Compressed Single Coil

[Wizard of Wailing]

      I've got a build on order, and yet I'm already planning my next one.  Warmoth is very addictive.  Anyway, I'm looking for single coils that sound unique and compressed.  I'm thinking of EMG SAs or Lace Sensors.  Am I on the right track with these, and does anyone have some recommendations? 

 

[swarfrat]

I'm not sure exactly what you mean by pickups sounding compressed. But if you decide you want EMG SA's I can make you a killer deal on a set.

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

    I always like the clean sound of my guitar to go through a compressor.  I was just wondering if there's a pickup out there that can give a similar sound naturally.  Obviously, it wouldn't be as strong as the effect pedal, but I thought there might be one that can get me in the ballpark. 

 

[Stonker]

I always play clean through a compressor too.  My favourate strat pickups are Kinman but they won't do what you ask.

 

[TroubledTreble]

To me ceramic single coils have that compressed sound as compared to Alnicos. Other than that I can't think of anything that comes close to the pedal effect.

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

      I was also curious if anyone thinks the difference between active and passive pickups is huge.  I've never played through an active pickup before.  I've always liked that weird clean guitar tone on Metallica's "One" and I figure that might be a good example of the difference.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

For a compressed sound I'd say lace golds are better than actives.

 

[drewfx]

I find that the Lace's in my Strat Plus need compression more than regular singles.

 

[swarfrat]

Unfortunately you won't find a single recording on the  planet that will give you a reliable comparison on the issue of compression. Even relatively raw stuff is still compressed at the masteing stage.  I like the EMG SA cleans, they're awesome. But I don't buy into anything without a logarithmic gain stage of some sort sounding compressed by itself

 

[Wizard of Wailing]

    I don't know what a logarithmic gain stage is, but I get the idea.  It seems that compression is an effect pickups can't create, just like they can't create a chorus effect.  That being said, I've always liked that noodling clean guitar solo sound at the beginning of "One".  Do you think that unique tone is due, in large part, to active pickups?  Like I wrote, I've never played through actives before, but if they sound really unique I'd love to try them,  if the people on this forum think actives are that different and not just a bunch of marketing hype.

 

[Cagey]

Pickups can't really "compress" a signal, per se, but they can be over-wound to the point that they overdrive the snot out of the amp's input stage, which causes the amp to compress the signal (at least in tube-based amps - solid state amps usually break up kinda ugly when overdriven). Downside is, it's usually so dirty and lacks so much high end that you lose a great deal of the musical quality of a stringed instrument. Of course, there are all points in between.

Active pickups have evolved over the years. They were originally a good way to get the "fatter" sound of a PAF-style pup with the clarity of a single coil, but not generate any noise. As a result, a lot of people were sorta disappointed. Looked like a wicked humbucker, but sounded kinda sterile/brittle (relatively speaking). They sound better now, but it's still a lotta trouble/cost to go through to eliminate noise while maintaining clarity and high output. There are a LOT of choices out there that will give you that without the electronics, fancy wiring, switches, batteries, etc.

You may want to just try a set of the popular noiseless pickups, and experiment with height adjustments. It's surprising what lowering the things will do for clarity. The "Area" series from DiMarzio is popular, but they have a lot of others. I like GFS' "True Coils" and "Neovins". Bill Lawrence has some nice parts called "Microcoils". Of course, there are the exotics like Kinmans and Lollars if you just can't figure out what to do with those pesky bags of money you keep tripping over. They all sound a very much like regular single coils without the dreaded hum.

 

[Jumble Jumble]

I've got a few sets of noiseless single coils and a set of EMG SA, and the SAs sound completely different. They're a lot more than just noiseless single coils, the frequency response curve is dead smooth for a start. Plus there's the impedance thing too: you can run them through great long cables and a bunch of fx, without losing treble. But tone wise they're very different to regular noiseless single coils.