I think the Axe-FX...

M

Matt_B

Inspired
...is starting to change the way I think about pickups for my guitars.

I've been playing my Les Paul for the past week and through the Axe-FX, I love how it sounds. I put a set of Dimarzio 36th Anniversary PAFs (bridge and regular) in it about 6 months ago and I finally have the classic Les Paul sound I've been after for years. What makes these pickups work for me is they sound great clean and dirty.

My other guitars (excluding my Strat and Brian May) all have Dimarzio Tone Zones in the bridge which I've been using since '91. For a rock/metal sound, they are amazing with distortion - fat and rich - but not so good clean (assuming they're not split and combined with a single coil).

Anyway, because the Axe-FX gives me so much control over my sound (various combinations of different drives, amps, cabs, filters and EQs) I can use a guitar with PAFs and get a wide variety of sounds, much greater than those with the Tone Zones. The incredible dynamic range of the Axe-FX really lets the sensitivity of the PAFs come through especially when compared to the Tone Zones. Being able to add pre-distortion EQ and gain (filter, parametric EQ, graphic EQ and drive block) lets me boost the perceived output from PAFs to compete with the Tone Zones.

My rig before the Axe-FX was based upon ADA MP-1s and even though I could have done some of the same things with that rig (that I can do now with the Axe-FX), it would have been much more complicated and time consuming to do. Now I can just turn the wheel, hit a few buttons and be done with it.

Anyway, the Axe-FX has me thinking that lower output, smoother sounding and more dynamic pickups might be the way I want to go. At this point, I'm going to order another set of PAFs for one of my "rock/metal" guitars and see what happens.
 
Thanks for posting. That is one thing I really like about the axe is all my guitars sound like them selves which has not always been the case in the past. The axe fx has really put a damper on my gear lust for amps. Don't get me wrong I still love amps and would love to have a bunch but I have a bunch in the AXE.

I've never tried Dimarzios before. I have some old Duncan's I put in my Les Paul in the late 70's earl 80's that seem to work well for me but I a curious about others like Tom Holmes, Dimarzio's, Lollars, etc.

Maybe Cliff will turn his talent to pickups some day. BUT NOT UNTIL AFTER HE GETS THE FOOT CONTROLLER OUT!!!
 
Great post - I totally agree with the OP.
I have always preferred PAF style HB to modern HiGain HB - maybe becaurse of the styles I play in - but also becaurse I find the dynamics much more appealing on a PAF especially on clean tones but also on dirty tones.
Also if you listen back to the classic rock albums the tones are not as distorted as most people instinctively think when trying to cop those tones, and if one is going for heavier tones they can be achieved by adding pedals, EQ and filters. With the AxeFx we have so many ways of doing this that my head is spinning.
My '68 Les Paul Custom has a set of Tom Holmes in it and my G&L Bluesboy came with a SD Seth Lover that works really well in the neck position on that guitar.
 
Matt_B said:
Anyway, the Axe-FX has me thinking that lower output, smoother sounding and more dynamic pickups might be the way I want to go. At this point, I'm going to order another set of PAFs for one of my "rock/metal" guitars and see what happens.
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I always went for high-output humbuckers (EMGs and Duncan JBs) but after I bought a Les Paul and it sounds fantastic, I am about to change all those pickups to PAFs. They sound so much heavier. And the Axe-Fx is very very responsive to the original guitar and pickup-sound. This is something I never experienced with modellers of "the other brand" where every guitar sounds the same.
 
I've never paid much attention to my tone knob, but the axe fx is real picky about where i set it.
the uber settting with my tone knob rolled down sounds pretty much just like my old uber tone wise, just doesnt have that punch in the nuts my uber had...but i am using a small 25 (50 stereo) watt ss power amp.
 
Just to be clear, what I'm getting is really about the brand of pickups , type of guitar, the amount of gain or styles of music you prefer - it's more about the philosophy of shaping tone.

When you have one amp and one cab, you're only going to get so much variety from it. As the saying goes, "It is what it is."

When choosing pickups, one of the criteria we often use is how they interact with our amplification solution.

With advent of the Axe-FX, shaping your pre-distortion tone and output is so much easier to do assuming that you're willing to learn how to do it and spend the time doing it. While this "tone-shaping" approach could be done with the previous generation of modelers, it could not be done as well.
 
Zer0th said:
An alternative might be to simply lower your pickups.
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No, that's not really the same thing. While lowering a pickup might improve dynamics (to a point) and lower its output, it won't really change its tonal characteristics. If a pickup has a big midrange bump, lowering it will decrease its output overall so the EQ curve will remain the same.

ETA - Also, some Dimarzio humbuckers use their "Air" technology (a gap between the coils and the magnets) that allows you to have the pickup close to the strings (for increased output) without damping the strings and affecting dynamics.
 
This is one of the first things I noticed with the Axe-FX. Each guitar had it's own personality.

And that was both a good thing and a bad thing (crap in, crap out...)
 
electronpirate said:
This is one of the first things I noticed with the Axe-FX. Each guitar had it's own personality.
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While I agree with that, what I'm getting at is if you choose to use pickups with a more neutral personality, you can use the Axe-FX to shape your tone even more.
 
High-output pickups are definitely less of an issue with the Axe. With a traditional setup if you want to hit the amp hard you needed high output pickups or a booster pedal; with the Axe you can boost the input level in a number of ways without adding noise, so the output becomes less important than the tonal character. And of course, you can do a lot to change that, too. It's an incredibly flexible tool that can work like traditional gear, but doesn't have to.

One thing I find myself paying a lot of attention to is dynamics - for instance, single coils have a snap and twang to them, while humbuckers have a rounder attack - and the Axe can really make these nuances come through clearly, if you want them to.
 
chase said:
High-output pickups are definitely less of an issue with the Axe. With a traditional setup if you want to hit the amp hard you needed high output pickups or a booster pedal; with the Axe you can boost the input level in a number of ways without adding noise, so the output becomes less important than the tonal character. And of course, you can do a lot to change that, too. It's an incredibly flexible tool that can work like traditional gear, but doesn't have to.

One thing I find myself paying a lot of attention to is dynamics - for instance, single coils have a snap and twang to them, while humbuckers have a rounder attack - and the Axe can really make these nuances come through clearly, if you want them to.
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Bingo, that's precisely what I'm getting at.

I suppose I could take my theory even further and test it with some EMGs but I have a thing about not wanting batteries in my guitars.
 
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