Members Beckman Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I just listened to a bunch of pickups on SD's website. I assume the guitars aer all the same, and the amps settings are all the same. I could not tell the difference between any of them. Seth Lover, '59, Jazz, AP II, George Lynch. Honestly, if they were different, it was slight. Is it my PC? I have an Epi classic, and I am toying with getting new pups, but if they won't make much differnce, then why bother. I know hot pups are louder and break up sooner (), but other than that, ???. I was not necessarily looking to get SD's, but they have a good way to compare. Now, I could definitely hear the difference with my AM strat and MIM strat I sold. It was like night and day. MIM pups weren't too different when flipping the toggle. The AM, I actually 5 got different tones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members surfcat Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I can't tell much difference on that site either. They say you have to have good speakers-mine are pretty good, but I find it pretty useless. I think a lot of the difference in pickups has to be felt by playing the guitar. I did notice a big difference when I switched my American Standard pickups for Texas Specials, but if that were on a website, would I be able to hear it? I doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members voneville Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I've noticed that about the Seymour Duncan site too. They're descriptions are pretty accurate though, for the most part they do what they say they will do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I haven't listened to the clips lately, but I can assure you that you'd be able to immediately hear the difference between the Jazz and the Alnico II in the neck position. Unless maybe you are playing through a cranked and boosted Dual Rec or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SirJackdeFuzz Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I just listened to a bunch of pickups on SD's website. I assume the guitars aer all the same, and the amps settings are all the same. I could not tell the difference between any of them. Seth Lover, '59, Jazz, AP II, George Lynch. Honestly, if they were different, it was slight. Is it my PC? I have an Epi classic, and I am toying with getting new pups, but if they won't make much differnce, then why bother. I know hot pups are louder and break up sooner ( ), but other than that, ???. I was not necessarily looking to get SD's, but they have a good way to compare. Now, I could definitely hear the difference with my AM strat and MIM strat I sold. It was like night and day. MIM pups weren't too different when flipping the toggle. The AM, I actually 5 got different tones. Go here, for a start : http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/ Become a member, and these good folk will also help you out ! I was kinda in the same boat as you, when i first tried to listen to the clips. But now i can DEFF hear the subltle little differances ! And yes, the amp settings are all the same for all the pick ups ! Only one strat was used, and the same Tele, Les Paul, for all the pick up's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SirJackdeFuzz Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 Do a little test !Listen to the clean bridge tote of the Pearly Gates, and then immediatley after that, the clean bridge tone of the Black Out.You will deff hear a prominant tonal diff ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SirJackdeFuzz Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I have an Epi classic, and I am toying with getting new pups, but if they won't make much differnce, then why bother. I know hot pups are louder and break up sooner ( ), but other than that, ???. I was not necessarily looking to get SD's, but they have a good way to compare. Now, I could definitely hear the difference with my AM strat and MIM strat I sold. It was like night and day. MIM pups weren't too different when flipping the toggle. The AM, I actually 5 got different tones. Could very well be ! What speaker is connected to your comp ? I have a sterao out from my lap yop to a very good Hi-Fi with grear amp and speaker. IF you have little $50.00 desk-top comp speakers, that might be a reason why you can not tell any diff's My lap-top is connected to the BIG speakers n Hi-Fi, not the little silver ones. Gettign back to your Epi LP . . . believ me there IS a big diff . . . other wise after market Co's like Lace, Duncan, *SD-Pick up's, DiMarzio and TV Jones would never made any money !!!! Let's start at the beginning : * What do you not like about your current Epi pick up s? * What do you want from the new after market pick up's ? * What amp do you use - more important question than you might think !!! * What type of music genres do you play the most ? * http://www.sdpickups.com/products.shtml - SD Pick Up's / Stephens Design pick Up's http://www.tvjones.com/home/home.html - TV Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SirJackdeFuzz Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I haven't listened to the clips lately, but I can assure you that you'd be able to immediately hear the difference between the Jazz and the Alnico II in the neck position. Unless maybe you are playing through a cranked and boosted Dual Rec or something. Ooooo, such true words ! All 'our' guitars sound the exatly the same, trough my cousin's fully cranked 5150 combo (i.e. gain max'ed) Gibson SG w Duncan A2P's ZW Epi LP with EMG HZ's - now waiting for TV Jones units Ibanez GAX w stock pu's Ibanez RG 121 Prestige Ibanes MMM1 Baritone w DiMarzio Evo's Soon it will have some classy TV Jones Power Tron's, alla Malcolm Young Once you crank the gain past a certain point, the unique voicing of any pick up goes out the window ! And the amps own voicing complettely over powers the pick up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 Don't get me wrong... there is nothing wrong with cranked and boosted Dual Recs, but the differences in relatively similar pickups are going to be minimized through a cranked gainy Mesa vs a clean Fender or a slightly crunchy Marshall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I can't tell much difference on that site either. They say you have to have good speakers-mine are pretty good, but I find it pretty useless. I think a lot of the difference in pickups has to be felt by playing the guitar. I did notice a big difference when I switched my American Standard pickups for Texas Specials, but if that were on a website, would I be able to hear it? I doubt it.I agree about having decent audio gear. Makes a big difference. I also agree about the limitations of low quality recorded MP3s for comparing tone. For example, on the SD site I can't tell any difference between the SSL-1 and APS-1 Strat sets. I can tell a difference between the SJAG-1 and SJAG-2 Jaguar sets though. The latter sound noticeably more muddy to my ear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Doctor Morbius Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 Don't get me wrong... there is nothing wrong with cranked and boosted Dual Recs, but the differences in relatively similar pickups are going to be minimized through a cranked gainy Mesa vs a clean Fender or a slightly crunchy Marshall.The highest MP3s I will use to distinguish differences are OD/Ovedrive and that's only when I can't tell any or much difference on the Cleans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members twotimingpete Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 pickups in the same tonal ballpark can be hard to tell apart... that's why I think it's silly to be super anal about your pickup choices. and I noticed that about the SD website too -- all the sound clips sound the same. I seriously could not tell a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blingdogg Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 Same with me. I can barely tell much of a difference between the SD pickups on that site unless they have drastically different specs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BydoEmpire Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 Definitely use the EQ chart on the comparison page before making a selection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ArKay Posted May 24, 2009 Members Share Posted May 24, 2009 I can hear subtle differences through my $30 headphones. Simply download those mp3s and play them one after another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nuke_diver Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 I've had similar problems listening to clips of the Eminence site for speakers. As well as the clips I did before and after I swapped out the SD on my tele for P90s. The P90 I like a lot better but recorded there isn't quite as much difference as I heard live. I think speaker/recording quality can play more tricks than your ears can Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SirJackdeFuzz Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 pickups in the same tonal ballpark can be hard to tell apart... that's why I think it's silly to be super anal about your pickup choices. and I noticed that about the SD website too -- all the sound clips sound the same. I seriously could not tell a difference. Man, you must go and read over at the Duncan site how those tone-obsessed guys can go "into" their tone ! OK, granted, alot of them play clean, or very slightly OD tones. They do regulat pick up magnet swap's too - and i have to admit, a Duncan JB w A2 magnets is a thing of beuty !!! And i HATE the stock JB tone for my music ! http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=3 http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=163413&highlight=JB+a2+magnet - JB w A2 magnet http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=165766&highlight=JB+a2+magnet - JB w A8 magnet There is a wealth of wisdom in there !!! Sometimes it is the "smaller" things that gives us, our unique tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members stormin1155 Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 Perhaps the site is intended to simulate what an average audiance will hear as a differance between different pickups. ....pretty much none. Well, that's probably not entirely true. I'm sure a lot of ordinary (non guitar players) people could tell the difference between the tone of a $99 "Gibson" Maestro and a real Gibson in an A/B test, but most people that go to listen to live music really don't care. They just want to hear good music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members HELSTRUME Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 I have really nice full range comp speakers, and can tell the diff. But not a huge diff. Its probably the way they are recorded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members aliensporebomb Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 It took me 30 years of playing to discover the MAGIC in pickup tones iscoming from LOW gain pickups, not high gain pickups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WBigsby Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 It took me 30 years of playing to discover the MAGIC in pickup tones iscoming from LOW gain pickups, not high gain pickups. hear hear! I agree - APB, what have you had the best luck with out of the lower gain range? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MightyThor Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 It's not you. I have a few of the more famous SD humbucker pickups and some GFS pickups. I did a recording of all my guitars and it is very hard for me to tell the difference. The casual listener doesn't have a clue. My clips were fairly high gain so I know subtleties go out the window. I think the manufacturers are brilliant marketeers. IMHO there are maybe 3-4 different types of humbuckers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dimmypage Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 It's not you. I have a few of the more famous SD humbucker pickups and some GFS pickups. I did a recording of all my guitars and it is very hard for me to tell the difference. The casual listener doesn't have a clue. My clips were fairly high gain so I know subtleties go out the window. I think the manufacturers are brilliant marketeers. IMHO there are maybe 3-4 different types of humbuckers. Theres not much difference between ths GFS crunchy PATs and my Duncan 59s Same with my DiMarzzio SDs and X2ns:eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cratz2 Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 Theres not much difference between ths GFS crunchy PATs and my Duncan 59s Wow... I put a Crunchy PAF (when they were called Crunchy PAFs) in the bridge position of a Jackson Dinky Professional and I've had two Duncan 59s, both in neck position... Never compared them directly, but my general impression was that they were pretty different. I would have thought that the Fat PAF (which I have in both positions of an EPI LP) would be more similar to the 59 than the Crunchy PAF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dimmypage Posted May 25, 2009 Members Share Posted May 25, 2009 Wow... I put a Crunchy PAF (when they were called Crunchy PAFs) in the bridge position of a Jackson Dinky Professional and I've had two Duncan 59s, both in neck position... Never compared them directly, but my general impression was that they were pretty different. I would have thought that the Fat PAF (which I have in both positions of an EPI LP) would be more similar to the 59 than the Crunchy PAF. Mine are in Hamer SATFs. The GFS seem to be a tad higher output but not tonaly much different. Both are in bridge positions:confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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