Pickup output.............................

[GASMAN]

I realize that higher output does not mean it's a "better" pickup. But just out of curiousity-------do the VA5's have a hotter output than the SF's or SA's.

Don't need to factor in the boost or split functions. Just basic output.

Thanks.

[tom]

nope, nope,nope.

[GASMAN]

Ummm...........OK.

Did I ask a really stupid question, or am I to assume that the output is basically the same on either pickup?

[tom]

i just said it 3 times because the forum won't let you post less than 10 characters. they're about the same. the SA split is a little hotter.

[GASMAN]

About the same. That's what I thought.

You know, sometimes I think I worry about PUP's way too much. An Anderson guitar is going to play great, and the single coils are going to sound like a strat or a tele. ( As you can probably tell-----I'm wearing myself out looking for the "perfect pickup")

Oh, and thanks Tom for the clarification on the number of characters. Yea--the three "nopes" kind of threw me there.

[tom]

i think lots of people wear themselves out changing pickups. i went through it long ago, and still am always on the hunt. the key to success is spending enough time with the rest of the rig to dial in the best that can be had from that particular pickup. often times people change the pickup and if it's not "the one" the first second they give up and move on. i can't tell you how many people have said" it's just a little too bright" , and when we say have you turned the treble down just a bit, they say oh but i like my treble at 8. this is not to pick on anyone, just to remind everyone that the knobs are there for a reason and they can be turned.

[John Price]

i think lots of people wear themselves out changing pickups. i went through it long ago, and still am always on the hunt. the key to success is spending enough time with the rest of the rig to dial in the best that can be had from that particular pickup. often times people change the pickup and if it's not "the one" the first second they give up and move on. i can't tell you how many people have said" it's just a little too bright" , and when we say have you turned the treble down just a bit, they say oh but i like my treble at 8. this is not to pick on anyone, just to remind everyone that the knobs are there for a reason and they can be turned.
I had the exact situation with my classic! My rig was setup for humbuckers and when I got my classic it came with the VA5 setup! My first reaction was they sound a little too bright for me! I spent some time tweeking my amp to realize that single coils are very different in the tone spectrum than humbuckers and now I know when I play my classic with H/S/S and then switch to the one with singles I need to make the proper adjustments to the amp! Once I realized this I started to enjoy both guitars for what they offer!

[mbrown3]

My difficulty is that I don't want to adjust knobs every time I change guitars. I set up my rig for my main guitars (Atom and Myka Classic), but then if I switch to one of my other guitars, I have to re-dial everything in, which gets to be a pain. As much of a pain as swapping pickups all the time? I'm not sure. If I switch pickups and find the right set that work with my rig as-is, then it will be worth it in the long run. If, on the other hand, I swap and swap and swap and never really find anything that fits, it may be time to settle on the pickups I have and just buy a good EQ unit that will allow me to even out the differences. The problem is, I'm trying to pare down my gear, not add to it.

This is all mostly theoretical, at the moment, since I've been narrowing down my gear lately and am sticking with just the things I love or really need. Everything else is being sold off. But in some cases it's not just a matter of not wanting to adjust your rig to fit the current guitar...it's not wanting to mess up the setup you've spent so much time dialing in for your other guitars, for the sake of one. To me that warrants a bit of pup swapping.