Right! Those cheap G500 Xaviere guitars have that plug n play option. So easy! I think James hetfield had some or something I can’t recall. But plug and play standard would be awesome
For anyone who likes swapping pups often (as I do), check out the Duncan liberator or obsidian wire - both great solutions and save so much time once they’re installed. God bless emg and fishman for the quick connects - those are even easier!
This video confirmed what we've all always known: The Invader is just nuts lol. Hearing the DI was really cool! You definitely seem to have a pretty light touch on your right hand, so it totally makes sense that you'd like hotter pickups. I tend to enjoy varying what my right hand is doing and like being able to dig in sometimes, so I've been tending more towards medium output humbuckers. I have a Dimarzio Crunch Lab in my Ibanez, which I've been finding kind of annoyingly hot, to the point that I lowered it a fair bit and always ease off on the input gain on my audio interface when I play it. As far as "getting the sound you want out" goes, I've found the double-tap humbucker in my Strat just perfectly dialled in - it feels totally effortless, and like I can just "be me" or whatever. With the Crunch Lab, it feels like I'm having to hold myself back more to keep it under control. As tones goes, I think the main difference I was able to actually consistently notice was low-end response. This didn't really seem to be a function of output, but some just seemed to have a loose low-end (super distortion and tone zone, in particular), while others (PAF Pro, the Jake Bowen one) sounded tighter. So, for low tunings and/or really precise, riffy stuff, it's not surprising why all the djenters have signature pickups that really control the low end.
hey thanks so much for your comment! Yes, I have a very light touch, which is why I love active pickups and like we said high output. I appreciate your comments on the crunch lab. That's a pickup I've yet to try!
@@xanderraymondcharles My take: I love it at or around standard tuning on a 6 string, but it’s pretty bass-heavy on my 7 string. Anything below standard B on the 7 starts to get muddy, even with heavy strings and a 26.5” scale. Thanks for putting your video together. That was definitely some high effort content lol
Where is Glenn when we need him! I think you're totally right, the response of the pickup makes you play differently and that's something you can't edit in post :)
Hey Xander, thanks so much for doing this! Definitely agree with the point on response > tonal shift since that kinda also dictates whether I vibe with a pickup or not. Love the content and keep it up man!
After doing my own pickup comparison, I know for tonal changes pickups don't matter as much going from humbucker to humbucker. But some pickups do really respond to how hard you pick where some don't respond as much. For an example, I have one of Fluff's old signature pickups, a Fastback Beardcomber, that thing really responds to how hard you pick. Love it.
Good demo. It shows how little difference pickups make while playing high gain. I'm sure many cheap pickups would've sounded similar compared to all those you tested. Output is all that makes much difference. Lower output pickups while boosted will "feel" like a high output pickup
Doesn't necessarily need to be high gain to neutralize the differences. Just being plugged into an amp will change whatever the original DI signal to whatever the frequency response of the amplifier is.
I think the output is the only variable, pickup to pickup. In other words, how many time they wrap a wire around a magnet. Marketing is what makes us pick one from the other.
Definitely one of the best pickup comparison vids ive seen. And youre righr about the tonal shift and pickip response, I'd agree that ia definitely the most noticeable affect, and it cant be edited out. This is so much better than any Glenn Fricker pickup comparison, and you can actually play!😂
I put a pair of Seymour Duncan distortions in my prs because I simply didn’t like the sound of the stock pickups due to the lack of output, so I can definitely agree with your points from personal experience. Although the changes tonally were very little, I still felt as though the change was bigger due to output alone.
Nice seeing this much of a control. Seeing a lot of extra string on the tuning peg, I’m assuming the same strings were used? (Can’t remember if you said it). It would be nice seeing this repeated but with the active pickups (Fishman, EMG, Seymour Duncan etc). Especially to when you said the output didn’t really dictate the tonal shift, it would be really interesting to active thrown into the mix - maybe stand alone, or maybe passive vs active.
Good video! It is all about feel and how the output of the guitar reacts with the next receiving / preamp stage. Output + overall eq curve characteristic. Then add the pickup's inherent tonal quality (related to the general response, but not always one in the same, and which some have more than others). And finally, yes setup, pole/screw height can also add to this. These 4 ingredients each slightly steer, but all together, they can take things in a completely different direction. Anyone who says passive pickups don't differ much has just not had a lot of experience playing with these specific variables.
Thx for making this video man ! I figured by myself 2 years ago that pickups don't matter with high-gain tones. I have a Squier Affinity Tele and a Jackson JS22, didn't like their tone, swapped respectively with a Bare Knuckle Brute Force and a Seymour Duncan Custom-Custom. Recorded my tracks again and.... no difference. Swapped again the SD CC with a Dimarzio D-Activator. Still no difference. Then, Glenn released his own test, and then you with an even better test ! Can't say about the feel (didn't pay attention at the time), but tonally I wasted my money !
Very fun video to watch from a Active Pickup user perspective! I definitely agree in the thought process of, sure the tonal shifts aren't dramatic as some people will claim, however its just how it responds, feels and resonates with you the guitarist for sure. I've been a massive Active pickup only user since I started playing guitar, but I just got my first set of nice passive pickups (Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb Scourge & Scarlet pickups) and honestly, the response, feel, and clairty is exactly what feels massively different for me. Great video man, love your thoughts on this!
100% agree with your verdict! The pickup response matters and it's in my opinion super overlooked. Switched from EMG 81 to Fishman Devin Townsend (which is more medium output). Both great sounding pickups, but a medium output PU suits better to the way I play.
Great video, and thank you for talking about response and feel. I look at pickup swaps as less about tone, and more about making the guitar play and feel the way I want, and that's something I feel has been left out of most of these pickup swap conversations cause everyone is focused on tone. I like the immediacy and output of Fishman Moderns and EMG 81/85, makes it feel like the guitar is working with me, making it easier to play. While I often hear from people that like low output passive pickups that they enjoy a guitar that "fights" them. Then the mid output guys will often talk about the dynamics and response to their pick attack. I think having a guitar you enjoy the feel of is just as important as the tone of your rig. I'm sure engineers like Glenn get better performances out of musicians in the studio when the musician actually enjoys playing on the guitar they have versus someone who doesn't like the way their guitar responds to their playing.
Some tones reveal the pickup tonality more than others. If you're using a mid focused boost in front of your distortion, you'll be getting that general sound about the same, with most of the difference just being the amount of purr or grunt or whatever. I use a Klon modeled boost, which has a very wide smooth curve to it, and it leaves in a lot more lows and highs than a TS. On top of that I have the hogh shelf on it boosted and the gain very low. I can tell a pretty clear difference. Your tone has that midrange focused warmer chug, like Killswitch etc, where the high end attack isn't emphasized. There's a big difference in the high frequencies between some pickups that just doesn't come through as much in that kind of tone, so it's really about what you're trying to do, rather than an objective "X is better" or whatever
I picked up the mirage set on a whim one time when I was trying to find a good pickup for a particularly dark guitar. And while I ended up moving it to a different ax later I was very impressed with it. It's only like 11k but has high output while maintaining superb clarity. Very underrated.
I figured there would be more of a difference in tone. Wonder if you would get similar results with other companies, Bare Knuckle, Fishman. Cool video and test, a lot of work swapping pups 8 times 😆
still the best guitar channel out here btw, and the only channel so far that I have found to go this far and prove some thing. People will shoot out multiple instruments but they won't go out of their way to wire up multiple electronics in such a way that is undeniably identical. I love this
Pickups matter. The EQ profile for each type of pickup makes a difference for sure. I’ve played many guitars in my life and at one point in time, Jackson and Schecter were using the Duncan JB as a bridge pickup in a lot of guitars. I would consciously avoid any guitar that had this pickup because I hated it. The mid-hump on the low end was too much and when you drop tuned, it was more noticeable. Great job putting in all that effort. Swapping 8 different bridge pickups is no short task.
I'd have to agree with your test here. Glenn did an amazing job proving that speakers really are the tonal center of your rig, but I always felt as though he ignored the fact that how hot a pickup is can shape how you set your EQ or even what speakers you use. Both of ya are excellent though, rock on man!
First and foremost thank you for the level of proffesionalism and effort put into this video. Much appreciated. +1 subscriber. The next comment has nothing to do with the content creator but guitar gear in general. One of things people say about modelers is that they react less to a pickup change then a real “amp and cabinet in the room” setup would. My take: they all sound very similar to me. I know they are not the same but I feel like the modeler piece of this is what makes them the same. I wonder if he was running this setup through a Mesa Dual Rec or a JCM800 if the differences would jump out a little more. My specific thoughts: -Mirage pickup seemed like the one that I liked the least -Tone Zone sounds real thick - seems like a good solution for a guitar that has more High end bite (my les paul has more high’s then I’d like) -Dimebucker SCREAMS on harmonics -The others all sounded pretty good beefy and chunky. Again thanks for the video. Gluck!
For me personally, when it comes to high gain and high output pickups, the bass response is the number one factor. A Les Paul with it’s shorter scale length already produces a heavy low mid focused sound, so I tend to like pickups with a smaller low end for those, especially in lower tunings where the string gauges get big. The Duncan Distortion and Dimarzio Mirage sounded best here in the LP, with more focused low ends. The Super D and Utopia do sound awesome in 25.5” trem equipped guitars though, especially in D or E standard.
I have to say I agree. Not as obvious a tonal shift as last time, and the response is the most important. It does affect the way you sound because we all play things a bit differently, and the response is what causes that difference. So, some pickups will be better for some people than others because the response will work better with how they want to play.
This totally blew the stereotype I had for DiMarzio vs Duncan out of the water. I usually always felt Duncan was brighter and more high end whereas DiMarzio had warmer tones across the board. Nope. The differences were so subtle. The invader and the paf pro were the most noticeable because they had the biggest gain difference from the rest.
Why would two brands sound different generally? Both of them has like hundreds of differetn models that are bright or dark etc. Actually EVERY brand tries to cover each area of the "tonal spectrum" from bright to dark. Not that it actually matters much through distortion tho. xD
@@cederickforsberg5840 agreed that it doesn't matter much under high gain. But in general when you look at EQ charts provided by each brand, Duncan usually have a lot more high end shown where DiMarzio has them rolled off. Especially in bridge pick ups. So not having much knowledge, I figured DiMarzio stuff would generally be warmer tonally. So for me it was a nice learning process.
I use either a Dimarzio Super 3 Distortion or the Tone Zone in the bridge. For the neck I use the Dimarzio PAF or PAF Pro. The Seymour Duncan JB and 59 are a good combination in any guitar as well.
Thank you for putting the time and effort into this interesting experiment! Sounds like it matters to the player, not the audience or listener. Honestly, High gain, couldn’t pick a winner.🤘🏻
Trying to pick a passive pickup for a superstrat I'm building. Was trying to pull a cover off a JB to match the aesthetic I want, but couldn't get it off. I'm an active guy through an through but want to make this one passive. I had a few ideas but this video put the duncan distortion on my radar. It sounded so good. Thanks for doing this! Playing mostly metalcore/deathcore its been hard to find anything other than bareknuckles I've liked and im not willing to spend bareknuckle money on this build.
After watching this video I agree with you that pickups matter from a players perspective in the feel and response. However, I believe that Glenn's original point was that they don't matter as in the perspective of production in the scope of a full mix the subtitles disappear. You are both right from both of your perspectives.
Tbh, yeah. The only reasons I'd replace pickups is to match the output of my other pickups, and if the stock pickups are muddy. To that point, I really liked the note separation the Mirage had
Those are all awesome pickups, even if a bit overpriced. I've purchased a couple pickups from GFS and for around $35/each, couldn't be happier. Wonder how they'd do against the ones in this shootout. * GFS Crunchy rails & GFS Crunchy PAT
Huh tough choice between tthe funk and loudness of the invader and the reposivness of the pro... But yeah great test! As I needed to see what different humbuckers do as I want to one day make a quad + humbucer guitar with little to no controller just raw power! Or what ever it would do... So yeah I could always mix them have the pro for where I play and the invaders for the rest.
It’s actually really interesting to hear you play without all the effects added. I never would have guess you’re really palm muting that much if at all. It goes to show how light touch can be to produce sound. Maybe those of us who go hard on our guitars aren’t using effects and are trying to make up for it a whole other way, lol. 🤔 😂 Thanks for such an insightful vid!
It's like saying which hammer is the best one out of 8. They all do the same thing to the same standard when perhaps one will feel better in the hand, your hand!. For info I have a SD in the bridge and PAF pro in the neck. Interesting to hear nearly 0 difference between the two. Any difference can be adjusted out by EQ and string heights etc. Nice demo to confirm that I wont be changing them, no point at all
@@MichaelMonzonMusic Usually a single coil strat but for high gain I use a LP and the SD does a very good' brown sound' with my set up which can quickly become much heavier/crunchier with an SD-1 pedal, so yeah the SD pickup gives a lot of versatility, it is better suited with the guitar tone on 5 for the heavier music i find.
Great work dude, in line with Glenn Fricker test, tonal shift not so much, however The feel and response is in my case what matters The most, to me I like Pickups with 15-16 kohms of resistance! Happy holidays \m/
Thanks for this video Ray! I’m playing around with tweaking the bridge pickup height. Going from very close (3mm e/3,5mm E) to far away (4,5mm e/5mm E). The response is totally different, like you have a more large panel of expression when far away. Any impressions?
So as a guy with his 1st guitar to have Invaders in it stock, to today, favoring mostly lower output pickups more often then not... This was cool.🤘 I think it's all a recipe based on what amp, cab, guitar, and what sound you want to get. Although, I do think with the amount of gain that's on tap with more modern amps, we can use a "low" output pickup and usually gain some dynamics. As you mentioned, basically its a lot of feel; how hard do you pick, what kind wasof pick do you use, what string gauge etc...
great vidéo dude as always ! pickups matters a lot , but to me it's more like , ok i prefer use a sigle coil for cleans , i prefer use a hot and clear humbucker for rythm and double the tracks with a hot P90. It's just adding flavors to your mix
I dont play metal so there were some surprises for me, i lliked the duncan invader more than i should have and i was a little disappointed with the PAF Pro! The Utopia was my favorite.
I actually subscribed and shared this video.. I am a pickup builder and designer .. This video is geenus because not everyone actually knows what they want ... Most metle player's want is the hottest pup you can build .... And when I give it to them ... Lol they tell me that it is a piece of crap lol ... That just telling me that they don't really know what they want..... 😊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I'm sure a lot of people already comment the same but lot of gain + plugin, I'm not surprised they will almost sound the same. Also you need to compare a cheap no name pickup to a branded pickup. The real question is not should I replace my JB for an Invader but will it make a difference if I put a good pickup in my guitar which has no name stock pickups. For me the answer is defintely yes.
If you play metal you will have lots of gain thats just how it goes. Be happy that you dont have to worry about your pickups much :) it's a liberating feelnig to just be happy with what you have. I rock out just as much on my Harley Bentons and Epiphones with stock pickups as I do with my high-end guitars with Duncans, Dimarzios and EMGs
Nice video man, that was a hell of an effort to put something like this together. What I have discovered is that.... I still absolutely hate The Tone Zone :D In general differences are miniscule. So yeah, the level of output matters - regardless of tone I prefer to have a high output pickup and dial the gain on the amp waaaaay back instead. With a heavy pick attack it will just sound crushing and tight as hell.
I could tell a difference in output but the difference in tone was negligible. I'm surprised the Dimebucker was on the lower output side of the scale compared to the others.
I have been saying this forever, this is why Fishman is so hype right now. It's the way they feel when you play them. It's like an instantaneous response when you hit the string with the pick that isn't there with a passive most of the time. Response is everything with electronics. That extra millisecond matters. everybody has their own feel and that greatly changes your playing ability. when matt received his signature set, one of the comments that he made was that he has never been this on top of the beat and that other pups almost have a delayed reaction now that he has played Fishman. So I definitely agree with this video as far as the way a pup feels and response is more important than tone. It's you or Connection to the instrument. There are some people out there that can pick up damn near anything and not think twice about it and there are some people that are picky I need that little bit of extra whatever that is so the guitar will play for them. Think about it from this point of you, some guys like a sloppy trigger on a gun some guys like a stiff trigger. Everybody has their own technique and the equipment should fit that.
Just tweak the amp a tad and you have the same sound. No one will hear what pickup you use anyway on the stage or on in the studio. The biggest tone change comes from the cab and mic.
hey man do you get a slight hum/buzz from your dimebucker pickup? i installed one in my Dean Dimebag Tribute guitar and ive gotta slight hum but ive looked all over for loose grounds and cant find one. wondering if the slight hum is normal? it doesnt happen with my other guitars using the same amp and cables.. im not the greatest at soldering but theyre deff solid joints i cant pull them off lol
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Im going to listen to this on my phone and then give my expert opinion
I love you hahaha
Literally doing this now 😅😅
Lolololol 😂
Fucking accurate
That is how most people listen to music. Great video!
Lmfao
The real star of this video is your soldering iron. I hate changing one pickup, never mind 8.
The good ‘ole Weller soldering station didn’t miss a beat after hours of work!
@@ledthrax Props to you man, you’re a more patient man than me 😂
Does a completely blacked out arm tatoo prevent sunburns? Asking for a really white friend.
Right! Those cheap G500 Xaviere guitars have that plug n play option. So easy! I think James hetfield had some or something I can’t recall. But plug and play standard would be awesome
SD made solderless pots... Makes changing pickups take a few minutes,... :)
I love that the SD Distortion and DiMarzio Super Distortion are both 40+ year old pickup designs that can still hang all these years later!
That's because they are all made from the same things in pretty much the same way. EMG's are differnce but for passive, it's limited.
Isn't it just amazing how the DI sound of all of these makes you realize that an unamplified guitar is truly like a supermodel without makeup?
Theres a really terrible rapper named lil darky and they used the di of a heavy riff and it sounds so good
Always happy to help out man! Had a great time yesterday hanging out and giving the soldering iron a workout.
I can't thank you enough dude!
Thanks for your major soldering contribution!
For anyone who likes swapping pups often (as I do), check out the Duncan liberator or obsidian wire - both great solutions and save so much time once they’re installed. God bless emg and fishman for the quick connects - those are even easier!
I still don’t understand why all new guitars don’t come with quick connects. It’s like guitar companies don’t want us to swap pickups, lol. 🤔😂
Dimarzio also offers quick connect versions of most of their pickups from their custom shop.
Amp simulation
1:39 Duncan Distortion
2:08 DiMarzio Utopia
2:40 Duncan Dimebucker
3:10 DiMarzio Tone Zone
3:44 DiMarzio Super Distortion
4:14 DiMarzio PAF Pro
4:45 Duncan Invader
5:20 DiMarzio Mirange
DI
7:32 Duncan Distortion
8:00 DiMarzio Utopia
9:02 DiMarzio Tone Zone
9:37 DiMarzio Super Distortion
10:07 DiMarzio PAF Pro
10:36 Duncan Invader
11:14 DiMarzio Mirage
This video confirmed what we've all always known: The Invader is just nuts lol.
Hearing the DI was really cool! You definitely seem to have a pretty light touch on your right hand, so it totally makes sense that you'd like hotter pickups. I tend to enjoy varying what my right hand is doing and like being able to dig in sometimes, so I've been tending more towards medium output humbuckers. I have a Dimarzio Crunch Lab in my Ibanez, which I've been finding kind of annoyingly hot, to the point that I lowered it a fair bit and always ease off on the input gain on my audio interface when I play it. As far as "getting the sound you want out" goes, I've found the double-tap humbucker in my Strat just perfectly dialled in - it feels totally effortless, and like I can just "be me" or whatever. With the Crunch Lab, it feels like I'm having to hold myself back more to keep it under control.
As tones goes, I think the main difference I was able to actually consistently notice was low-end response. This didn't really seem to be a function of output, but some just seemed to have a loose low-end (super distortion and tone zone, in particular), while others (PAF Pro, the Jake Bowen one) sounded tighter. So, for low tunings and/or really precise, riffy stuff, it's not surprising why all the djenters have signature pickups that really control the low end.
hey thanks so much for your comment! Yes, I have a very light touch, which is why I love active pickups and like we said high output. I appreciate your comments on the crunch lab. That's a pickup I've yet to try!
@@xanderraymondcharles My take: I love it at or around standard tuning on a 6 string, but it’s pretty bass-heavy on my 7 string. Anything below standard B on the 7 starts to get muddy, even with heavy strings and a 26.5” scale.
Thanks for putting your video together. That was definitely some high effort content lol
Where is Glenn when we need him!
I think you're totally right, the response of the pickup makes you play differently and that's something you can't edit in post :)
No one needs Glenn 😂😂😂😂
Hey Xander, thanks so much for doing this! Definitely agree with the point on response > tonal shift since that kinda also dictates whether I vibe with a pickup or not. Love the content and keep it up man!
I just realized the other day that you can push or click the timestamp and it will bring you to that time of the video
@@Durkhead Useful, right?
I’ve heard response referred to as “attack” in years past. Certainly agree, the attack matters big time! Great video!
hey thanks!
Always wondered what that meant
After doing my own pickup comparison, I know for tonal changes pickups don't matter as much going from humbucker to humbucker. But some pickups do really respond to how hard you pick where some don't respond as much. For an example, I have one of Fluff's old signature pickups, a Fastback Beardcomber, that thing really responds to how hard you pick. Love it.
Man anytime I hear fluff demo something it makes me turned off from buying it after hearing him. I feel like he's tone-deaf.
Good demo. It shows how little difference pickups make while playing high gain. I'm sure many cheap pickups would've sounded similar compared to all those you tested. Output is all that makes much difference. Lower output pickups while boosted will "feel" like a high output pickup
Doesn't necessarily need to be high gain to neutralize the differences. Just being plugged into an amp will change whatever the original DI signal to whatever the frequency response of the amplifier is.
They all sound great honestly. I have to pick the Duncan Distortion.
Thank you for using the same guitar. This is a true shoot out.
Damn, really appreciate the amount of effort that went into making this video. This was such a great shootout, man!
This turned out pretty much exactly as I predicted in my comment on your last video. Bravo for taking the time to put this together, awesome man.
I think the output is the only variable, pickup to pickup. In other words, how many time they wrap a wire around a magnet. Marketing is what makes us pick one from the other.
Definitely one of the best pickup comparison vids ive seen. And youre righr about the tonal shift and pickip response, I'd agree that ia definitely the most noticeable affect, and it cant be edited out. This is so much better than any Glenn Fricker pickup comparison, and you can actually play!😂
I put a pair of Seymour Duncan distortions in my prs because I simply didn’t like the sound of the stock pickups due to the lack of output, so I can definitely agree with your points from personal experience. Although the changes tonally were very little, I still felt as though the change was bigger due to output alone.
Nice seeing this much of a control. Seeing a lot of extra string on the tuning peg, I’m assuming the same strings were used? (Can’t remember if you said it). It would be nice seeing this repeated but with the active pickups (Fishman, EMG, Seymour Duncan etc). Especially to when you said the output didn’t really dictate the tonal shift, it would be really interesting to active thrown into the mix - maybe stand alone, or maybe passive vs active.
The invader and dimebucker had the most output out of the bunch. That's all i noticed. The output lvl.
Good video! It is all about feel and how the output of the guitar reacts with the next receiving / preamp stage. Output + overall eq curve characteristic. Then add the pickup's inherent tonal quality (related to the general response, but not always one in the same, and which some have more than others). And finally, yes setup, pole/screw height can also add to this. These 4 ingredients each slightly steer, but all together, they can take things in a completely different direction. Anyone who says passive pickups don't differ much has just not had a lot of experience playing with these specific variables.
Thx for making this video man ! I figured by myself 2 years ago that pickups don't matter with high-gain tones. I have a Squier Affinity Tele and a Jackson JS22, didn't like their tone, swapped respectively with a Bare Knuckle Brute Force and a Seymour Duncan Custom-Custom. Recorded my tracks again and.... no difference. Swapped again the SD CC with a Dimarzio D-Activator. Still no difference. Then, Glenn released his own test, and then you with an even better test ! Can't say about the feel (didn't pay attention at the time), but tonally I wasted my money !
You Tube's compression makes it hard for us to hear/feel the difference in attack/output. But I know what you mean.
this is the first objective video on the matter, thanks for showing the differences in output in the end.
i absolutely love the massive eye screws. Never have to worry about the buttons coming out HAHAH
Cool experiment my man! Wow, that Invader was sick!
Very fun video to watch from a Active Pickup user perspective! I definitely agree in the thought process of, sure the tonal shifts aren't dramatic as some people will claim, however its just how it responds, feels and resonates with you the guitarist for sure. I've been a massive Active pickup only user since I started playing guitar, but I just got my first set of nice passive pickups (Seymour Duncan Mark Holcomb Scourge & Scarlet pickups) and honestly, the response, feel, and clairty is exactly what feels massively different for me. Great video man, love your thoughts on this!
Sick riff!! I’m looking into changing the pickups on my guitar for the first time ever…this was extremely helpful!
100% agree with your verdict! The pickup response matters and it's in my opinion super overlooked. Switched from EMG 81 to Fishman Devin Townsend (which is more medium output). Both great sounding pickups, but a medium output PU suits better to the way I play.
Great video, and thank you for talking about response and feel. I look at pickup swaps as less about tone, and more about making the guitar play and feel the way I want, and that's something I feel has been left out of most of these pickup swap conversations cause everyone is focused on tone. I like the immediacy and output of Fishman Moderns and EMG 81/85, makes it feel like the guitar is working with me, making it easier to play. While I often hear from people that like low output passive pickups that they enjoy a guitar that "fights" them. Then the mid output guys will often talk about the dynamics and response to their pick attack.
I think having a guitar you enjoy the feel of is just as important as the tone of your rig. I'm sure engineers like Glenn get better performances out of musicians in the studio when the musician actually enjoys playing on the guitar they have versus someone who doesn't like the way their guitar responds to their playing.
Some tones reveal the pickup tonality more than others. If you're using a mid focused boost in front of your distortion, you'll be getting that general sound about the same, with most of the difference just being the amount of purr or grunt or whatever. I use a Klon modeled boost, which has a very wide smooth curve to it, and it leaves in a lot more lows and highs than a TS. On top of that I have the hogh shelf on it boosted and the gain very low. I can tell a pretty clear difference.
Your tone has that midrange focused warmer chug, like Killswitch etc, where the high end attack isn't emphasized. There's a big difference in the high frequencies between some pickups that just doesn't come through as much in that kind of tone, so it's really about what you're trying to do, rather than an objective "X is better" or whatever
I picked up the mirage set on a whim one time when I was trying to find a good pickup for a particularly dark guitar. And while I ended up moving it to a different ax later I was very impressed with it. It's only like 11k but has high output while maintaining superb clarity. Very underrated.
I figured there would be more of a difference in tone. Wonder if you would get similar results with other companies, Bare Knuckle, Fishman. Cool video and test, a lot of work swapping pups 8 times 😆
Maybe trying different Speakers? Then the sound would change, a lot. 😉
I've been saying this exact thing for years. The response and feel is way more important. Great video man!
still the best guitar channel out here btw, and the only channel so far that I have found to go this far and prove some thing. People will shoot out multiple instruments but they won't go out of their way to wire up multiple electronics in such a way that is undeniably identical. I love this
Yeah, Glen Fricker would never do such a thing.
If anything this video has taught me how I forgot how awesome dimarzios pickups sound !
Hey Ray did you see Glen Frickers vid about pickups? Appreciate your content brother. Keep on rockin.
Pickups matter. The EQ profile for each type of pickup makes a difference for sure. I’ve played many guitars in my life and at one point in time, Jackson and Schecter were using the Duncan JB as a bridge pickup in a lot of guitars. I would consciously avoid any guitar that had this pickup because I hated it. The mid-hump on the low end was too much and when you drop tuned, it was more noticeable. Great job putting in all that effort. Swapping 8 different bridge pickups is no short task.
I'd have to agree with your test here. Glenn did an amazing job proving that speakers really are the tonal center of your rig, but I always felt as though he ignored the fact that how hot a pickup is can shape how you set your EQ or even what speakers you use. Both of ya are excellent though, rock on man!
If you mention that demons name then you will summons the antichrist.
Duuuude those Dustie Waring signature pickups are FANTASTIC!!! So powerful and punchy!
Thank you so very much in taking your time and money in making this video for us all..... 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉😂😊😊
So, which one was most responsive? We can’t tell that part just from listening…
How do they compare in responsiveness? Thanks’
Awesome video!!!! Thank you for sharing!!!
Glenn Frickers head is exploding right now 😏🤣🤣🤣
Incredible video and been thinking about switching my humbuckers. Gotta admit Dimebucker sounded best to me.
First and foremost thank you for the level of proffesionalism and effort put into this video. Much appreciated. +1 subscriber.
The next comment has nothing to do with the content creator but guitar gear in general. One of things people say about modelers is that they react less to a pickup change then a real “amp and cabinet in the room” setup would. My take: they all sound very similar to me. I know they are not the same but I feel like the modeler piece of this is what makes them the same. I wonder if he was running this setup through a Mesa Dual Rec or a JCM800 if the differences would jump out a little more.
My specific thoughts:
-Mirage pickup seemed like the one that I liked the least
-Tone Zone sounds real thick - seems like a good solution for a guitar that has more High end bite (my les paul has more high’s then I’d like)
-Dimebucker SCREAMS on harmonics
-The others all sounded pretty good beefy and chunky.
Again thanks for the video. Gluck!
For me personally, when it comes to high gain and high output pickups, the bass response is the number one factor.
A Les Paul with it’s shorter scale length already produces a heavy low mid focused sound, so I tend to like pickups with a smaller low end for those, especially in lower tunings where the string gauges get big.
The Duncan Distortion and Dimarzio Mirage sounded best here in the LP, with more focused low ends.
The Super D and Utopia do sound awesome in 25.5” trem equipped guitars though, especially in D or E standard.
I have to say I agree. Not as obvious a tonal shift as last time, and the response is the most important. It does affect the way you sound because we all play things a bit differently, and the response is what causes that difference. So, some pickups will be better for some people than others because the response will work better with how they want to play.
Invader it's great 🔥
Yep, those definitely make the guitar louder. Thanks for the test!
You sold me on the tone zone
This totally blew the stereotype I had for DiMarzio vs Duncan out of the water. I usually always felt Duncan was brighter and more high end whereas DiMarzio had warmer tones across the board. Nope. The differences were so subtle. The invader and the paf pro were the most noticeable because they had the biggest gain difference from the rest.
Why would two brands sound different generally?
Both of them has like hundreds of differetn models that are bright or dark etc.
Actually EVERY brand tries to cover each area of the "tonal spectrum" from bright to dark.
Not that it actually matters much through distortion tho. xD
@@cederickforsberg5840 agreed that it doesn't matter much under high gain. But in general when you look at EQ charts provided by each brand, Duncan usually have a lot more high end shown where DiMarzio has them rolled off. Especially in bridge pick ups. So not having much knowledge, I figured DiMarzio stuff would generally be warmer tonally. So for me it was a nice learning process.
@@sb632 But those charts doesnt matter if play metal distortion xD
Cool video !! the feeling and respond really makes you play diferent
I use either a Dimarzio Super 3 Distortion or the Tone Zone in the bridge. For the neck I use the Dimarzio PAF or PAF Pro. The Seymour Duncan JB and 59 are a good combination in any guitar as well.
What do you match the Super 3 with?
You can use the paf or paf pro. I prefer the paf.
Thank you for putting the time and effort into this interesting experiment! Sounds like it matters to the player, not the audience or listener. Honestly, High gain, couldn’t pick a winner.🤘🏻
The ones where he's doing some extra doodling are clues about how good they are
Trying to pick a passive pickup for a superstrat I'm building. Was trying to pull a cover off a JB to match the aesthetic I want, but couldn't get it off. I'm an active guy through an through but want to make this one passive. I had a few ideas but this video put the duncan distortion on my radar. It sounded so good. Thanks for doing this! Playing mostly metalcore/deathcore its been hard to find anything other than bareknuckles I've liked and im not willing to spend bareknuckle money on this build.
That Dimebag sounds great 👍
it always does! It's a classic
After watching this video I agree with you that pickups matter from a players perspective in the feel and response. However, I believe that Glenn's original point was that they don't matter as in the perspective of production in the scope of a full mix the subtitles disappear. You are both right from both of your perspectives.
Tbh, yeah. The only reasons I'd replace pickups is to match the output of my other pickups, and if the stock pickups are muddy. To that point, I really liked the note separation the Mirage had
Those are all awesome pickups, even if a bit overpriced. I've purchased a couple pickups from GFS and for around $35/each, couldn't be happier. Wonder how they'd do against the ones in this shootout.
* GFS Crunchy rails & GFS Crunchy PAT
Wish there’s have been a couple Bareknuckle pickups in this, I use Bareknuckle but would like to see if I could have a better sounding one
There’s so many big and small variables when it comes to tone. I’m starting to think pickups really don’t matter that much.
I had an Invader in my RG7620 for many years. I never liked it. My favorite here was the PAF Pro. Lower output is more interesting to me these days.
Heard little to no difference across the board. I was listening with headphones as well 😅
Huh tough choice between tthe funk and loudness of the invader and the reposivness of the pro... But yeah great test! As I needed to see what different humbuckers do as I want to one day make a quad + humbucer guitar with little to no controller just raw power! Or what ever it would do... So yeah I could always mix them have the pro for where I play and the invaders for the rest.
It’s actually really interesting to hear you play without all the effects added. I never would have guess you’re really palm muting that much if at all. It goes to show how light touch can be to produce sound. Maybe those of us who go hard on our guitars aren’t using effects and are trying to make up for it a whole other way, lol. 🤔 😂
Thanks for such an insightful vid!
Love the Duncan distortion and invader.
It's like saying which hammer is the best one out of 8. They all do the same thing to the same standard when perhaps one will feel better in the hand, your hand!. For info I have a SD in the bridge and PAF pro in the neck. Interesting to hear nearly 0 difference between the two. Any difference can be adjusted out by EQ and string heights etc. Nice demo to confirm that I wont be changing them, no point at all
@@MichaelMonzonMusic Usually a single coil strat but for high gain I use a LP and the SD does a very good' brown sound' with my set up which can quickly become much heavier/crunchier with an SD-1 pedal, so yeah the SD pickup gives a lot of versatility, it is better suited with the guitar tone on 5 for the heavier music i find.
@@MichaelMonzonMusic Oh im not sure, the Dimarzio website will show what they're made from, i think they're ceramic magnets. They sound good to me.
Good demo, thanks.
Great work dude, in line with Glenn Fricker test, tonal shift not so much, however The feel and response is in my case what matters The most, to me I like Pickups with 15-16 kohms of resistance! Happy holidays \m/
I thought the Uropia pickup only came f spaced?
Thanks for this video Ray! I’m playing around with tweaking the bridge pickup height. Going from very close (3mm e/3,5mm E) to far away (4,5mm e/5mm E). The response is totally different, like you have a more large panel of expression when far away. Any impressions?
You should try out “Legendary Pickups” they can custom make your sound requirements.. and they are hand built..ask for Jason.
So as a guy with his 1st guitar to have Invaders in it stock, to today, favoring mostly lower output pickups more often then not... This was cool.🤘 I think it's all a recipe based on what amp, cab, guitar, and what sound you want to get. Although, I do think with the amount of gain that's on tap with more modern amps, we can use a "low" output pickup and usually gain some dynamics. As you mentioned, basically its a lot of feel; how hard do you pick, what kind wasof pick do you use, what string gauge etc...
great vidéo dude as always ! pickups matters a lot , but to me it's more like , ok i prefer use a sigle coil for cleans , i prefer use a hot and clear humbucker for rythm and double the tracks with a hot P90. It's just adding flavors to your mix
I dont play metal so there were some surprises for me, i lliked the duncan invader more than i should have and i was a little disappointed with the PAF Pro! The Utopia was my favorite.
I actually subscribed and shared this video..
I am a pickup builder and designer .. This video is geenus because not everyone actually knows what they want ... Most metle player's want is the hottest pup you can build .... And when I give it to them ... Lol they tell me that it is a piece of crap lol ... That just telling me that they don't really know what they want..... 😊🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I'm sure a lot of people already comment the same but lot of gain + plugin, I'm not surprised they will almost sound the same. Also you need to compare a cheap no name pickup to a branded pickup. The real question is not should I replace my JB for an Invader but will it make a difference if I put a good pickup in my guitar which has no name stock pickups. For me the answer is defintely yes.
If you play metal you will have lots of gain thats just how it goes. Be happy that you dont have to worry about your pickups much :) it's a liberating feelnig to just be happy with what you have. I rock out just as much on my Harley Bentons and Epiphones with stock pickups as I do with my high-end guitars with Duncans, Dimarzios and EMGs
Awesome video as always!
You need to compare only in a full valve rig to truly hear and feel the difference
If that’s true, does that further prove pickups don’t really matter? Especially in outdated equipment
@@xanderraymondcharles thats just a stupid response
I heard no difference.
Excellent video mate. Gotta ask, what strings are you running? Cheers.
Nice video man, that was a hell of an effort to put something like this together. What I have discovered is that.... I still absolutely hate The Tone Zone :D In general differences are miniscule. So yeah, the level of output matters - regardless of tone I prefer to have a high output pickup and dial the gain on the amp waaaaay back instead. With a heavy pick attack it will just sound crushing and tight as hell.
They all sound the same to me.
No Fishman’s?? Disappointed lol.
Even with my studio headphones on most of these pickups sounded way too similar 🤔
Going from actives to passives in a shootout is not worth it
sick video! great detail and info!
Shout out to homie who did the soldering!
Oh that utopia killed the duncans, espacially sh6 at the beginning.
Had my favorites, but you do you brother!
Can anyone link a vid on 3 set pickups? I'm curious to understand how they work and if something I would try?
I could tell a difference in output but the difference in tone was negligible. I'm surprised the Dimebucker was on the lower output side of the scale compared to the others.
I knew it was coming lol. Great video man.
I have been saying this forever, this is why Fishman is so hype right now. It's the way they feel when you play them. It's like an instantaneous response when you hit the string with the pick that isn't there with a passive most of the time. Response is everything with electronics. That extra millisecond matters. everybody has their own feel and that greatly changes your playing ability. when matt received his signature set, one of the comments that he made was that he has never been this on top of the beat and that other pups almost have a delayed reaction now that he has played Fishman. So I definitely agree with this video as far as the way a pup feels and response is more important than tone. It's you or Connection to the instrument. There are some people out there that can pick up damn near anything and not think twice about it and there are some people that are picky I need that little bit of extra whatever that is so the guitar will play for them. Think about it from this point of you, some guys like a sloppy trigger on a gun some guys like a stiff trigger. Everybody has their own technique and the equipment should fit that.
Just tweak the amp a tad and you have the same sound. No one will hear what pickup you use anyway on the stage or on in the studio. The biggest tone change comes from the cab and mic.
Good job. Wanna feel a difference try SD distortion vs Fishmans or EMGs.
Nice comparison man!
What's the tuning and strings? Sounds so tight.
Dimarzio is the most underrated pickup brand
hey man do you get a slight hum/buzz from your dimebucker pickup? i installed one in my Dean Dimebag Tribute guitar and ive gotta slight hum but ive looked all over for loose grounds and cant find one. wondering if the slight hum is normal? it doesnt happen with my other guitars using the same amp and cables.. im not the greatest at soldering but theyre deff solid joints i cant pull them off lol