I think he played more subtle accents in the first one, where he played the full chords a bit more in the second one (maybe just because he was more familiar with the chord progression - that first clip is actually the first time he ever heard that song). The lead guitarist did play a little differently during the verses in the first vs. Aside from that, though, I think our tone just came together better in that first clip. In both clips, of course, we're just jamming, so the playing isn't polished. Listening to it, I think he had the gain turned up a bit, too, which is maybe natural to do when you have humbuckers. He was also using my amp on this one (a Fender Blues Deluxe Reissue). It's an Epiphone with a PRS-style double-cutaway body and humbuckers. In the second clip, he's using the new guitar he picked up. He was also using his amp, a 40W Yorkville (I think it's the YCV40WR). I forget the make&model, but it has single-coil pickups and sort of a thinner, strat-type sound. In the first clip, our lead guitarist was using his old guitar. I dunno I could be wrong - I was just wondering.
an electric rhythm guitar), is it more common to use single coils (to go for a thinner, cleaner tone)? Seems like the fat humbucker tone is generally used in applications with more distortion. This also got me thinking: when playing lead over an acoustic rhythm guitar (vs. do people agree with me?) and any ideas/advice people might have here. Just wanted some opinions on the clips (ie. I think it may have something to do with the lead guitar tone, but if so, I don't know if it's the guitar, amp, effects, playing style, or some combination that made the difference. "Ghosts in the Night" (lead guitar w/humbuckers)īasically, I think we sounded better in the first one, and I'm trying to figure out why. "Ghosts in the Night" (lead guitar w/single-coils) What do you think? Please post your comments below.These are two clips of my band practicing/jamming on one of my songs-in-progress: I realize there are exceptions to every rule, but I truly feel that each of these kinds of pickups has its signature strengths, and maybe we've helped you understand them a little better. I chose clean tones for the Six Gun and overdrive for the Sensei - and that was designed to reveal each guitar's personality. Make no mistake: the amplifier settings were very different for each guitar, too. We've hardly covered everything there is to know about single coils and humbuckers - but I hope this brief overview was helpful. Humbuckers are preferred by Jazz, Hard Rock, and Heavy Metal guitarists, whereas Single Coils are preferred by. The Main Differences Between Humbucker vs Single Coil are: Humbuckers have two coils which result in a thicker, deeper, and smoother sound, whereas Single Coils are brighter and crisper. Of course, neither application is wrong, but its my hope that you can see where each kind of pickup really shines. Main Differences Between Humbucker vs Single Coil. This guitar is the Reverend Sensei LE 2016.
Think that's a great tone? Why would anyone want humbuckers? Here's a tone you simply can't get with single coils. Here's a short video example of what I mean, featuring the Reverend Six Gun. A clean Strat through very little (if any) processing is a very good example of single coil tone. I'm willing to bet that many guitarists will agree with me when I say that early Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) is one of the quintessential single coil sounds. The style of music you're playing, and your choice of amplifier and/or pedals can greatly dictate which kind of pickup is more appropriate for the tone you're chasing. Just like Pepsi vs Coke, or in this case, Diet Coke vs Jack Daniels (or as I like to say Diet Coke and Jack Daniels) it's a matter of personal taste. Does that mean humbuckers are better? Not necessarily. OK, so single coils are noisier than humbuckers & and less powerful.
For the sake of our discussion, we're going to compare regular single coils and regular humbuckers. While its worth mentioning that some single coil pickups are noise free, and some humbucking pickups are stacked vertically - for today's lesson we're not going to dive that deeply into those tangents.
Traditional humbuckers sit in your guitar with the coils next to each other, which also means that more area of string vibration is being "picked up". A humbucking pickup is a double-coil design, resulting in a noise (hum) canceling (bucking) design and a higher output. True single-coil pickups are succeptible to noise, most often associated with 60-cycle hum caused by routine electricity. When shopping for a Reverend guitar, many of our customers ask - "what's the difference between single coils and humbuckers"? In terms of construction, a single coil pickup is just that - a single coil that picks up the vibrations of the string above it, that's passing through its magnetic field.