How do you find the tone of this bridge pickup?

[Tequila Sunset]

Hey guys, ever since I've read how many people don't like these particular pickups, especially the bridge, I'm GASing for trying something else in this guitar, Antiquity in particular, since I've managed to grab it new for 1/3 of its normal price. Now I only have to wait another 3 weeks for delivery. The stress from other things only fuels my urge to buy, solder and tinker - maybe you can relate.

But I'm also interested in what do you hear when you listen to it before I do anything. I don't want to reveal you the name of the set just yet, so you don't judge with your previous knowledge. I'll update the thread later and tell you what it is if there will be any interest.

All the parts are bridge pickup with the vol on 10, tone on 10.
The first one is clean directly into the amp with everything on 12 o'clock.
Second one has an overdrive pedal with a little bit of lows added.
The high gain also has treble and mids on 12, but I've swapped some pre-drive bass for post-drive.

Pup_clean.wav

drive.google.com

Pup_overdrive.wav

drive.google.com

Pup_high_gain.wav

drive.google.com

Excuse my sloppy off-time chops, I was playing the first things that sprang to mind.

Feel free to comment on what you like or don't like in its tone. I mean the usual: bass, mids, treble, clarity, overtones and so on.

 

[Hecubus]

The pickup sounds fine to me. What don't you like about it?

 

[dc007]

Nothing wrong with the sound of the pickup. Sounds just fine What are we listening to though? Guessing games and waiting games suck

 

[Tequila Sunset]

The pickup sounds fine to me. What don't you like about it?

Nothing wrong with the sound of the pickup. Sounds just fine What are we listening to though?

It's not that it's bad as in faulty, it's that I've come to doubt it a little bit tonally and I have nothing to A/B it against to. It's not a popular set either. That's why I'm interested in how you guys like it with your ears without knowing anything
I'll tell what it is and what it measures to later - maybe someone else will chime in in the meantime.

 

[strayedstrater]

For a pickup in the bridge position it sounded dark, thick, fat, bordering on congested. Not bright, lively, snappy, or chimey. Maybe "lackluster'.

Depending on taste and how well it meshes with the neck pickup that could be good or bad.

Of course this is also a blind test of the amp and speaker. And personally I haven't liked "all knobs at noon" on any of the amps I've had.

Random guess -- Gibson 500T?

 

[dc007]

For a pickup in the bridge position it sounded dark, thick, fat, bordering on congested.

To many unknowns to offer a valid opinion. I did think it was veiled myself. Could have been how it was recorded or maybe even a heavily potted pickup. Who knows.

 

[Tequila Sunset]

course this is also a blind test of the amp and speaker.

And the microphone, which I've put a little further off the cone center than usual, yeah.

have been how it was recorded

That's probably it, the microphone was a little further off-center than it usually is.

Anyway, this is a new Gibson 68 t-top reissue with a whopping 6.85k resistance. Sadly my meter doesn't measure the inductance and I can't seem to find any specs on the internet.

Lots of people say these pickups are too thin and bright and have no body at all and they pull it out for PAFs immediately. I have nothing to compare it to and my curiosity gets the better of me.

I'll try putting the mic more to the center tomorrow and see what you guys think.

 

[dc007]

Anyway, this is a new Gibson 68 t-top reissue with a whopping 6.85k resistance

Knowing that I would think it is possible you may have a not so good pup. Gibson says the normal resistance on these should be mid 7's. Not sure of anything. Record some more. I'll listen to the next one

 

[Tequila Sunset]

Knowing that I would think it is possible you may have a not so good pup. Gibson says the normal resistance on these should be mid 7's. Not sure of anything. Record some more. I'll listen to the next one

I don't think it's different from others have. Have seen a couple of mentions of 6.9 kOhm here. Guess that is how Gibson winds them these days.
Here I have placed the mic at the edge of the cone as it's supposed to be: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13GS3szlQtat0_Jp_VlGkq6sbSLpyiEuw/view?usp=sharing
Do you still find it dark or veiled?

 

[dc007]

I don't think it's different from others have. Have seen a couple of mentions of 6.9 kOhm here. Guess that is how Gibson winds them these days.
Here I have placed the mic at the edge of the cone as it's supposed to be: https://drive.google.com/file/d/13GS3szlQtat0_Jp_VlGkq6sbSLpyiEuw/view?usp=sharing
Do you still find it dark or veiled?

Much better

 

[searswashere]

So online chatter made you want to swap?

Get offline, enjoy the guitar. You were happy til some strangers said you shouldnt be.

Life is too short.

 

[Tequila Sunset]

So online chatter made you want to swap?

Get offline, enjoy the guitar. You were happy til some strangers said you shouldnt be.

Life is too short.

Yes, sort of. This and GAS and my curiosity - "what if it's really much better?" Something like that, you know.

 

[edro]

Sounds fine to me....

Lots of people say these pickups are too thin and bright and have no body at all and they pull it out for PAFs immediately. I have nothing to compare it to and my curiosity gets the better of me.

Lots of people are full of shit too...

 

[gitmohair]

Absolutely no context here and the clips don't help. Sounds OK if that's what you're wanting them to sound like.

Give ihe recording another shot with a band and twiddle them guitar knobs some, maybe, then it might be somewhat easier to offer a useful opinion.

Fair play for posting the stuff, though

 

[edro]

One of my old Lesters has TTops.... Love em.

Bridge Ω = I don't care.
Neck Ω = I don't care.

The numbers mean little....Why should it? About every amp built has stuff like knobs on it.... Knobs..... Learn the knobs....

One can spend all kinds of cash on a guitar, changing out everything but the wood, only to finally figure out the speaker in the amp is a piece of shit...or the amp itself....

Take whatever you've 'read about what other's think' with a grain of salt about the size of the Sphinx..... Some might have a point, some don't have a clue to begin with, some only regurgitate what they've been told, and some have a need for confirmation for some oddball reason....

If you like how it sounds, cool. If you honestly don't, then change them.

You will always have folks tell you that 'you need to buy XYZ to be somebody because everybody that is somebody has XYZ and if you don't have XYZ too then you ain't somebody....'

Play the damn guitar and amp... Tweak it to you, not me or anybody else...

What do I know, I'm just a conga player.

 

[Tequila Sunset]

Absolutely no context here and the clips don't help.

I thought the isolated tracks would be a better demo. After all most of the guitar demos are isolated.

If you like how it sounds, cool.

You're right. Thank you and all the other guys for your honest down to earth opinions

 

[edro]

You're right. Thank you and all the other guys for your honest down to earth opinions

You can get some down to earth opinions here for sure....A bunch of folks here have ridden the pony for decades and decades, were gigging before many guitar heroes got popular, and were around when all the old "mandatory cover band standards" were released and even hated playing them when they were on the charts.... Imagine playing Sweet Corn Alibaba, Gimme Free Chips, Spokane, etc....every freaking night in clubs, 5- nights/week back then full time, and turning on the radio headed to or from 'work' every night at the club and hear the same tunes over and over on about every station....

Folks that played 'used' guitars before anybody ever said 'vintage' because tweren't no 'vintage' back then.....they were just guitars...Some good, some magic, some not so much...and age had not a damn thing to do with it.... A world of hands-on experience and first hand knowledge around this place....

Ask and you'll usually get answers....some, you probably won't necessarily like or agree with, BUT you haven't walked in their shoes nor they/us yours...an "echo chamber" this place ain't....not by a long shot... about anything.....

We haven't taken anybody out in a good while for atrocities like ketchup on a hot dog, pineapple on a pizza, Tofu in general, being a Frightened Irish football fan, or even boiling ribs before smoking them....

 

[gitmohair]

After all most of the guitar demos are isolated.

But most music using that kind of kit (OK, Ted Greene was never too fussy about what guitar he played) isn't. How does the pickup behave as you work through a song, tweaking the vol and tone for those little subtleties that make the song breathe? How does it sit in the mix with the sort of band you're using it in? Can't tell that from a clip with the thing always on 10/10, no background and an unspecified amp. The pickup sounds OK to me, it appears to work. But I've no idea if I could live with it, whatever it is.

 

[searswashere]

Yes, sort of. This and GAS and my curiosity - "what if it's really much better?" Something like that, you know.

In my experience the “better factor” is rarely an order of magnitude larger. And how will you compare? Will you make recordings with the exact same setup? But we perceive sound differently based on caffiene, sleep, hunger, air pressure…

Sounds like you’re in for a set of pickups, just manage your expectations.

 

[freefrog]

Lots of people say these pickups are too thin and bright and have no body at all and they pull it out for PAFs immediately. I have nothing to compare it to and my curiosity gets the better of me.

I've not listened the clips but...

To me, T-Top's were designed as parts of a system, including 300k pots and super capacitive wires with the related tone darkening effect (I'm talking about these long and/or coily cables that everybody was using in the late 60's - early 70's, because it was not bearable to play a cranked Marshall through 10' of straight cable. My very first guitar cables 45 years ago were still super capacitive orange curly wires)...

As real T-Top's most often exhibit a rather high Q factor and a lower inductance than P.A.F.'s, yes, they can sound thin through a low capacitance / short cable and with 500k controls...

But it also depends on the guitar used with its own resonance: my Flying V or the 3 pickups LP pictured in my avatar have T-Tops from different eras and don't sound thin at all. In fact, my V has more muscle than my LP with higher DCR and inductance P.A.F. clones.

An Explorer that I've modified was even still a bit too thick sounding with a 6.9k / 3.5H T-Top style neck PU. I had to mount a no load tone pot and shortened screw poles to brighten it.

It's partly due to something that Explorer's share with LP's: the multiple lenghts of wire going back and forth between pickups, pots, switch and output jack, with a noticeable parasitic capacitance able to reach a solid 1nF in some cases for contextual reasons...

Add to this the very capacitive braided shielded wire mounted by Gibson on recent pickups, as if the goal was to tame a wee bit their brightness from the start.
A recent T-Type that I've lab tested had also a lower Q factor than vintage T-Top's (knowing that a lower Q factor is what one obtains from a tone pot slightly lowered).

Such parameters might explain why a member has heard the pickup aforementioned as "dark, thick, fat" despite of its 6.9k - which is not that low, BTW: a pickup maker for whom I've worked had a model with this DCR, that I've also measured on a recent Duncan Pearly Gates...

FWIW: rambling from an old fart a Sunday morning. All of what I've explained is easy to check with dedicated lab meters, BTW.