What does the term 'hotter' or 'hot' pickups mean?

stenio83

What does the term 'hotter' or 'hot' pickups mean?

Maynehead

Depends if you're talking about a night out or a guitar...

richh

I think just higher output.  Meaning that you can drive harder into an amp or gain stage to drive into distortion?

stenio83

Pmsl

Maynehead;645255" said:

Depends if you're talking about a night out or a guitar...

Pmsl :-) definitely pickups!! Im from Peterborough, not sure there are any hot pickups on a night out here lol

IvisonGuitars

Dunno, let's ask him @hotpickups? ;-)

hotpickups

I certainly get wound up a lot

richardhomer

'Hot' pick-ups first came to the market in the 70s - as others have said - to drive amps harder, to give more distortion/sustain.

Their higher output was usually achieved by putting more windings on to the coil(s) - and often by using different magnets (such as ceramic).

While having more output may seem desirable, the trade off is usually less high-end and more dominant mids - which makes for a pick-up which will usually sound less good than a vintage-style one when played clean.

OilCityPickups

richardhomer said:

'Hot' pick-ups first came to the market in the 70s - as others have said - to drive amps harder, to give more distortion/sustain.

Their higher output was usually achieved by putting more windings on to the coil(s) - and often by using different magnets (such as ceramic).

While having more output may seem desirable, the trade off is usually less high-end and more dominant mids - which makes for a pick-up which will usually sound less good than a vintage-style one when played clean.

Nowadays there is less of a trade off in high end and in mids than there was in the days When the 'Super Distortion' was king. New (or previously seldom used) magnet materials like alnico 8 and 9 ... and 'hybrid magnet technology' that uses different magnets for different strings, coupled with 'half gauges' of wire and new bobbin factors have reduced that performance gap a great deal.

A plethora of smaller makers all experimenting has been very good for improving the breed!

stenio83

TheGuitarWeasel;645287" said:

richardhomer said:

'Hot' pick-ups first came to the market in the 70s - as others have said - to drive amps harder, to give more distortion/sustain.



Their higher output was usually achieved by putting more windings on to the coil(s) - and often by using different magnets (such as ceramic).



While having more output may seem desirable, the trade off is usually less high-end and more dominant mids - which makes for a pick-up which will usually sound less good than a vintage-style one when played clean.





Nowadays there is less of a trade off in high end and in mids than there was in the days When the 'Super Distortion' was king. New (or previously seldom used) magnet materials like alnico 8 and 9 ... and 'hybrid magnet technology' that uses different magnets for different strings, coupled with 'half gauges' of wire and new bobbin factors have reduced that performance gap a great deal.A plethora of smaller makers all experimenting has been very good for improving the breed!

So typically what are good hot pickups? Brands like Emg, di marzio, semour Duncan?

siraxeman

High output tho is never helpful towards good clean tones.....always a trade off. And how necessary is high output these days?

mike_l

I like higher output pickups, but don't use a really sparkly Fender like clean, more a Marshall semi clean, if at all.

I don't like things to hot or, with high amp (or pedal) gain then things get very "brittle" and thin very quickly.

I don't like ceramic magnets in a bridge pickup, but I do like them in a neck. My own preference would be an Alnico5 magnet, and somewhere between 14k & 18k resistance.

Not a really scientific way to describe the sound, but (Strat excepted) this is what all my guitars have pickup wise.

I do like DiMarzio (favs), Bulldog or Seymour Duncans. I can't comment on Oil City, Mojo or any of the other British brands, as I haven't tried them. 

ICBM

It depends… some high-output pickups have great clean sounds if you want middy jangle rather than clear sparkle.

I really like things like the Gibson Dirty Fingers for clean sounds, although I know I'm in a bit of a minority.

You can also coil-split them - often more effectively than with a lower-output humbucker, since the split coils are then more like a traditional single-coil in terms of output and tone… a split PAF-type pickup can be very thin-sounding, but a split Duncan Invader sounds really quite like a Rickenbacker, which many people won't expect! Or switch them to parallel which has a similar effect - a slightly different tone from the split coil, but retains the hum cancelling.

You can also add a treble-pass network to the volume control so that rolling back the volume gives a much brighter tone, which is a bit like a coil split, but also keeps the hum cancelling.

hubobulous

For me, there is a shortlist of very good high output pickups:

1. Suhr Aldrich - very articulate, responds superbly to the volume know, split sounds are killer
   
2. DiMarzio Evo - forget the Vai association if you don't like Vai. This is pretty much a one trick pony, but my God, what a trick
   
3. DiMarzio AT1 - for a player well known for his tone, it seems odd that Andy Timmons' sig pickup would be high output, but it is. And it sounds brilliant
   
4. Duncan Distortion - great sound, just works
   

I tend to prefer medium output models, such as the Fred, Mo Joe, Paf Pro, Suhr SSV+, Suhr DSV+ since they drive the amp hard enough but give me a little more control over my sound. But I have guitars with those pickups listed above and love them.

I would imagine that Ash and other smaller builders would also make some great models, but I don't have experience of them.

Reverend

What is this "played clean" you talk of?

OilCityPickups

siraxeman said:

High output tho is never helpful towards good clean tones.....

Outdated! 

I'm afraid the old method of trying to make high output pickups that are simply 'over wound' versions of low or medium output ones is where the bad reputation of hot pickups comes from. Now I like vintage and low output pickups too ... but pickups designed from the outset to be 'ground up' hot are very different matter than those modified to be high powered like many early designs were.

The 25% taller coils on my own Havoc below preserve the top end by putting more wire near the centre of the coil ... and their hybrid magnet structure used both alnico 8 and ceramic for power and harmonic response. There are other 'new generation' hot pickups from ... for example Bare Knuckle that also use various 'effects' of magnet, design and wire to make very good hot 'clean' pickups.

siraxeman

Don't know if Evos are old school high output pups or not but to ne they are thin and harsh on cleans...well at least the bridge position is. Hated it when I had a jem 7v for a while.

I guess the thing is with pups is always subjective....one mans meat n all that!

ThePrettyDamned

^ I can attest to how nice the Havocs are clean and low-mid gain.  The bridge pickup is a monster with gain, but clean it's still sparkly and clear, not dark or nasty.  Actually, with gain it's pushy but sounds more like a classic pickup with TONS of output and power, rather than an overwound, middy sounding pickup.  Very cool. 

hotpickups

I have a set of humdingers from monty's guitars. Awesome pick ups

Skipped

If you had asked me maybe 10 years ago I would have said that PAFs or great PAF clones have the best clean sound.
But now....I think it is possible that a Bare Knuckle Crawler (with the volume on 9) is the best clean sound I have ever heard.  And there is a bonus. It sounds sensational on 10.
I think these pickups should be re-classified as Vintage Hot.

I also think that all of you should remove all labelling from your pickups and decide only with your ears.

OilCityPickups

siraxeman said:

Don't know if Evos are old school high output pups or not but to ne they are thin and harsh on cleans...well at least the bridge position is. Hated it when I had a jem 7v for a while.

I guess the thing is with pups is always subjective....one mans meat n all that!

Pretty standard old style, high output humbucker with some marketing department techno-speak about harmonically tuned coils ... Larry has patented the colour ivory after all :-)