Is there a pickup that helps the Axe FX II be most versatile?

How it works? When you flip this switch you have the direct sound of bridge pickup bypassing all controls. This is very convenient for me because I'm not very confident with 5 position selectors, this switch leads me quickly to bridge pickup no matter what selector or pots position I had previously, an instant game changer! The sound of direct bridge pickup is a tad brighter than traditional bridge position because the pickup don't see the pots load (the pots, even at 10 value puts a load in the guitar circuit that smooths and moves slighty to the low side the natural resonance peak of the pickup).This switch can be wired in a push-pull pot if you don't want to drill holes. Plus: If you put volume pot to zero value you have a nice kill switch.

I have had guitar techs compliment my guitar sound because of lack of tone pot. You make me wonder if I have a brighter sound than most Fred users because of this.

Anyway, thank you for your fascinating descriptions.
 
Yes, I have 3 guitars with one volume pot alone and the sound is halfway between direct pickup sound and traditional wiring sound (volume+tone pot).

Some consider direct pickup sounding as very bright-Ice pick, but this is personal taste, some say the same about Duncan JBs or V30s. I like it because it gives me more range on the bright side, anyway there's always the tone amp controls for tame things to the sweet spot...it depends entirely of the particular guitar and what you want to do with her.

You can consider a pot as a low pass filter (even at 10), the lower value in Ohms the stronger this filter is.
Think in a traditional wiring strato: single coils and alder/maple are bright so Leo put 250 KOhm pots.
Gibby guitars have 500 KOhm pots because humbuckers and mahogany makes things darker, less compensation needed.
EMGs are active (preamp built in) so very little attenuation is needed cos the preamp take care of this: 1 MOhm

This are the historical choices but there's no law written in stone, this is Rock my friend, no rules!

When a new lady comes home I consider what she is telling me and what demands to fill her full potential, sometimes demands a diferent pickup, sometimes other value pot, other string gauge, lower half-step tuning...this depends entirely of the particular guitar (woods and construction).


For give you a graphic idea here you have a graph of the response curve of a single coil (6Kohm res, 3H ind), this coil is not attached to a guitar so the response once installed may vary a little by the woods that acts as a filter, but this can give you a general idea of the pots infuence:
PoteTono.png

The most prominent line that climbs to the top (blue) is direct pickup sounding (no volume/tone pots), this is the true/nude response of the pickup. Second on top is the light blue line: volume 250 KOhm pot, no tone. The following lines are volume 250KOhm+different values for the tone pot: Red 1 MOhm, blue 500 KOhms, green 250 KOhms.

This is a single-coil graph, the difference is that humbuckers have the resonance peak slighly towards the low side and generally less pronounced, but the way that the response curve is changed with the tone control is the same . Because of this remove one or both pots works best with humbuckers, the natural curve is flatter and bassy with not so strident results.
 
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I would say get a hot humbucker bridge pickup at least 12k output or so.
"12k" refers to the DC resistance of a pickup's coil(s) not its output level. DC resistance is only valuable for determining if a pickup is wired correctly. This value is not an indicator of out out level or tone. There are many other variables like wire gauge, magnet type and coil symmetry/asymmetry that indicate a pickup's character.
 
Bareknuckle juggsssssss, they capture the best qualities of an alnico v and ceramic magnet in one dynamic and fat bridge pup
+1. They're really fat though. You'll probably want to dial out some low mids (like I do with mine).

Lace's more traditional sets are great for the AxeFx, very wide canvas to sculpt with.

As the old saying goes, you can't EQ what isn't there.
 
This is a single-coil graph, the difference is that humbuckers have the resonance peak slighly towards the low side and generally less pronounced, but the way that the response curve is changed with the tone control is the same . Because of this remove one or both pots works best with humbuckers, the natural curve is flatter and bassy with not so strident results.

Awesomely helpful, thanks. (I had to look up the word "strident" = harsh, shrill, irritating, unpleasant.) Yes, that indeed explains my whole issue in a nutshell. Since I have humbuckers as you say the effect is sweeter.

But this leads me to believe I should invest in Cab Lab and work out some way to naturally sculpt this range. As you say, it gives more material to sculpt and gain nuances, but probably IR's will be a little wilder on average (since the source speakers in many cases will not tame the enhanced peaks).

I'm not great at adjusting EQ on my guitar sound; probably again for the same reason - its probably a little tougher to avoid creating "artifacts of unnaturalness" (maybe even more by boosting than by cutting?) in those ranges where the EQ bands are widest (like1K and above)

(Lol, I just spent 15 or 20 minutes looking for that comic illustration with the 7 dwarves of EQ (7 bad system dwarves...) - such a helpful little image. You know, tubby, boxy, shleppy, snugly, and so forth? ARRGGH! Somebody please pay for a proper Peoples search engine technology

Found in on the Axe Fx Wiki - got the name, found the original source: http://www.rationalacoustics.com/about/the-7-system-dwarves/.
and original image: http://www.rationalacoustics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/7SoundDwarves-Tshirt-art-w-cpyrte1.jpg)
 
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"12k" refers to the DC resistance of a pickup's coil(s) not its output level. DC resistance is only valuable for determining if a pickup is wired correctly. This value is not an indicator of out out level or tone. There are many other variables like wire gauge, magnet type and coil symmetry/asymmetry that indicate a pickup's character.

This is correct. Ohms is not a good determination of output. You want output? Look at millivolts.

It's very easy to have a 10 or 11k pickup with less output than, say, a 9k pickup. To stuff 10 or 11k on a humbucker bobbin, you need to use 43awg wire. Which means less turns of wire, vs a 42awg coil of 9k. For 12k 43awg, you're looking at about 6000 turns per coil. For 9k 42awg, you're also looking at about 6000 turns. Output difference will be virtually unnoticeable. 10k 43awg... about 5000 turns... so less output than 9k 42awg.
Couple that with the magnetic field strenght, and physical size of the coil, and you get your output.
 
This is correct. Ohms is not a good determination of output. You want output? Look at millivolts.

It's very easy to have a 10 or 11k pickup with less output than, say, a 9k pickup. To stuff 10 or 11k on a humbucker bobbin, you need to use 43awg wire. Which means less turns of wire, vs a 42awg coil of 9k. For 12k 43awg, you're looking at about 6000 turns per coil. For 9k 42awg, you're also looking at about 6000 turns. Output difference will be virtually unnoticeable. 10k 43awg... about 5000 turns... so less output than 9k 42awg.
Couple that with the magnetic field strenght, and physical size of the coil, and you get your output.

All things being equal, higher resistance=higher output. As you have illustrated of course, there are many other variables that can affect output, one being wire gauge. And you didn't even get into magnet type!
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Austin
 
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