How to simulate modern pick ups?

Tahoebrian5

Fractal Fanatic
Anyone have any ideas on how to make a vintage hot pup sound/feel more like a modern pup ? No matter what I do my guitar with vintageish pups just doesnt have the same crunchiness that modern pups seem to have.
 
The very short answer is:

1. increase pickup volume
2. shape the pickups' EQ to emphasize mids/high mids, and minimize bass that will cause high gain amps to flub out.
 
I would put a GEQ at the front of the chain and crank the Bass +6, mids just +1 if at all and the Highs +4-5ish.
That basically the method I used to get the PRS 85/15 pickups to go from classy blues rock to high gain metal core style.
 
I would put a GEQ at the front of the chain and crank the Bass +6, mids just +1 if at all and the Highs +4-5ish.
That basically the method I used to get the PRS 85/15 pickups to go from classy blues rock to high gain metal core style.
I disagree on the bass part, especially for metal core. You probably even want to lower the bass and compress its range dynamic range. For that particular style of music, you'd want to add the bass after the gain stage.
 
Anyone have any ideas on how to make a vintage hot pup sound/feel more like a modern pup ? No matter what I do my guitar with vintageish pups just doesnt have the same crunchiness that modern pups seem to have.
And it's never going to have those characteristics because your pickups probably have alnico magnets in them. You'll never achieve the tone that a ceramic magnet puts out. Simple as that.
 
I disagree on the bass part, especially for metal core. You probably even want to lower the bass and compress its range. For that particular style of music, you'd want to add the bass after the gain stage.

Nah I let the overdrive pedal clean it up a bit and it was fine.

this was my tone match version.
http://axechange.fractalaudio.com/detail.php?preset=5828

It lost something in the Tone match but the proper IR version is pretty much my perfect high gain tone. (it hides all my slop) :)
 
Don't forget the global amp gain setting in the global menu. Whatever your actual pickup output, since it has to be calibrated in the I/O menu, the axe-fx can't guess your actual output and you have to set the global gain to simulate a certain output. It's not the same as tweaking the input trim.

Tonematching pickups and guitars really doesn't change the way a pickup compresses the sound waves. So you can't simulate a pickup. But you can have an impact on the way the amp compresses the signal, with an EQ block in front of it. If your guitar lacks general characteristics, like growl, sizzle, crunch, thump, tightness, a well thought EQ will most likely fix it. So it can crunch more, but it won't crunch like another pickup crunches.
 
The ceramic pups just seem to have this crunchy sizzle that no amount of eq seems to capture. I wonder if the multi band compressor would help get closer. So what is the consensus? Compress the bass freq's?
 
The ceramic pups just seem to have this crunchy sizzle that no amount of eq seems to capture. I wonder if the multi band compressor would help get closer. So what is the consensus? Compress the bass freq's?
I'm not sure if there is a consensus. It depends on what your definition of a "modern voiced pickup" is.
For me personally, such a pickup is mid- to high gain, has tight basses, cutting upper mids and singing highs. Depending on the genre, I also like moderately compressed dynamic range so I can pick quicker and weaker but still get more or less consistent output (there are also several parameters in the AMP block to influence this). There is a great thread about dynamic range & pick attack: https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...ho-wants-more-dynamics-and-pick-attack.49252/. Note that the above describes my personal taste.
 
Half the fun of this box is dreaming something up and then figuring out how to make it happen, and learning something in the process.
 
I actually already have another guitar with modern pups but I keep one tuned different so just looking to see what can be done for more modern songs without having to change guitars. And more importantly understanding exactly how the signal is different between vintage and modern pups. It seems like it's more than just eq and level. I'm planning to play around with the MBC but it would be easier if I knew more about pups
 
You can add a high shelf, starting with Q around 3, gain max, around 4kHz, maybe you'll find a good spot to get some sizzle back, though it might not be what you're looking for.
That's an excellent approach. You can do some sweeps until you find your sweet spot.
 
I don't know if it worked for Brian, but I often rely on that little trick. Didn't have much luck with multicomps yet, maybe a pickup is too clean to be easily manipulated, or I just suck with those things..
 
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