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The Pickup Place / Re: Pick Ups for Baritone
« on: June 20, 2019, 03:28:52 AM »
For lower tunings IMO you can go two ways:
A more modern-voiced pickup meant to work with lower tunings (D Sonic would be good if you're into the voicing, I like the D-Activator X wired in parallel as well, but there's many many options).
Something lower output that's pretty bright but that will keep the clarity (like the PAF Pro, or a Bluesbucker/Humbucker From Hell)
The first option leans more to the riffy-heavy school of low tunings, and in my experience if that's the vibe you're after, it's a killer pick. However, this isn't a setup I like for cleans or anything lighter than middle-of-the-road rock, because the tonal qualities that make a Bari with a hot pickup sound good with gain - overall brightness, low bass content, super focused midrange, and pretty pokey treble - make it sound kinda
the cleaner you get because it turns out harsh and honky.
The second option gets you a little more versatility as far as gain ranges and use cases but with gain it's more of a "djenty" kinda sound - lots of attack, really dynamic, sometimes a little hard to play because your right hand needs to be super on point. As you turn down the gain, because the pickup is voiced a little more "normally" (vs. a Titan or D-Activator or whatever), it still sounds good and plays well with crunches and cleans.
I'd skip the Blackouts for anything lower than D because they have so much bass that it genuinely doesn't matter what you play - you just get mud when you go any lower. I saw Motionless in White a couple of years ago, Ryan had either the normal or metal ones and Ricky had the Mick Thomson sig, and while I could hear Ricky (couldn't really hear Ryan) I also couldn't really tell what notes he was playing.
I'm not big on EMGs because the compression they give you just does weird unpleasant things to the low end IMO.
From the Dimarzio lineup I'd suggest the Imperium if you want hot and either 2x PAF Pro or Fred-B, PAF Pro-N if you want something a little tamer.
Not Dimarzio, I'm partial to the Kiesel Lithiums for sort of splitting the difference (pretty hot, voiced for lower tunings, but still really nice with clean/crunch) or the Guitarmory Peacekeeper set for basically being the 81/85 but good
(jk jk guys)
A more modern-voiced pickup meant to work with lower tunings (D Sonic would be good if you're into the voicing, I like the D-Activator X wired in parallel as well, but there's many many options).
Something lower output that's pretty bright but that will keep the clarity (like the PAF Pro, or a Bluesbucker/Humbucker From Hell)
The first option leans more to the riffy-heavy school of low tunings, and in my experience if that's the vibe you're after, it's a killer pick. However, this isn't a setup I like for cleans or anything lighter than middle-of-the-road rock, because the tonal qualities that make a Bari with a hot pickup sound good with gain - overall brightness, low bass content, super focused midrange, and pretty pokey treble - make it sound kinda
the cleaner you get because it turns out harsh and honky.The second option gets you a little more versatility as far as gain ranges and use cases but with gain it's more of a "djenty" kinda sound - lots of attack, really dynamic, sometimes a little hard to play because your right hand needs to be super on point. As you turn down the gain, because the pickup is voiced a little more "normally" (vs. a Titan or D-Activator or whatever), it still sounds good and plays well with crunches and cleans.
I'd skip the Blackouts for anything lower than D because they have so much bass that it genuinely doesn't matter what you play - you just get mud when you go any lower. I saw Motionless in White a couple of years ago, Ryan had either the normal or metal ones and Ricky had the Mick Thomson sig, and while I could hear Ricky (couldn't really hear Ryan) I also couldn't really tell what notes he was playing.
I'm not big on EMGs because the compression they give you just does weird unpleasant things to the low end IMO.
From the Dimarzio lineup I'd suggest the Imperium if you want hot and either 2x PAF Pro or Fred-B, PAF Pro-N if you want something a little tamer.
Not Dimarzio, I'm partial to the Kiesel Lithiums for sort of splitting the difference (pretty hot, voiced for lower tunings, but still really nice with clean/crunch) or the Guitarmory Peacekeeper set for basically being the 81/85 but good
(jk jk guys)
sometimes). My Kiesel has the both humbuckers decked flat (treble side about 1/16" higher to balance the strings), as does my Ormsby, but the Strandberg has the stock setup for now which I found pretty good (about 1/2" from the strings on the neck and middle on the bass side, 5/8" on the treble side; and 3/4" on the bridge humbucker bass side, 3/8" on the treble).