Has modeling killed replacing pickups?

[sleewell]

I dunno... maybe it's just me and maybe I'm just over swapping pickups and modeling doesn't really have anything to do with it. But it kinda seemed like in general there was a lot more discussion about pickups 5 and 10 years ago.

have you done less pickup changes since playing modelers or no? I just think it's so easy to eq your tone for every sound you need it kinda takes away the desire to change pickups. even the pickups on my cheaper guitars can be made to sound good. I wonder if pickup companies sales have remained steady or not.

What say you tgf?

 

[Bruce]

The only reason I’d want to swap a pickup is if its not hot enough. Thats hard to dial back in if its missing and in my opinion never the same as a good, loud pickup. More gain doesnt really get you there from the amp. Hitting the front of the amp with a little more compression gets it closer but its different too.

But I can count the number of times on 1 hand Ive had pickups change. Most are acceptable.

 

[Jarick]

Oh heavens no, not for me. I swap all the time.

I think cheaper guitars have better quality pickups nowadays. MIM fenders aren’t using ceramic bar single coils and Epiphones don’t have brass covers anymore.

I mostly swap pickups to try and change the eq of a guitar and the overall output. Trying to do things like reduce the mud in a Les Paul neck or control the high end in a Strat.

 

[laxu]

There's probably more pickups out there nowadays that nobody can quite keep track of it all and figure out what they want to put in their guitar.

There's also a lot more affordable instruments with name brand pickups so people are swapping them less. It used to be that you got some shitty Duncan Designed or EMG Hz pickups or no-name ones where swapping those to something better was a good idea.

I guess with modeling you also have way more ways to change the EQ if you want so it's easier to make a less than stellar pickup set sound more to your liking than before when all you had was your amp's tone stack.

 

[Stone]

For me Ill change Pickups to Noiseless I have terrible Interference at my place
Like My Godin I swapped out the SD P-90 for some Lindy Fralin P-90 Noiseless
My LTD has a set of EMG which is what I wanted so no Point in changing them
My Revstar I had Installed a set of AlNiCo II which I took out when I sold it, I will be installing them in my new Revstar when i get it
Next Guitar after my Revstar will be a Telecaster Type Guitar and Il probably install a set of Dimarzio Area T

 

[JiveTurkey]

I got over that a bit ago. Through being more irritated with fixing something from the jump that doesn't necessarily need fixing for me than anything else.

 

[Bob Zaod]

I change pickups by changing guitars. But before that yeah I swapped pups out til i found a set I liked in almost every guitar I own. In that years long quest I discovered I definitely favor Seymour Duncans for high gain and Gibson pups for low-mid gains. I do have a guitar I love with an X2n at the bridge and air nortons for middle and neck but the rest pretty much have SD's or Gibsons.

 

[DrewJD82]

Hahaha I change them more now than before.

When only playing one amp with the same tone, I was often trying to get my guitars to sound equal/balanced through it, now that I’ve got a modeler I want ALL the guitar tones I can get, so getting pickups that are more geared towards certain tones is the way I’ve been going.

One of the things I love the most about modelers, at least at this point in time, is how sensitive they are to different guitars/pickups. Regular amps are as well, but having so many different amps to choose from, I feel like you get a better idea of what a guitar actually sounds like by cross-referencing it through different amps.

 

[Whizzinby]

Buying guitars has replaced swapping pickups.

 

[Gearzilla]

 

[Jarick]

Buying guitars has replaced swapping pickups.

I'm tempted to get more guitars to put in my extra pickups.

 

[littlebadboy]

Have you guys heard of Keyztone's eXchanger?




I use a modeler. But, I still switch guitars with different pickups to find a desired tone and playability (of course) on my projects.

 

[Stone]

Have you guys heard of Keyztone's eXchanger?




I use a modeler. But, I still switch guitars with different pickups to find a desired tone and playability (of course) on my projects.

That's Pretty Cool I wonder if it is similar to how the Variax Works ?
Pretty cool as well no Hum or Noise when using Humbucker to Single coil mode

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I've been swapping pickups in my Strat. I wanted a more versatile (than the previous Hot Rails) humbucker in the bridge and am happy with the Zexcoil Juicy Bucker. Now the neck and middle need mud scooped out of them but I don't want to use an EQ block or dramatically change amp block settings - it's like polishing a turd - so new pickups are on their way.

 

[TheTrueZoltan!]

Did a lot of pickup swapping in the last couple of years but finally came to the realization that I am an EMG guy. Now I‘m more into amp model swapping ;-)

 

[metropolis_4]

The clarity, string to string balance, note definition, and attack differences between different pickups aren’t something I can replicate with EQ in a digital modeler.

I still change pickups just as much as I did with tube gear

 

[dk_ace]

Nope, hasn’t impacted pickups for me or seemingly for the industry at large as the pickup business seems to be booming still.

Sure you can do a lot with eq in a modeler, but if you have a problem at the source it’s easier to fix it there.

Also, the pickups you use have compression characteristics inherently in them, so there’s no way to undo a pickup that’s too compressed for you in a modeler.

I try to avoid changing them whenever possible, it isn’t something I do all the time. Sometimes it is the right call though.

D

 

[Deadpan]

If more players would find their perfect pickup there would be more happy players.

 

[TubeStack]

I don't swap pickups much, as once I find what I like, I leave them alone. But if I buy a guitar, often the first thing I replace is the pickups. Bare Knuckle and Lollar just sound and respond so much better than Gibson pickups, in my experience. That being said, I love the stock pickups in my new-to-me Thin Skin AV Strat and don't plan on messing with them. So I'm not averse to leaving things stock.

As for modelers, I agree that they do bring out a lot of differences in guitars and pickups, at least my FM9 does. It's also very sensitive to what real-life speaker cab I use with it.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Swapping pickups is the old setting up a floyd rose