Would mixing pickup brands be stupid?

[SunOfNothing10]

Would say, using a dimarzio bridge and a BKP neck sound weird? I'm interested in what you guys have to say about this.

 

[GraemeH]

No reason to avoid it.

One of my guitars has a BK Painkiller in the bridge and a DiMarzio Evolution in the neck. There's no issue with mixing different sounds for me because I stick to the bridge for rhythm playing and the neck for all lead playing, so I don't need them to sound similar.

You'd only have to watch out for mis-matching outputs (the Evolution neck's output matches the Painkiller neck's output so there's no issue with that pairing).

 

[robski92]

I used to have a SD Distortion in the bridge and a dimarzio liquifier in the neck and it worked fine for me!

 

[SunOfNothing10]

interesting. I have an aftermath set in my Ibby Green Dot, and i was thinking about getting a bridge pickup that sounds a bit thicker. Like an illuminator or Ionizer.

i really don't feel like dishing out the money for another BKP lol.

 

[Alex Kenivel]

What?? No! Of course not!

 

[TedEH]

You'd only have to watch out for mis-matching outputs

What would happen if they don't match? Is it just a matter of keeping the output strength close enough for convenience?

 

[ASoC]

What would happen if they don't match? Is it just a matter of keeping the output strength close enough for convenience?

Pretty much. My 565 came with pickups that are definitely mismatched and there's a very audible drop in volume when I switch to the neck pup. I could lower the Tone Zone so it's not so loud, but then it doesn't sound as good. Hopefully the BKP I have coming will be a better match

 

[Spectivum]

Just like mixing amps and cabs, whatever works.

 

[odibrom]

Did a wiring for a friend's guitar a while ago with a Duncan rails in the neck, a Bartolini in the middle and a DiMarzio Tone Zone in the bridge. Besides the outputs, one has to pay attention to wire color coding. The guitar came to my hands with the DiMarzio out of phase.

 

[Edika]

Only if the pickups have the brand name printed on and you're OCD about it .
I was actually considering mixing a SD Alternative 8 I have lying around with a DiMarzio Air Norton Or Liquifire for the neck but I sold the guitar I was going to do that.

 

[GraemeH]

What would happen if they don't match? Is it just a matter of keeping the output strength close enough for convenience?

Just thinking in terms of a drop in volume when switching. My RGA72 came with active pickups designed to be used as a set yet I need to have the neck pickup as low as it'll go and the bridge as high as it'll go to get a balanced volume

The neck position is always going to be naturally louder as far as physics goes since it's nearer the center of the scale length, so the neck pickup would need to be accordingly lower in output to compensate for that I think. I'd keep that in mind when choosing mis-matched brands/models.

 

[VBCheeseGrater]

The only reason i've ever thought not to was the matching look being off - but that can happen with the same brand pickups as well.

 

[TheWarAgainstTime]

I've had loads of mismatched pickup pairs in my guitars the only thing is that I had to take extra time to make sure I had all the color coding right during installation.

 

[Kryss]

this can be done, I have a dimarzio and a SD in one mockingbird.
the lead/hot wire is black in the SD and red on the dimarzio iirc. so you only have to swap the placement of the black and red, the green and bare/white wire go to the same spot between both brands. if one sounds like crap you wired it backwards if they both sound like humbuckers and not a single coil then you got it right....which is what can happen if it's hosed and you don't get the red and black in the correct spot.

 

[Petar Bogdanov]

It's not a problem at all, but you have to make sure the sounds make sense with each other. I used to have an Evolution 7 and a Jazz 7 and they were both great, but required different amp settings.

 

[Itchyman]

Also, be careful not to mix actives with passives, unless you've got special wiring. Also, mixing single coils with humbuckers can be tricky, if you want to keep the sound and feel they are both meant to have.

 

[Kryss]

I just dropped in a dimarzio liquifire and a Jason becker SD perpetual burn. it works. just pay attention to the color of the wires. dimarzios and SD use a different color for the lead wire. one is black the other is red. the other 2 wires are the same. edit: whoops just saw I replied to this previously.

 

[Anant Naag]

Vogg of Decapitated has an active pickup and another passive in the same guitar. The neck pickup is a passive and the bridge is an emg. He demonstrated it in a live show somewhere but can't find the video right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6ufcxEEMu8