Q-tuners who tried them on a guitar?

[alpsbear]

http://www.q-tuner.com/ i readed some review from bass players, any body here who tried on a guitar? seems hi-end material,with lots of harmonics and over-tone but i'd like to hear from experiences....some some player had to improve his amp to tolerate up to 20'000 hertz and not cutting above 12'000! :icon_scratch:

 

[Orpheo]

if you're looking for a nice paf-sounding pickup, look elsewhere. if you think emg's sound sterile, look elsewhere. they sound fizzy, cold, clinical, very, very hifi. not what you want to have if you're a 'regular' player. I for one dont like 'em.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

One of the guys at Sevenstring.org had some as a beta tester.  Apparently, they're rather high in output and very bright.

 

[tapeman]

They sound really good. there is an aluminum guitar company that uses them stock wolnickworks.com there are a couple recordings with no effects to give u a good idea of how just the pickups sound

 

[shanejw]

I'd love to try some sometime.  All I know is that the soundclips on their website are horrible.

 

[dbw]

They sound really good. there is an aluminum guitar company that uses them stock wolnickworks.com there are a couple recordings with no effects to give u a good idea of how just the pickups sound

I listened to those videos and the clips... these pickups sound awful.  Clearly you are trying to sell something because all you ever do is post about wolnickworks.  You can't just post clips and claim they sound good, they have to actually sound good.

 

[neuftone]

Got to agree with dbw, that was a pretty bad sound clip.  The builder needs to find a better player to record and showcase the guitar...that sort of playing would likely have sounded better even on a basic tele. 

I actually like this recording, but I think it has more to do with the playing than the tone, which I found to be a bit splatty on the high strings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-lv9ltZ2cw

The more I hear samples of these pickups, the more I think they are a mildly interesting design, but utterly not a holy grail sort of thing worthy of the price demanded.  If I was doing something fullrange like an 8+ stringed guitar/bass, I'd consider them, but by that point I'd probably be more in line to splitting the pickups between the low and high registers, because quite often a pickup that sounds fantastic and clear in the low range will sound (as the qtuners above do) harsh and clanging on the high strings.

 

[kboman]

I actually like this recording, but I think it has more to do with the playing than the tone, which I found to be a bit splatty on the high strings:

Well, he does use the bridge position and a clean sound - that always sounds like a$$, regardless of guitar or player.

These Q-tuners look really cool, but so far I'm not convinced they make any particular musical sense for me.

 

[Mor Paul]

Well, he does use the bridge position and a clean sound - that always sounds like a$$, regardless of guitar or player.

Telecasters sound pretty good on a bridge/clean setting.

 

[MUYFUE]

Yeah dude, I like my bridge pickup clean sound... :dontknow: Guess I sound like...(bows his head and cries, puts hand in pockets and kicks the ground) You ever heard the Primus recording of Amos Moses? That's pretty close to the sound I get....HaHa, sounds like a Tele!

Ok, these particular pickups are mentioned in several threads on this board already...A cloaked sales attempt,perhaps? They do LOOK so cool! I wish they sounded better...

Ok, some of you by now know that I'm a total Metal-Head!  :guitarplayer2: That being said, these pickups seem fairly well suited to metal and similar styles, but are not worth the price...I'll stick with my bad sounding bridge pickup... :laughing11:

If there was a way to have this type of attack on the lower strings and then soften it a bit for the higer notes, it could keep low tuned riffs tight and heavy, but not sound all terrible, thin and 'tingy' on the high strings. Using these pickups will obviously require the player to change the amp settings quite a bit...I'm not a fan.

 

[dbw]

Well, he does use the bridge position and a clean sound - that always sounds like a$$, regardless of guitar or player.

Telecasters sound pretty good on a bridge/clean setting.

+1 to Max.  If your guitar sounds like a$$ on bridge/clean, you need a new bridge pickup, that's all!

 

[MUYFUE]

Well, he does use the bridge position and a clean sound - that always sounds like a$$, regardless of guitar or player.

Telecasters sound pretty good on a bridge/clean setting.

+1 to Max.  If your guitar sounds like a$$ on bridge/clean, you need a new bridge pickup, that's all!

AMEN!

 

[Soylent]

Might I recommend a Dimarzio Area Hot T to all you tele users.. it's a spicy, very tele, jangly piece of awesome.

Indeed.  :laughing7:

 

[dbw]

Or any decent humbucker.  :headbang:

 

[kboman]

Well I didn't mean just my guitar - I meant that in general, I find that "sound" awful, lifeless, uninspiring. Especially for chording. Teles sound better than most, but not good. This is just my opinion!

 

[dbw]

Yeah well that's just like your opinion man

 

[kboman]

Yeah well that's just like your opinion man

Love the dude!

 

[neuftone]

I know what you mean re the bridge pickup clean, although its dependent a lot on guitar, player, and style. 

My Les Paul clean on the bridge pickup?  Nothing to write home about.  But my jazzmaster with Fralin P-90s?  P90s sound amazing in the bridge position, clean or otherwise.  Oh, and check out Mike Fuller's sound clip (of FullTone) of him playing a vintage Fender strat in the bridge position with a tape echo, doing the song "Layla", but the piano part at the end of the song.  Now THAT is good tone!

Now what is confusing me is the Tosin Abasi clip above was linked as an example of the Q-Tuners by the manufacturer itself...and his guitar appears to have a Q-tuner in the neck, but not the bridge.  Are you sure that's a bridge pickup in the clip being played?  I can't see the switches very well.

 

[MUYFUE]

not all the q-tuners are transparent.
they still make the regular black pups too.
If i look at the switch real close it looks like it's down in the bridge position.
He's probably just playing the standard black version.

 

[neuftone]

not all the q-tuners are transparent.
they still make the regular black pups too.
If i look at the switch real close it looks like it's down in the bridge position.
He's probably just playing the standard black version.

I've seen the black q-tuners, those are completely different looking than normal pickups.  What you have in the bridge position of that guitar is an uncovered dual coil humbucker style pickups, albeit an 8 string one.  Two rows of non-black polepieces, on in the middle of each coil.  Very different than the triple row of polepieces (with sideways coils in between) of a Q-tuner pickup...even the black covered ones still show the three rows of polepieces.  I viewed the video in full screen and am still unsure about switch position.

I'd go on record saying that isn't a Q-tuner in the bridge position, but maybe he's using a middle position on the switch?