The foil keeps big brother from watching, until they get to your house and you open them. Once they're open, you're being transmitted to the satellites and everyone can hear. Be sure to use that foil to make a hat, so they can't brainwash you!
If you haven't noticed, pickups are very easy to make. Yes, all pickups sound slightly different. But if you're using the same type magnets, poll pieces and wire there gonna sound close. The biggest difference is the output based on how many wraps and the wrap pattern. That's about it. Good video.
I'm shocked. I picked the cheap pickup as the high-end pickup every single time. Fuller sound, less noise when clean ... I'm blown away. Everything I know is a lie.
the sd are better. You can tell from the ACDC example. The have more clarity and higher frequencies. Also the cheap ones, are not balanced well. You can tell this from the example with both the pickups. But they are not bad. I mean they are probably from the same material. How different can a pickup be from another?
@@lgiorgos1 you just prefer the SDs dude. Maybe you like the brighter sound and the more piercing highs, but Mr Jason (and myself) prefer the cheaper ones. Its just preference.
@@lgiorgos1 Seems like it's pretty subjective. To my ear the SD's sounded cheap and hairy with a bunch of extra jangly highs in the AC/DC example. The purples sounded punchier and clearer.
They are quite usable. I also have a Fleor bridge pickup. It's wax potted and was a bang for the buck. But if you hold those "chinas" against an SD JB or a DiMarzio X2N you can spot differences in output and transparency. I got some fake invaders and recently installed the bridge one into my Ibanez RG. Muddy as hell. Not worth to wax pot them (they aren't wax potted at all). I think most chinese pickups for 10 bucks or so are ok but if you want balanced qc pu's you should at least go for Wilkinsons, Entwistles, Iron Gears.
I have a Squier Affinity Strat that I picked up at a pawn shop for $85 that somebody had lost with a $400 David Gilmore loaded pickguard in it. Sounds phenomenal, can't bear to strip it.
We are livin in the era where cheap stuff can stand toe to toe with other stuff that priced 5x times of it. If Darell just slap the SD logo on that Cheap PU, people would believe that the cheap one is real SD.
It's quite well known out there that these days material costs don't comprise the bulk of the street price of a product in mass manufacturing. However R&D isn't free for most of the established brands, while no-name knockoffs unabashedly reverse engineer and then copy them. The same happens in the pedal industry - $20 for a decently built, true bypass clean boost VS $100 for an Ibanez TS9? Also of note is the potential for Chinese government incentives for overseas reach, meaning that it actually makes sense for manufacturers to sell below cost. While I can't say it happens to musical instruments, it certainly is to F&B and certain tech products IIRC.
Finally sombody clarifies this... Invest in the amp... Totally agree... Great video... So many people spend so much on guitars, when the amp is the noticable pound for pound difference on the ear.... Top vid
It's cool having a couple expensive guitars,......but unless you're rich don't play them on a regular basis,....the $ 700 guitars are fine for rehearsals and shows,...if someone knocked down your $ 4000 custom shop Dean while you were at a show,...you'd be pissed,.....just take a decent guitar and upgrade the pickups,..hardware or whatever to make it play to your liking
Gonna add a bit to this. The most part of tone is a speaker, which acts like "hardware" equalizer. Our ear doesn't like sounds above +- 8kHz, and semi likes 6-8kHz, so even cutting all that "sandy" crap from sound using additional equalizer makes sound much much better through crappy speaker. So if you don't have a decent speaker make sure you have a good speaker simulator.
A good amp isn't going to make bad pickups sound good. I can take an ENGL and plug in a Stratocaster and it ain't going to make those single coil pick ups sound like a Humbucker.
They're good, but their not perfect and will never fully be able to accurately sound like an actual amp with it's speaker cones vibrating. It's something digital will never be able to replicate. Just like digital recording vs analog recording. Sure the process is easier, but in the end digital recording sounds dead and without life, cold and tasteless. Just as fake digital amps sound.
@@stevevaughan787 It's like SD were trying to get all the harmonics present when clean or something and it ended up a mess. Actually bad sounding when clean
Honestly the cheaper pick up sounded great. Gave a ton of nice overtones to work with on the EQ. If going straight into a DAW, I'd honestly prefer those Chinese ones over SD.
Haha, great somebody notice that, I thought I'm alone in noticing that, the Chinese pick-up sounded better and had lots of character to my ears. What the hell hahaha.😂😆 Is this a prank Darrell? I'm about to buy a Seymour Duncan, but had a change of mind. Will just go straight to Alie Express for that amazing Chinese pickup, might grab an awesome Chibson Les Paul 1959 as well. 🤭 Cheers!
@@2good2betrue3 Totally agree. They are on Amazon too. I think it's a quicker ship and a return policy if you get a bad one. Anyone sating the Fleors are "decent" is lying to themselves.
The thing that matters most is a good amp and good speakers. The pickups can have an effect, especially with low gain and clean, but as long as you’ve got that solid foundation you can really make basically anything sound good
I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but Chinese pickups sounded better in all 4 blind tests... Either I'm hallucinating or SD needs to shut down all their factories and start doing chicken farming or something. As always, brilliant video and playing Darrell!
I liked the Chinese pickups better for all the metal and rock riffs, but then again, I hate the JB specifically. If he'd used a Distortion, Alnico II Pro, Pearly Gates, or 10 other bridge SD pickups, I'm almost certain I'd prefer those. Maybe it was the brand new wiring harness. I wonder if he put the solder-less harness in before or after testing the SDs? Reliability of pots ain't no joke, mayn.
I'm a little late to the picnic but thanks guys I thought I was the only one the thought that the no name pickups were better sounding. And again he does this all the time you know taking a guitar at virtually no one would get caught Dead playing and running it through his high-end amp and with his skills sounds like Clapton or Beck
i like the cheap pickups played clean. The thing I have learned over the years is that every guitar has a certain acoustic quality that works in conjunction with the pickups and your preference. I have had pickups that I didn't like in one guitar, but sounded great in another. You have to match the pickups to the guitar and the sound you are looking for. This also goes for whether you are using them clean or high gain, and as Darrell said how it works with the amp, and your pedals. Some companies make consistently good pickups, but that doesn't mean you might not like the sound of a cheap pickup. Other things that affect your tone and I think are just as important is how hard you hit the strings, your pick attack, your pick material, whether you use your fingers or a pick, or hybrid pick, the height of your strings, your strings, and believe it or not, your truss rod adjustment, etc. Good experienced players always say tone is in your hands, and this is definitely true. I know guys that can get a good sound no matter what they play. I know guys that can make a ten thousand dollar guitar sound like hell. Try changing pots and capacitors before changing pickups. Here is something you might not have noticed, but electricity isn't consistent and amps can sound different based on how much power is being supplied to the amp at any given time. In a club from day to day, even hour to hour, the amp can sound different. Lastly, don't always judge equipment until you play it live with a band. One sound might sound great in your bedroom, but not with your bass player. The sound of a club, or the room sound is another consideration. The amount of people in a room will change the sound. I am sure I have left things out but these are just some things to consider.
Although, as a luthier and radio technician, I do know that there's no magic behind expensive pickups, I always use brand name pickups for my guitars, cause whenever they have to be replaced I know they will sound the same afterwards. Cheapos can sound great but having to find a similar sounding replacement will always be a lottery game. And after all, the most influence to the sound comes from the fingers of the player.
Bassic Bassist every guitar i own is a build for the last 5 years and iv never owned better instruments to my specs and a real pride and connection to your instrument it made me a way beter player
Pickups are magnets and wire. I've always thought there's been too much emphasis on having expensive pickups. I think, like you said...a good amp and also some good effects, is more important than expensive pickups. Just my opinion.👍😎🎸🎶
I can honestly say pickup swaps have saved some of my guitars from being traded. I get what you mean though, there's really no bad tone just different tones.
I'm inclined to agree. Pickups will vary because of the type of magnets, the amount of wire, the type of wire. Construction matters too. Are the pole pieces adjustable, are the windings potted. However, none of that should make them expensive.
From a guy who owns a set of BKPs, I absolutely agree there's just no reason for pickups to cost more than a guitar. No regrets on the BKPs but they should NOT be that expensive.
Imagine throwing a small gig in your garage with your budget gear and some close friends and then you mom shows up being all proud of your progress. And then all of the sudden she says "stop it right there, this can't go on like this. The tone of those Chinese humbuckers lacks definition, we need to immediately swap them with some Seymour Duncans sweetie, mama loves you and wants what is best for your tone"
I'm sure I'll get plenty of thumbs down for my comments here, but that's ok, I can take it! My opinion is that (by and large) the major guitar and component manufactures from, lets say, the Western hemisphere, are way over-priced for what the end user gets. There are many examples of great instruments and components coming from elsewhere that cost 10% of the 'named brands' of guitars and components. We all know about the law of diminishing returns, and my belief is that these pickups as tested here are great value for money. The SD pickups are not 10 times (or more) better, which means that the price cannot be justified.....imo. You do some great comparisons Darrell. Thank you
I completely agree. A much of the time you are buying a reputation and a name. I have had a squier that I liked better than a fender. And I got a kraken brand l.p. copy used from guitar center and I compared it to every les Paul in guitar center from 300$ Epiphone to 1200 dollar Gibson's. I didn't go over the 1200 dollar price because I couldn't afford it. But I liked the kraken more than every other l.p. I played. I went back 3 or 4 separate times and kept comparing. I did like the neck finish more on the gibson but not the tone and not for the price difference of 800 dollars.
@@christopherkaesemeyer1575 That actually applies to everything these days. Way too many people make the mistake of confusing price for quality. The point of diminishing returns keeps lowering as technology improves but most people are unaware of that. Nowadays, you have to be more informed about what you're actually buying because you're almost guaranteed to overpay if you don't.
I felt on the high gain, the SDs had just that touch more high end. But, I feel like just eq a smidge more treble in your sound and you could make these cheap pickups sound like the SDs
Nobody claimed as much, but they sound a lot clearer, punchier, just brighter and more open, less muddled. But there is only so much you can get and with higher prices the gain in quality diminishes.
I actually enjoyed both pup sets, on their own merits... I will say, th SD's did sound more open, breathing, resonant, articulate at times, an certain gain settins... That bein said, I wouldn't hesitate to give these pups a try, reckon it ain't like they could make me sound worse :-)
Me too. When I heard the volume increase I was like oh yeah definitely the Duncan's. When I play my stock pickup Jackson vs the same sd setup its wayyy louder and tighter
After 4 months of COVID 19 home incarceration I've watched every TH-cam nitwit with a guitar, video camera and internet access try to review all kinds of equipment. Darrell is without question, the BEST reviewer by far for all the right reasons. Great energy, great on camera presence to begin with. His reviews are smart and well organized. No fat. NO self centered attitude. It's about the equipment, not him. And finally and just as important...he can play. So tired of watching 4 chord virtuoso's who think they are Jeff Beck. As a long time builder (our brand was Jarrett) I'm grateful for your efforts and your competence. Thanks, from West Hollywood, California.
Whaddya know? A Chinese magnet and coil of wire does the same thing as an American magnet and coil of wire with a fancy name high price tag. This kids is why CEOs are so invested in and protective of branding. It's just shy of having your own money printing press.
@@vileguile4 exactly, isola is wire at lest they so but far as i know they use cheaper one only for those as they call them ''custom made'' they use Isola (complete name is ''Elektrisola''). I watch Him lie about PE Wire how only they have ''real one'' and could not believe what sort of lie He use. Some of my friends make OK living from making pickups, pedals and amps but i never did due to honestly can't lie to people. Also when you tell them the truth they refuse to accept it ☺. So i make pickups for friends etc 20+ years already and amount of lies SD and even worse some Boutique builders use is astonishing. Some ask 500$ ☺ for simple PAF which any person here can wind after 5 minutes of explanations...IMHO anything above 30-40$ for hambacker person pay name , i can understand if somebody make you specific pickup especially for you and your fav guitar to charge a bit more but honestly pickup industry is such BS.
The Duncan's had more clarity and less breakup/fizzle when distorted, but they did have some unneeded grit on the clean. The cheap pickups are a great alternative if you dont feel like spending $200 for some slight subtle differences. Tbh, the recordings bring out the tonal subtleties, but if you want some cheap pickups for gigging though, theres no better alternative, I put a pair of Kmise "Invaders" in my Goth Explorer for that reason alone and they sound excellent for the money.
The Seymour Duncan's certainly were good but not ten times better! I guess I'll hold off on upgrading my pickups and keep an eye out for a good deal on a good amp.
Yea- I'd focus on the amp first. Depending on the sound you're going for, forking over the money for a pickup makes sense - the vintage-output microphonic pickups sound incredible to me, mostly because of the articulation, and I've yet to hear any stock pickup even remotely resemble them.
@@goddessintriptych7046 - I'm with you on this one regarding PAFs. Could be that I've been listening for so many years and have specific preferences that differ from others, but I put a set of Seth Lovers on my Ibanez AR and the result was dramatic and for me worth the cost. It even made my cheap 15w practice amp sound good.... or was it the 8" Celestion installed by Kustom?
@@sonicbridge1944 Know the feeling- I bought the Seth Lover bridge on a lark, and after about 5 minutes with it, I was pretty much convinced it was the best pickup ever. Seth Lover bridge + Bogner Brixton + Marshall 4x12 is heaven
I really like the positive approach and straight forward attitude. Building my sons guitar he thinks the more he spends the better it will sound. By good working stuff and spend the rest on lessons and or practice . That’s the only way any pickup will sound good. Thanks for your great channel.
half of these I can't tell much difference, the once where I can hear a significant difference, I can't really say which I prefer....rock on cheap pick ups I guess
I think the biggest issue with the cheap pickups is you are never sure what you a going to get. On the DiMarzio and SD web sites there is some comparative indication of what you have or what can get, but with most of the cheap pickup web sites it's just a bunch of techo numbers that maybe indicate how they might sound... You might get lucky as Darrell has here, or maybe not...
The quality control on these is probably not going to be all that. However, many cheap brands are just companies that buy boxes of chinese stuff, do some quality control and brand them.
I bought 2 high out put humbuckers from the same company on Amazon one was 7k one was 12k they were supposed to be 18. So Idk if you buy name brand it's probably a lot more consistent.
The comparisons on DiMarzio and SD's websites is more marketing than fact. Most of the descriptions tend to be reworded versions of each other since words aren't very good at describing sound.
Agreed it's about the consistency rather than the quality. That being said, you could probably order 10 cheap humbucker sets for the price of 1 expensive one, keep the best sounding pair, sell the rest off to people who take the wrong idea from videos like this, and come out ahead.
Another awesome video... thank you! I heard a few tonal qualities in the cheap set that were a pleasant point of difference. I love that you aren’t afraid or ashamed to take cheap guitars and cheap pickups and let them sing alongside the high end instruments.
Great job! I totally agree with you when you say that a good amplifier really makes the difference. On my guitars, I have cheap and expensive pickups and I'm sure that nobody can spot which one I'm using!!!
Nothing surprising here. Good ideas once made a name and a name makes a big margin. Once you have the parameters of a good pick-up, it can be replicated on the cheap by machines and sold without the inflated margin.
Well, i did the experiment. I have an Agile 3010, (awesome guitar, forget the price, just look at the body and neck!) . tried the stock pups, which are pretty good, then fitted Whole Lotta Humbuckers, with CTS pots and Emerson PIO's. The change was staggering, the tonal range is quite amazing, the clarity of the pups. They do take a bit more to start the break up, but what a difference. I'm guessing the PIO's had quite a bit to do with it, but yeah, bloody awesome. My first doing everything, frets, set up, all the electronics, Bridge, Tailpiece, and tuners remained. Just a great guitar, now all it needs is someone who can do it justice! Owes me about $600 all up!
The magic of music is in the performer, and not the equipment. That has always been the case. You could play a chain link fence and make it sound good. There is a lot of B.S. surrounding guitar items, but guitars are not space shuttles or computers.
Great video! This kind of only confirms what I've always believed all along and it's 90% what quality amp you have which is the the real pocketbook killer
LOL the cheap pickups sounded better !! if i just bought a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups i would be feeling suicidal by now hhh, it's all money down the drain.
untrue , I have a SD from years ago , its notably better than most others . this was a very superficial test of a lot of hacking , no finesse music , jazz or blues , nothing of BB King or Santana , let alone Kenny Burrell or Wes Montgomery
I have a Seymour Duncan Sentient in the neck and a Black Winter in the bridge. Very unique combination and a very yin-yang balance. I get questions about my tone all the time. It's hard to beat, while many manufacturer's copy JB and other well known pick up designs at a fraction of the cost.
Darrell, amazement never ceases! I'm impressed! Great avenues of testing! The only difference I heard from all of the tests is with the Neck/Bridge comparison with the Chinese pups sounding brighter. I have to say I dig the purple on black. Thank you for your diligence & looking forward to more comparisons in 2019! Happy New Year!!
Darrell, for some reason your "long and perilous journey" comment got me laughing so hard I almost choked! Thanks! I think you and Paul Davids are currently producing the most interesting guitar-related content on YT. Keep up the good work!
Words of wisdom...with few exceptions, the amp quality makes all the difference. Like most people, I cannot afford to drop thousands on a name brand (anything). This has led me to learn to build on a budget. With some finesse, beautiful quality sounds can be found on a budget. Do cheaper pickups tend to give microphonic feedback?.....copper tape the pickup well prior to installation, at least in MY ear, this helps to eliminate that effect. Good stuff. Thank you sir.
I have two builds going on right now. One’s a HH Tele and the other is a lap steel. Looks like I’ll be saving some money on pickups! I have an amazing Quilter amp as well! Thanks Darrell. You rock bro!
This was probably the first vid of yours I watched and it was a couple years ago. Because of this vid I actually ordered a set of these for a project because of your vid and couldn't be happier. I have also bought the Guitar Fetish factory buy out HOT Hex Overwound Humbuckers for projects one of my favorite inexpensive pups they have gone up in price $35.00 a matched set.
Wow...really great demo. It is amazing to see how far technology has come. Even cheap knock-off pickups sound amazing. Given amp modelers and digital technology, there is no more excuses not to get a great tone in a home recording studio.
The cheap once sounded better. SD and Dimarzio are all expensive brand hype from the past like Gibson/Fender and the likes..... Chinese manufacture some very good guitars these days and they are the masters of reverse engineering for super cheap.
Fleor are on Amazon now! Worth every penny! I have not used them in a live setting but for daw recording with the ability to EQ, I’ll spend $20 for pups all day! I’ve sold most of my Duncan’s and switched to Fleor. Hell, I built a thinline parts tele with the money I made from the Duncan’s. My only complaint so far would be the gauge of wire used on the humbuckers. It’s really thin and likes to break if you are messing around with wiring.
Listening through phone speakers, the difference wasn't very noticeable. Plugged in a pair of headphones and the difference was much more apparent. The cheaper pickups sounded darker and muddier on each test, at least to my ears. On the distorted tones (tests 1-3) it was most noticeable durring the sustain. The clean was a bit closer but same issues, darker and muddier. SD sounded better to me every test
I would love to do a test by giving people a cheap pickup and ask them what they think. Then give them the same pickup branded as bare knuckle and ask them which they prefer 🤣
Very expensive, good kits but it's way cheaper if you learn how to solder. Plus it will help with troubleshooting and repairs. Nothing is better than good skills.
George Lackey I have no problem with soldering. I have a Weller and it works great. I’m on disability after getting electrocuted after a gig. I am left with a 24/7 migraine headache and sometimes I just can’t solder due to tremors and the headache. I’m going through a period right now so the Obsidian is a great way for me to get through my Les Paul model and my Tele kit. This is the first time I’ve used this so I want to see what it’s like.
What is a pickup ? Magnet and bobins of copper wire. It's not rocket science. As long as it's cleanly done, there's no reason for it to sound bad. And you're right too: The most important part of the guitar to have a great tone is... The amp.
Hey Buddy I'm an old timer and have a couple of Harmonmy Guitars with gold foil pickups which I absolutely love. They are airy, and resonant and made very cheaply with kitchen refrigerator magnets, how about that? You should do a special on those baby's . I bought a set of new gold foils from Buddha Pickups and they are like hum bucker size with coil tapping and phase pots. They really honk and sound great clean as well.Who said cheap is garbage in a pickup. These have unique sound. Sound for your soul. Namaste Edward William Case
Tone is in the amp and pickups. Style is in the hands. No matter how you play a guitar, without the right amp, it won't magically gain distortion or effects. That's what tone is.
Adam Besmer a huge part of tone is undeniably your right hand, or for lefties, their left hand. I’d say tone is equal parts of pickups, amp and right hand
You have saved me loads of money. I just picked up an Epiphone SG Special made 2004 for just £80, I had been wondering whether to swap the PUs. I won't bother, I agree with what you say about quality amps making the huge difference to the sound. Thanks for your videos.
Just what I expected...the cheap Pickups are almost on the same level as the expensive ones. I discovered this for myself some time ago, when I sold one of my guitars to one of my students. The bridge PU sucked big time, so I decided to swap it out against a 'cheapo' Amazon-PU from China. It was the Fleor Humbucker. They offer Pups with different magnets, I ordered the Alnico5 Model. I didn't expect a huge difference, maybe a little more output but much to my surprise that PU sounded REALLY good. In fact it sounded so good, that I immediately ordered one for myself. Since then I discovered another Chinese Pickup brand with equally good products, they go by the name 'Musilily'. Their Alnico5' HB's are amazing, just as their Single-Coil-Sets...
Think you dropped on a fairly decent inexpensive brand there, that is definitely able to hold its own against a more expensive foe such as SD. The cheap Purple ones at times actually sounded slightly more defined than the SD's If this video shows anything, its that far east production is getting better and better. Guitarists are profiting from low paid workers in the far east. Which opens up a whole other issue we are probably aware of, but ethically need to ponder. Perhaps we should get ethical labels for electrical equipment the same way we do when we can with the likes of chocolate and coffee...
Proof that a great player and a great amp and you're 99.99% of the way there. Pickups - within the same type - are a bit like splitting frog hairs. Having said that, through my headphones, the cheapos were a little...messier. That's the only way I can describe it. But only in side by side comparisons. If you put either in a song, nobody would know or care.
I have found that putting your money into quality wire, pots, caps, switch, and jack is best place. The cables, amp, and other gear are also where to put the money. oh the hardware is another good place to invest. Quality nut, tuners, and bridge/tailpiece. I have found some low cost quality parts and some over priced crap.
@@0000song0000 Switchcraft makes great switches and jacks. CTS are great for clean long lasting pots. I prefer panasonic or epocs capacitors. A quality cloth lined or silicon shielded wire helps too. I tend to use silicone.
I bought a pair of these Fleor humbuckers that I'm about to put in my SSS Agile strat - VERY interested to see how they'll sound. [Update: They sound FANTASTIC!]
i found an epiphone les paul studio at a pawn shop for my son. paid 150 bucks (with hard case), installed similar chinese cheap pickups w/push pull splitters. sounds great, split they are clean and transparent. full humbucking nice and round.
Great video. For what little difference I could hear, how could anyone justify buying the expensive brand? I've been trying to figure out for quite a while now how music stores sell guitars for thousands of dollars with only hundreds of dollars of parts and labor involved....hmm... Only answer I have come up with is that some people are willing to pay for the name. Thanks for the great playing and very informative video.
There was a noticeable difference in sound, but on the basis of the video the difference is as much taste as anything else. I preferred the SD, but then it was a hair closer to my preferred SC sound. I think you'd need to be playing the guitar to feel the difference. I've got a Jay Turser LP copy with unknown pickups in, and some of the same SDs for a project so I will drop them in the Jay Turser when working out the wiring, so that'll be an interesting comparison of the same nature, but against unknown pickups. I do have a FLEOR pickup in the parts box, but it's not a PAF HB.
mid gain is often the sound we use the most, at least it's where you can hear the subtle difference beetwen a good pickup and a not so good pickup... that said, even in a factory like S.Duncan its not so simple, the more expensive is not always the better : got a les paul copy with a SD Seth Lover mounted on the Bridge and Slash model on the neck. good neck-Slash sound with this mic but awesome sound for the Seth Lover! got a 1997 Gibson les paul with antiquities. sound good (soft and round) but not better than the copy with seth lover ! :-D
I’d love to see you do another series like this Darrell. Seen a few well talked about cheap brands lately Iron Gear and Warman pick ups and love to see what you would say about them.
That "typical" brighter can be achieved with any other pickup too. Just choose the right pots. Always surprised how people know nothing about that and always think it's only about the pickups.
In all of these tests it comes down to three things: 1. the skill of the player, 2. the quality of the amplification, and 3. the setup of the amplifier and any effects. wire and magnets are the same wherever you get them from.
I bought 5 Harley Benton’s and was going to probably swap out the pickups until I heard them. They are awesome, I’ll keep it stock. I never thought changing pickups made that big of a difference any time I’ve ever fond it.
The most important thing concerning the sound is the amp or the combo, secondly is the tone of the guitar.... A COMBO OF 300$ AND A CHEAP GUITAR the best result!!!
As a jazz and blues fan, I really liked the sound of the Chinese pickups. They had a real warmth to them. I know you don't always want that. But a majority of the time I do. I'll look for some! Maybe there are some decent American made ceramic pickups out there?
Wow, when i watched this maybe almost a year ago, I couldn't tell the difference between them Now after owning a decent electric guitar , i definitely can tell the difference between them The Cheaper one sounds muddy especially during the higher gain or rhythm parts So yes conclusion, i have become less tone deaf than before but if it wasn't a side by side Comparison i doubt i would have thought they were cheap since the player is just that good
As the pickups are getting cleaner, the difference between them starts to show up. Seymour Duncans are more articulated and less muddy. However, the comparison was very interesting, and shows that you can still get decent tones from cheap gear.
Pickups are very simple electrical coils. This has never surprised me, the fact cheap and expensive pickups are not a case of better or worse, but personal preference. I believe in more mid to high range pickups you also pay for a better build quality in general.
With lots of distortion (where the character of the pickup is somewhat masked) I thought the Chinese pickups fared pretty well. As the gain is reduced not so much - I preferred the SD pickups. If you are into only high gain tones the Chinese pickups might serve your needs. Others might prefer the cheap pickups across the board. If it sounds good to you, it is good.
I can make any pickup sound like a fifteen dollar one.
Lol
Good one! (I'm with you in that boat)!
I have you both beat as I can make them sound like 15 cent pickups
Pfff... Big deal, I can make them sound like they are made from cardboard.
LOL good one =) and me too.
Foil keeps the sound fresh.
The foil keeps big brother from watching, until they get to your house and you open them. Once they're open, you're being transmitted to the satellites and everyone can hear. Be sure to use that foil to make a hat, so they can't brainwash you!
I imagine it also stops them rusting on a 2 month boat ride from China too.
Keeps the tone fluid from leaking out. Gotta remember to change your tone fluid every 5,000 strums.
Lmao
It protects the copper wire from Chemtrails Spray here in America.
If you haven't noticed, pickups are very easy to make. Yes, all pickups sound slightly different. But if you're using the same type magnets, poll pieces and wire there gonna sound close. The biggest difference is the output based on how many wraps and the wrap pattern. That's about it. Good video.
You should have played Smoke on the water considering you got your pickups in deep purple
Ooh, cringeworthy, but funny.
Correction should read "only played" ha ha ;-)
Or Purple Rain
Hahaha someone got copyright struck for playing that for like 10 seconds with heavy effects on it... like yesterday....
Well he wasn’t in guitar center...
I'm shocked. I picked the cheap pickup as the high-end pickup every single time. Fuller sound, less noise when clean ... I'm blown away. Everything I know is a lie.
the sd are better. You can tell from the ACDC example. The have more clarity and higher frequencies. Also the cheap ones, are not balanced well. You can tell this from the example with both the pickups. But they are not bad. I mean they are probably from the same material. How different can a pickup be from another?
@@lgiorgos1 you just prefer the SDs dude. Maybe you like the brighter sound and the more piercing highs, but Mr Jason (and myself) prefer the cheaper ones. Its just preference.
The cheap ones was best.
Jason Newman . You have no idea my friend ....it’s getting weirder by the second
@@lgiorgos1 Seems like it's pretty subjective. To my ear the SD's sounded cheap and hairy with a bunch of extra jangly highs in the AC/DC example. The purples sounded punchier and clearer.
The tone is in the fingers. I had my stock fingers replaced with DiMarzio Bricklayers. Sustain for days but a little scratchy when sliding.
This comment made my laugh so hard. Bravo!
Bout killed me dude
That's some next level Tony Iommi stuff there my dude.
The tone is in his $4,000 dollar amplifier stack.
That's amazing for $15 pickups. They have a different tone but it's not a bad thing. Infact i'd say they nailed a sound type with them.
its more about the amp
my grandma's spatula will even sound great with that amp
Kinda that emo 'recorded in a basement studio' sound. It's real home-y
The cheap pickups have a bit grittier tone with more treble, but it's usable. Different, but not bad.
They are quite usable. I also have a Fleor bridge pickup. It's wax potted and was a bang for the buck. But if you hold those "chinas" against an SD JB or a DiMarzio X2N you can spot differences in output and transparency. I got some fake invaders and recently installed the bridge one into my Ibanez RG. Muddy as hell. Not worth to wax pot them (they aren't wax potted at all). I think most chinese pickups for 10 bucks or so are ok but if you want balanced qc pu's you should at least go for Wilkinsons, Entwistles, Iron Gears.
Andreas Nold iron gears are amazing. I have them in my jackson js22 dinky
If I watched as many videos about music theory as I do about hardware, I'd sound incredible.
Man I fkn feel you
I couldn’t agree with this enough lmao
Damn I relate to this so much
Me too Elijah!! Great sense of humor!
0:21 Wow! You shredded so fast I didn't even see your fingers moving. Amazing!
😂😂😂
I’m gonna upgrade my playing ability
Haha! me too
I hear that! I find the fretboard fingering close-ups Darrell does, teach me a lot
Yeah me too! LMAO! Wonder how long that will take to get here? Must be on a slow boat from China too... because I'm STILL waiting! Bahahahaha!
yep....I can buy the gear.....the ability?....is there a store or website I can make that purchase?....no?.....drat!
Couldn’t be a more accurate statement.
Do one with: most expensive pickups on the cheapest guitar
I'll add it to my list!
Like an epiphone les paul ls and put some stacked seymour Duncan's in it
Already did it, sounds great
I have a Squier Affinity Strat that I picked up at a pawn shop for $85 that somebody had lost with a $400 David Gilmore loaded pickguard in it. Sounds phenomenal, can't bear to strip it.
it won't make much difference as most of the sound is the pickups
We are livin in the era where cheap stuff can stand toe to toe with other stuff that priced 5x times of it.
If Darell just slap the SD logo on that Cheap PU, people would believe that the cheap one is real SD.
They would just like many people buy those cheap purses that are $2,500 or more. Lol
It's quite well known out there that these days material costs don't comprise the bulk of the street price of a product in mass manufacturing. However R&D isn't free for most of the established brands, while no-name knockoffs unabashedly reverse engineer and then copy them. The same happens in the pedal industry - $20 for a decently built, true bypass clean boost VS $100 for an Ibanez TS9? Also of note is the potential for Chinese government incentives for overseas reach, meaning that it actually makes sense for manufacturers to sell below cost. While I can't say it happens to musical instruments, it certainly is to F&B and certain tech products IIRC.
They already do this, they call it SD design pickups
The cheap pickup is much worse... Especially easy to hear when goes to the classic rock example at 4:39
@@davesaenz3732 agree
Finally sombody clarifies this... Invest in the amp... Totally agree...
Great video...
So many people spend so much on guitars, when the amp is the noticable pound for pound difference on the ear.... Top vid
NICE CALL
It's cool having a couple expensive guitars,......but unless you're rich don't play them on a regular basis,....the $ 700 guitars are fine for rehearsals and shows,...if someone knocked down your $ 4000 custom shop Dean while you were at a show,...you'd be pissed,.....just take a decent guitar and upgrade the pickups,..hardware or whatever to make it play to your liking
Gonna add a bit to this. The most part of tone is a speaker, which acts like "hardware" equalizer. Our ear doesn't like sounds above +- 8kHz, and semi likes 6-8kHz, so even cutting all that "sandy" crap from sound using additional equalizer makes sound much much better through crappy speaker. So if you don't have a decent speaker make sure you have a good speaker simulator.
A good amp isn't going to make bad pickups sound good. I can take an ENGL and plug in a Stratocaster and it ain't going to make those single coil pick ups sound like a Humbucker.
They're good, but their not perfect and will never fully be able to accurately sound like an actual amp with it's speaker cones vibrating. It's something digital will never be able to replicate. Just like digital recording vs analog recording. Sure the process is easier, but in the end digital recording sounds dead and without life, cold and tasteless. Just as fake digital amps sound.
I think the cheaps actually won the clean round..... seriously
it sounded like the SD's were distorting on the clean test & the Chinese ones were not.
@@stevevaughan787 It's like SD were trying to get all the harmonics present when clean or something and it ended up a mess. Actually bad sounding when clean
Kyle F not even close
I have these fleur pickups from aliexpress they sound great clean
yeah me too, seriously what the hell
Honestly the cheaper pick up sounded great. Gave a ton of nice overtones to work with on the EQ. If going straight into a DAW, I'd honestly prefer those Chinese ones over SD.
Haha, great somebody notice that, I thought I'm alone in noticing that, the Chinese pick-up sounded better and had lots of character to my ears. What the hell hahaha.😂😆 Is this a prank Darrell? I'm about to buy a Seymour Duncan, but had a change of mind. Will just go straight to Alie Express for that amazing Chinese pickup, might grab an awesome Chibson Les Paul 1959 as well. 🤭 Cheers!
@@2good2betrue3 Totally agree. They are on Amazon too. I think it's a quicker ship and a return policy if you get a bad one. Anyone sating the Fleors are "decent" is lying to themselves.
The thing that matters most is a good amp and good speakers. The pickups can have an effect, especially with low gain and clean, but as long as you’ve got that solid foundation you can really make basically anything sound good
I usually avoid anything made in China but, to my ears, the Chinese pick ups were superior to the SD's.
I'm not sure what's wrong with me, but Chinese pickups sounded better in all 4 blind tests... Either I'm hallucinating or SD needs to shut down all their factories and start doing chicken farming or something.
As always, brilliant video and playing Darrell!
I hear that on just about the same scale. Although I did hear an extra bite in the SDs at one point. Either way good challenge.
same
I agree!
I liked the Chinese pickups better for all the metal and rock riffs, but then again, I hate the JB specifically. If he'd used a Distortion, Alnico II Pro, Pearly Gates, or 10 other bridge SD pickups, I'm almost certain I'd prefer those.
Maybe it was the brand new wiring harness. I wonder if he put the solder-less harness in before or after testing the SDs? Reliability of pots ain't no joke, mayn.
I'm a little late to the picnic but thanks guys I thought I was the only one the thought that the no name pickups were better sounding. And again he does this all the time you know taking a guitar at virtually no one would get caught Dead playing and running it through his high-end amp and with his skills sounds like Clapton or Beck
Let's all buy crap equipment. It will sound just as good. Save money. Buy more pizza.
Cheap guitar but marry it with 4K dollars Amp will blow your mind.
ARE YOU RELATED TO MEATLOAF? GREAT ALBUM BATTY!
Im telling you my stock Stratocaster I swapped out two of the pick ups and it sounds so much better , in every single aspect.
@@beefnacos6258 I`M INTO HSS(PEARL SCRATCHPLATE)-YEAH BETTER!
antony hickling don’t mind him he’s just passing through
i like the cheap pickups played clean. The thing I have learned over the years is that every guitar has a certain acoustic quality that works in conjunction with the pickups and your preference. I have had pickups that I didn't like in one guitar, but sounded great in another. You have to match the pickups to the guitar and the sound you are looking for. This also goes for whether you are using them clean or high gain, and as Darrell said how it works with the amp, and your pedals.
Some companies make consistently good pickups, but that doesn't mean you might not like the sound of a cheap pickup. Other things that affect your tone and I think are just as important is how hard you hit the strings, your pick attack, your pick material, whether you use your fingers or a pick, or hybrid pick, the height of your strings, your strings, and believe it or not, your truss rod adjustment, etc. Good experienced players always say tone is in your hands, and this is definitely true. I know guys that can get a good sound no matter what they play. I know guys that can make a ten thousand dollar guitar sound like hell.
Try changing pots and capacitors before changing pickups. Here is something you might not have noticed, but electricity isn't consistent and amps can sound different based on how much power is being supplied to the amp at any given time. In a club from day to day, even hour to hour, the amp can sound different. Lastly, don't always judge equipment until you play it live with a band. One sound might sound great in your bedroom, but not with your bass player. The sound of a club, or the room sound is another consideration. The amount of people in a room will change the sound. I am sure I have left things out but these are just some things to consider.
This comment wins over the whole debate.
Although, as a luthier and radio technician, I do know that there's no magic behind expensive pickups, I always use brand name pickups for my guitars, cause whenever they have to be replaced I know they will sound the same afterwards. Cheapos can sound great but having to find a similar sounding replacement will always be a lottery game.
And after all, the most influence to the sound comes from the fingers of the player.
I think I'm going construct a guitar out of Chinese parts now.
I DUNNIT INIT
GO WITH SLITS RATHER THAN F HOLES (IN USA-ASSHOLES)
Bassic Bassist every guitar i own is a build for the last 5 years and iv never owned better instruments to my specs and a real pride and connection to your instrument it made me a way beter player
I think the same...right now...Greetings from Germany/Bavaria!
@@edsed8411 keep saying that to yourself
Fantastic! I was just about to pay £200 for Seymour Duncans, and now I'm sticking with my B&G's! You've saved me a bunch of cash!
I was just thinking the same lol
Was about to get a new set of SDs. I'll just keep the Wilkinson pick-ups I've got 🤷♂️
Pickups are magnets and wire. I've always thought there's been too much emphasis on having expensive pickups. I think, like you said...a good amp and also some good effects, is more important than expensive pickups. Just my opinion.👍😎🎸🎶
I can honestly say pickup swaps have saved some of my guitars from being traded. I get what you mean though, there's really no bad tone just different tones.
I'm inclined to agree. Pickups will vary because of the type of magnets, the amount of wire, the type of wire. Construction matters too. Are the pole pieces adjustable, are the windings potted. However, none of that should make them expensive.
From a guy who owns a set of BKPs, I absolutely agree there's just no reason for pickups to cost more than a guitar. No regrets on the BKPs but they should NOT be that expensive.
Imo cheap pickups with cheap materials and worse tolerances tend to have less clarity. They still sound fine though.
@@donicsm7684 yep!👍😎🎸🎶
You guys have been asking for a "cheap vs expensive" Humbucker edition ever since the single coil version was released!
Here ya go! :)
i got all of them wrong lol
The factory forgot to put in all the great tone in my guitar, lol. It's in the players ability not the pickups...just my thoughts!
@@DanielParker615 Your homework assignment for this week, Mark, will be 'ear training.' Don't forget to blow your nose first. - Just playin' widja.
@@sonicbridge1944 lol This made me laugh my ass off. thanks
Yea I agree partially, I have played on some pretty rough pickups that sound terrible though. But most pickups nowadays seem to be at least ok.
Imagine throwing a small gig in your garage with your budget gear and some close friends and then you mom shows up being all proud of your progress. And then all of the sudden she says "stop it right there, this can't go on like this. The tone of those Chinese humbuckers lacks definition, we need to immediately swap them with some Seymour Duncans sweetie, mama loves you and wants what is best for your tone"
I that's one of my recurring dreams
toan
What?
@@jameshatfield7165 i said toan
Damn now I'm depressed xd
I'm sure I'll get plenty of thumbs down for my comments here, but that's ok, I can take it! My opinion is that (by and large) the major guitar and component manufactures from, lets say, the Western hemisphere, are way over-priced for what the end user gets. There are many examples of great instruments and components coming from elsewhere that cost 10% of the 'named brands' of guitars and components. We all know about the law of diminishing returns, and my belief is that these pickups as tested here are great value for money. The SD pickups are not 10 times (or more) better, which means that the price cannot be justified.....imo.
You do some great comparisons Darrell. Thank you
well the Chinese copy everything identical and sell it for less
@theduder - China was making musical instruments when the world was still flat!!
I completely agree. A much of the time you are buying a reputation and a name. I have had a squier that I liked better than a fender. And I got a kraken brand l.p. copy used from guitar center and I compared it to every les Paul in guitar center from 300$ Epiphone to 1200 dollar Gibson's. I didn't go over the 1200 dollar price because I couldn't afford it. But I liked the kraken more than every other l.p. I played. I went back 3 or 4 separate times and kept comparing. I did like the neck finish more on the gibson but not the tone and not for the price difference of 800 dollars.
@@christopherkaesemeyer1575 That actually applies to everything these days. Way too many people make the mistake of confusing price for quality. The point of diminishing returns keeps lowering as technology improves but most people are unaware of that. Nowadays, you have to be more informed about what you're actually buying because you're almost guaranteed to overpay if you don't.
realjumper I’m completely with you mate!
Am I allowed to say that I like the cheap pickups better?
OF COURSE(AS LONG AS YOU DON`T WORK FOR SD - WELCOME TO THE GREAT UNEMPLOYED)!
This post is sponsored by Big China
I honestly thought that too
same
I felt on the high gain, the SDs had just that touch more high end. But, I feel like just eq a smidge more treble in your sound and you could make these cheap pickups sound like the SDs
I’m not gonna lie, those purple pickups look badass on that guitar
Amazing those Duncan's don't sound 15x more expensive that's for Damm sure.
`COS THEY AIN`T!!!
Nobody claimed as much, but they sound a lot clearer, punchier, just brighter and more open, less muddled. But there is only so much you can get and with higher prices the gain in quality diminishes.
antony hickling oh god
Cause he’s playing them through cheap guitars. If you put race tires on a smart car it’s not going to go any faster.
I actually enjoyed both pup sets, on their own merits...
I will say, th SD's did sound more open, breathing, resonant, articulate at times, an certain gain settins...
That bein said, I wouldn't hesitate to give these pups a try, reckon it ain't like they could make me sound worse :-)
The first riff comparison shocked me! I thought for sure that the cheap pickups were the first guitar, but i was wrong haha. Great vid Darrel!
Thanks Wes!
Me too. When I heard the volume increase I was like oh yeah definitely the Duncan's. When I play my stock pickup Jackson vs the same sd setup its wayyy louder and tighter
What song was it
After 4 months of COVID 19 home incarceration I've watched every TH-cam nitwit with a guitar, video camera and internet access try to review all kinds of equipment. Darrell is without question, the BEST reviewer by far for all the right reasons. Great energy, great on camera presence to begin with. His reviews are smart and well organized. No fat. NO self centered attitude. It's about the equipment, not him. And finally and just as important...he can play. So tired of watching 4 chord virtuoso's who think they are Jeff Beck. As a long time builder (our brand was Jarrett) I'm grateful for your efforts and your competence. Thanks, from West Hollywood, California.
That was SO interesting. I honestly thought the Chinese pups had more clarity. I am seriously doubting my alliance to SD now...
I have only had one pickup out of 5 i have tried from sd
Whaddya know? A Chinese magnet and coil of wire does the same thing as an American magnet and coil of wire with a fancy name high price tag.
This kids is why CEOs are so invested in and protective of branding. It's just shy of having your own money printing press.
Exactly!!
Actually ''American'' wire etc comes from China , main factory is there bet dam pickup wire is made there no matter that brand in German.
@@luginonluginon2602 Probably in the same factory by the same workers and the same machine :D Only the labeling department is different..... 😂🎸
Same thing? Execution may be the same but the results are vastly different.
@@vileguile4 exactly, isola is wire at lest they so but far as i know they use cheaper one only for those as they call them ''custom made'' they use Isola (complete name is ''Elektrisola''). I watch Him lie about PE Wire how only they have ''real one'' and could not believe what sort of lie He use. Some of my friends make OK living from making pickups, pedals and amps but i never did due to honestly can't lie to people. Also when you tell them the truth they refuse to accept it ☺. So i make pickups for friends etc 20+ years already and amount of lies SD and even worse some Boutique builders use is astonishing. Some ask 500$ ☺ for simple PAF which any person here can wind after 5 minutes of explanations...IMHO anything above 30-40$ for hambacker person pay name , i can understand if somebody make you specific pickup especially for you and your fav guitar to charge a bit more but honestly pickup industry is such BS.
The Duncan's had more clarity and less breakup/fizzle when distorted, but they did have some unneeded grit on the clean. The cheap pickups are a great alternative if you dont feel like spending $200 for some slight subtle differences. Tbh, the recordings bring out the tonal subtleties, but if you want some cheap pickups for gigging though, theres no better alternative, I put a pair of Kmise "Invaders" in my Goth Explorer for that reason alone and they sound excellent for the money.
The Seymour Duncan's certainly were good but not ten times better! I guess I'll hold off on upgrading my pickups and keep an eye out for a good deal on a good amp.
Yea- I'd focus on the amp first. Depending on the sound you're going for, forking over the money for a pickup makes sense - the vintage-output microphonic pickups sound incredible to me, mostly because of the articulation, and I've yet to hear any stock pickup even remotely resemble them.
@@goddessintriptych7046 - I'm with you on this one regarding PAFs. Could be that I've been listening for so many years and have specific preferences that differ from others, but I put a set of Seth Lovers on my Ibanez AR and the result was dramatic and for me worth the cost. It even made my cheap 15w practice amp sound good.... or was it the 8" Celestion installed by Kustom?
It's true. I've got a cheap strat knockoff by Beirenger and it sounds decent. Plug into a quality amp it sounds GOOD.
@@sonicbridge1944 Know the feeling- I bought the Seth Lover bridge on a lark, and after about 5 minutes with it, I was pretty much convinced it was the best pickup ever. Seth Lover bridge + Bogner Brixton + Marshall 4x12 is heaven
Same. I'm starting to believe that the amp is genuinely the biggest part of our tone. That's where the most of my money's gonna go now.
Really liked the clean tones of the cheap ones, (the colour too) ;).
I really like the positive approach and straight forward attitude. Building my sons guitar he thinks the more he spends the better it will sound. By good working stuff and spend the rest on lessons and or practice . That’s the only way any pickup will sound good. Thanks for your great channel.
I get that you had to hide the pickups when doing the blind test, but you cant just alternate pick master of puppets and get away with it.
He can and he did.
who cares what technique one is using as long as it sounds good?
facts
@@apoplexiamusic It didn't sound good.
@@apoplexiamusic That's the point, it doesn't.
half of these I can't tell much difference, the once where I can hear a significant difference, I can't really say which I prefer....rock on cheap pick ups I guess
Just wait until you hear how sub-par they sound in-person, and not over TH-cam.
This might be totally not where the video is supposed to show but has anyone noticed how calming his expression and smile is?
I think the biggest issue with the cheap pickups is you are never sure what you a going to get. On the DiMarzio and SD web sites there is some comparative indication of what you have or what can get, but with most of the cheap pickup web sites it's just a bunch of techo numbers that maybe indicate how they might sound... You might get lucky as Darrell has here, or maybe not...
Some may say that this is not an issue, it's a feature. Each and every pickup is "handmade" and unique.
The quality control on these is probably not going to be all that. However, many cheap brands are just companies that buy boxes of chinese stuff, do some quality control and brand them.
I bought 2 high out put humbuckers from the same company on Amazon one was 7k one was 12k they were supposed to be 18. So Idk if you buy name brand it's probably a lot more consistent.
The comparisons on DiMarzio and SD's websites is more marketing than fact. Most of the descriptions tend to be reworded versions of each other since words aren't very good at describing sound.
Agreed it's about the consistency rather than the quality. That being said, you could probably order 10 cheap humbucker sets for the price of 1 expensive one, keep the best sounding pair, sell the rest off to people who take the wrong idea from videos like this, and come out ahead.
Another awesome video... thank you! I heard a few tonal qualities in the cheap set that were a pleasant point of difference. I love that you aren’t afraid or ashamed to take cheap guitars and cheap pickups and let them sing alongside the high end instruments.
Great job! I totally agree with you when you say that a good amplifier really makes the difference. On my guitars, I have cheap and expensive pickups and I'm sure that nobody can spot which one I'm using!!!
Nothing surprising here. Good ideas once made a name and a name makes a big margin.
Once you have the parameters of a good pick-up, it can be replicated on the cheap by machines and sold without the inflated margin.
The difference was almost negligible, unless you're hung up on brand names you couldn't go wrong with these pickups good review!
Well, i did the experiment. I have an Agile 3010, (awesome guitar, forget the price, just look at the body and neck!) . tried the stock pups, which are pretty good, then fitted Whole Lotta Humbuckers, with CTS pots and Emerson PIO's. The change was staggering, the tonal range is quite amazing, the clarity of the pups. They do take a bit more to start the break up, but what a difference. I'm guessing the PIO's had quite a bit to do with it, but yeah, bloody awesome. My first doing everything, frets, set up, all the electronics, Bridge, Tailpiece, and tuners remained. Just a great guitar, now all it needs is someone who can do it justice! Owes me about $600 all up!
I really like the sound of the cheap pickups!
The magic of music is in the performer, and not the equipment. That has always been the case.
You could play a chain link fence and make it sound good.
There is a lot of B.S. surrounding guitar items, but guitars are not space shuttles or computers.
What gauge chain link fence do you recommend?
@@stevef4010 52-12's...sound great through a humbucker.
Great video! This kind of only confirms what I've always believed all along and it's 90% what quality amp you have which is the the real pocketbook killer
LOL the cheap pickups sounded better !! if i just bought a pair of Seymour Duncan pickups i would be feeling suicidal by now hhh, it's all money down the drain.
HOPE YOU DIDN`T!WHEN`S THE FUNERAL?BURN THE AXE---PLEEESE!
untrue , I have a SD from years ago , its notably better than most others .
this was a very superficial test of a lot of hacking , no finesse music , jazz or blues , nothing of BB King or Santana , let alone Kenny Burrell or Wes Montgomery
antony hickling You from Alabama?
I have a Seymour Duncan Sentient in the neck and a Black Winter in the bridge. Very unique combination and a very yin-yang balance. I get questions about my tone all the time. It's hard to beat, while many manufacturer's copy JB and other well known pick up designs at a fraction of the cost.
@@bobsaturday4273 you jazz players are something else lol, just let ppl have opinions
Darrell, amazement never ceases! I'm impressed! Great avenues of testing! The only difference I heard from all of the tests is with the Neck/Bridge comparison with the Chinese pups sounding brighter. I have to say I dig the purple on black. Thank you for your diligence & looking forward to more comparisons in 2019! Happy New Year!!
Same!
I got this FLEOR bridge pickup and 2 hot rails single coils to rebuild my old Yamaha 112 and I love them.
IT'S ALL IN THE AMP
It's in the finger's Bud. I know a guy that can play a strung-up 2"x 4" threw an AM radio & Rock !
Darrell, for some reason your "long and perilous journey" comment got me laughing so hard I almost choked! Thanks! I think you and Paul Davids are currently producing the most interesting guitar-related content on YT. Keep up the good work!
Words of wisdom...with few exceptions, the amp quality makes all the difference. Like most people, I cannot afford to drop thousands on a name brand (anything). This has led me to learn to build on a budget. With some finesse, beautiful quality sounds can be found on a budget. Do cheaper pickups tend to give microphonic feedback?.....copper tape the pickup well prior to installation, at least in MY ear, this helps to eliminate that effect. Good stuff. Thank you sir.
I love your vids. you're like Myth Busters for guitar. Keep up the great work!
Haha never thought of it that way, but you're totally right!😂 It really is lol
I have two builds going on right now. One’s a HH Tele and the other is a lap steel. Looks like I’ll be saving some money on pickups! I have an amazing Quilter amp as well!
Thanks Darrell. You rock bro!
HEY DUDE GOOD LUCK!USED TO BE A STRAT(COPIES)FAN BUT NOW IBANEZ ROCKS(STILL GOT 3 SQUIERS THO`)
This was probably the first vid of yours I watched and it was a couple years ago. Because of this vid I actually ordered a set of these for a project because of your vid and couldn't be happier. I have also bought the Guitar Fetish factory buy out HOT Hex Overwound Humbuckers for projects one of my favorite inexpensive pups they have gone up in price $35.00 a matched set.
Wow...really great demo. It is amazing to see how far technology has come. Even cheap knock-off pickups sound amazing. Given amp modelers and digital technology, there is no more excuses not to get a great tone in a home recording studio.
I liked the cheap one better every time...
Really, oh man I thought it was just me. So did I! I figured I just must have a "tin ear".
The cheap once sounded better. SD and Dimarzio are all expensive brand hype from the past like Gibson/Fender and the likes..... Chinese manufacture some very good guitars these days and they are the masters of reverse engineering for super cheap.
Agreed! I think the cheap one had more definition to it. A better treble and less mids.
@@MehdiS-music and masters of overworking and underpaying their people like motherfuckers
Fleor are on Amazon now! Worth every penny! I have not used them in a live setting but for daw recording with the ability to EQ, I’ll spend $20 for pups all day! I’ve sold most of my Duncan’s and switched to Fleor. Hell, I built a thinline parts tele with the money I made from the Duncan’s. My only complaint so far would be the gauge of wire used on the humbuckers. It’s really thin and likes to break if you are messing around with wiring.
Listening through phone speakers, the difference wasn't very noticeable. Plugged in a pair of headphones and the difference was much more apparent. The cheaper pickups sounded darker and muddier on each test, at least to my ears. On the distorted tones (tests 1-3) it was most noticeable durring the sustain. The clean was a bit closer but same issues, darker and muddier. SD sounded better to me every test
I would love to do a test by giving people a cheap pickup and ask them what they think. Then give them the same pickup branded as bare knuckle and ask them which they prefer 🤣
On the Erick Clapton rift I couldn’t tell the difference! On the other yes the eBay pickups did not so good I prefer the expensive ones
Obsidian kits are the way to go. As I do my updates/upgrades I definitely will get the Obsidian kits. It also allows for a easy change of pickups.
Very expensive, good kits but it's way cheaper if you learn how to solder. Plus it will help with troubleshooting and repairs. Nothing is better than good skills.
George Lackey I have no problem with soldering. I have a Weller and it works great. I’m on disability after getting electrocuted after a gig. I am left with a 24/7 migraine headache and sometimes I just can’t solder due to tremors and the headache. I’m going through a period right now so the Obsidian is a great way for me to get through my Les Paul model and my Tele kit. This is the first time I’ve used this so I want to see what it’s like.
What is a pickup ? Magnet and bobins of copper wire. It's not rocket science. As long as it's cleanly done, there's no reason for it to sound bad. And you're right too: The most important part of the guitar to have a great tone is... The amp.
So true.
Hey Buddy I'm an old timer and have a couple of Harmonmy Guitars with gold foil pickups which I absolutely love. They are airy, and resonant and made very cheaply with kitchen refrigerator magnets, how about that? You should do a special on those baby's . I bought a set of new gold foils from Buddha Pickups and they are like hum bucker size with coil tapping and phase pots. They really honk and sound great clean as well.Who said cheap is garbage in a pickup. These have unique sound. Sound for your soul. Namaste Edward William Case
I approve of using multiple Metallica songs in the making of this video.
DUH?
NO THUMBS BUT I SEE THE POINT
Darrell -- I think this is proof that tone is 5% pickups, 10% amp and 85% players hands. I don"t think ANY guitar could sound bad in your hands.
Thanks for the kind words!
Tone is in the amp and pickups. Style is in the hands. No matter how you play a guitar, without the right amp, it won't magically gain distortion or effects. That's what tone is.
Adam Besmer a huge part of tone is undeniably your right hand, or for lefties, their left hand. I’d say tone is equal parts of pickups, amp and right hand
@@seansyw143 picking intensity affects the sound, and thus tone technically, but personally, I count that as the style of playing.
Adam Besmer the angle at which your pick the string also affects tone
Quite surprising how good they sounded. The purple looked awesome too!
I installed a cheap Chinese Darrell braun clone in my guitar and it sounds better than anything I've heard on youtube for years!
Beautiful cleans coming from those cheapos. This is very impressive.
You have saved me loads of money. I just picked up an Epiphone SG Special made 2004 for just £80, I had been wondering whether to swap the PUs. I won't bother, I agree with what you say about quality amps making the huge difference to the sound. Thanks for your videos.
A little noticeable, a bit more fuzz on the cheap ones, but clearly the chinese ones copied them with cheaper materials
Just what I expected...the cheap Pickups are almost on the same level as the expensive ones.
I discovered this for myself some time ago, when I sold one of my guitars to one of my students. The bridge PU sucked big time, so I decided to swap it out against a 'cheapo' Amazon-PU from China. It was the Fleor Humbucker. They offer Pups with different magnets, I ordered the Alnico5 Model. I didn't expect a huge difference, maybe a little more output but much to my surprise that PU sounded REALLY good. In fact it sounded so good, that I immediately ordered one for myself.
Since then I discovered another Chinese Pickup brand with equally good products, they go by the name 'Musilily'.
Their Alnico5' HB's are amazing, just as their Single-Coil-Sets...
Turn the amp up and try again, cheap pick ups cant deliver at higher volumes with out high pitch squeels, they dont have the right wiring and epoxy
You make great videos. The one you did about adjusting the intonation was the clearest and simplest on how to. Thank you.
Chinese pickup won nothing else matters
Yeah, I could definitely hear some notes clearer on the cheap ones..
Think you dropped on a fairly decent inexpensive brand there, that is definitely able to hold its own against a more expensive foe such as SD.
The cheap Purple ones at times actually sounded slightly more defined than the SD's
If this video shows anything, its that far east production is getting better and better. Guitarists are profiting from low paid workers in the far east. Which opens up a whole other issue we are probably aware of, but ethically need to ponder.
Perhaps we should get ethical labels for electrical equipment the same way we do when we can with the likes of chocolate and coffee...
The cheaper pickups had more bite with gain, and sounded even better clean IMO. Thanks for the video!
Proof that a great player and a great amp and you're 99.99% of the way there. Pickups - within the same type - are a bit like splitting frog hairs.
Having said that, through my headphones, the cheapos were a little...messier. That's the only way I can describe it. But only in side by side comparisons. If you put either in a song, nobody would know or care.
I always go with EMG 81's 🔥🔥🔥
I have found that putting your money into quality wire, pots, caps, switch, and jack is best place. The cables, amp, and other gear are also where to put the money. oh the hardware is another good place to invest. Quality nut, tuners, and bridge/tailpiece. I have found some low cost quality parts and some over priced crap.
I want to replace wiring , pu selector ... How do you actually know which ones are high quality, the brand?
@@0000song0000 Switchcraft makes great switches and jacks. CTS are great for clean long lasting pots. I prefer panasonic or epocs capacitors. A quality cloth lined or silicon shielded wire helps too. I tend to use silicone.
Your videos are relaxing. Thank you.
I bought a pair of these Fleor humbuckers that I'm about to put in my SSS Agile strat - VERY interested to see how they'll sound. [Update: They sound FANTASTIC!]
i found an epiphone les paul studio at a pawn shop for my son. paid 150 bucks (with hard case), installed similar chinese cheap pickups w/push pull splitters. sounds great, split they are clean and transparent. full humbucking nice and round.
Great video. For what little difference I could hear, how could anyone justify buying the expensive brand? I've been trying to figure out for quite a while now how music stores sell guitars for thousands of dollars with only hundreds of dollars of parts and labor involved....hmm... Only answer I have come up with is that some people are willing to pay for the name. Thanks for the great playing and very informative video.
Thanks RB!
There was a noticeable difference in sound, but on the basis of the video the difference is as much taste as anything else. I preferred the SD, but then it was a hair closer to my preferred SC sound. I think you'd need to be playing the guitar to feel the difference. I've got a Jay Turser LP copy with unknown pickups in, and some of the same SDs for a project so I will drop them in the Jay Turser when working out the wiring, so that'll be an interesting comparison of the same nature, but against unknown pickups. I do have a FLEOR pickup in the parts box, but it's not a PAF HB.
I liked the cheap ones for the dirtiest and cleanest tones. The mid gain stuff sounded better with the SDs.
mid gain is often the sound we use the most, at least it's where you can hear the subtle difference beetwen a good pickup and a not so good pickup...
that said, even in a factory like S.Duncan its not so simple, the more expensive is not always the better :
got a les paul copy with a SD Seth Lover mounted on the Bridge and Slash model on the neck. good neck-Slash sound with this mic but awesome sound for the Seth Lover! got a 1997 Gibson les paul with antiquities. sound good (soft and round) but not better than the copy with seth lover ! :-D
I’d love to see you do another series like this Darrell. Seen a few well talked about cheap brands lately Iron Gear and Warman pick ups and love to see what you would say about them.
The Seymour Duncans were brighter, more treble, typical for the JB. However the cheap ones sound just fine to me!
That "typical" brighter can be achieved with any other pickup too. Just choose the right pots. Always surprised how people know nothing about that and always think it's only about the pickups.
The cheap ones are actually pretty decent, especially considering the price. There’s obviously a difference but not actually as much as I expected.
I thought the Chinese ones sounded slightly better and all my guitars have expensive pickups. Shocked.
In all of these tests it comes down to three things: 1. the skill of the player, 2. the quality of the amplification, and 3. the setup of the amplifier and any effects. wire and magnets are the same wherever you get them from.
The "Cheap" pickups sound best with the wetter distortion.
Obsidian Wire 😍😍😍😮😜😜😜 ROCKS!
I bought 5 Harley Benton’s and was going to probably swap out the pickups until I heard them. They are awesome, I’ll keep it stock. I never thought changing pickups made that big of a difference any time I’ve ever fond it.
Same here! Rhe Roswell pickups in my HB SC-550 sound lovely. After 2 years, I still don't feel any need to replace them!
What amp are you using? You can't hear much of a difference on cheaper/solid state amps.
The most important thing concerning the sound is the amp or the combo, secondly is the tone of the guitar.... A COMBO OF 300$ AND A CHEAP GUITAR the best result!!!
YESSS!!!
It just means that you don’t need to pay for Seymour duncans anymore.
As a jazz and blues fan, I really liked the sound of the Chinese pickups. They had a real warmth to them. I know you don't always want that. But a majority of the time I do. I'll look for some! Maybe there are some decent American made ceramic pickups out there?
Wow, when i watched this maybe almost a year ago, I couldn't tell the difference between them
Now after owning a decent electric guitar , i definitely can tell the difference between them
The Cheaper one sounds muddy especially during the higher gain or rhythm parts
So yes conclusion, i have become less tone deaf than before but if it wasn't a side by side Comparison i doubt i would have thought they were cheap since the player is just that good
As the pickups are getting cleaner, the difference between them starts to show up. Seymour Duncans are more articulated and less muddy.
However, the comparison was very interesting, and shows that you can still get decent tones from cheap gear.
Pickups are very simple electrical coils. This has never surprised me, the fact cheap and expensive pickups are not a case of better or worse, but personal preference. I believe in more mid to high range pickups you also pay for a better build quality in general.
With lots of distortion (where the character of the pickup is somewhat masked) I thought the Chinese pickups fared pretty well. As the gain is reduced not so much - I preferred the SD pickups. If you are into only high gain tones the Chinese pickups might serve your needs. Others might prefer the cheap pickups across the board. If it sounds good to you, it is good.
LOADED?I`M NOT THINK ABOUT GUYS ON A BUDGET!
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I preferred the Seymour Duncan exclusively with modest overdrive. for the rest, Chinese sounds better