Low Output Pickups

T

TomBisbano

Member
Figured I would share a recent experience in case other members are going through similar issues. For decades I have always gone with high output pickups and honestly never gave it much thought. I play mostly old school hard rock/metal. Now I have posted in the past about issues with getting tones to sit in a mix and just a general inability to get a good sound. I was using a guitar with a PRS vintage bass and HFS pickup set. So after much research I figured that I would give a low output set a try. I switched over to a set of Dimarzio Air Classics and the results have left me amazed. So many presets that I would just pass over now sound fantastic. I even tried a a quick little 30 second demo and things just fit the way they should in the mix. Not sure if others are going through this type of thing but a set of low output pickups was a total game-changer for me. I think that the high output pickups just compressed the signal too much while the Air Classic are just the opposite.
 
I had a guy tell me that a long time ago, he was right! A good set of PAF style pups and let the amp do the rest, you really get to hear more of the guitar in the tone. Played through a set of Thornbuckers on a buddies guitar and they sound amazing.
 
I have PAF style pickups in 3 of my main guitars (Les Paul, PRS McCarty and STR) as well as slightly boosted PAF's in my PRS SC245 and couldn't agree more. They're not perfect for everything but they certainly make a guitar sound like a guitar ;)
 
I think my highest output pickups on any of my main guitars are all under 9k.. Also I put an Air Classic in the bridge of 1 of my H/S/S early 90's Japanese Strats and love it.

Eric
 
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That's all I use, everything seems so much clearer and articulate.... I LOVE Antiquities. I have a 36th Anniversary in a Strat and it's killer. I also had the Dimarzio EJ Customs and those were AWESOME!!!
 
Yeah!
I'm also a low output fan.
Had a recent experience (within the past year): I have had this Gibson V since 1986 great sounding guitar!
But decided to do something different with it since my taste have also changed over the years, its the one guitar of mine never did anything to it.
Ended up putting in a set of Seth Lovers, I had in another guitar but swapped out the Alnico 2 magnets for Alnico 3 (made them brighter) as for the DC residence forget off hand but one was in the low 8k area and the other high 7k.

What came out of the V was "Gibson Dirty Fingers" which are somewhere in the 16k area (30 plus years with that guitar and never bothered to look:p) anyway!
Yeah expected a big change and got it as far as tone (and more to my liking) but the sustain on the guitar was notably improved. Keep in mind never had complaints before. But the "Dirty Fingers" have some rather powerful ceramic magnets in them that were killing the sustain.

John
 
I play all low wind. It gives me way more expression. Caveat I don't play metal or anything heavy.

The Fractal is ideal for low wind pickups. Ultra clean analog signal path and many ways to gain structure presets.
 
Whatever desires one may have in a craving for more gain, there are many other more versatile and interesting places to get it than the pickups. IME high output pickups paint you into a corner: Many amps don't work well with them, and if all you can do is slam the input: compressed high gain shred is about all I could get them to do. I can get close enough to that sort of thing well enough by other methods. I fully understand that for the Metal Cognoscenti, there's undoubtedly signature tones that can only be forged by Blackouts into an Engl or the like. In the words of Oscar Wilde "For those that like that sort of thing. Its the sort of thing they like."

With low or medium gain pickups there is a wide palette of distortion and saturation colors to be crafted from multiple points of amp and pedal gain staging to get all manner of tones from all manner of amps.
 
I mostly like lower output pickup myself...however the Dimarz pick ups in the ernie ball guitar I am using is "high output" version that works really well and has much details..
 
6L6C said:
Yeah!
I'm also a low output fan.
Had a recent experience (within the past year): I have had this Gibson V since 1986 great sounding guitar!
But decided to do something different with it since my taste have also changed over the years, its the one guitar of mine never did anything to it.
Ended up putting in a set of Seth Lovers, I had in another guitar but swapped out the Alnico 2 magnets for Alnico 3 (made them brighter) as for the DC residence forget off hand but one was in the low 8k area and the other high 7k.

What came out of the V was "Gibson Dirty Fingers" which are somewhere in the 16k area (30 plus years with that guitar and never bothered to look:p) anyway!
Yeah expected a big change and got it as far as tone (and more to my liking) but the sustain on the guitar was notably improved. Keep in mind never had complaints before. But the "Dirty Fingers" have some rather powerful ceramic magnets in them that were killing the sustain.

John
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If you ever want to sell those Dirty Fingers, let me know. I love those.
 
I used to have an HFS pickup in my PRS. I hated it. It pushed he amp but was too mushy. I replaced it and the neck pup with a pair of EMGs and have been over the moon in love with the guitar ever since.

However, it can’t do everything, and I have another guitar with a passive, relatively low output H/S/H config that I love just as much. It is expressive, articulate, and versatile, and sounds incredible when high gain, but in a completely different way than the EMGs.

High output pickups like EMGs are great for razor sharp chugging and huge tight clear high gain tones. Mid-low output passives are for expression, transparency, and interesting gain textures. Both are great but very different.
 
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