A LES PAUL sounds different from a STRAT, Right?
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- Опубліковано 7 лис 2023
- And a viewer SWEARS that a Les Paul and an HSS Strat sound completely different. But when you take away the visual, are they REALLY that easy to tell apart? We put these two guitars though a rig that would make ANY. Tone Snob drool. You tell me!
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About Spectre Sound Studios:
I'm Glenn Fricker, engineer here at Spectre Sound Studios. I love making records, and after doing it for sixteen years, I want to pass on what I've learned. On my channel you can find tutorials on how to record guitar, bass, real drums and vocals. There's reviews and demos of tube amps, amp sims, drums, mics, preamps, outboard gear, Electric Guitar, Bass Guitar, and plugin effects.
We've covered Moon on the Water, played Bias FX, given you the absolute best in Stupid Musician Texts, ranted & raved about bass guitar, and this channel is where The Eagle has Landed.
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done :)
Hmmm... I guess click-bait doesn't always work, eh?
Here is a test idea: the expensive guitars through the high end guitar rig vs the Harley Benton through a basic but decent sounding rig worth a quarter the price. I don't think the differences will be as big as the tone snobs think it would be.
DONE
Line 6 Spider with upgraded speakers.
Guitar A is definitely a guitar
Guitar B might be a guitar as well
Guitar C is probably a guitar
Guitar D is two basses in a trench coat.
Lmao!
LOLs
Two basses in a trench coat 😂😂😂
I think this wins the Best Comment on the Video Award.
How two basses in a trench coat are the seme height as a guitar?
how am i supposed to hear the difference if i can't see it?
You can't. Your eyes are connected to your ears. If you were blind they'd sound like pianos. /sarcasm. Here's the extra weird thing: I can hear the differences in the clean tones. I can't tell you which guitars they are. My brain thinks they are played in the same order that Glen showed us which guitars will be used (Gibson, Strat, EMGs, Harley). Because Glen would be like "I'm not even going to change the order and they'll still get it wrong." Or Glen's like "the only reason you think they're in order is that's the last visual you saw." And both might be true. (I can't tell which guitar is the Strat or the LP. Or the other two. They just sound different. Probably lost in a mix anyway, even a clean mix).
@@bmannned I think there are other factors in play too - strings, actual position of the pickup (distance from the strings), and I guess different pickups should sound a bit differently for sure. In this video, there is some difference, but still, for me, not possible to say which is the 40K guitar and which is the cheapest one. I think I liked A and B more than C and D. They had too much low-end for my taste in the first clip. In the second clip, the difference is less noticeable.
nobody in your replies got the joke smh
With your minds eye
Yeaaaah! Does Glenn want us to use our ears? Fricker psych0!
Glenn is getting a lot more confident and calm in his delivery and is yelling less. It's a more refined flavor
BANG AND THE DIRT IS GONE!
I much prefer it when he yells less. It's less gimmicky.
The yelling is kinda fun! 😁
he's doing controlled shithouse yelling
Maybe he's medicated now?
I am very grateful for these kinds of videos and all of the tips and tricks you have posted over the years. I have learned so much and I listen to my first album compared to the one we just released and it's a night and day difference. I still have a long way to go to get that pro sound, but I am getting there. Thanks so much!
please keep us posted
A = Fender, clearly the bolt on urethane gloss sound
B = Harley Benton, neck dive glitter sound
C = Gibson, clear nitro and indian rosewood sound
D = PRS, the reclining dental chair sound
hahahaha
Strat is B
My guess was the same but changing B and D.
But hey.. I was listening to it thru my phone speakers so who tf knows 🤣 (yeah, sue me.. my headphones are broken and I'm waiting for the replacement)
Wouldn't it be funny if they were all the Harley Benton and the video was just a troll?
I gave an honest try and picked this order. But your reasons are so much better.
Reminds me of the time I recorded a surf rock track, and got compliments for the great “Fender tone” in both the lead and backing track. Well, I was using my Epiphone Les Paul for both.
Can you post the track for us to hear?
I once got shut down for saying that I can get "Fender-like" tones out of my Epiphone LP. I was a beginner so I just followed my ears. 10 years later I feel vindicated by this video haha. Music has soo many myths, legends and just overall unproven BS
Your comment reminds me of the interview with Jimmy Page when he's asked how he got the tone on the Stairway intro from a LP and he says 'Well firstly, what I did was, and this is the important bit...I used a tele.'
Could hear a difference on the clean tones, not so sure I heard a difference on the breakup sound. As for which guitar is which, Not a clue. Love these tests. I did one of my own tests recently, which I will actually upload for a bit of fun soon. Keep these tests coming :)
I've lost countless hours seeking the fantastic tone in my head and i went deep in some rabbit holes that i should never have gone into. I was suspicious about some bs that have been fed me since i started playing but did not have the means to test it. Your work is extremely valuable, specially for guys like me that live in third world countries where a cheap squier costs at least 3 months of minimum wage salary. We do not have that crazy amount of money to spend on special tubes and pickups
Find some affordable great speakers. You’ll be much happier. I recommend Mojotone BV25m
I can relate, where are you from? A Squier Jazzmaster can go for a thousand bucks here in Buenos Aires Argentina
That's the point! Exactly!
Same here... I'm ashamed to admit how much $$ I blew on pedals, amps, etc in a vain search for "That" tone.
Turns out all I had to do was learn to play better, and turn the damn master volume up... Yep, "That" sound, is simply the sound of natural compression from a cooking power amp. You then use picking dynamics and the guitar's volume pot to control how loud you are. Even an all digital modeller can do it, if you take the time to learn how to use it properly.
Maybe the guys from way back without all the cool toys we have knew a thing or two...
A FENDER
B PRS
C GIBSON
D HB
But again I might be wrong, idk
I love your work.
I just heard lovely guitars being played. I can't tell the difference.
The most important detail about a guitar is "can you afford it" the second is "does it make you play more often"
I pretty much suspected this and there you go. Thank you.
Dude i love your channel so much. I have been screaming for years to people that most of what they think matters doesn't. Your channel has been great for showing so many people that their gibson kes paul isnt ny better than my epiphone. And my hss strat is a great substitute for the lp
Just wanted to add, these "tone A vs. tone B" comparison experiments saved me a ton of time while I was on the market to replace an amp. Walking through the store looking for an ax to try against the amp I had Glenn's voice in my head "None are gonna change the tone, just pick one"
Great work, very informative, I appreciate it!
Your work is righteous. Nobody likes the truth teller, except the humble.
Or intelligent people that can admit when they're wrong about something.
You just called yourself humble. Humble people don't call themselves humble.
@@line6peaveythats very humbling
@@line6peavey dude you are right. Ugh. That's humiliatingly bad form on my part.
@@allanallan4791😂😂😂
I know nothing about guitars, but this video was just gold!
Thanks for sharing, Glenn.
I built a guitar that you could swap pickups out in (by pulling off the back and swapping out pickup "cartridges". The thing that really struck me was how *not* different pickups are from each other in reality. There are differents (like how they relate to pedals and stuff. But I was amazed at how similar they were once you actually used all things the same.
Being a drummer and not blessed with the fine tuned ears of my guitarist contemporaries, this year or so long debate about pick ups, tone woods, speakers, tubes etc. has been a lot of fun to watch from the sidelines.
Brilliant stuff Glenn.
I've known plenty of drummers who had "genuine animal hide from africa" drum heads, etc etc etc
They were all so close. I think my preference was B, but I agree with you that in a mix with even just a bass and drums, I wouldn’t hear the difference
There seems to be some consensus on that "Guitar B" is different to the rest.
I would love to know what guitar is that!
The Strat! It has to do do with the scale length..
@@firstdreamwalker I guessed the same, I could be wrong, but I thought B was the Strat. That extra 3/4'' scale length may make the difference. Either way, B sounded best to me.
They are all close enough that it would be impossible to pick out the differences in the mix and impossible to justify the purchase of a high end guitar just for the sake of better tone.
The difference did go away with very little gain. But it did sound what you would call brighter with the cleans. However it was miniscule so...
I think they all sounded pretty good and really close. For the clean tone there was something about guitar C that caught me ear but I can't quite put my finger on it. There was just something about it I liked. Overall I think your amp plays the biggest role in your tone followed by the pickups. Once you add gain pretty much all guitars sound good.
I also noticed a slight difference for guitar C with the clear tones on the low notes. But it may have to do with a slight variation in the playing or tuning and have nothing to do with the pickups.
I'm not really a tone snob so I have no idea which is which, however I can say that they are noticeably different from each other when compared like that. In a mix it could be a lot less noticeable, but also a certain one may somehow be terrible for a certain mix, who knows. The bottom line is that all four sounds fine and you can't really go wrong with any.
A tone snob? That's a new one. It fits a friend of mine like a glove. :)
He told me he hated the sound of Fender guitars, because he doesn't like "twangy pickups." Yet when I asked him if he liked David Gilmore he said yes. When I said he recorded all the Pink Floyd albums he said he liked were recorded using Gilmour's famous "Black Strat", he was like "Really? I didn't know that." I wonder if he knew that guitar sold for $3,975,000 at an auction in 2019?
I think it was definitely a lesson learned extremely quickly for me when I tried recording my guitars. The differences were barely there, and the few that were there completely disappear when I brought it into a mix.
...Of course, it doesn't stop my caveman brain from buying more guitars that I find pretty.
I don't think there's anything wrong with that. Hell, my reason for acquiring as many as I've gotten over the years has been "because I like them" and that's pretty much it. The tonal differences are incredibly minimal when solo-ed and they go away entirely in the context of a mix when there is so much other sonic information present too.
Well, you need one in standard, one in e flat, one in d standard, one in drop d, one in drop C#... One in C, one in B, one in drop A.... And then you need 7 strings too. Oh and a Nashville tuning. That's what I tell my wife anyway.
Accept your beautiful caveman self as he truly is, embrace your cavemanness and the path of happiness will open up.
Source: I've got six guitars of various specs and string numbers, can't play shit to save my life, but they look cool!
@@grandarchon6969also drop d Nashville version
My caveman brain only lets me bond with guitars that are warm colors (reds, browns, or natural wood). I love the look of blue and green guitars, but have a hard time "feeling it". Because color affects tone. /sarcasm. It's weird how the brain works.
I was a brainwashed tone snob. It changed when I discovered this channel. I tried some of those recording tests and my jaw dropped. Thank you for your amazing work!
Same here. I do like nice looking guitars tho and to own amp sims and IRs :p
I'm still a tone snob. But now I collect cabs lol
I was a tone snob. Now I just slowed the buying down. I'm still going to buy a couple Gibson Les Pauls though. Definitely a good idea for my grandkids some day even if they don't play, value could just go up.
you would be collecting pre 2003s Mesa Cab and Marshalls with Pulsonic Greenbacks if you are truly a tone snob.
I care about how my instrument sounds, but i'm not a "tone snob". I can tell the difference, like anyone who cares to listen, between different types of picks and different tubes and different pickups. Add up all the little improvements, and you get a big improvement. If people want to insult musicians who care about their tone, and call them tone snobs, it's fine with me. The rest of us will end up sounding a good bit better and it'll keep the price of gear down. :)
always look forward to the content. I read an article quick article where the new rabbit hole is matching pickups to speakers….. what will they come up with next? im not into metal tones but always look forward to your vids.
I’m very happy you did this video. I’ve been putting up with the magic tone wood theory for so long and the white bobbin pup sounds better BS. All 4 sounded very similar and I wouldn’t hazard a guess.
On the cleans, A and C sounded thicker/warmer, B and D sounded a bit thin/tinny. Second test was very close, no idea what guitar was what but thats the point of this test i guess, great stuff, i hope the HB wins.
Weird I thought B and D sounded notably dull...
I love these tests so much because ultimately they show me I can just play the guitar I like the feel of rather than shelling out thousands of dollars to get the guitar with the right headstock logo.
Awesome video ‼️❤️🎸🔥
subtle difference, can't say which is which, great demonstration. There are a number of elements that make the sound recordings and when things are leveled out it shows how often what we're told and believe are only in our heads. When the player has the guitar that works for them and the rest of the rig to generate that sound and tone they love, that's when you recognize what's going on. Practice, listen, practice.
All of them sounded totally usable. So when it comes to recording, as long as they're all playable, they'd do fine. Some folks may decide that a certain guitar feels better to play and you're never going to convince them otherwise in that case, but when it comes to the all elusive tone all four of these guitars hit the mark. Find a guitar that stays in tune, has functioning electronics, and feels good to play and any decent recording engineer can get it sound good as long as you know how to play your parts when the red light goes on.
Very subtle differences but good tones all around especially the edge of breakup. I’m someone who would blend my favorites of the four for double tracking or sometimes quad tracking.
I agree that when comparing the same type of pickups the actual differences in the final recorded result are fairly minimal. I did notice some slight differences in the midrange bump, listening on Barefoot Micromain 27 monitors in a very fancy studio (im working here but i have time to kill rn, long story). Nothing that would make or break a record of course. I would argue two things: differences in output can affect the rest of the stuff you have in the chain (fuzz pedals, distortion & so on) in terms of gain staging which can lead to different sounds. Second thing, the different "feel" in terms or physical ergonomics, necks and so on of the various guitars may inspire you to certain sounds more than others, contributing to what you would generally call "a different sound".
This is the first time I've watched your channel. You gave me some good laughs. Using Cartman to voice your viewer comments is hilarious! Thank you! And much appreciation for your effort and money to conduct this test with snob-approved gear.
I'm impressed with how little difference there are even in the "edge of breakup" configuration, It was more pronounced in the clean segment but by skipping myself, I couldn't help but noticed how similar A and C sounded, same for B and D !
The only difference I ever really noticed in a "pickup A vs pickup B" comparison in a high gain context was Ola Englund's "10 guitars 1 amp" series where the SH4 clones (thrash factor and BK warpig) had a mid bump in a different place which makes them chuggier than the others (which sounded very similar, even the bullet SSS strat he threw in) but because we're talking about a specific frequency, I could just make my EMG 57 sound like a SH4 by throwing my MXR 10 band EQ just after the guitar... In fact, I could emulate any pickup just with this 130€ EQ pedal, no need to pay Seymour Duncan's inflated prices of 150€ per pickup !
can you show the eq curves on the disclosure video to see where they differ and how much? they all sound great to me, keep up the fun work.
i think he'll make that for the subsequent reveal video.
That's a great demo. I see you have the results posted now, so I'm going to check that out. To me, they all sound pretty similar. Like I can hear a difference, especially on the clean sound, but if it was part of a mix, any of them could work.
No you can’t
@@MJHiteshewExactly. The only possible ""difference"" is that he might have played slightly different on each guitar, but no, you can't tell the difference between the $4,000 and the $269 guitar. There is absolutely no way that you can tell the difference. Guitar snobs are completely fulll of crap as I've said for years - I just watched a Paul Davids go to a shop and play some 60 year old Les Paul worth 20,000 EUR or something and he's like "wow! it's so amazing! listen to the tone!". No it's not, it's all bullshit.
@@roywiseman I think it was $100,000 and he said it was “warmer” than the modern day version. Nope. Notta.
Our decisions in these blind tests are often based on our cultural perception of these guitars.
At least it feels that way to me. In my mind it comes down to what I have heard others play on the instrument and perhaps what I feel inspired to play when I pick them up. Due to their different ergonomics these types of guitars lend themselves to different techniques.
When I try to pick out different kinds of guitars playing the same lines I find myself assigning the sound samples to the guitar that *feels* like the sample sounds.
And apparently there is a disconnect between these, that I was not immediately aware of.
My guesses:
A - PRS
B - Les Paul
C - Harley Benton
D - Strat
Looking forward to finding out that I got them all wrong.
"Our decisions in these blind tests are often based on our cultural perception of these guitars."
Or, maybe, it's because it's the same mike, same speaker, same daw, EQ'ing each differently, and being 'mastered' at 128kbps, MP3. Add that to people listening on their phone, in the toilet, and PRESTO!, even a semi sane person would believe this utter tripe and demonstrable lie.
Funny how Glenn said the only tone in a guitar is the pickups, yet now says all picks and guitars sound the same. That's 1984 levels of double think.
In the clean test, I could tell, that the second guitar sounded *slightly* different form the rest,
but once the edge of breakup test commenced, those differences just YEETED themselves off into the abbyss.
Yeah the clean sounds were definitely all slightly different. I have no idea which was which or even which was the best but they definitely weren't identical.
As you say as soon as you add any breakup/distortion they all sound the same.
I've no skin in this game, just wanted to say they all sounded great. A testament to Glenn and Christian's abilities.
B and/or D sounded most strat-like to me, but they all do sound really similar. Curious to see the results.
I thought the same...
C is the strat
I am 67 now, i have a rack full of proccessing and the new Headrush prime pedalboard. You can pretty much take any guitar now and make it sound as you wish. I even own a Godin xtsa with the Roland gr55 synth floorboard which i can play grand piano etc.! Great video and love the parts guy snobs, keep em coming!
Could you do one on cheap vs. expensive pots? This seems to be a holdout for some tone snobs.
Don't know how the price of the pots changes the sound (my guess is not at all), but the pots overall definitely do to some degree. Depending on the value, they take out more or less high frequencies out.
This is only anecdotal, but I had to replace all pots and switches in my guitar. Since I had to wait a while for the new ones to ship, I wired the bridge pickup straight to the output jack. The guitar had a lot more high end this way. I wish I had recorded a before and after.
Usually the difference is in THC content ;)
I've seen a couple videos on this - and not sure about the cost, but the values and the wiring does seem to matter. The ones I have looked at, the better wired and well chosen pots made the clarity better, especially chords. Again, I am not sure if it's a cost thing versus a knowledgable design thing. I wish I knew more about how electronics all worked, but I got an art degree. :P
Cheap knobs, construction wise use short-cuts, to bring down the cost and it is the same with pickups as well, lot of short-cut decisions. I am not saying expensive pickups are better than mid-range, but there is obviously a difference between what "should be" and what got cut out to make cheap ones, due to frequencies. So to get any upgrades up to a minimum expected standard should bring an overall improvment. I had shitty pickups, always some noise with them, it wasn't the grounding, got new ones and boom, clear and beautiful.
The guitarist in my last band was huge on designer pot, and let me tell you, it didn't help his guitar playing one bit. Oh wait, I don't think that's what you meant here.
A=Fender
B=Harley Benton
C=Les Paul
D=PRS
Really love the test you did on this Glenn. Keep up the good work.
Hey Glenn, love the channel, have been watching for a while now and have learned a lot. I play for myself and with some friends every now and then but always shilling to learn. Wanted to ask you about the effect scale lengths for lower tunings. I’m familiar with multi scale guitars, but I tend to hear a lot of “For D Tuning or Drop C a 25.5 scale length is considerably better” i have dable with different gauges when stuff gets too low and I have experienced issues with the intonation of the guitar but once everything set properly is there a meaningful reason to use a 24.5” vs a baritone IN A ACTUAL mix. Thanks! Keep the good stuff coming.
Since no one answered, I'll chime in. Scale length is actually one of the more defining characteristics as far as what makes guitars sound different. This is the reason to use a 24.5 vs a baritone, given an intended tonal outcome. That being said, when considering excessively low tunings (anything below Drop B), you will want to use a longer scale length (25.5 or longer) for multiple reasons, notably the playability and intonation. String gauge is almost entirely about depth of tuning (outside of difference in playability). You don't want to string up a Les Paul with .09 -.42s, and tune it to Drop A. This is where using 60+ gauge low E string sets on a 25.5 or a baritone become a necessity.
Once you have the tuning and desired playability worked out (determining which guitar to use), it's easier to sculp different tones by picking different amps, speakers, microphones, rooms, and yes, Glen, pickups (although, this is the least determining factor).
As far as scale length necessary for whole step down tuning (D or drop C), you can go as short as a 24.5", no problem. I was able to get one of my PRS McCarty guitars (25") down to drop A, but it took a considerable amount of tweaking by my luthier, including sanding down the wraparound tailpiece, to reduce its depth. It sounded great and very unique, though. My luthier didn't want to see me for a while after that...
This video and these findings are exactly why I now use guitars that feel the best to me and just feel like home. I stick to singlcuts because they feel and play best for me. I sold all my Fenders and even sold off my SGs because I much prefer singlecut guitars.
Just look at Mark Tremonti. The guy knows he is a singlecut guy and still gets great strat or single coil like tones on his PRS Singlecuts.
I used to think I needed all these guitars for different tones but now I pretty much have all singlecuts - LPs and PRSs. If I want a little variety, I'll use coil splitting. Good video.
I also don't get caught up in pickuos other than for output. I can tell a difference in lower output pickups vs hotter pickups but I don't get caught up in this pickup is better than that one, etc. I do feel a difference with my Alnico II to Alnico Vs to ceramics. A lot is about feel and what you like. This video makes a lot of great points.
All hail Glen the Scourge of the Elitism, the Bringer of Truth, Screamer of Facts, Mad Grumpy Uncle!
I love these test videos you're doing Glenn. I think a signature pickup test would really make some people think before buying an expensive set of pickups just because they have and artists name attached to them.
Exactly, I got a Fender and only later got to try a friends Les Paul style guitar and lo and behold I find the Les Paul way more comfortable to play because of the smaller size and scale, didn't even knew it was a thing honestly, thought all guitars have same lenght lol. Even if I prefer the Fender look the next guitar will be a Gibson scale one and will just push the trebble knob higher to get a "stratier" sound and call it a day.
that's cool, i could definitely pick up on small differences in tone when clean. B vs D is such a big difference for example. it's amazing how similar they all sound with a bit of gain though.
guesses...
A - nice mid range - strat?
B - slightly more metallic sounding - the sg copy?
C - sounds nicely balanced - prs?
D - notes ring out for ages and is super deep, suggests the biggest body to me - les paul?
I was listening through a few pairs of speakers and headphones and the differences were quite noticeable between all of those speakers :D But, when it comes to differences between guitar sounds, I would say it's anyone's guess. In a mix they would be completely indistinguishable, but let's try and GUESS which might be which:
Guitar A: Les Paul - It sounds like it has a bit lower output and sounds a bit clearer than the others so it kinda fits into the imaginary P.A.F. category in my head
Guitar B: Harley Benton - Has pronounced mids and not as balanced as some of the others
Guitar C: PRS - Has pronounced bass frequencies and more output than others so I guess it might be due to its active pickup
Guitar D: Fender - Also has pronounced mids but it's more balanced than Guitar B. Sounds akin to some Fender humbuckers which I've heard
That was my guess too
PS, thanks to you Glenn, I went and ordered a Harley Benton guitar. My first one ever, from them. Its a classic flying V. I cant believe it, neck through body construction, sustain nicely, SUPER nice player guitar and stays in tune. Had issues with the pots, not turning off completely, like a short, but was in the pot itself. Installed Bourns pots with classic alnico epiphone pups. SOUNDS WICKED. Its for a Tribute to UFO and MSG I am involved in. Looks the part and cheap cheap cheap. Better than spending $1000 on an Epiphone. Around $300 to the door with a soft case. Thanks Glenn
Only a minimal difference between them, but put those in a mix and they will be virtually indistinguishable. Great vid Glenn!
I feel I could only really hear super super super subtle differences with the clean tones. Maybe some had a little more high end, and others had more mids, but I think that has more to do with the pickups than the wood, and I still would be happy to play that Harley Benton.
Nice job Glen!
While there were some noticeable differences, I couldn't even pretend to know which guitar is which. I might have guessed that guitar C was the Les Paul because it sounded kinda woofy, but it wasn't out of tune, so I don't know. 😂
Edit: I also want to reinforce the idea that we're listening to soloed guitars in a controlled environment. This is not how people will hear these guitars in a recorded or live setting. No one will know or care what guitar you're using.
Just as Glenn posted this, we were having this EXACT conversation at work and the point that the audience doesn't care was mentioned and spot on.
@@squelch84 Exactly. We're the musicians and we don't even know. In a recording, the guitar is going to be processed and EQ'd and mixed in with other instruments, so these little changes won't matter, and in a live setting, it can be so loud that we can barely hear your great guitar tone anyways. After the tests from Glenn, others, and myself, I don't really care what pickup is in my guitar. I put together a single humbucker Fender Strat (left handed, no Tom Delonges for lefties), and I put a $30 high output Wilkinson humbucker in it. It sounds and plays great. XD
Well I totally agree that all but a few fools, who payed way too much for bragging rights by brand name for their gear in your audience, will give a hoot what all you're using, and most of the rest never gave nuances any thought at all to begin with, but this was about sounding different by pickup/guitar type, so to keep the rest of what they are played through and where, puts them on more equal ground for the experiments sake.
Having toured the world for 6+ years, it's rooms you will have way more time invested in dealing with, and tone may be the least of your problems. Places built for sound are OK, but many sports arenas and other venues were not built with good acoustics in mind to begin with, and can have some serious issues to get around. Thankfully for me that was the sound companies responsibility!
any difference you're hearing is definitely in volume because some pickups have higher output than others
@@doom8367 If Glenn did as he usually does, then he level matched them at least post-amp so they're all the same volume on our end, but you're correct, a higher output pickup will cause the amp to react differently. I listened on my phone when I woke up this morning, I could go back and listen on my monitors.
Edit: Listening now on my monitors, the differences are less noticeable. Like I have to jump from one to the next and I'm just hearing small differences, like the first guitar sounds like the pickup is much higher output than the second. I think that second guitar has the lowest output pickup so it could be the Les Paul.
Guitar 2 definitely sounded different than the others in the clean tone test. Better? Worse? Couldnt tell you because that would be impossible.
With edge of breakup sound, impossible altogether to tell apart.
Fascinating.
Totally!
For my taste, "guitar B" is clearly "the winner".
Among the others the differences are very subtle, but definitely, the B is different (and for my taste, the one that sounds the best)
Interesting. I initially thought Guitar C might be the one with EMG's, because it seemed louder than the two before it. In the edge of breakup clips, I thought Guitar B seemed to be reaching sustain-y compression more easily than the others. That could mean EMG's, or just some other pickup that compresses and sustains easily for whatever reason.
or it might be just the ffretwork, like how well polished the frets are, and hom much width/height they have, since doing bends is much easier on a bigger frets@@SecretWeapon62578
I preferred the sound of B easily over the other 3.
@@JBertoMSI completely agree.
I just bought a guitar and learned my first chord. Good stuff bro. It's never too late to shred. I'm 65.
So there are definitely are differences but they're SOOO slight. In the context of a song you would not hear anything different and even outside of the song it's hard to tell. I picked A for the Les Paul and C for the cheap guitar. As for the others, I'm not a guitar player and have no idea what those guitars are, just someone that's played in bands with guitarists for 20+ years lol. Came across your channel because even though I don't play guitar, I'm very interested in learning to record them properly. You've been a wealth of info! Keep up the good work!
I love these videos Glenn haha, being a 23 year old female rock musician, it's awesome that brands like harley benton can keep up with the more expensive brands! And i totally agree, almost all of the sound depends on the speakers in the cab!
This is fun, Glenn. They’re all so close. The only guess I have is that B is the EMG’s. Can’t wait for the results!
Same guess for me. Lol
Diff pickups will also stimulate the amp differently depending on how hot they run. I would have liked to hear more riffs though, especially with more varied dynamics. I don't think pickups make a huge difference in terms of sound (and certainly not for the price that boutique pickups run), but they certainly make a difference in terms of dynamics. My PRS sounds hella different from my EMG loaded ESP when you, even running through the same distorted amp.
Yes, agreed, but I don't think that's the main point of this "test".
I'm sure you are aware of this too.
I've said this for quite some time now.... " There are only so many ways to make pick ups for guitars before you run out of ways to make them!."
I had to come back and share this on my Facebook page... Awesome 😎 💯 honesty....
I think I do hear a difference. I'm not a tonesnob or anythin, but just want to give it a shot:
A: I liked this one the best, I think it's the Guitar with the EMG's
B: This one was the worst, I think it's the harley benton
C: this one wasn't much better, this is a tough one, I think it's the Les Paul
D: This was a nice tone, could be the strat.
Very curious if I'm even slightly right. if I'm far off, I have to trade my ESP for a Harley Benton hahaha
I've been a fan of HSS guitars since they first came out. Absolutely the most versatile guitar option IMHO. I'm not into modern metal tones but for blues and classic rock, I can get close to AC/DC and ZZ Top as well as Hendrix and SRV. The Swiss Army knife of guitars.
One trick I figured out years ago is to wire the humbucker to a push/pull pot to have it change the pickup from series to parallel rather than a coil tap. Lowers the output so it balances nicer with the single coils. The tone doesn't change much (I think it just changes the output) and you don't lose hum cancelling.
Can get quite decent tones with split-coils as well, and you don't lose out on the humbuckers, the only thing i'd miss is the center single-coil and all the switch-options.
@@birdsteak9267 that's the cool thing about the Fender Double Tap. You can split it but it'll keep the volume level. I had one for a while. My current Strat has a Shawbucker so the split doesn't work as well. But I like it better than a single coil at the bridge.
@@Ray-Angel Can always try to figure out the "Greenie" configuration! Owning several guitars, not a million one but one for each purpose and noted Amp-configurations can give you an option in genres even fusion.
@@birdsteak9267 you mean turn the magnet around? Sure why not if that's your jam. But I'm a minimalist. I like getting the most from one guitar. Although I'm thinking hard about getting a tele with a humbucker at the neck for a Keith Richards vibe.
Out of curiosity, when I record, I blend room audio with cab audio. As you were saying about the guitar center comment, different guitars have different acoustic sounds. With this in mind, would changing guitars, say I play a strat style, and then an explorer style, whould that change my overall tone in any noticable capacity, since i use the room audio in my recordings?
On the clean sound Guitar C sounded slightly brighter to my ears, through my headphones and that was really the only one I actually had a preference for, though the differences between the 3 is minuscule. At the edge of breakup I had no preference. I really hope Guitar C is the Harley Benton that means I can afford it. Though everything in the signal chain does have varying degrees of impact on the output. I go with what my friends who gig regularly and they all say to spend most money on the amplification and speaker cabs. Even then they say that if the cheaper ones sound better to you get that.
It would be interesting to see the frequency charts of these Guitars as a DI vs going through the full recording signal chain.
All I want to say here is chasing tone is a fun thing! If anything it gives us something to do that seems meaningful lol. I think after the journey plays out we can agree it starts with a great amp, then a decent guitar with a few good pedals. After that it’s up to you to play! Your hands are your identity in music! EvH taught me that! Cheers!
Fantastic! I hear slight differences in overtones when they are clean but can't point out which is which. On edge breakup I reckon it's impossible to tell any differences. Ah well, plugged into a HM-2 with all the knobs on max I'd go for the Harley Benton anyway as I can afford a whole lot more guitars in different colours and that's what counts right? :D
And to that, added in a context of a full mix, the magical unicorns-and-rainbows tone is EQ'ed to something completely different compared to what's recorded/percieved from the beginning anyway so why not instead aim for a tone that sits well in a mix to avoid heavy processing as much as possible? And that goes for both live and studio situations! Been playing in a bunch of bands in different genres thruout the years (I'm even older than Glenn!) and I remember in one particular band the lead guitarist sounded like shit when he was playing alone, but with the whole band going he sounded really really great as he sat well in the mix! Something for the tone talibans to think about, maybe? ;)
@@lukastorstensson8219I'm blessed with having a recording geek in my band, so we've been discussing a lot about that over the years. What matters (for all instruments) is how it sits in the mix, not how it sounds isolated. I hate the sound of my isolated toms, but the fills cut through in the mix and sound cohesive with the rest of the drums so I'm happy.
This is really cool, I love your videos. Do you think something like a Gretch Filtertron humbucker would be discernable, or like these is it also an optical illusion
It's awesome how similar you're able to make them sound. You can kinda tell, if you're experienced enough to have heard the distinctions over the years, but damn!
Since several years ago I've been choosing cheap guitars and working to make them the best possible having a limited budget, and results are pretty good! If you want to spend thousands of dollars it's up to you, but it will definitively not improve your tone nor make your audience say "whoaaaa" to your sound - maybe because of the brand in the headstock 🤣 BTW nice work as usual Glenn 🙌
It's like buying an expensive car. Won't change anything, still goes 10 MPH when you are stuck in a traffic jam and you are limited by the speed limit of the road you are on, bt wow, it has heated seats! Amzing! Expensive guitars are an absolute con, and when people talk about tone, they might as well be masturbating.
I definitely couldn't tell you which is which, BUT, each one had subtle differences from one another.
Great video. I like the sound on C but im not an expert. They all sound great. No idea which is which.
Pickups can have different voices albeit not necessarily to the extreme extent that many snobs will try to portray. These guitars all sound super similar (with one of them standing out as being a little bit "mushier" - super excited to see those results). I'd also point out that youtube compresses videos, so the differences will be less noticeable after youtube compression than they would be in a room with the amp sitting next to me. Would love to see a "guess the price" series when you bring in a guitarist, potentially blindfold them, have them a couple differently priced guitars, and have them guess the price based on sound and feel.
For another pickup comparison, check out Seymour Duncan's "6 String Shootout Metal Bridge Humbucker Comparison" video and thumb through the timestamps in the description (full mix and isolated). Most of them do sound dang near identical, but there are a couple that stand out as having different voicings when soloed out. However, I'm a lot more hard pressed to hear the difference in the full mix and I probably wouldn't give 2 thoughts about any one of those pickups sounding "bad".
My take is, there is a bit of a difference, but it's mostly something for tone snobs to fuss about. I went down that road for a brief moment when I swapped out my stock Bartolini pickups for some Nordstrands in my Ibanez SR-755. It sounded almost exactly the same and I realized I'd just spent several hundred bucks on getting essentially the same sound. Not gonna do that again.
Thanks for what you do here Glen!
Because of your channel you inspired me to place more importance on speaker cabs and other aspects of the signal chain that I was under-appreciating. It’s really helped elevate my recording quality and zone in on aspects of the chain I want to change to get a desired sound.
I still buy and swap pickups because they affect the feel for me in the room, and if I feel good about my playing at a psychological level, then I’ll play better. Whatever helps! Well… aside from practicing because everyone knows practice and fundamentals are for the talentless 😁
Edge of breakup I heard a slight difference in B to the other 3 but it honestly could have been a slightly hotter pickup driving the amp slightly harder. Specifically B had slightly more saturation. In a mix you probably wouldn't be able to hear any difference at all. Since B is the only one I can say anything remotely about I'm going to say that's the strat, although my heart says it's actually the PRS because it reminds me of MusicIsWin and he uses a TON of PRS guitars.
Really good video!
Same for me.
Same for me. It makes me think that B is the Humbucker strat. There is a low bump that is lower than the other 3 guitars as well as a higher high end. I would also imagine that the SG style guitar is 3 because it has a low mid bark that i have always noticed when comparing SG’s to Les Pauls. The differences are subtle except for B. As soon as you introduce any distortion the differences melt away essentially. For differences in tone with distortion change cabinets and/or speakers or style of pickups (Single coil, or filtertronic or humbucker). The guitar itself makes very little difference like Glen says.
Great point. That's a difference that could be easily fixed in the post, at least in most cases. I would expect Strat to have a faster attack when driven very hard for djent and chugging of all sorts due to the boxy pickup compartment - would've been nice to hear that in the experiment too. Also one could raise a question whether HSS strat is a strat? But I'll leave this one up to whoever reads this. 😉
Another point is that lot of the tone is also from all the 5000 pedals that everyone feeds the sound through too. Making the pickups and guitar a lot less pronounced as well. You can make any guitar have any tone you want basically if you have the right pedals and amps.
Or a DSP daw and 1000 VSTs, being 'mastered' at 128kbps, MP3. Only then can you pretend an HSS Strat sounds like a Les Paul.
This is coming from the goon who says pickups are the only thing that makes sound in the guitar, yet now says they all sound the same. Seems quite silly for an adult of his age, even in the 'click bait till you $make$', drama queen youtube world.
I can confirm A, B, C and D are all indeed guitars!
In the clean test, B seemed to have the most unique character so I bet it’s the H. Benton 😂 but yep, point proven: very very minimal (if any) difference between the 4. Keep fighting the good fight, Frickster! I’m sorry that we use autotune 😅
C and D are indistinguishable.
B is noticeably different from A, but hard for me to tell how A compares to C and D.
I chose that one as the H.B. as well, but just because in the clean, it seemed to have lower output.
I expect them to sound different (They sound very different to me, idk what the avg conclussion is) but what I wonder is if you can make them sound exactly the same at the amp. Sort of like how when comparing digital amps like Helix/Amplitube I could get both of these digital amps to sound exactly the same, they just needed different settings on the sliders of the same amp to make them sound the same so just the baseline is off or like how you can obviously make the same EMG81 sound different with different settings.
i love when you do stuff like this. there is going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth when the results come out in the follow up video
The 'B' guitar fits my preferences best, and that can easily make me think it's the LP... BUT I can't complain even a small bit about all the other tones - they all sound really great and very close.
I don't think B is the LP based on the first clean sound samples...that's where I hear the "most" difference of all the samples....b sounds the most thin..so ithink B is the strat or maybe the HB..but could be also a main difference in the output volume..
Listen to the variations in the playing, he plays different on all 4.
@@giulioluzzardi7632 Proves the point even more, if you cant hear the difference except far playing variety, than that means the pickup means even less because no matter how good you are its going to sound different everytime someone plays anything
I also liked B the best, and C the least. I also agree with the person who said the guitarist did not reproduce the exact same signature 4 times.
I have no idea which is which, I think D might be the strat. I think B might be the Harley Benton. I'd be surprised if these posh guitars sound as good as a mass market model.
@@pyotrilyichtchaikovsky3733 This is not how it works. Watch more videos comparing pickup types if you care. The difference is certainly significant and often has a big impact on the music. This test is rigged to be hard to decipher to prove his point. I just skimmed a bit of it, but i didn't hear what pickups he said he was using- so if he used a pair of pickups on a strat, it would sound a lot more like a humbucker.
I personally prefer my clean tones recorded directly, rather than going through an amp. I see the value of changing pickups in this case, but I don't think it's a better value than just using good EQ.
I do have a suggestion thoguh: shootout active pickups VS passive pickups VS passive pickups + a boost pedal.
I'm interested in tonal effects of hitting the preamp colder or hotter as well. After gain/volume compensation of course.
I've watched a few reamping tutorials on YT, but none of them really discuss gain-staging in reamping. There's a lot of talk how you can change the sound of your amp by using a boost pedal, but can't you just use more gain on your interface outputs instead? Does the pedal itself bring something in?
@@samuliauno8163 the short answer is no. JHS has a great video on preamp boost, you should seek it out.
Active pickups has the ability to be prevoiced internally, so I see the advantage to use them in 2 ways:
1) you can run very long cable (10m easily) without affecting the sound - HUGE difference to passives (capacity of cable change the impedance curve - detune the resonance frequency)
2) you don't need a TS or any boost pedal to tame the bass out, or boost the highs because of long cable. If you use modellers, just put a distortion pedal on. If you are purist and want guitar directly to the tube amp, EMGs or Fishmann's may have many advantages.
But it's not about sounding better or worse, if the signal chain is set properly to run any type of pickup, it will sound great and the differences should be minimal after running thru an amp. In the end, the mids are important
@@samuliauno8163 That's exactly why I am recording guitar always directly to soundcard and use reamp box after the interface output to always match the levels. And you are right, you can just roll a fader in daw or turn the gain knob on the interface. The biggest issue I found is you have too much low end and have to use some high pass filter. That's the biggest difference.
And generally the cleaner, the bigger the differences are, anyway they are quite small. The edge of brake sound is still lot bluesy and warm, I think the differences may shine more on something like Mesa MK series or Marshall plexi for example. Some amp which actually react on the pick attack more - there you can hear the differences even on distorted sound. But in many cases there is in the end very low difference.
I want to do upgrade of the cheap Adrian Smith Jackson from stock pickup to actual SD JB. Really curious how it comes.
Well more than 90% of the music that all we love (and tone) probably was recorded from the amp.
Great shirt!
Thank you for this! I have a 2019 American Elite HSS and that Shawbucker has a slight fuzzy quality to it. I've read it described that way by another player online as well. I wonder if that's my brain hyperbole??
I swear it's a lil fuzzy
Great stuff Glenn. Some of these comments are wild!😅
@bmannned very interesting but say your predictions about this video. I don’t have trained ears, but for someone more acquainted, probably is easily recognizable.
@bmannned "this channel doesn't have any content."
@@snap-off5383 Click on the Videos heading. There is a video there.
@bmannned His main contention, and mine too, and really anyone who understands that comparisons of anything are not reliable unless there's a well controlled experiment, and I have seen it way too often that they were no such thing, and also that "I can hear" is no substitute for "these measurements show". "I hear..." presented as part of the results nullifies the whole experiment, because of human psychology.
I am also suspicious there may be some mind game at play here to serve a yet unknown purpose, and in this case maybe that even if the guitars do sound different, it's nothing a few basic amp settings can't fix to make them very hard to tell apart.
We'll just have to wait and see.
@@metalcandr6681thanks. Sounds like his epiphone has a semi-short exacerbated by vibration. The only difference in tone was some crackle.
I feel like the most noticeable difference between a Les Paul and an HSS Strat is the neck pickup sound through a clean amp. I will admit, I plugged a Strat with a humbucker and a Les Paul with humbuckers into the same amp with the same settings and I definitely noticed a difference in sound. But if you’re creative enough you can get just about any sound out of either guitar.
on cleans the C guitar are the bassy one, and i belive the D guitar is the strato with humbuckers, but only a guess, nice video! on my guitars i use an tony iommi gibson custom pickup and a surh doug aldrich, the feeling of the play is diferent, but i believe the sound is like the same on both guitars i have, one sg and one LP.
Easy! 1 is PRS (or any EMG), 2 is strat, 3 the boomy Les Paul, 4 is the Harley Benton ;) keep up the good work Glen
I can't tell which is which but there are some tonal differences for sure. What's most important though and can only be understood by oneself is how the pickup makes you feel while playing the guitar. Even if it's just a placebo, if it gives you that little more confidence in your playing then it's probably worth it.
So it is about what the guitar looks like then?
So YOU are one of those people that spend several grand on a guitar just because it makes them feel better.
@@Blacksoul444 I am playing a Sire & Harley Benton right now, so no, I don't spend thousands. But if you can afford it and makes you feel good, then yes I get it.
I would not have guessed just how similar the tone was for all 4. The most notable thing for me was the higher output and brighter attack on #3. I assume the controls on the guitars were all wide open? I want to play too, so my best guess: PRS, Strat, HB, LP. Great video!
Exactly that higher output or guitar C made me assume it was the PRS. 🙂
I don't know what guitar is which, but i do love that melody. Hella cool!
I like guitar 4! I was picking up this treble biting like a damn crocodile! Love that sound for cleans!
D is the only one that sounded noticeably different to me. The rest were the same. I'd be tempted to say D was the EMG set, but I couldn't tell you why - something about the cleans sounded different. Nice job Glenn.
Yes! There was something more "open" about it, at least on the first test.
This is why I'm starting to think it's a placebo. For example, if you listen to certain phrases (Yanny Laurel, That is embarrassing chant) they sound different depending on what you read/think. In this case, I'd assume showing the letters actually convinces your mind that there has to be something different. I'm convinced that if he had them smoothly transition without the letters on the screen, it'd be much harder to notice any difference at all. There's also the fact that humans aren't robots, we can't do the same thing exactly the same way every time, that's why we double track things, there could be ever so slight differences to the way they're playing because of the neck shape or fret size. There are so many hidden variables that we realistically can't come to definitive conclusions without making assumptions. I'll admit I was butthurt when I saw the original "do pickups really matter" video, so I tested it on my own. I did my best to make sure the recording setup was as close to identical as possible between takes and I was shocked to find out Glenn was right. I noticed the same thing as this video showed, they all sounded close enough that most people would call them identical. With my Sennheisers, there were minuscule differences, but through my friend's headphones and my phone speaker there were no perceivable differences. All this is to say, the in the room sound can create major biases that you wouldn't recognize unless you actually test them. I would bet that the phenomenon that leads to the phrase "This is embarrassing" sounding like different phrases depending on what you're thinking of, is actually just the look/feel of the guitar changing how you hear it out of the cabinet.
As an owner of many various guitars with various pickup types, expensive and inexpensive alike, more pedals than I have feet, and with over 16 years of on-again/off-again playing....I thought they all sounded awesome. Even the HB, which ever one that was. No wait, ESPECIALLY the HB cause it's $260 and hanging with the $12K les paul (i looked it up on reveb).
More pedals than you have feet? So, what's that , 3?
@@AllCarsUnited very astute observation 🧐
Why did he say it was 4 grand and not to look it up? Did he tell his wife he only paid 4? Did he pay 40 grand as the text on the screen said and he doesn't want to know what they are selling for now?
Interesting test. Thank you for putting the effort in. My ear says:
A Harley Benton
B Strat
C PRS
D Les Paul
I am curious whether I got them, or whether my next guitar will be a HB. ;-)
If pick ups don’t effect tone all that much, and I agree they don’t, we should probably start viewing their value in the context of which is the quietest.
What pick up makes the least amount of noise under high gain?
I think there are some tone differences between every guitar, but quite minimal.
My guesses are:
A: Strat
B: H.Benton
C: Gibson
D: PRS
However, once switched to the overdriven/Distorted sound...
I would interchange A with.. D? I mean, defeating all my guesses and proving your point, the sound of a strat could be indistinguishable from another haha. But, I am not really sure about my other guesses so, lets find out in your next video.
That’s what I thought as well.
A Strat
B. HB
C. Gibson
D: PRS with Active p/ ups
But I wouldn’t have even noticed these tonal differences but for hearing them in a shootout. Even then, I’m not sure they scientifically measured pickup heights, etc.
In a mix? Not a chance in hell lol
Listen closely to the attack for C. It's the active pickups.
I've always maintained that pickups should always be the last thing you swap.
From my own experimentation over the years, the biggest influences on tone are (in order):
Hands/pick of the player -> Cab/Speaker -> Amp -> Pickups (then , body wood, neck wood, fretboard wood etc., which all make borderline meaningless differences in tone for an electric guitar).
But, in terms of playability the order is a little different and pickups suddenly play a huge importance.
For playability, I'd argue it's
the guitar neck -> Hands/pick of the player -> pickups -> amp -> cab/speaker -> body wood (weight) -> (all the rest).
It's always funny to me that my bandmate and I have very similar rigs (slighty different amps, same cabs, different guitars), but you can immediately tell who's playing even when we use each others gear. We always sound like ourselves, just with a slight accent if that makes any sense.
Pickups to me are primarily just for tweaking final tone without having to fiddle with the amp knobs. Need more output? Get a higher output pickup. Too dark? Get a brighter pickup. etc.
If you go from a bright high output pickup to a slightly less bright high output pickup, then expecting a huge difference is and always will be ridiculous, but if a pickup swap means I fight my gear less then it's money well spent (within reason).
That said, I fundamentally disagree with the idea that pickups don't affect tone. An easy (and extremely fast) way to confirm this is to use the quick connect capabilities of EMGs. The 85, the 60, and the 81 are very different in the bridge vs the neck in terms of tone and playability, and while you can probably mix them to sound almost exactly the same that defeats the point of changing the starting point for the player (so to speak).
Finally, anybody who complains about high gain tests on pickup swaps is dumb. High gain is where those differences are arguably the most important since the output tends to magnify everything and too much amp gain usually likes to mud everything up.
Anyways, here are my guesses.
A) No idea. Lowest output sounding. Going to guess Les Paul here.
B) No idea. Vintagey. More output than A. Going to guess Harley Benton SG.
C) No idea. Loudest one to my ears. Brightish with a lot of low. Going to guess Fender.
D) Sounds flat with a very slight high mid spike spike. I'm going to go with PRS with EMG (EMG-81?), but I still have no idea.
C was my favorite in these clips, but my favorite to listen to isn't necessarily my favorite to play.
My guesses are the same.
A sounds like my LP.
B sounds like the PU is closer to the bridge (which is the case for SGs vs LPs).
C has a wider freq range as you said, and the e and h strings sound a bit thin.
D sounds a little bit "sterile" / "lifeless" to me. My immediate thought was: If it's true what they say about EMGs, this must be one 🙂
I can only hear differences with the clean tones.
With edge of breakup they all sound equally great to me.
If you disagree that pickups don't actually effect tone, test it for yourself. That's exactly how I felt until I tried to repeat his test with all of my guitars. The differences were so minuscule they'd be masked in a mix anyway, your in the room sound does not mean that same bias applies to recordings. The in the room sound can be affected quite literally by how you're feeling that day. That's why certain chants can sound like different words, depending on what you're thinking in that moment (that is embarrassing football chant is an example). If the room sound influences how you play, do what you can to find the perfect guitar for you, but through a recording it won't matter, mixing/mastering, and the cabinet are actually noticeable changes on the recording, so focus on those if you're recording.
@@watersnortmoment3734 I have tested it myself many times over the years.
I even provided a easy to replicate example in my comment (EMG 81 vs 85 vs 60 in the bridge via quick connect system) and even noted "...while you can probably mix them to sound almost exactly the same that defeats the point of changing the starting point for the player (so to speak)."
Pickups absolutely affect tone, they're just low on the totem pole compared to hands/cab/amp (which I also noted).
Well done
Glenn!!! This video slaps. The production and content is stellar man. Keep it up!