I do like a low output ( split or parallel) to high output ( series Humbucker) because you can run your rig on hair of breakup on single and when you switch to Humbucker it’s like an instant overdrive.
@guidrummer1Ай бұрын
Absolutely. Fun to add just a little "hair" onto the tone at the flick of a switch. 😁
@kazkylheku1221Ай бұрын
That EJ neck pickup is almost like the Humbucker From Hell ("HFH"), Dimarzio's DP-156. The DC resistance is 7.01 kOhm according to DiMarzio's specs. The HFH is supposedly 5.89, but I measured mine at 6. Not far off from 7. Both use Alnico 5 magnets. From your demo, the sound is very similar. I use a switch with some capacitors to get different sounds from the HFH. In one position, I get a tone that is like distortion pickups like the Super Distortion. Your video is helpful in checking the cap values for that, like are they in the ballpark that we are getting the darker tone of a typical distortion pickup.
@guidrummer1Ай бұрын
You know, I've never tried the HFH, but I've speculated over what it might sound like in the neck as I tend to favor brighter neck pickups. It does look like the EJ neck and the HFH would cover pretty similar territory with all other variables being the same. How did you go about the cap switching--something like a rotary/varitone kind of setup? Thanks for your kind words, by the way. I'm glad the video was helpful to you. 🙂
@kazkylheku1221Ай бұрын
@@guidrummer1 Varitone concept, but with just a DPDT switch (with middle off position). If I throw it one way, one capacitor is put across the pickup. If I throw it the other way, that same capacitor plus another one in parallel is activated. One of these days I will look into a push-pull volume pot with integrated DPDT to have it all in one place. CTS makes them; I've always known about them.
@guidrummer1Ай бұрын
@@kazkylheku1221Cool idea. I may have to experiment with something similar sometime.
@cletusmax773 ай бұрын
When you order a guitar player from wish
@TheDistortionist5 ай бұрын
These Eric Johnson pickups are probably my favorite ever; makes me want to get a HH guitar just to put them in it.
@guidrummer15 ай бұрын
Yeah, they're pretty awesome pickups for sure!
@joecooper780310 ай бұрын
Penco pickups are really nice they even copied the T on their bobbins like real Gibsons So weird
@guidrummer110 ай бұрын
Yeah, I think that neck pickup was original. I liked the sound of it. Shame the bridge pickup wasn't didn't come with it. I'm guessing the bridge pickup that was in it when I bought it was one of the older DiMarzio PAF pickups.
@SoundOfYoga Жыл бұрын
proffessional and cool demo
@Gameprs1 Жыл бұрын
Use preset chanal foot sw
@maxonmendel5757 Жыл бұрын
did you use a 5 way switch? is this possible, or is out of phase at least possible with a 4 way switch?
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Hi there. I didn't use a 5-way switch, but here's an article from Premier Guitar that I pulled inspiration from, and they DO use a 5-way switch. www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage/bill-lawrence-5-way-telecaster-wiring -- but note: this wiring adds "half out of phase" at position 4 and "neck pickup with 10% less low end" at position 5. They don't include the option of the "regular" out of phase sound here. I've also seen some people add an out of phase sound and also the bridge and neck in series (instead of parallel), but that's normally done with a 5-way "super switch" or some other extra switches added. See here for example: kzread.info/dash/bejne/nKOBlrNwmsyblKg.html Instead, I ended up using two mini switches--one to sort of "turn on" the out-of-phase options and another to switch between out of phase and half out of phase (i.e. by either using a capacitor or bypassing it). There's a schematic around 2:52 on the video that shows this. I'm not sure about the 4-way switch option--would have to think on that. See also: www.wildepickups.com/pages/tele-neck-for-half-out-of-phase-sound-wiring-diagram Feel free to ask other questions
@jamesnemenyi Жыл бұрын
Thank you for sharing. How are the 2 dpdt switches wired? I can see they are interactive. Even just a clue about the wiring would mean a lot to me. Thank you again.
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Hi there, Great question! The inspiration from this wiring came from my use of Seymour Duncan Triple Shots and P-Rails on a different guitar, so I wired it something like this diagram from Seymour Duncan (just using dpdt toggles instead of push-pull pots): www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/2PRail_3G_1VppSPL_1TppSPL.jpg Keep in mind that the pickups used in this demo are DiMarzios and, therefore, have different wiring color codes than the Seymour Duncans in the diagram above do. To translate the wire colors appropriately, I consulted this page: www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/humbucker-wire-color-translation Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.
@jamesnemenyi Жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 Thank you so much. I love what you did with your pickups. The Prail wiring diagram is perfect. Thank you again.
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
@@jamesnemenyi No problem! Glad you enjoyed it. Good luck wiring your pickups! 🎸
@sinocelt Жыл бұрын
The LR 100 sells for just $28 right now on Monoprice's website!
@carlkerkman7028 Жыл бұрын
Thanks for calling that out, they went OOS/sold out while I was watching this video.
@sinocelt Жыл бұрын
@@carlkerkman7028 Darn it! And I was eager to tell you there's also a "MARCH15" promo code for an additional 15% off. 😖
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Saw that the other day. It's a steal at that price!
@sinocelt Жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 Was. It's sold out now, and discountinued. Well, no surprise there; the huge price drop was a big hint.
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
@@sinocelt Yeah, I figured it might not be long before it sold out with the price being so low. Shame to hear it's discontinued though. 🙄
@SergeiVlassov Жыл бұрын
Very useful demo! Great representation of pickups!
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Thanks for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed it!
@SergeiVlassov Жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 after watching this video I ordered EJ CUstom neck for my tele-style project guitar. Will pair it with Chopper T in the bridge. But I am in doubts about wiring the tele middle position (both pickups). EJ Custom is really bright by its own already, so I am thinking - should I treat it just as single coil in terms of tone, or should I use only one coil for pairing it with the bridge pickup. Would love to hear your opinion based on your experience with EJ pickups.
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
@@SergeiVlassov Good question there. First, I should put the disclaimer that I've never tried the chopper T myself (though I've heard good things), so I'm left to just look at the specs online and/or listen to some demos to get an idea of how it would play with an EJ Custom neck. Also, as you rightly said, this is all just my opinion so YMMV. You're right: the EJ is really bright for a humbucker--even in full (series) humbucker mode which I tend to like in neck pickups (having grown up on a bunch of strats and teles). In terms of EQ, I wouldn't be opposed to pairing it with a hot single (or single-sized humbucker) provided that the output level was satisfying to play with in each position. On that note, I tend to prefer the "perceived" output in each position to be relatively close, but not everyone does, so you may want to take that into consideration as well. (I say "perceived" output because there are some pickups that seem to me to have a difference in volume just because of extreme differences in their EQ/voicing when actually their overall output level on paper is the same.) I tend to perceive a volume drop on many tele neck pickups, and that tends to bother me for whatever reason (just personal preference for feel and sound, I guess). BUT if you like that on a normal tele, you might want to split the EJ neck and just use one of the coils as you suggested. Keep in mind that if you don't also split the chopper T and pair its RWRP coil with the EJ's coil, then you may introduce some 60-cycle hum. But if you do also split the chopper, that may result in a larger volume-drop. Conversely, if you do NOT like the volume drop of a regular tele neck (relative to the bridge), you may want to leave the EJ in series humbucker mode. Now, all of this was specifically for the middle position as you indicated, so it might take some experimentation (i.e. trying out a few different wirings) to figure out what you like the feel/sound of best in that position. I know that's not always what we want to hear since it's a bit of a pain to wire and rewire things, but it may be your best option since we all have our own personal preferences. As an interesting side note, looking at the EQ for the EJ Custom and the Twang King (which is paired with the Chopper T in the Richie Kotzen tele) indicates that they aren't all that dissimilar EQ-wise. Granted the EJ is a humbucker and has a decent amount more output than the Twang King, so they would still sound somewhat different, but it may be an indicator that the chopper and EJ will play nicely together. Again YMMV. Good luck with your tele project!
@SergeiVlassov Жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 Thank you very much for such detailed response! Yes, I hate soldering process in confined conditions like in guitars :) So I am trying to reduce the amount of attempts in advance. Your response helps me to reduce the number of options I need to try.
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
@@SergeiVlassov Yeah, that's fair. I can get pretty aggravated with soldering in small guitar control cavities myself. Ha ha!
@wooggeek Жыл бұрын
Clean this almost sounds like an acoustic. if I like the sound of my guitar unplugged, tone and feel, does that lend to a preference of a low output clean pickup? Aside, from not hearing mistakes as clearly and those nuisances, I am trying to understand this, and recreate this plugged in. Thinking of ej humbuckers w/split. Thank you for your video. !!
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Hi Brad! Great question! I guess I should preface my response by saying that anytime there is a discussion of the output of a pickup, how much that affects the tone vs. how much the tonewood or other factors are involved, etc. you'll get some wildly varying opinions (some more scientific than others). In that vein, I have to admit that my own comments here are also based on my own preferences, limited personal experience, and some online "research" (I use that term lightly ;-) ); so, take all of this with a grain of salt. Second, I can't really make a recommendation on what will sound good to you in your guitar using your rig since a lot of this is personal preference based on our own perceptions of what sounds good to us as individuals. However, I can share my experience and why I used the EJ Customs in this guitar. With that out of the way, let's take a look at your question: "if I like the sound of my guitar unplugged, tone and feel, does that lend to a preference of a low output clean pickup?" The short answer is "maybe"--I've seen some claim that lower-output pickups tend to allow the natrual (acoustic) character of a guitar to come through more than, say, a high-output pickup--see the third post down (from bananafist on Oct 8, 2014) here for example: www.tdpri.com/threads/low-output-pickups.516278/ Having said that, it's worth mentioning that, for better or for worse, a pickup's voicing can either compensate for something that is "missing" in the acoustic sound of the guitar OR they can exaggerate some of the natural sound of the guitar. Seymour Duncan has a nice post on that here: www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/choosing-pickups-to-match-your-guitars-wood. Therefore, you may want to take that into consideration when landing on a specific pickup choice for your guitar (in addition to the output level). Other things to consider are potentiometer (pot) values. I used 500k CTS pots all around in the guitar in this video. Capacitor (cap) values are another thing to consider--I don't recall what value I used for this demo. I think they were .022uF since that's fairly common. The EJ's, in my opinion, are low in ouput but fairly bright and pretty light on bass/low-end, and that's actually what drew me to them. Context: I grew up playing a lot of Fenders teles and strats (both pretty bright thanks to the single coils and woods used amongst many other things), and playing the neck pickup I originally had in the LP-style guitar in this video left me craving something a little brigher/less bassy. That's purely personal preference on my part as I tend to gravitate toward the sound of strat neck pickups. I liked the neck pickup enough that I ended up getting another EJ Custom bridge second hand and popping it in the same guitar. (For the record, I previously had GFS dream 180's in the guitar. I like that pickup in the bridge but not so much in the neck.) As a general rule, I also tend to prefer low-to-medium output pickups like the EJ Customs since they don't overdrive an amp too quickly. This makes it easier for me to get what I consider to be a "nice" clean tone. The exception to this rule would probably be the Dimarzio Super Distortion and Super II set I demoed on a different video, but then, those aren't terribly high-output pickups by modern standards so I'm told. Hopefully that rambling response helps you in your search for the perfect pickups for your guitar. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. Glad you enjoyed the video, and thanks for your kind words! Some other "fun" forum posts on tonewood and low output pickups I found while writing this response: www.soundonsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82169 forum.seymourduncan.com/forum/the-pickup-lounge/322173-lowest-output-humbucker-in-production/page2
@wooggeek Жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 thank you for the references and info. There's a lot to consider. Take aways: I have to calculate the sum of all parts when attempting to create the target tones and output I am trying to achieve. May take a few experiments even if following a recipe that worked for someone else with similar ears or similar parts. Thanks again!🙏🎸🎸
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
@@wooggeek You nailed it! Good summary. Best of luck finding the right pickups!
@richarddonegan4666 Жыл бұрын
Awesome! I got one years ago. Finally I got enough guitar skills to use it! Nice Video 👍..........
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Thanks for your kind words, Richard, and merry Christmas to you!
@TomPeck76 Жыл бұрын
😎😎😎
@markkeneson6806 Жыл бұрын
Another thing you could do is use a clean boost only when you are in parallel mode to bring the level up to the same as the series mode.
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
A fine point worth making. Lots of brightness to cut through a mix + the volume retained.
@stylestep111 Жыл бұрын
Loved the playing, cm4 sounds best to my ears, in this solo context anyway
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Thanks for your kind words! I like me those CM4's. Depending on context (and budget), any one of the three mics can produce a usable sound, but I am tending to lean more toward flatter/more neutral mics as of late, and the CM4 is very flat (in a good way).
@TerrapinStation Жыл бұрын
Great video man! Was exactly what I needed.
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
That's great! I'm glad it helped you.
@robertwhite9824 Жыл бұрын
This is the lead character in the Revenge of the Nerds movie!!!
@robertwhite9824 Жыл бұрын
I thought he was dead, but here he is, making a new living making youtube videos. Good for him
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Okay, I'll admit it: I had never seen that movie and had to look it up. But then I laughed pretty hard when I saw who I was being compared to. XD Ha ha!
@timbuk1126 Жыл бұрын
My favorite pickup. It's really well rounded and not shrill. Gives a nice brutal chunk when you need it.
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Yes indeed! It's a classic for a reason. ;-)
@r.williams8349 Жыл бұрын
great video thank you nice playing
@guidrummer1 Жыл бұрын
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
@zaim_ipek2 жыл бұрын
I'm shocked at how bad the Avantone sounds here. I have heard it sound better in other applications, but it sounds almost broken here. Shocking. I love the very full tonal richness of the cm4. It works great on filling in thinner instruments like mandolin, but a bit much on the acoustic that already had lots of fullness. But that's a really easy fix with eq. The Audix was good on everything, but thinner than I would like on instruments that really need a full sounding mic. And again that Avantone just sounded like recording through a flip phone to me. I don't know what happened there. I wonder if your mic got damaged. Nobody else seems to be commenting on it, so idk.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Hm... I suppose it's possible (re: damage to the Avantone). I have two of them and haven't really noticed that they sound too different than each other per se. Might need to do a side-by-side comparison of the two again in the near future to be sure. I actually still use both of them with good results on a lot of stuff, and I sort of attributed the perceived nastiness in the high end of the CK-1 to the extreme differences in the voicing/EQ of CM4 and CK-1 being highlighted by being played back to back. Yeah, the CM4 sound sweet. But as you pointed out, it can overwhelm on the bass end depending on the instrument. I find that I like it a LOT on the mandolin and have used it for that application several times since recording this demo. It just excels at bringing out the richness without sounding too "plucky." I like the CK-1 better for more mellow stuff like the ukulele. That lack of low-end is a pretty common complaint I see on the Audix f15. It also has a pretty significant boost on the top end, so it generally sounds best on stuff that doesn't require a lot of low-end (e.g. hi-hats). I had two of them for the longest time--they served me well for a lot of amateur recordings, but once I got the CM4's and CK-1's, I started to realize I didn't have a lot of use for them anymore. That and I needed some cash for other gear ha ha! Random note: I find the placement of the CM4/Audix to be more forgiving (i.e. easier to find a "sweet spot") since they're both slightly on the "wide cardioid" side. Although, if I'm in a tight spot or trying to mic my acoustic and sing, I end up using the hypercardioid capsule on the CK-1 pointed at the acoustic with my mouth in the "null" spot. I can get some pretty great isolation that way.
@angusorvid88402 жыл бұрын
The Super Distortion has always been my favorite pickup, followed by the Tone Zone. I usually pair it with an Air Zone PAF or Super 2. It's a versatile pickup and the name should not scare people away even if they don't play hard rock and metal. It's extremely versatile and warm. Great demo.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Absolutely! Great pickup, and I'll admit, I WAS one of the people who was scared away by the name for several years. Read up on 'em and finally tried one and was pleasantly surprised at how versatile it was. I have not tried the Tone Zone. Maybe one day. Gotta get the $$$. :D Thanks for your comment!
@angusorvid88402 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 Just keep in mind the Tone Zone will sound too bassy in a Les Paul or any guitar on a Gibson scale. It's ideal in 25 scale instruments. But the Super D will work in any scale, any guitar. It's probably the most adaptable aftermarket pickup ever designed. While the Super D set a new standard for output in 1972, it's since been surpassed by much hotter pickups, many made by DiMarzio, but also Seymour Duncan and EMG, etc. But with amps where they are these days you can use a medium output pickup and get crushing distortion. So what I focus on is tone. If a pickup has a good, basic tone, it's going to sound great with a lot of distortion. A pickup like a Super D or Tone Zone or Air Zone will sound great with high or low gain and they all coil split and do parallel very well. I find the Super D just has a lot of soul. I mean, it literally breaths. It also breaths fire when you need it to. Rock on.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
@@angusorvid8840 Great info on all accounts! Thanks. ;-)
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
@@angusorvid8840 Great info/advice on all accounts. Thanks! ;-)
@iam-music2 жыл бұрын
Great work. Would you have links to the files, so they can be loaded in the daw for blind testing at studio?
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Thanks. See if this works for you. I've put them all in a DropBox folder with a text file saying which file corresponds to which mic. www.dropbox.com/sh/ko8201dc1gdl60t/AACppIetH7R-W4aWdIowONs-a?dl=0 ^If that doesn't work, let me know.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Oh and pardon the extra mistakes and long gaps with two goofy guys talking. Ha ha!
@robflores51722 жыл бұрын
Thinking about dropping the Steve Morse model in the bridge and the EJ in the neck of one of my Charvel 750XL's. Gotta do it with Push/Pulls and a Super 5-way tho cause I don't wanna heavily mod them to get this kind of variety.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
That sounds like a neat combo. I've never tried the Steve Morse model, but I do like his tones (let alone the fantastic playing). I'd love to see some clips of the ol' Charvels if you get around to dropping those pups in there! Yeah, I like the "feel" of switches a little better than push-pulls a lot of times (and I didn't mind modding the guitar in this video since it was an old knockoff), but lately I've been favoring push-pulls for extra tones precisely for the reason you mentioned (re: less modding and drilling into a nice guitar).
@michaelc.37942 жыл бұрын
the two together sound good.. maybe 57@70% & LR100@30%
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Thanks! Yeah, I could see myself tweaking the ratio a bit to taste. 57 as the main source and LR100 just a bit to bring in some low end.
@philipdonovan65102 жыл бұрын
Yeah, the CM4, although not seeming bright enough when A/B's to the others seems to capture the acoustic depth and realism in the acoustic instruments. The highs on the other 2 although offering some desired brighness seem a bit spikey and not totally real. it would be interesting to hear the CM4 be EQ's with a good EQ to bring the eq more in line with the others, see what we get then. good video, very telling, Thank you.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Yep. Agreed. The CM4 is very flat, so it comes off as lacking some of the "sparkle" of the other two mics (even though it sounds more true to the instruments). But the other two, as you said, tend to seem a little too bright/hyped on some of the transients. That's an interesting idea for another video (re: EQ'ing the CM4 to bring it in line with the others). I had even wondered about doing a sample of the three of them in a full-band mix at some point if I get the time/motivation. Chances are, I would probably end up EQin'g the CM4 in a way that would make it sound a bit more like the other two anyway. I suppose it's all in the application. "Horses for courses" as they say. ;-)
@philipdonovan65102 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 Another thing I would look at in a mic is what happens when many tracks are made and mixed together. Does something get exascerbated that wasn't noticed in just one track, or do the many recorded tracks mix together in a nice complex and natural way. That spikey high may be good on one track but it could be something that gets magnified in a way that can't even be EQ'd out reasonably well. A good mic will continue to glue subsequent tracks together in a very eloquent nice way. A CM4 will definitely do that.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
@@philipdonovan6510 Could not agree more! That's actually one of the things that drew me to the CM4's in the first place. I've used the f15's and CK-1's for years, and while I do like their sound for certain things, I have found some of the higher frequencies tend to build up in a mix pretty quickly, and it tends to induce listening fatigue and a battle at mix time to try to keep things from sounding overly harsh. Again, not knocking the f15's or CK-1's there per se--all depends on what the instrument in question needs. It's just that the sort of "built-in EQ" they have can be difficult (if not impossible) to undo as you said.
@StephenJaguar2 жыл бұрын
Great video however it didnt seem like a demo of the pickups... more like a demo of the wiring and configuration. I cant tell when you are using what pickup.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Hi Stephen, thanks for your comment. That's actually a good point I hadn't considered. I probably should have specified that the neck is the Super II and the bridge is the Super Distortion. With that info, you should be able to determine which pickup is in use at each point since the text at the top specifies "Bridge," "Neck," or "Bridge & Neck." I'll add info specifying which is which in the description. Have a good one!
@gwhiz37082 жыл бұрын
If you take the time to check these pickups out on Dimarzio’s website it tells you what position each pickup is for but I guess that’s too complicated for whiners 😭
@larryboeding2402 жыл бұрын
Great job .. any problem with noise?
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Hey there! Thanks for your comment. If you mean electrical noise (like buzzing), I didn't really notice that any more with the EJ Customs than I have with any other humbucker. The guitar in the video went through a couple of pickup swaps, and all seemed to produce about the same amount of noise--which I generally chalked up to my own poor soldering skills, not the pickups themselves.
@larryboeding2402 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 thanks for the response. do you still use the EJ pickups?
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
@@larryboeding240 Another good question. So, let me give a little disclaimer before I answer that: to make some space in my small living quarters (and to make a little cash), I recently thinned the herd down to where I only kept three guitars: my 50th Anniversary Am. Del. Fender Strat, my 80's MIJ Contemporary (Boxer) Tele, and my Warmoth/Fender partscaster tele). The guitar in this video was one of the unfortunate victims--but that didn't really have to do with these pickups (which I quite liked). It had more to do with the fact that I had other guitars that could cover the same bases in a recording environment (which is primarily what I do these days as far as music goes). So no, I don't use them because I sold the guitar. TL;DR: I still like the EJ Customs, but I don't use them anymore since I sold off most of my guitars. ;-) Feel free to ask other questions if you have any.
@dr81942 жыл бұрын
Which cap value are you using for the half out of phase sound? Thank's. Great video! 🎸
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Hey there! Good question. It was a 0.01µF cap. I did this based on the guidance from this site among others: www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage-the-bill-lawrence-5-way-telecaster-circuit You can do other values, but this seemed like a good starting point just to try it out. I went ahead and added the value to the video description based on your question. Thanks!
@craigzimmermann66002 жыл бұрын
That Tele sounds great! :-)
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
I think so too. Next time, let's spend a little more time on the positioning of the mics and getting the overdrive to push the amp into its sweet spot. The OD sounds slightly fizzy to me on this video even though I really like both the ODR-mini and the Princeton and know they can produce some fantastic tones. No complaints on the cleans. Those sound great as always. :-)
@craigzimmermann66002 жыл бұрын
I like the CM4 especially on the guitars and the mandolin. All are unique and one may be preferable in a given mix I think, but the CM4 seems pleasingly warm to my ear.
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Yep. I like 'em all in different ways. I particularly like the CM4 on the mandolin.
@craigzimmermann66002 жыл бұрын
The Avantone sounds nice and the F-15. The Avantone sounds particularly nice on the Ukulele near the end of the video (IMHO).
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Yep. With those nylon strings, the uke is a bit more mellow and can use the top-end sparkle that the CK-1 and f15 provide.
@craigzimmermann66002 жыл бұрын
Liking that CM4 a lot . . . . . :-)
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Same here. With how flat the frequency response is, it might take a little more EQ'ing to get it to sit in a dense mix. Can sound a little less "exciting" than the other two, but that can be a good thing for extended listening (i.e. less ear fatigue from excessive high-end). All depends on what you're going for of course.
@MarcelAdrianMuntean2 жыл бұрын
Hi, I presume you have the bridge and the neck pickups in parallel, correct ? Have you tried the three different modes (in-phase, half out-of-phase, and out-of-phase) but with the pickups in series ?
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
Hi Marcel, good question. Yes, the pickups were wired in parallel. I have not tried the three different modes in series unfortunately. I have been "thinning the herd" a bit lately and don't currently have a spare guitar to try this out on, but if I do in the future, I'll let you know. Would be a good tone test.
@rabbitspliff2 жыл бұрын
Half out-of-phase isn't possible in series. Half out-of-phase works by controlling which frequencies one of the coils is contributing and therefore which frequencies interact and cancel out with the other coil it's out of phase with. Being out of phase affects lower frequencies more than higher frequencies. The half out-of-phase sound when the coils are parallel to one another is achieved by placing a cap in series with one of the coils, which acts as a bass cut, thus cutting some of the bass frequencies that would interact with and cancel out the bass frequencies of the other coil, therefore retaining more bass in the final output signal. The aim with half out-of-phase is to pick a cap that cuts some bass frequencies from that one coil while still passing through some low-mid frequencies, for example, which then interact with and cancel out the low mids of the other coil while the bass frequencies of that other coil are retained, so half out-of-phase done properly is in a way acting as a mid scoop. When the coils are in series, if you place a cap in series with one coil your placing it in series with both, so the bass cut effect that allowed the other coil's bass frequencies to be retained in the parallel setup, are getting cut from both pickups when in series - so rather than allowing some bass to be retained when out of phase, putting a cap in when they're in series would act to cut even _more_ bass than plain old out-of-phase does. Trust me it'd be pretty severe. If you think of the treble cut you get from a standard tone control, and how severe the loss of treble is and how muddy it can sound when the tone control is turned way down, imagine that being done to the bass frequencies instead, and how thin and tinny they'd sound, especially if you're using a 0.01µF cap instead of for example a 0.047µF cap.
@pukeschannel68823 жыл бұрын
Dude, I, too,.. really would love a comparison between the SD and Super 2 and ED Customs, but NOT ONCE did you use the super 2 in the bridge position and compare it to the other 2 in the bridge position (unless I missed it..my internet is awfully slow). The true comparison is when you keep other things equal. Please, (that is, if you ever have occasion to have them all in the bridge position and one point or another,) try to do a comparison with each in the bridge. I have not had a super II since the early 80s,..And I'm contemplating getting another one, but I'm not sure I am really remembering what it sounded like,...or if I'm remembering what I wished it sounded like,. \
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Hey there! You're not the first person to ask about the Super 2 in the bridge. I didn't realize at the time that folks would be interested in that. You're correct--I didn't compare those. Oh and I agree on the true comparison being when you keep everything equal (i.e. same guitar, same signal chain, etc.). This was sort of meant to be a quickie comparison for someone who was asking about the SD/S2 vs. the EJ Customs, and I didn't have time at that point to swap the pickups unfortunately. On another unfortunate note, I actually recently traded the guitar with the SD/S2 to a family member for another piece of gear that I needed more at the time and couldn't afford otherwise. :-( I still have access to the guitar since it's in the family (thank goodness--because I quite like noodling on it from time to time), but I don't think the current owner would be too enthused about me swapping the pickups around for another demo. Ha ha!
@desertangelofficial19212 жыл бұрын
I'm a little late to the party, but if you want to look up what it would sound like in the bridge you can look up a demo for the Dimarzio IBZ pickups since the IBZ B is based off the super 2 according to Dimarzio
@guidrummer12 жыл бұрын
@@desertangelofficial1921 Good to know. Thanks for the info!
@christopherpage32243 жыл бұрын
Excellent demo, and playing man. I got a Super 2 in parallel in my ASAT at the neck. Sounds great! Considering putting the SD (series) in my SG at the bridge with a parallel Super 2 at the neck.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much, my friend! That sounds like a great combo on the ASAT. The SG would likely sound awesome like that too. (I'd love to hear it if you ever pop these pups in there.)
@keeferhazlewood69183 жыл бұрын
Nice informative demo. Shows the versatility of these pickups which are now featured on the BFR Silhouette. Not just an 80's hair band pickup.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Thanks! I totally agree. These pickups are way more versatile than a lot of folks seem to give them credit for.
@vickieharrismusic1643 жыл бұрын
Great info and demonstration of this, thank you!!!
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
No problem! I'm glad it was helpful for you.
@jacktripperthemusical3 жыл бұрын
Good job on the video. Nice audio quality. That wasn't quite correct, though, about needing two 2-way switches to change from Parallel Mode to Series Mode for two humbuckers. That limitation is true for 2PDT type pots, but 2 way 4PDT pots do exist, and one of those that can handle that switching for two humbuckers. www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/electronics/switches/large-ultra-toggle-switch-4pdt-4-pole-2-way-on-on-chrome/ Fender even makes a 4PDT switch in push-push pot form - the S1. www.premierguitar.com/gear/mod-garage-the-fender-s-1-switching-system
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Ah yes. That's true. I did forget about the 4PDT switches--which is kind of ironic considering I have the S-1 switching in my strat. But then, I didn't realize the S-1 was a 4PDT--it's always been a bit of a "mystery switch" to me. Thanks for the info, my friend!
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Hope you don't mind I threw a bit of this conversation into the description of this video with a credit to you.
@jacktripperthemusical3 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 that's fine, thanks
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
@@jacktripperthemusical Sure thing.
@BTvisuals3 жыл бұрын
Awesome demo. Really appreciate that you didn't overcomplicate it, and starting off with clean tones is really great! Thanks for the vid.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Hey! Thanks for your kind words. You're most welcome. I tried to keep it clean and simple. I couldn't find many videos on this topic when I was first curious about the difference in the three tones, so I figured I'd try to make a quick sample in case it could help someone else out who was looking into out-of-phase/half-out-of-phase mods.
@cegelkab033 жыл бұрын
Anyone having trouble running theirs through an amp? Mine just squeals and hisses at low volume.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Hm... I didn't have trouble with squealing so much with mine, but I rarely ran it through an amp. I DID have trouble with a bit of hiss on some of the settings though. That seemed to be a common complaint about the pre-amp on this unit even when it was still in production. I often ran my guitar first into an ART Tube MP Project Series preamp (or even a boost pedal) and then into the Korg and kept the Korg's preamp turned down lower. This helped with the hiss.
@seattleday96903 жыл бұрын
I have a Luxor 3 pickup Les Paul Custom. It was a husk bought in 1999. The middle pickup was routed bad. My dad fixed it up for me. I haven't played it yet sin I'm in in California it's up in Washington State. Can wait.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
That sounds sweet! I had not heard of the Luxors before. So many different Japanese guitar brands from the70's. I love 'em! I also have a National "Big Daddy" LP 457-2 which is a Les Paul knockoff but built more like a semi-hollow. The thing actually plays really well considering it was a budget model.
@seattleday96903 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 We found out Luxor was imported to Germany made by Ibanez. Yep it's made in Japan.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
@@seattleday9690 Very, very cool! If you ever get a to record any kind of demo with it, I'd love to see it.
@seattleday96903 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 I will.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
@@seattleday9690 Looking forward to it.
@craigzimmermann66003 жыл бұрын
Nice Sound Track!
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Well, thanks. I learned how to play from a local guitar instructor before he was a guitar instructor. :-P
@craigzimmermann66003 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 Ha!
@leea51233 жыл бұрын
Got any vids with the super 2 in the bridge position ?
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Hey there! Unfortunately, no I don't, but I did stumble across some videos of this guy with a Super 2 in the bridge when I was first researching the Super Distortion/Super 2: kzread.info/dash/bejne/pa2KlbWaeNa3ftY.html and kzread.info/dash/bejne/oqGj0rJxdqXNk5M.html <-His bridge tones sound good to me. Given the nature of the EQ on the Super 2, I'd imagine it would be brighter in the Bridge with a tighter low end than the Super Distortion. That would be a good idea for a future video if I ever get the time.
@leea51233 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 I saw those but they weren't played on a clean channel or in a Gibson scale length guitar
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
@@leea5123 Yeah, that's fair. I haven't seen any videos of a clean Super 2 in a Gibson scale length either.
@barrypearson6443 жыл бұрын
Sounds almost acoustic like.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
You know, it kind of does. I wonder if that's more to do with the pickups or the guitar itself? It looks like a solid-body, but it's actually more of hollow-body like a lot of the old Japanese LP knockoffs from the 70's were.
@barrypearson6443 жыл бұрын
@@guidrummer1 I would think the pickups have more affect than the body.
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
@@barrypearson644 Yeah, in general, I would too. Just sort of thinking out loud there. Body materials/construction, pickups, amp, etc.--they'll all affect the tone a bit. Though generally with electrics, I tend to think of the pickups and amp as the top two factors.
@guyincognito3203 ай бұрын
These are amazing pickups and they sound bad when you just strum cowboy chords like you're playing acoustic. Bad demo.
@pooupi803 жыл бұрын
What a great song! So true... so good. I love it!!!
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Thanks for your kind words.
@whozrab50053 жыл бұрын
this is how you do a demo video! props to you man!!
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Well, thank you very much for your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
@mariaulfah79023 жыл бұрын
wow, nice wiring
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Thanks! It looks like a rat's nest inside--my cable management could use some work. At least it's functional.
@DougGarrett3 жыл бұрын
Sounds great!
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Thank ya! Much appreciated.
@andreadonisbrasil3 жыл бұрын
Great demo Bro 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
@guidrummer13 жыл бұрын
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it. I had a hard time finding many demos on the Super 2, in particular, when I was making the decision to buy it, so I figured I'd make one in case it could help anyone else out.
Пікірлер
I do like a low output ( split or parallel) to high output ( series Humbucker) because you can run your rig on hair of breakup on single and when you switch to Humbucker it’s like an instant overdrive.
Absolutely. Fun to add just a little "hair" onto the tone at the flick of a switch. 😁
That EJ neck pickup is almost like the Humbucker From Hell ("HFH"), Dimarzio's DP-156. The DC resistance is 7.01 kOhm according to DiMarzio's specs. The HFH is supposedly 5.89, but I measured mine at 6. Not far off from 7. Both use Alnico 5 magnets. From your demo, the sound is very similar. I use a switch with some capacitors to get different sounds from the HFH. In one position, I get a tone that is like distortion pickups like the Super Distortion. Your video is helpful in checking the cap values for that, like are they in the ballpark that we are getting the darker tone of a typical distortion pickup.
You know, I've never tried the HFH, but I've speculated over what it might sound like in the neck as I tend to favor brighter neck pickups. It does look like the EJ neck and the HFH would cover pretty similar territory with all other variables being the same. How did you go about the cap switching--something like a rotary/varitone kind of setup? Thanks for your kind words, by the way. I'm glad the video was helpful to you. 🙂
@@guidrummer1 Varitone concept, but with just a DPDT switch (with middle off position). If I throw it one way, one capacitor is put across the pickup. If I throw it the other way, that same capacitor plus another one in parallel is activated. One of these days I will look into a push-pull volume pot with integrated DPDT to have it all in one place. CTS makes them; I've always known about them.
@@kazkylheku1221Cool idea. I may have to experiment with something similar sometime.
When you order a guitar player from wish
These Eric Johnson pickups are probably my favorite ever; makes me want to get a HH guitar just to put them in it.
Yeah, they're pretty awesome pickups for sure!
Penco pickups are really nice they even copied the T on their bobbins like real Gibsons So weird
Yeah, I think that neck pickup was original. I liked the sound of it. Shame the bridge pickup wasn't didn't come with it. I'm guessing the bridge pickup that was in it when I bought it was one of the older DiMarzio PAF pickups.
proffessional and cool demo
Use preset chanal foot sw
did you use a 5 way switch? is this possible, or is out of phase at least possible with a 4 way switch?
Hi there. I didn't use a 5-way switch, but here's an article from Premier Guitar that I pulled inspiration from, and they DO use a 5-way switch. www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage/bill-lawrence-5-way-telecaster-wiring -- but note: this wiring adds "half out of phase" at position 4 and "neck pickup with 10% less low end" at position 5. They don't include the option of the "regular" out of phase sound here. I've also seen some people add an out of phase sound and also the bridge and neck in series (instead of parallel), but that's normally done with a 5-way "super switch" or some other extra switches added. See here for example: kzread.info/dash/bejne/nKOBlrNwmsyblKg.html Instead, I ended up using two mini switches--one to sort of "turn on" the out-of-phase options and another to switch between out of phase and half out of phase (i.e. by either using a capacitor or bypassing it). There's a schematic around 2:52 on the video that shows this. I'm not sure about the 4-way switch option--would have to think on that. See also: www.wildepickups.com/pages/tele-neck-for-half-out-of-phase-sound-wiring-diagram Feel free to ask other questions
Thank you for sharing. How are the 2 dpdt switches wired? I can see they are interactive. Even just a clue about the wiring would mean a lot to me. Thank you again.
Hi there, Great question! The inspiration from this wiring came from my use of Seymour Duncan Triple Shots and P-Rails on a different guitar, so I wired it something like this diagram from Seymour Duncan (just using dpdt toggles instead of push-pull pots): www.seymourduncan.com/images/wiring-diagrams/2PRail_3G_1VppSPL_1TppSPL.jpg Keep in mind that the pickups used in this demo are DiMarzios and, therefore, have different wiring color codes than the Seymour Duncans in the diagram above do. To translate the wire colors appropriately, I consulted this page: www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/humbucker-wire-color-translation Feel free to ask if you have any other questions.
@@guidrummer1 Thank you so much. I love what you did with your pickups. The Prail wiring diagram is perfect. Thank you again.
@@jamesnemenyi No problem! Glad you enjoyed it. Good luck wiring your pickups! 🎸
The LR 100 sells for just $28 right now on Monoprice's website!
Thanks for calling that out, they went OOS/sold out while I was watching this video.
@@carlkerkman7028 Darn it! And I was eager to tell you there's also a "MARCH15" promo code for an additional 15% off. 😖
Saw that the other day. It's a steal at that price!
@@guidrummer1 Was. It's sold out now, and discountinued. Well, no surprise there; the huge price drop was a big hint.
@@sinocelt Yeah, I figured it might not be long before it sold out with the price being so low. Shame to hear it's discontinued though. 🙄
Very useful demo! Great representation of pickups!
Thanks for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed it!
@@guidrummer1 after watching this video I ordered EJ CUstom neck for my tele-style project guitar. Will pair it with Chopper T in the bridge. But I am in doubts about wiring the tele middle position (both pickups). EJ Custom is really bright by its own already, so I am thinking - should I treat it just as single coil in terms of tone, or should I use only one coil for pairing it with the bridge pickup. Would love to hear your opinion based on your experience with EJ pickups.
@@SergeiVlassov Good question there. First, I should put the disclaimer that I've never tried the chopper T myself (though I've heard good things), so I'm left to just look at the specs online and/or listen to some demos to get an idea of how it would play with an EJ Custom neck. Also, as you rightly said, this is all just my opinion so YMMV. You're right: the EJ is really bright for a humbucker--even in full (series) humbucker mode which I tend to like in neck pickups (having grown up on a bunch of strats and teles). In terms of EQ, I wouldn't be opposed to pairing it with a hot single (or single-sized humbucker) provided that the output level was satisfying to play with in each position. On that note, I tend to prefer the "perceived" output in each position to be relatively close, but not everyone does, so you may want to take that into consideration as well. (I say "perceived" output because there are some pickups that seem to me to have a difference in volume just because of extreme differences in their EQ/voicing when actually their overall output level on paper is the same.) I tend to perceive a volume drop on many tele neck pickups, and that tends to bother me for whatever reason (just personal preference for feel and sound, I guess). BUT if you like that on a normal tele, you might want to split the EJ neck and just use one of the coils as you suggested. Keep in mind that if you don't also split the chopper T and pair its RWRP coil with the EJ's coil, then you may introduce some 60-cycle hum. But if you do also split the chopper, that may result in a larger volume-drop. Conversely, if you do NOT like the volume drop of a regular tele neck (relative to the bridge), you may want to leave the EJ in series humbucker mode. Now, all of this was specifically for the middle position as you indicated, so it might take some experimentation (i.e. trying out a few different wirings) to figure out what you like the feel/sound of best in that position. I know that's not always what we want to hear since it's a bit of a pain to wire and rewire things, but it may be your best option since we all have our own personal preferences. As an interesting side note, looking at the EQ for the EJ Custom and the Twang King (which is paired with the Chopper T in the Richie Kotzen tele) indicates that they aren't all that dissimilar EQ-wise. Granted the EJ is a humbucker and has a decent amount more output than the Twang King, so they would still sound somewhat different, but it may be an indicator that the chopper and EJ will play nicely together. Again YMMV. Good luck with your tele project!
@@guidrummer1 Thank you very much for such detailed response! Yes, I hate soldering process in confined conditions like in guitars :) So I am trying to reduce the amount of attempts in advance. Your response helps me to reduce the number of options I need to try.
@@SergeiVlassov Yeah, that's fair. I can get pretty aggravated with soldering in small guitar control cavities myself. Ha ha!
Clean this almost sounds like an acoustic. if I like the sound of my guitar unplugged, tone and feel, does that lend to a preference of a low output clean pickup? Aside, from not hearing mistakes as clearly and those nuisances, I am trying to understand this, and recreate this plugged in. Thinking of ej humbuckers w/split. Thank you for your video. !!
Hi Brad! Great question! I guess I should preface my response by saying that anytime there is a discussion of the output of a pickup, how much that affects the tone vs. how much the tonewood or other factors are involved, etc. you'll get some wildly varying opinions (some more scientific than others). In that vein, I have to admit that my own comments here are also based on my own preferences, limited personal experience, and some online "research" (I use that term lightly ;-) ); so, take all of this with a grain of salt. Second, I can't really make a recommendation on what will sound good to you in your guitar using your rig since a lot of this is personal preference based on our own perceptions of what sounds good to us as individuals. However, I can share my experience and why I used the EJ Customs in this guitar. With that out of the way, let's take a look at your question: "if I like the sound of my guitar unplugged, tone and feel, does that lend to a preference of a low output clean pickup?" The short answer is "maybe"--I've seen some claim that lower-output pickups tend to allow the natrual (acoustic) character of a guitar to come through more than, say, a high-output pickup--see the third post down (from bananafist on Oct 8, 2014) here for example: www.tdpri.com/threads/low-output-pickups.516278/ Having said that, it's worth mentioning that, for better or for worse, a pickup's voicing can either compensate for something that is "missing" in the acoustic sound of the guitar OR they can exaggerate some of the natural sound of the guitar. Seymour Duncan has a nice post on that here: www.seymourduncan.com/blog/latest-updates/choosing-pickups-to-match-your-guitars-wood. Therefore, you may want to take that into consideration when landing on a specific pickup choice for your guitar (in addition to the output level). Other things to consider are potentiometer (pot) values. I used 500k CTS pots all around in the guitar in this video. Capacitor (cap) values are another thing to consider--I don't recall what value I used for this demo. I think they were .022uF since that's fairly common. The EJ's, in my opinion, are low in ouput but fairly bright and pretty light on bass/low-end, and that's actually what drew me to them. Context: I grew up playing a lot of Fenders teles and strats (both pretty bright thanks to the single coils and woods used amongst many other things), and playing the neck pickup I originally had in the LP-style guitar in this video left me craving something a little brigher/less bassy. That's purely personal preference on my part as I tend to gravitate toward the sound of strat neck pickups. I liked the neck pickup enough that I ended up getting another EJ Custom bridge second hand and popping it in the same guitar. (For the record, I previously had GFS dream 180's in the guitar. I like that pickup in the bridge but not so much in the neck.) As a general rule, I also tend to prefer low-to-medium output pickups like the EJ Customs since they don't overdrive an amp too quickly. This makes it easier for me to get what I consider to be a "nice" clean tone. The exception to this rule would probably be the Dimarzio Super Distortion and Super II set I demoed on a different video, but then, those aren't terribly high-output pickups by modern standards so I'm told. Hopefully that rambling response helps you in your search for the perfect pickups for your guitar. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask. Glad you enjoyed the video, and thanks for your kind words! Some other "fun" forum posts on tonewood and low output pickups I found while writing this response: www.soundonsound.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=82169 forum.seymourduncan.com/forum/the-pickup-lounge/322173-lowest-output-humbucker-in-production/page2
@@guidrummer1 thank you for the references and info. There's a lot to consider. Take aways: I have to calculate the sum of all parts when attempting to create the target tones and output I am trying to achieve. May take a few experiments even if following a recipe that worked for someone else with similar ears or similar parts. Thanks again!🙏🎸🎸
@@wooggeek You nailed it! Good summary. Best of luck finding the right pickups!
Awesome! I got one years ago. Finally I got enough guitar skills to use it! Nice Video 👍..........
Thanks for your kind words, Richard, and merry Christmas to you!
😎😎😎
Another thing you could do is use a clean boost only when you are in parallel mode to bring the level up to the same as the series mode.
A fine point worth making. Lots of brightness to cut through a mix + the volume retained.
Loved the playing, cm4 sounds best to my ears, in this solo context anyway
Thanks for your kind words! I like me those CM4's. Depending on context (and budget), any one of the three mics can produce a usable sound, but I am tending to lean more toward flatter/more neutral mics as of late, and the CM4 is very flat (in a good way).
Great video man! Was exactly what I needed.
That's great! I'm glad it helped you.
This is the lead character in the Revenge of the Nerds movie!!!
I thought he was dead, but here he is, making a new living making youtube videos. Good for him
Okay, I'll admit it: I had never seen that movie and had to look it up. But then I laughed pretty hard when I saw who I was being compared to. XD Ha ha!
My favorite pickup. It's really well rounded and not shrill. Gives a nice brutal chunk when you need it.
Yes indeed! It's a classic for a reason. ;-)
great video thank you nice playing
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.
I'm shocked at how bad the Avantone sounds here. I have heard it sound better in other applications, but it sounds almost broken here. Shocking. I love the very full tonal richness of the cm4. It works great on filling in thinner instruments like mandolin, but a bit much on the acoustic that already had lots of fullness. But that's a really easy fix with eq. The Audix was good on everything, but thinner than I would like on instruments that really need a full sounding mic. And again that Avantone just sounded like recording through a flip phone to me. I don't know what happened there. I wonder if your mic got damaged. Nobody else seems to be commenting on it, so idk.
Hm... I suppose it's possible (re: damage to the Avantone). I have two of them and haven't really noticed that they sound too different than each other per se. Might need to do a side-by-side comparison of the two again in the near future to be sure. I actually still use both of them with good results on a lot of stuff, and I sort of attributed the perceived nastiness in the high end of the CK-1 to the extreme differences in the voicing/EQ of CM4 and CK-1 being highlighted by being played back to back. Yeah, the CM4 sound sweet. But as you pointed out, it can overwhelm on the bass end depending on the instrument. I find that I like it a LOT on the mandolin and have used it for that application several times since recording this demo. It just excels at bringing out the richness without sounding too "plucky." I like the CK-1 better for more mellow stuff like the ukulele. That lack of low-end is a pretty common complaint I see on the Audix f15. It also has a pretty significant boost on the top end, so it generally sounds best on stuff that doesn't require a lot of low-end (e.g. hi-hats). I had two of them for the longest time--they served me well for a lot of amateur recordings, but once I got the CM4's and CK-1's, I started to realize I didn't have a lot of use for them anymore. That and I needed some cash for other gear ha ha! Random note: I find the placement of the CM4/Audix to be more forgiving (i.e. easier to find a "sweet spot") since they're both slightly on the "wide cardioid" side. Although, if I'm in a tight spot or trying to mic my acoustic and sing, I end up using the hypercardioid capsule on the CK-1 pointed at the acoustic with my mouth in the "null" spot. I can get some pretty great isolation that way.
The Super Distortion has always been my favorite pickup, followed by the Tone Zone. I usually pair it with an Air Zone PAF or Super 2. It's a versatile pickup and the name should not scare people away even if they don't play hard rock and metal. It's extremely versatile and warm. Great demo.
Absolutely! Great pickup, and I'll admit, I WAS one of the people who was scared away by the name for several years. Read up on 'em and finally tried one and was pleasantly surprised at how versatile it was. I have not tried the Tone Zone. Maybe one day. Gotta get the $$$. :D Thanks for your comment!
@@guidrummer1 Just keep in mind the Tone Zone will sound too bassy in a Les Paul or any guitar on a Gibson scale. It's ideal in 25 scale instruments. But the Super D will work in any scale, any guitar. It's probably the most adaptable aftermarket pickup ever designed. While the Super D set a new standard for output in 1972, it's since been surpassed by much hotter pickups, many made by DiMarzio, but also Seymour Duncan and EMG, etc. But with amps where they are these days you can use a medium output pickup and get crushing distortion. So what I focus on is tone. If a pickup has a good, basic tone, it's going to sound great with a lot of distortion. A pickup like a Super D or Tone Zone or Air Zone will sound great with high or low gain and they all coil split and do parallel very well. I find the Super D just has a lot of soul. I mean, it literally breaths. It also breaths fire when you need it to. Rock on.
@@angusorvid8840 Great info on all accounts! Thanks. ;-)
@@angusorvid8840 Great info/advice on all accounts. Thanks! ;-)
Great work. Would you have links to the files, so they can be loaded in the daw for blind testing at studio?
Thanks. See if this works for you. I've put them all in a DropBox folder with a text file saying which file corresponds to which mic. www.dropbox.com/sh/ko8201dc1gdl60t/AACppIetH7R-W4aWdIowONs-a?dl=0 ^If that doesn't work, let me know.
Oh and pardon the extra mistakes and long gaps with two goofy guys talking. Ha ha!
Thinking about dropping the Steve Morse model in the bridge and the EJ in the neck of one of my Charvel 750XL's. Gotta do it with Push/Pulls and a Super 5-way tho cause I don't wanna heavily mod them to get this kind of variety.
That sounds like a neat combo. I've never tried the Steve Morse model, but I do like his tones (let alone the fantastic playing). I'd love to see some clips of the ol' Charvels if you get around to dropping those pups in there! Yeah, I like the "feel" of switches a little better than push-pulls a lot of times (and I didn't mind modding the guitar in this video since it was an old knockoff), but lately I've been favoring push-pulls for extra tones precisely for the reason you mentioned (re: less modding and drilling into a nice guitar).
the two together sound good.. maybe 57@70% & LR100@30%
Thanks! Yeah, I could see myself tweaking the ratio a bit to taste. 57 as the main source and LR100 just a bit to bring in some low end.
Yeah, the CM4, although not seeming bright enough when A/B's to the others seems to capture the acoustic depth and realism in the acoustic instruments. The highs on the other 2 although offering some desired brighness seem a bit spikey and not totally real. it would be interesting to hear the CM4 be EQ's with a good EQ to bring the eq more in line with the others, see what we get then. good video, very telling, Thank you.
Yep. Agreed. The CM4 is very flat, so it comes off as lacking some of the "sparkle" of the other two mics (even though it sounds more true to the instruments). But the other two, as you said, tend to seem a little too bright/hyped on some of the transients. That's an interesting idea for another video (re: EQ'ing the CM4 to bring it in line with the others). I had even wondered about doing a sample of the three of them in a full-band mix at some point if I get the time/motivation. Chances are, I would probably end up EQin'g the CM4 in a way that would make it sound a bit more like the other two anyway. I suppose it's all in the application. "Horses for courses" as they say. ;-)
@@guidrummer1 Another thing I would look at in a mic is what happens when many tracks are made and mixed together. Does something get exascerbated that wasn't noticed in just one track, or do the many recorded tracks mix together in a nice complex and natural way. That spikey high may be good on one track but it could be something that gets magnified in a way that can't even be EQ'd out reasonably well. A good mic will continue to glue subsequent tracks together in a very eloquent nice way. A CM4 will definitely do that.
@@philipdonovan6510 Could not agree more! That's actually one of the things that drew me to the CM4's in the first place. I've used the f15's and CK-1's for years, and while I do like their sound for certain things, I have found some of the higher frequencies tend to build up in a mix pretty quickly, and it tends to induce listening fatigue and a battle at mix time to try to keep things from sounding overly harsh. Again, not knocking the f15's or CK-1's there per se--all depends on what the instrument in question needs. It's just that the sort of "built-in EQ" they have can be difficult (if not impossible) to undo as you said.
Great video however it didnt seem like a demo of the pickups... more like a demo of the wiring and configuration. I cant tell when you are using what pickup.
Hi Stephen, thanks for your comment. That's actually a good point I hadn't considered. I probably should have specified that the neck is the Super II and the bridge is the Super Distortion. With that info, you should be able to determine which pickup is in use at each point since the text at the top specifies "Bridge," "Neck," or "Bridge & Neck." I'll add info specifying which is which in the description. Have a good one!
If you take the time to check these pickups out on Dimarzio’s website it tells you what position each pickup is for but I guess that’s too complicated for whiners 😭
Great job .. any problem with noise?
Hey there! Thanks for your comment. If you mean electrical noise (like buzzing), I didn't really notice that any more with the EJ Customs than I have with any other humbucker. The guitar in the video went through a couple of pickup swaps, and all seemed to produce about the same amount of noise--which I generally chalked up to my own poor soldering skills, not the pickups themselves.
@@guidrummer1 thanks for the response. do you still use the EJ pickups?
@@larryboeding240 Another good question. So, let me give a little disclaimer before I answer that: to make some space in my small living quarters (and to make a little cash), I recently thinned the herd down to where I only kept three guitars: my 50th Anniversary Am. Del. Fender Strat, my 80's MIJ Contemporary (Boxer) Tele, and my Warmoth/Fender partscaster tele). The guitar in this video was one of the unfortunate victims--but that didn't really have to do with these pickups (which I quite liked). It had more to do with the fact that I had other guitars that could cover the same bases in a recording environment (which is primarily what I do these days as far as music goes). So no, I don't use them because I sold the guitar. TL;DR: I still like the EJ Customs, but I don't use them anymore since I sold off most of my guitars. ;-) Feel free to ask other questions if you have any.
Which cap value are you using for the half out of phase sound? Thank's. Great video! 🎸
Hey there! Good question. It was a 0.01µF cap. I did this based on the guidance from this site among others: www.premierguitar.com/diy/mod-garage-the-bill-lawrence-5-way-telecaster-circuit You can do other values, but this seemed like a good starting point just to try it out. I went ahead and added the value to the video description based on your question. Thanks!
That Tele sounds great! :-)
I think so too. Next time, let's spend a little more time on the positioning of the mics and getting the overdrive to push the amp into its sweet spot. The OD sounds slightly fizzy to me on this video even though I really like both the ODR-mini and the Princeton and know they can produce some fantastic tones. No complaints on the cleans. Those sound great as always. :-)
I like the CM4 especially on the guitars and the mandolin. All are unique and one may be preferable in a given mix I think, but the CM4 seems pleasingly warm to my ear.
Yep. I like 'em all in different ways. I particularly like the CM4 on the mandolin.
The Avantone sounds nice and the F-15. The Avantone sounds particularly nice on the Ukulele near the end of the video (IMHO).
Yep. With those nylon strings, the uke is a bit more mellow and can use the top-end sparkle that the CK-1 and f15 provide.
Liking that CM4 a lot . . . . . :-)
Same here. With how flat the frequency response is, it might take a little more EQ'ing to get it to sit in a dense mix. Can sound a little less "exciting" than the other two, but that can be a good thing for extended listening (i.e. less ear fatigue from excessive high-end). All depends on what you're going for of course.
Hi, I presume you have the bridge and the neck pickups in parallel, correct ? Have you tried the three different modes (in-phase, half out-of-phase, and out-of-phase) but with the pickups in series ?
Hi Marcel, good question. Yes, the pickups were wired in parallel. I have not tried the three different modes in series unfortunately. I have been "thinning the herd" a bit lately and don't currently have a spare guitar to try this out on, but if I do in the future, I'll let you know. Would be a good tone test.
Half out-of-phase isn't possible in series. Half out-of-phase works by controlling which frequencies one of the coils is contributing and therefore which frequencies interact and cancel out with the other coil it's out of phase with. Being out of phase affects lower frequencies more than higher frequencies. The half out-of-phase sound when the coils are parallel to one another is achieved by placing a cap in series with one of the coils, which acts as a bass cut, thus cutting some of the bass frequencies that would interact with and cancel out the bass frequencies of the other coil, therefore retaining more bass in the final output signal. The aim with half out-of-phase is to pick a cap that cuts some bass frequencies from that one coil while still passing through some low-mid frequencies, for example, which then interact with and cancel out the low mids of the other coil while the bass frequencies of that other coil are retained, so half out-of-phase done properly is in a way acting as a mid scoop. When the coils are in series, if you place a cap in series with one coil your placing it in series with both, so the bass cut effect that allowed the other coil's bass frequencies to be retained in the parallel setup, are getting cut from both pickups when in series - so rather than allowing some bass to be retained when out of phase, putting a cap in when they're in series would act to cut even _more_ bass than plain old out-of-phase does. Trust me it'd be pretty severe. If you think of the treble cut you get from a standard tone control, and how severe the loss of treble is and how muddy it can sound when the tone control is turned way down, imagine that being done to the bass frequencies instead, and how thin and tinny they'd sound, especially if you're using a 0.01µF cap instead of for example a 0.047µF cap.
Dude, I, too,.. really would love a comparison between the SD and Super 2 and ED Customs, but NOT ONCE did you use the super 2 in the bridge position and compare it to the other 2 in the bridge position (unless I missed it..my internet is awfully slow). The true comparison is when you keep other things equal. Please, (that is, if you ever have occasion to have them all in the bridge position and one point or another,) try to do a comparison with each in the bridge. I have not had a super II since the early 80s,..And I'm contemplating getting another one, but I'm not sure I am really remembering what it sounded like,...or if I'm remembering what I wished it sounded like,. \
Hey there! You're not the first person to ask about the Super 2 in the bridge. I didn't realize at the time that folks would be interested in that. You're correct--I didn't compare those. Oh and I agree on the true comparison being when you keep everything equal (i.e. same guitar, same signal chain, etc.). This was sort of meant to be a quickie comparison for someone who was asking about the SD/S2 vs. the EJ Customs, and I didn't have time at that point to swap the pickups unfortunately. On another unfortunate note, I actually recently traded the guitar with the SD/S2 to a family member for another piece of gear that I needed more at the time and couldn't afford otherwise. :-( I still have access to the guitar since it's in the family (thank goodness--because I quite like noodling on it from time to time), but I don't think the current owner would be too enthused about me swapping the pickups around for another demo. Ha ha!
I'm a little late to the party, but if you want to look up what it would sound like in the bridge you can look up a demo for the Dimarzio IBZ pickups since the IBZ B is based off the super 2 according to Dimarzio
@@desertangelofficial1921 Good to know. Thanks for the info!
Excellent demo, and playing man. I got a Super 2 in parallel in my ASAT at the neck. Sounds great! Considering putting the SD (series) in my SG at the bridge with a parallel Super 2 at the neck.
Thank you very much, my friend! That sounds like a great combo on the ASAT. The SG would likely sound awesome like that too. (I'd love to hear it if you ever pop these pups in there.)
Nice informative demo. Shows the versatility of these pickups which are now featured on the BFR Silhouette. Not just an 80's hair band pickup.
Thanks! I totally agree. These pickups are way more versatile than a lot of folks seem to give them credit for.
Great info and demonstration of this, thank you!!!
No problem! I'm glad it was helpful for you.
Good job on the video. Nice audio quality. That wasn't quite correct, though, about needing two 2-way switches to change from Parallel Mode to Series Mode for two humbuckers. That limitation is true for 2PDT type pots, but 2 way 4PDT pots do exist, and one of those that can handle that switching for two humbuckers. www.philadelphialuthiertools.com/electronics/switches/large-ultra-toggle-switch-4pdt-4-pole-2-way-on-on-chrome/ Fender even makes a 4PDT switch in push-push pot form - the S1. www.premierguitar.com/gear/mod-garage-the-fender-s-1-switching-system
Ah yes. That's true. I did forget about the 4PDT switches--which is kind of ironic considering I have the S-1 switching in my strat. But then, I didn't realize the S-1 was a 4PDT--it's always been a bit of a "mystery switch" to me. Thanks for the info, my friend!
Hope you don't mind I threw a bit of this conversation into the description of this video with a credit to you.
@@guidrummer1 that's fine, thanks
@@jacktripperthemusical Sure thing.
Awesome demo. Really appreciate that you didn't overcomplicate it, and starting off with clean tones is really great! Thanks for the vid.
Hey! Thanks for your kind words. You're most welcome. I tried to keep it clean and simple. I couldn't find many videos on this topic when I was first curious about the difference in the three tones, so I figured I'd try to make a quick sample in case it could help someone else out who was looking into out-of-phase/half-out-of-phase mods.
Anyone having trouble running theirs through an amp? Mine just squeals and hisses at low volume.
Hm... I didn't have trouble with squealing so much with mine, but I rarely ran it through an amp. I DID have trouble with a bit of hiss on some of the settings though. That seemed to be a common complaint about the pre-amp on this unit even when it was still in production. I often ran my guitar first into an ART Tube MP Project Series preamp (or even a boost pedal) and then into the Korg and kept the Korg's preamp turned down lower. This helped with the hiss.
I have a Luxor 3 pickup Les Paul Custom. It was a husk bought in 1999. The middle pickup was routed bad. My dad fixed it up for me. I haven't played it yet sin I'm in in California it's up in Washington State. Can wait.
That sounds sweet! I had not heard of the Luxors before. So many different Japanese guitar brands from the70's. I love 'em! I also have a National "Big Daddy" LP 457-2 which is a Les Paul knockoff but built more like a semi-hollow. The thing actually plays really well considering it was a budget model.
@@guidrummer1 We found out Luxor was imported to Germany made by Ibanez. Yep it's made in Japan.
@@seattleday9690 Very, very cool! If you ever get a to record any kind of demo with it, I'd love to see it.
@@guidrummer1 I will.
@@seattleday9690 Looking forward to it.
Nice Sound Track!
Well, thanks. I learned how to play from a local guitar instructor before he was a guitar instructor. :-P
@@guidrummer1 Ha!
Got any vids with the super 2 in the bridge position ?
Hey there! Unfortunately, no I don't, but I did stumble across some videos of this guy with a Super 2 in the bridge when I was first researching the Super Distortion/Super 2: kzread.info/dash/bejne/pa2KlbWaeNa3ftY.html and kzread.info/dash/bejne/oqGj0rJxdqXNk5M.html <-His bridge tones sound good to me. Given the nature of the EQ on the Super 2, I'd imagine it would be brighter in the Bridge with a tighter low end than the Super Distortion. That would be a good idea for a future video if I ever get the time.
@@guidrummer1 I saw those but they weren't played on a clean channel or in a Gibson scale length guitar
@@leea5123 Yeah, that's fair. I haven't seen any videos of a clean Super 2 in a Gibson scale length either.
Sounds almost acoustic like.
You know, it kind of does. I wonder if that's more to do with the pickups or the guitar itself? It looks like a solid-body, but it's actually more of hollow-body like a lot of the old Japanese LP knockoffs from the 70's were.
@@guidrummer1 I would think the pickups have more affect than the body.
@@barrypearson644 Yeah, in general, I would too. Just sort of thinking out loud there. Body materials/construction, pickups, amp, etc.--they'll all affect the tone a bit. Though generally with electrics, I tend to think of the pickups and amp as the top two factors.
These are amazing pickups and they sound bad when you just strum cowboy chords like you're playing acoustic. Bad demo.
What a great song! So true... so good. I love it!!!
Thanks for your kind words.
this is how you do a demo video! props to you man!!
Well, thank you very much for your kind words. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
wow, nice wiring
Thanks! It looks like a rat's nest inside--my cable management could use some work. At least it's functional.
Sounds great!
Thank ya! Much appreciated.
Great demo Bro 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you very much! Glad you enjoyed it. I had a hard time finding many demos on the Super 2, in particular, when I was making the decision to buy it, so I figured I'd make one in case it could help anyone else out.