Has Axe-FX has made pickup change unnecessary?

GazzaBloom

Inspired
Since owning my Axe-FX II XL+, with it's significant ability to adjust EQ in so many places, amp EQ, amp speaker page, cab settings, EQ blocks, effects EQ settings...I'm beginning to think that there is little to be gained from changing pickups, as tone can be tweaked so extensively. Where previously I was considering swapping pickups out on my Strat, I now can tweak the tone so comprehensively that I reckon I can cover all of the slight tonal variations between pickups.
 
Good/great PUPs are still necessary IMO, as is a guitars construction (woods, hardware, etc). I could tweak all day with certain pickups and still not get close to the earvana I get with Jim Wagner's Godwood and Crossroads PUPs. Same goes for a great set of Kinmans in a Strat for that perfect single coil twang and shimmer.
 
Pickups will always be important- the type of magnet, the type of wire, the amount of winds, etc etc etc. It all adds up.
 
Because that's how I make my living, I have to say no. As Chris put it, much more than just EQ. Lots of characteristics that aren't even considered.
You might be able to EQ the heck out of something, but you can't capture the harmonic content and complexity, microphonic characteristic, natural feedback, etc.
 
Pickups are a very essential part of the sound of your guitar. It's not just EQ. This coming from the original match EQ geek king of this forum. :lol

You are onto something though. I think different amps and cabs work better with certain pickups and now that there are so many options you can simply find an amp or IR that fits your pickups rather than doing it the other way around which is the way people have done it in the past.

So sure you can also use EQ to compensate for a bad set of pickups but it's most likely not going to be as good as a better set of pickups.
 
With creative use of tone match you can :)
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Austin

I've done it. Even when I worked with Def Leppard we tone matched Piezo sounds to get the intro for Foolin and Hysteria right. As well as creative use of EQ to get guitar tones right depending on the record/song.

The response of a single coil and a humbucker are completely different. Especially with use of the volume knob etc. That was my reference in terms of making the sounds different. IE adding more gain to an amp doesn't compensate for a weaker output pickup. Or scooping the hell out of the mids and adding more high end to make a humbucker sound like a single coil. There's way more to it than that.
 
I have 5 guitars all with different pickups one of them with an active Het set and they all have their own voice! Yeah you can make a low output pickup sound like a crazy high output pickup but each pickup has its own nuances even pickups of the same brand and model though to lesser extent. I just ordered a set of Dimarzio titans for one of my ibanez`s :)
 
On my case it has increased the GAS for pickups, because it captures the small nuances of the pickups like no other modeler can.

Of course, a parametric EQ at the beginning of the chain can do wonders, but it will not bring you the distinctive flavor of certain sets of pickups.
 
I have 3 guitars with very different pickups. I cannot simply swap them and get the tone I desire out of a patch. But I can easily make all three of them sound good, even the ones that are kinda cheap. But that's the same results I get through a tube amp, so I'd say no, but maybe yes.


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I notice differences in pickup settings and tone knobs way more with AxeFX than in the crappy amps I used before (never had any real-deal old amps). It actually made me buy new pickups and rewire the guitar. One problem I do have though is I forget to keep track of pickup positions and blend/tone positions when I am making sounds, and I'm not very methodical to reproduce it. I've got 2 push-pull switches for single/humbucker mode on bridge and neck as part of a 3-pickup strat system, and with all those permutations I have a tough time keeping it straight. I do remember bridge+neck humbucker is the go-to Led Zeppelin rockin' sound, and bridge+neck single coil gives a nice country twang tele sound, and then there a million shades of gray where I often get lost. I guess not a bad problem to have!

In short, I don't see any modeler getting rid of that. But I have contemplated a simpler switching system to pick my few favorite settings and wire them up on a 5 or 7-position lever instead of all the push/pull + blend twist + tone twist + pickup lever stuff that makes my head spin.
 
I absolutely love all the different tones i can get with different pickups into the Axe. My Duncans in my Tele are a whole different world from the Dimarzio JP at in my PRS. Compared to that, my mid 90s Talman with Ibz Super 58s are completely different from either one of those.

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I totally concur. My Fred in the bridge can seem like a nuisance, bit they are really good at some things and I had thought Cliff could figure out a way to minimize the disconnect encountered when I use other's presets. But it just ain't in the cards. The response of the amp models is distinct IN RESPONSE TO the pickups. And for what Fred's are good for, I believe they are really good. I haven't heard of another PU that was a more versatile option that includes the Fred-like upper harmonic humbucker coloration. I did have them wired series/parallel, but this cools the gain slightly without really bringing forth the clarity of say the single coils played by the dear departed Rory Gallagher. Danny Gatton, or Roy Buchanan. (I'm not partial to Satriani's tone. Its like, a very fun thing to fool around with, as are SO MANY Different tones of my guitar player influences. Gary Moore is hard to duplicate. Imagine an Axe Fx preset change, with the same guitar, going from Moore to Gallagher.)

Since I play a variety of styles, classic/prog rock, blues, some metal, some jazz, all with a BC Rich Bitch... I've wanted to make a thread for bridge pickup recommendations because its gotten difficult lately with only one nice guitar. I am in a predicament because I love/hate my pickups. Tone matching? I haven't figured this out; or have not understood how this could work. Just think of it, a guitar with three sets of three pickups, in interior-to-body cartridges, lazy-susan'd up under the strings during a set. Yeah, like thst will happen.. I simply need to own more guitars. (Really honey, its a proven fact..) Are pickups less compensatable than wood and construction?
 
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Not at all (answer to the OP).
It's amazing how the Axe will react to different instrument/pickup combo. I have several guitars, all customized by myself, with different brands and types of pickups (mostly PAF-styled humbuckers), and very diverse switching variations (coiltaps, blowerswitchs, out of phase, etc) and they all shine defined and different.


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on the contrary, ive found the the way the axe responds to my 3 different guitars are so wildly different it makes me want to try out different pickups and configurations. the difference is especially noticeable when i go from my LTD/BM with buckers to my single coil tele thinline, its one of my favorite aspects of the axe
 
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