that with a single coil you always ad warmth via effects but I not sure if you can undo the warmth of a hum with effects. Any thoughts?
The technical explanation of the pickups here was fantastic but in the demonstration he didn't say when he was using the neck (bass) pickup or bridge (treble) pickup.
It's a video for electric guitar newbies, but they assumed that newbies know how Strat and Les Paul pickup switches work and that you'd notice what he was doing with them.
Honestly, this video makes me want to re-assemble my strat (which has a humbucker in the bridge) ASAP just so I can make a demonstration video that is more clear than this one.
Generally speaking, single coils will actually be brighter than humbuckers, but humbuckers are louder.
It all comes down to the style of music you play. If you like the sound of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Hendrix, John Mayer, Dire Straights and Vince Gill, then you want single coils.
Nothing sounds quite as sweet as a quality single coil in the neck position of a Stratocaster.
If you like rock, hard rock, metal, Slash, Santana, Mark Tremonti/Alter Bridge then you want humbuckers.
Blues and jazz can be done on both types.
I like everything so I have a Stratocaster with a Duncan Custom Custom humbucker in the Bridge and Fender Original '57/'62 single coils in the neck and middle.
One thing to be aware of is that single coils can pick up hum from monitors and some lights and neon signs and stuff. Humbuckers "buck the hum". Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio and Fralin and Kinman etc. make "single coils" that don't hum.
The cheap single coils in standard Mexican made strats use ceramic magnets instead of alnico so they aren't exactly the same as real quality strat single coils (that doesn't mean they are terrible).
Show less
So I don’t really know much about how guitars are made but I’m getting a third and which one has a higher tone for something like black Betty-ram jam etc?
Does the metal rectangular cover screwed on top of the humbuckers change the sound compared to humbuckers without it?