[shadowgenesis]

So somebody explain to me why having a high output pickup is better than having a lower output pickup and turning up the gain? Because I just installed a pair of Dimarzio PAF's in one of my 6's and found that it sounds fantastic clean in full humbucking mode, which I have not gotten out of other pickups, and if i just turn up my gain a bit more, it's well.. perfect. I mean it's not super metal gain, but that's just because I don't have a high-gain amp and my pedal is more of a Marshall-style distortion. I imagine that in front of something like a Recto that it would probably sound just as hot... But then... there's got to be a reason people use hotter pickups all the time nowadays. I'm just not sure what i'm missing.

All these thoughts are occuring to me because I've never gotten a clean tone from a humbucker in any guitar i've played like i'm getting from these pickups, and I am tempted to put PAFs in my 7 and well... every guitar ever? The DS7 and AN7 sound good with gain but it seems that the high end is much more rounded with these pickups, and the cleans are just so much nicer and more articulate. I would never play any kind of clean arpeggios on those higher output pups. I'm just a bit.. thrown off

Thoughts? Opinions?

[Toshiro]

Pickups depend a lot on the rest of your gear, and the sound you're going for. A hot bridge pickup(with a boost or without) into a driven amp sounds and reacts differently than a PAF into a high gain amp with the gain up high. Some people prefer one to the other.

[Desecrated]

I find that the high gain often has better midrange and that vintage often has to much bass

[mnemonic]

i've always wondered this too.

i just put an x2n7 in my guitar, and its a pretty high output pickup.

maybe one of these days i'll have to buy a PAF or PAF pro and pop it in the bridge, and make sound samples.

[shadowgenesis]

I just wish I understood the logic behind it, so I could make a better judgement call. I mean obviously if one pickup sounds better, people are gonna go for it. I just don't get why the higher output pickups would have certain properties that another pickup wouldn't.

[scott from _actual time_]

Originally Posted by shadowgenesis

I mean obviously if one pickup sounds better, people are gonna go for it. I just don't get why the higher output pickups would have certain properties that another pickup wouldn't.

higher output pickups will have different tonal properties because boosting the output at different points in the signal chain causes different tonal results.

for example, high output from the guitar will slam an amp's input stage harder, which can result in nice distortion. but gain stages in the amp are after the input stage and usually after the EQ, so a low output pickup + amp gain cranked will sound different because you're boosting things at a different point in the chain.

the problem with your question is that "sounds better" is a subjective thing that's different for everybody. i like the high-output pickup + not tons of amp gain, but many folks [like Korn] prefer the low-output pickup + tons of amp gain. Korn actually uses PAF7s in the bridge position, just like what you've tried and liked. so if it's working for you, hell yeah try PAF7s in all your guitars.

[daniboy]

without taking the magnet, wire type, construction methods and materials into consideration, a higher output pickup has more wind than that of a vintage output pickup.

more wind = higher dc resistance and in turn produces more mids and less highs.

a vintage output pickup actually has lesser mids thus the bass and treble are pretty much up front. its not necessary bassier than a high output pickup but you hear the bass and treble more because of the lack of mids.

high output pickups was designed to get more drive out of low gain amps back in the 70s. well, high gain amps wasn't invented back then. since high gain amps are dime a dozen these days, high output pickups may actually oversaturate the gain stages resulting in mush.

i believe a scoop sounding vintage output pickup into a high gain amp should give better tonal control at gig volume since amps add quite a fair amount of mids to the overall tone. if higher gain is desired, a transparent booster can be used to slam the front of the amp.

of course, ymmv. different strokes for different folks. it started out with high output pickups into low gain amps and then the advent of high gain amps resulted in many using them with their existing high output pickups. nowadays, more are using low to medium output pickups into high gain amps for more control.

so i guess the best way is to try all three and see what works for you.