davegardner0
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Frown said:
Lots of good suggestions in this thread but I'm still very curious about the Alumitones too. I may have to try them out...
Favorite Options for HH Guitars?
- Thread starter davegardner0
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Lots of good suggestions in this thread but I'm still very curious about the Alumitones too. I may have to try them out...
zebra
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I have some Alumitones and like them, but they're not for everyone.
They have that super clean/hi-fi thing - the spectrum is broad and flat.
What I like about them is that they make for a clean and broad palette if you like to use eqs to build tones.
They interact with amps differently than other pickups - the 'fat' and 'bright' pull-pots on my amp don't respond to them at all, whereas with traditional pickups, it's night and day. They certainly make the most of my amp's para-eq, though.
Otherwise, they can handle a ton of distortion and stay tight (great for djent), and because the signal is so quiet and powerful, they can withstand a lot of processing without adding noise or the tone degrading.
But as one board member put it - they're just not for "grunt'n'squeal" rock'n'roll!
They have that super clean/hi-fi thing - the spectrum is broad and flat.
What I like about them is that they make for a clean and broad palette if you like to use eqs to build tones.
They interact with amps differently than other pickups - the 'fat' and 'bright' pull-pots on my amp don't respond to them at all, whereas with traditional pickups, it's night and day. They certainly make the most of my amp's para-eq, though.
Otherwise, they can handle a ton of distortion and stay tight (great for djent), and because the signal is so quiet and powerful, they can withstand a lot of processing without adding noise or the tone degrading.
But as one board member put it - they're just not for "grunt'n'squeal" rock'n'roll!
davegardner0
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Zebra said:
Hmmm well thanks for the very detailed info, although I think they're out for me. I'm more of a straight into the amp player, looking for clean and classic rock tones. I really like G&L MFD pickups which some say are hi-fi but these sound way too far in that direction for me.
Recently I've been thinking about some pickups that would straddle the humbucker/single coil divide for this guitar. I'm not sure if I want to go full-on P90 though. I see Fralin makes the P-92, twangmaster, and big single. Anybody have any experience with them? I think they might be what I'm looking for...
davegardner0
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Rick said:
Oh wow those are cool looking if nothing else. I like the Fender wide range-esque design which is especially appropriate for my tele. Also the descriptions of "percussive" and "beefy twang" are definitely what I'm after so there's some promising signs here.
davegardner0
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I've been reading up on those Railhammer Cleancut pickups and they sound really, really interesting. I'm seriously considering them as they seem to "check all the boxes".
But I wonder where Railhammer falls on the quality tree, and if that has anything to do really with sound quality? (as opposed to paying extra for prestige/"vintage"-ness)? They're only $100 each, and I see they're made in Korea (not something I'd associate with a top quality guitar, more of a midrange). Pickups are different than wooden instruments though. Does anyone know how they compare to the high end MIA stuff like Fralins, Lollars, etc?
But I wonder where Railhammer falls on the quality tree, and if that has anything to do really with sound quality? (as opposed to paying extra for prestige/"vintage"-ness)? They're only $100 each, and I see they're made in Korea (not something I'd associate with a top quality guitar, more of a midrange). Pickups are different than wooden instruments though. Does anyone know how they compare to the high end MIA stuff like Fralins, Lollars, etc?
davegardner0
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Rick said:
Hah, yeah I guess I sounded like a cork-sniffer in my last post, point taken. Sorry about that. I'm not a made in USA purist, but for me the best guitars I've played have come from either the US or Japan. That's just my personal experience over a small sample size, and I don't think it really means anything. Of course I've played junky made in the US guitars too.
I shouldn't have included the made in Korea part about the Railhammers, what I'm really interested in is the hierarchy of pickup brands vs. quality, and also what spending more actually gets you. For instance, I see GFS pickups are very cheap, then these Railhammers look to be in the same price range as Seymour Duncan and Dimarzio. Then there seems to be the Fralin type brands, then super premium stuff like ThroBak for instance. So as you go up in price what is gained? Are you just paying for the name / handmade nature of the product? I also notice that as the price goes up the pickups get more "vintage clone"-like, but in my opinion that doesn't make them better.
davegardner0
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P.s. that's an excellent idea finding a Reverend guitar in a music store to play. I think I'll do that!
bagman67
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1. Reverends are tremendously well-made factory guitars. Enjoy yourself! Plus they look like themselves, and not clones of what everyone's been doing since the 1950's.
2. The inputs for pickups are pretty similar at any price point (wire, magnets, fiberboard, some stamped metal geegaws), so whatever you're paying more for is likely to be advertising and marketing overhead, fancier packaging, and in the case of USA- or European-made stuff, higher wages, social safety net, health insurance, and so on. The upside of the GFS and other Chinese/Indonesian/etc. stuff is it's well-made and there are some great-sounding options there. The downside is a lot of it is likely made by workers who attain a comparatlvely lower standard of living for the work they do than American workers do. But they may nevertheless enjoy a higher standard than other workers in nastier industries in their home countries. I will leave it to others to advocate for one or the other, but this is a calculus some folks will do in evaluating low-priced goods. All other things being equal: Use your ears, not your preconceptions or politics, to identify the "best" pickup for your purposes, and then figure out what fits with the rest of your more tangential considerations.
2. The inputs for pickups are pretty similar at any price point (wire, magnets, fiberboard, some stamped metal geegaws), so whatever you're paying more for is likely to be advertising and marketing overhead, fancier packaging, and in the case of USA- or European-made stuff, higher wages, social safety net, health insurance, and so on. The upside of the GFS and other Chinese/Indonesian/etc. stuff is it's well-made and there are some great-sounding options there. The downside is a lot of it is likely made by workers who attain a comparatlvely lower standard of living for the work they do than American workers do. But they may nevertheless enjoy a higher standard than other workers in nastier industries in their home countries. I will leave it to others to advocate for one or the other, but this is a calculus some folks will do in evaluating low-priced goods. All other things being equal: Use your ears, not your preconceptions or politics, to identify the "best" pickup for your purposes, and then figure out what fits with the rest of your more tangential considerations.
zebra
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Sound like you might like something along the lines of lower DC humbuckers, like Lollar's El Rayo. http://www.lollarguitars.com/lollar-humbucker-pickups/el-rayo-humbucker
I'd never actually pay for Lollar pickup (lol) but I think other pickup makers might have equivalent models. I think DiMarzio's "Humbucker from hell" might be an equivalent. If I were to guess (I'm not too knowledgeable about pickup design), those pickups might probably using a thicker gauge wire, instead of fewer turns of wire, to get the desired combination of power and clarity.
davegardner0
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Well, I ordered myself a set of the Railhammer Chisel pickups today. :icon_biggrin:
I was going to go with the cleancuts or Nuevo 90's but in the end I decided a higher output humbucker might be fun and give me the "something different" I was looking for. Plus, I'll wire them up with series/parallel switches, and higher output humbuckers always do better with that sort of switching.
I'll report back when I get them installed and hear them some!
I was going to go with the cleancuts or Nuevo 90's but in the end I decided a higher output humbucker might be fun and give me the "something different" I was looking for. Plus, I'll wire them up with series/parallel switches, and higher output humbuckers always do better with that sort of switching.
I'll report back when I get them installed and hear them some!
davegardner0
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Rick said:
Thanks very much for the recommendation! I hadn't heard of them before you mentioned them, and now I'm excited to try them out.
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