I listened to this with headphones on and not watching the screen to visually see the changes. They all blended together because they all sound almost identical. I literally could not tell one from the next.

@kenabi

6 ай бұрын

the only variance (at best) is minute details most people couldn't pick out of a mix at all. slight boosts on some at certain frequencies. ultimately, its going to be about output levels. that said, the emgs on have a slight peak in the mid, but in the mix with everything else that mid vanishes entirely. and the gus g loses a bit of the top end from the rest past the emg. but again, its (to the ear) gone when in a mix. if you're goal is to play distorted, and in a mix, it reallllllllly doesn't matter what pickup you choose, so long as its of decent build quality. (you do roll the dice with 'budget' pickups, some are good, some aren't). the core of the tone is out of the speaker that produces it. unless you're playing clean tones, or edge of breakup, _everything else_ is psychosomatic. if your goal _is_ to play clean tones, or edge of breakup, then you can play roll your pickups to find ones you like for x, y, or z sound. but mostly that even doesn't matter, if you only plan to stick to a specific type (all alnico 5 hb's for instance). an alnico strat pup isn't going to give you the same clean tones as a ceramic bar style, but it might not be enough for some to notice the difference. avoid stupid cheap pickups (sub $20) pretty much regardless. they might be wound well, made with decent stuff (sometimes, to both), but they're almost never potted, and that's just a bad day. instead of dumping hundreds (or thousands) on pups, pick up a selection (small or large in quantity) of appropriate sized and rated speakers to swap into a cab (and maybe a single or dual cab that allows this easily). you'll get much greater variance in tone. especially for distortion, and your wallet will thank you.

@tossajalumen401

6 ай бұрын

yep, this tells how little hot pickups actually matters in electric guitar. Same pickup and different guitars would be much more something what can be heard.

@davidepannone6021

6 ай бұрын

SO YOU'RE TELLING ME KEITH MERROW LIED LIKE THE SACK OF SHIT HE IS IN HIS OLD VIDEO?!?!?!1 SHOCKER!!!!111!111

@beefnacos6258

6 ай бұрын

that might be a huge reason why all of these pickups are his favorites.... this was an excellent demo.

@77channel90

6 ай бұрын

i feel so bro . so little difference

I have a real problem with this being the "Ultimate Metal Guitar Pickup" Shootout when the DiMarzio Super Distortion and X2N pickups were not tested.

Great video dude, I’ll be watching this back when I upgrade mine. Top content and beauty of a belt you have there, my personal favourite aha

The best metal pickup IMO is the Dimarzio X2N. I have 23 guitars all loaded with an assortment of Duncan, Dimarzio, EMG and Fishman pickups but the X2N shines above the rest through my tube amps. Through modellers and plugins the difference isn't noticeable.

Great shootout ! And cool Riff ! All those sounded good to me.

The blood stains upon the sacred shroud of metal may have been put there by the EMG 81/85, but its tapestry was woven by the DiMarzio Super Distortion.

finally, somebody that plays the same riff with all the different options so we can actually hear the difference. Thanks dude!

Huge work you did, man 😁👍

They all sound fine, super close in high gain context. Love your Kramer bud 🤘🇨🇦

I think Glenn Fricker is right. Pickups don't do much in when playing metal.

@bigzaddyballs

5 ай бұрын

well idk dimebag had a really sharp clear neck sound so maybe some

@Tomcat82

3 ай бұрын

Pickup differences aren't night and day, but they are definitely there. Glenn's claim that all like pickups sound identical is disproved by Keith Merrow's Seymour Duncan Shootout video. I don't know why Glenn is not able to capture tonal differences in pickups in his recordings. But in this video, the reason they all sound the same is clear; that tone is straight ass. No high end definition at all. Just muddy mids. Sounds like his tone knob is turned all the way down, so of course every pickup he plays is going to sound the same.

@MyLifEcademy-sr4hy

2 ай бұрын

​@@Tomcat82...+1!! To hear the difference you'd have to be in the room.

@rickdelpino472

2 ай бұрын

Yes and no. In this test is noticeable that the signal has a low pass and extreme compression, killing the harmonics and higher frequencies, and also he was only doing palm muting. I mean...the signal looks too processed, and seriously all pickups sound the same. But it was his choice. Particularly...if I spend hundreds or thousands of Euros in a guitar and pickups, I would avoid that kind of processing, because you can make the same sound with a very cheap guitar and it is not necessary spend thousands in equipment. With this huge amount of processing, you can not listen the wood, the pickups, the brand of the guitar...nada. And finally...Seymour Duncan are more low end pickups, and give more lower to medium frequencies. Dinarzios gives more higher frequencies, have more frequency content but less compression.

@rickdelpino472

2 ай бұрын

​@Tomcat82 completely agree.

Sure, some minor differences on the isolated tracks, but very hard to detect in the mix. Which means this was a good test - other variables are much more important. Amp, speaker - and the one many don't consider - move your cab around and move yourself around. Room placement is king. Even more importantly - all these pickups sound VERY GOOD. You can spend half a life trying to optimize between them. Or grab a cold one, pick up your guitar, and PLAY....

@CoolGuyAtlas

6 ай бұрын

Everything sounds indistinguishable in the mix. Especially if there is some editing (and KZread compression). The point of pickups is they change the sound in the room and the way it feels to play the guitar. A good pickup switch will almost feel like you have a different guitar and inspire you to play certain types of music. Instead of parroting your favorite KZreadr try switching out some pickups in person. I know it may be hard to believe, but you can experiment with gear and also spend a lot of time practicing.

@Thrive-Off-Grid

6 ай бұрын

Dont forget the electronics inside the guitar. Pots and the capacitors used also have a huge effect on tone.

@Superman-pn1rx

6 ай бұрын

Agree, differences are so small that not worth the money, effort or time. Better to focus on practicing and learning more

Bro just had a poltergeist interrupt his video 😂 I love your pickup vids man, was a big help installing installing an EMG set in one of my guitars

Need some DiMarzio ❤

By my ears, only 81s and JHs sounds a bit different. All in all they sound like DiMarzios Super Distortion. Thanks a lot for your test ride man. I really appreciate it.

Btw, you have impeccable taste in pickups, my man.

Amazing how they all almost sound identical? Cannot go wrong with any of these \m/

awesome work. Thanks a ton. i am trying to decide pickups on this guitar rig for what i am writing right now for my 6 string. Have an aftermath in an 8 string.

the diffence is so small

@kylinmastin

6 ай бұрын

there all around the same k-ohm of like 15-18

@AdamManley7

6 ай бұрын

In real life the difference is huge I don’t think whatever rig he’s running isn’t doing a good job differentiating them

@jonsierra723

6 ай бұрын

I’ve noticed that in KZread everything kind of sounds the same and it’s even worse when it’s through amp sims. But in person you can tell better. That’s my personal experience cause all my guitars have different pickups

@guitarrilho502

6 ай бұрын

He has too much gain going on also

@alfredopadronnanez3804

6 ай бұрын

On yt you can't really tell the difference. Totally different case trying them by yoursef. Been playing a invader for years, bought a jackson with the jb/59 combo and the difference is night and day.

I'm a drummer, but I have a few LPs that I play. I love metal and have very recently started looking at swapping out the pickups on a couple of my guitars, so I'm stoked I stumbled upon your channel. I like the content and i think if you smooth out the wrinkles in presentation you could get big. This was pretty helpful for someone like me, keep it up. Oh yeah, I think my Gibby is getting EMGs

Need to get a Super Distortion dude.

Great demo!! I've been playing 33 years, have 27 guitars currently, all set up for metal of course lol, and I'm right there with you on SD and EMG still being my favorites. Nothing like that old school brutally nasty metal tone. Some of this modern stuff is sounding way too pretty and delicate to me lol! 🤘

Pickups matter. Fight me

Difference was negligible, great video, very informative

Great shootout, the EMG 81 is my absolute favorite and is what I use exclusively. It has an amazing high output razor sharp textureanf tone. While still maintaining warmth where you want it. Out of the passive pickups I have to go with the Invander and Dimenucker. I love the super high output from both pickups without loosing any enunciation. Plus 95 percent of all my favorite guitarist use the EMG 81 and I can hear the reason why while playing them.

Great Video!

I have been using the Seymour Duncan Parallel Axis Distortion PATB-2b for years. Another option to check out sometime.

They may give you a different feel while playing them, but at hear they sound all the same. Exept for the Hetfield ones and maybe the Dimes, but again nothing that you can't correct with a little of eq. That helped me understanting that I don't need to swap my Duncans, thanks!

The 81s and the dimebuckets are vicious

Very good comparison, steady same riffing and some single notes, mix and guitar track! The more or less more clear differences for me are the EMG HET and 81 plus the SD mayhem distortion (SH-6), which I prefer since years for my own taste. Thx, man!

wow, big shock there!

My favorites were the Invader and Distortions. They sound the closest to my favorite pickups, the Seymour Duncan Blackouts.

Honestly if you were to tell me it was one pickup the whole time I would believe it. Different picking technique can affect the sound but other than that I really cant telll more than maybe 5 % difference between the two most different.

The Het, Dime and Mayhem are brutal!

The answer is : Josh Smith from Northlane’s signature bare knuckle pick ups

Incredible video, Jake! I have the Duncan JB, and the EMG 81.. You just can't go wrong with them. *Your Saphue Pickups (from Amazon) demo made me a subscriber to your channel! Awesome job, my friend. PS ..Have you ever tried any GFS pickups? I have bought a few of those as well... I like them.

They all sound great and that riff is mean as hell! What is the song? Nice work dude, new sub!

There is not a human alive that can tell the difference between any of these in a mix. Mayyyyybe 1 out of 100 might guess when one changed to the next isolated. Unless its single coil vs Humbucker.... pickups make no difference. They are just brilliantly marketed. I've played for more than 20 years. With the effects and gain... you could be playing an Invader or a generic pickup and no one can tell the difference. People who get hung up on their pickups are the same people that cover themselves in brand logo clothing. The pickups dont make you a better player or sound better any more than your Nike gear makes you look any better or in better shape.

The takeaway to me is if you're playing high gain guitar, just enjoy playing, and save some dough. If you are in a band and want a attempt to differentiate sonically from your other guitarist I'd say the het set emg stood out the most in clarity (like 5-10% clearer).

They all sound more or less identical. The Hetfield pup sounds like it might have just a slight bit more clarity, but maybe I'm trippin. Need more string action to really be able to tell if there actually is a noticeable difference between pups.

Not Ganna lie I didn’t really like the emg 81. But for what ever reason I really loved the emg retro acvtive hot 70

The emg81 transients are more pronounced in my opinion that on lot of the others. Also the biggest difference between these pickups is in which harmonic is picked up the most.

Sorry but im a 81 EMG fans for ever..but the Dimebucker have a special place in my heart

Basically they are identical. Very nice comparison!

This is a great example of how little pickups matter in a full mix.

EMG 81, Pegasus, JTF, Gus G and Mayhem were my top 5!

You need to get some dimarzio and bareknucle pickups

@Errorformed_audio

6 ай бұрын

Second this!

I like EMG pickups, one of the most heaviest metal guitar distortion pickup

literally no difference that couldn't be negated by minimal adjustments of gain/eq knobs

EMG 81 was an instant punch to the face. also I tried Bare Knuckle Aftermaths recently and they are pretty sweet.

For me a mainly passive pup guy the emg 81 and the retro active took the cake. Clarity and oomph in spades there. I have diMarzio d-activators in one guitar and that sounds remarkable similar to the emg 81.

Amazing how little difference there is between them. I'm basically detecting some being a slight bit brighter but not much difference in them being chunkier etc...

Pickups are a big feel thing.... but one of my favorite pickup is the custom gibson slash burstbucker that's in my gibson slash les paul and the EMG 57 that's in my E ii eclipse!!!! I play through a Orange rockerverb with a dead horse od and sometimes I play through my 5150 iii with no OD and they just slay!!!!

this is how you show the difference in pickups 👍 to me 81s hetfields dimebags and gus gs are the ones for me

It’s funny, I’m getting into guitar again after a very long hiatus, and all of the pickups people are reviewing are pretty much the same pickups I was looking at when I played 10 years ago.

Definitely noticable if you know what to listen for, most of the time the mids stayed the same the only difference was the amount of lows and highs and output, though some were muddy like the sinister gates and the guy g, also the lowe out put ones suckt. I think the minute details could be dialed out by tweaking the map

hey guys devin booker here doing a shootout of pickups.

Dinarzio x2n is a hell of a pickup

My main rigs are a Gibson SG with SD Distortion (Mayhem set), an Epiphone LP Custom with EMG 81/85 and boost (Kerry King set), and an Epiphone Extura with EMG Jim Roots. They are all exceptional but in the mix they sound virtually identical. The difference is how they respond to the player. Pinched Harmonics are insane and effortless on the Jim Roots, followed closely by the Distortions. The 81/85 set has a different feel to them but that doesn’t mean they are “lesser” or somehow not relevant today. I can play any and be totally happy with sound and performance. Glenn Fricker is right. In the mix there is little difference. The only exception is the Fishman Moderns as they are clearer but have a weird upper mid spike and sound really wimpy in the room. They aren’t “garbage” but they are anemic and “meh” to my ears.

Het set🤘

ME ENCANTO EL VIDEO, HARÍAS ALGUN DEMO POR EJEMPLO DE "PROBANDO LAS PASTILLAS JB CON DISTORSIONES MAS PESADAS?" AMÉ EL VIDEO HERMANOOO🫶🏼💪🏼- Español

There is one pickup for metal that for me, stood out among the hundreds I've used over the years but unfortunately they are now extremely rare. It was available from 1990-2000. I went on a tear years ago when production ceased and bought several to hoard for various superstrat projects. If you ever stumble on one, buy it...the Bartolini E90-D. Much higher output than the base E90 which had more of a goosed PAF vibe. The D stood for Distortion and that was a comical understatement. Nothing else is even close. It wasn't some juiced up 20k mosh pit of mush but an incendiary active humbucker with razor sharp definition providing harmonics that would leap off a fretboard. Think EMG 81 that's been wax potted with Red Bull.😂

They sound nearly the same. I play metal about 30 years, live and studio and I use PAF pickups, because strong pickups chug less. Exception is Dimarzio Super Distortion. Just sayin. I had: Invader, Breed, Evo, HB, EVH, Mighty Mite, EMG's etc.

You should try out Lace Alumitones. Namelly the Deathbucker. 0 mud, and razor edge bite. I have them in a few guitars, clean or distortion, they are realy sweet. jmho.

They all sound & look good. 🤷‍♂️🎸

wow EMG just had nice mids :)

It's a bad idea to place magnetic pickups next to your computer hard drive

EMG 81 Wolfgang (surprised me) SD mayhem EMG Hetfield My favorites🤘

What would be the choice for something for dropped D for a modern metal tone , but that can pickup some highs also, would you say the SD JB?

@Soldano999

6 ай бұрын

Id your guitar is bright (superstrat etc) the invader has fat and nasty bass. If your guitar is dark the JB has both screaming highs and fat bottom end for palm muted chords.

@mfconstructor

6 ай бұрын

@@Soldano999 thank u !! Its a Ibanez RG120 from 2002

You need to test Fischman Fluence Modern pickups and Lundgren M6 or Lundgren Black Heaven

the EMG Hetfield has the most noticeable difference

Did you do a video on routing out that Kramer?

@jakethefate

2 ай бұрын

I did do a video on how to route for a Floyd rose on a Kramer baretta special, not this one specifically it was the EVH 5150 build I did but they are same exact guitars

@DreidMusicalX

2 ай бұрын

@@jakethefate Cool I will have to look it up. I want to get one and do the same thing. I have a Kramer Striker already I upgraded after i bought it, but its HSS and love it. But I want a single Bridge pickup guitar and I love Kramers from a kid til now. Thanks!

They all sound pretty much alike with small differences in the high end and more or less flobbyness in the lowend, which frankly could be your general sound. The SD JTF is way to op for the sound youre already running. I could imagine that one would be a lot cooler through a Plexi or JCM800.

So, why no dimarzio pickups? :D

If you want your guitar to sound differently, you would have to move the position of the P.U. instead of replacing the P.U. Move it 1/4" (5mm) and it will sound different. The ideal guitar would have a small rail system on which you can move the P.U. Changing P.U.'s (of the same style (single-coil for a single-coil, humbucker for a humbucker)) will only change the output signal a.k.a. volume (If you make weak frequencies louder, you can start hearing them. Giving the illusion of a different frequency response. The same happens in hi-fi (low volume doesn't allow you to hear the full range) Some people will argue that spending $200 on a booootique P.U. HAS to make your guitar sound different... I don't agree.

Did you record a repetitive track with one single guitar and the same pickups? Ultimate troll ❤

According to your video results, dimarzios would sound exactly the same.

8:09 8:43 8:54 9:28 9:39

The riff sounds like SUPER TROOPERS...

any duncan distortion?

Lets be real, there's not a big difference for pickups with metal, but for me, the "EMG- James Hetfield" sound a bit nicer with however he has his rig setup. Really the only pickup I can pick out of the group with watching the video.

"pickups are useless" nice video though lol

Having a few decades in the game I don't put a huge tag on how they sound...nowadays its visceral...how does it feel in that guitar! P.S....I've never bonded with Dimarzios either!

@jakethefate

2 ай бұрын

Dude If watch my latest video you’ll see why I have a hard time “bonding” with Dimarzios 😂 thank you for watching my video man! Honestly means a lot!

EMG 81 ftw

Small difference. Invader keeps the lead, in my opinion.

I barely hear any difference between any. My black winters compared to my EMG's are nights and day. I dont know if it's your recording but mine sound way different.

ive tried emg 81 85 het set and dimarzi x2n the ones chuck schuldiner used and i LOVE the x2n my emgs worked for about a month and now everything is a clean tone on them like i can have gain maxed but it sounds acoustic i think its a solder problem from the shop i got it from pretty pissed 250 wasted on the pickups and 60 wasted for installation i mean idc too much about the money i just wanna play the fucker any1 know how i could fix it again it sounds acoustic but i can plug in my other guitar perfect fucking metal tone

ive got a dimebucker in my Dean Evo Dragster its best sounding guitar i have

i say dont chang pickup change the speakers in the cab lol most sound the same and the others are lsight difference no point in spending money for other pick ups

Please, change your cable and audio card. It cannot be so similar to each other

So which ones you're favorite 😂

I cant believe anyone wasted this much time doing this. I could have told you the difference between 9 and 12 gauge strings is greater than any pickup swap for high gain sounds and if you EQ the amp after swapping pickups the difference is very hard to distinguish.

My takeaway - im wasting money on 9v batteries

This video had to take a lot of work.

Invader🙂

This video proves that upgrading pickups, at least for high gain playing, is a waste of money (provided you aren't starting out with ultra cheap shitty pickups - those probably need to be upgraded). The differences are so small and human audio memory is so short that you could use any of these and make the exact same quality of music. If your music sounds bad, it's not your pickups.

wish there is some bare knuckle there..

Emg was best

The tone of the rest of the equipment is way too saturated and mid boosted to tell a difference. It's the type of tone I personally despise lol, no offense. This is why the narrative of "pickups don't matter" is pushed nowadays. Thing is not everybody dials their high gain sound like this.

I'm just starting the video, but I can say that the SD Invader bridge pups are my favorites, and I have a JB set in an RG, so I'm looking forward to hearing others here in comparison 🍿 Edit: Damn, that Solar kind of rips! Wasn't expecting quite that good. All hail Ola!

Where are the fishmans?

@MaximusAdonicus

6 ай бұрын

At the sea.

@dantredogborsa7048

6 ай бұрын

​@@MaximusAdonicus😂😂