High or low output pups with high gain amp?

[IommiChild]

Just wondering what other people think about this. I had a Tone Zone in my soloist and it sounded like noisy shyte. When I put in the slightly lower-output Duncan Distortion, it cleaned up a lil better. So how would a pretty low output pup like a '59 or an Alnico II pro sound with high gain? EVH uses reasonably low output pups, doesnt he? What do you guys prefer?

[MetalGrasshopper]

Re: High or low output pups with high gain amp?

I use Duncan TB-4 on bridge or EMG 81/85 on bridge, all of which have relatively high output on an Engl Powerball which is a VERY high gain amp. If its a high gain amp (ie: Dual Recto or Engl Powerball), noise will be there, low output p/u or not. Solution would be to get a noise gate like the Boss NS2. Good cables help too.

[Enigma]

Re: High or low output pups with high gain amp?

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noise will be there, low output p/u or not. Solution would be to get a noise gate like the Boss NS2. Good cables help too.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree 100% on the cables. I use Monster Performer 500s only for guitars and I can hear the difference immediately. There are lots of premium cables out there, some of which make the Monster cheap by comparison (as in $70 for a 10' guitar cable!!) That's ridiculous, but just getting a nice premium guitar cable, not an "ultra" premium cable will give a noticeable improvement.

Regarding pups, if you are going to use high gain, I would at least have a medium output to high output pup to better deal with it without becoming muddy. High output pups are usually designed to cut, whereas lower output pups go more for the classic fat vintage sound, which doesn't really handle mega distortion that well.

[Kyle G]

Re: High or low output pups with high gain amp?

I like to use low output pickups because Im getting all my gain from the amp anyways. I usually dont like the tone of high output pickups at all.

[Wizard of Ozz]

Re: High or low output pups with high gain amp?

It depends on the amp.

Sometimes a high-output pup like a EMG 81 or SD Distortion doesn't work well with some of today's modern super high-gain amps.