Define "Note Definition & Articulation"

[fieldwrangler]

That's easy, just get a 14K Epi bridge HB and set it too close to the strings. There you have it. Boomy and harsh at the same time.

HTH,

Excellent example; likely rings true with anyone who's had experience with those pickups.

[David Schwab]

Hang out, talk shop, or jam? Possum lays down some decent blues from what I understand....

Me, I EXCEL at bad blues licks.

Jamming would be fun.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

Jamming would be fun.

Is tuning required?

[David Schwab]

Is tuning required?

That's like saying should you zip your fly?

I don't even play at home unless I'm in tune. Otherwise it hurts my ears.

[FunkyKikuchiyo]

That's like saying should you zip your fly?

I don't even play at home unless I'm in tune. Otherwise it hurts my ears.

Me too actually - I'm a tuning snob (another OCD bit about sound), but there is a certain charm to getting together with people when no one really knows how to tune. It is sort of like playing ironically.

[LtKojak]

getting together with people when no one really knows how to tune.

Funny you said that... this is my definiton of HELL ON EARTH.

[Steve Conner]

Years ago, I went to a tiny charity concert, and one of the acts was a punk band composed of high school kids. As soon as they struck up it was obvious that they were seriously out of tune, even by punk standards. An older guy (one of their dads?!) came on stage and started twiddling their tuning keys while they were playing, but it only made the din worse.

I didn't know whether to laugh or cut my ears off.

[Joe Gwinn]

My suspicion is that articulation actually is a measure of how phase linear the pickup et al is. One requires phase linearity to preserve waveshapes, including attach transients.

[MrCandy]

My suspicion is that articulation actually is a measure of how phase linear the pickup et al is. One requires phase linearity to preserve waveshapes, including attach transients.

Bravo! great post
I said the same thing here.

[Steve Conner]

Let me repeat once again that the phase characteristic a double resonant pickups have a complicated form,
even if the coils are very close interaction and connection to the cable.
Double resonance pickups sound more transparent

A complicated shape to the frequency response implies a complicated phase response too, therefore less phase linearity. So if what you said is correct, double resonance pickups should sound less articulate. (And more transparent at the same time?)

Myself I don't think the phase response of any audio component matters a hoot, except in so far as it determines the frequency response through Bode's relations.

These relations (and hence my whole argument) only hold for minimum-phase systems. Maybe Mike Sulzer would care to post a short dissertation on Bode's relations and the humbucker as a minimum phase system.

[MrCandy]

A complicated shape to the frequency response implies a complicated phase response too, therefore less phase linearity. So if what you said is correct, double resonance pickups should sound less articulate. (And more transparent at the same time?)

Myself I don't think the phase response of any audio component matters a hoot, except in so far as it determines the frequency response through Bode's relations.

These relations (and hence my whole argument) only hold for minimum-phase systems. Maybe Mike Sulzer would care to post a short dissertation on Bode's relations and the humbucker as a minimum phase system.

You can verify this after listening audio samples here

[Steve Conner]

This has nothing to do with whether your pickups sound good, it's a question of why do they sound good? Do they sound good for the reasons you think, or is it something else altogether?

I'll restate my claim: If phase linearity implies transparency, then a pickup with two resonances should sound less transparent than a pickup with a single resonance.

If the double resonance pickup sounds more transparent, that agrees with my theory that says that transparency is not some audiophile accuracy thing, just an illusion caused by an upper midrange and treble boost.

[MrCandy]

This has nothing to do with whether your pickups sound good, it's a question of why do they sound good? Do they sound good for the reasons you think, or is it something else altogether?

I'll restate my claim: If phase linearity implies transparency, then a pickup with two resonances should sound less transparent than a pickup with a single resonance.

If the double resonance pickup sounds more transparent, that agrees with my theory that says that transparency is not some audiophile accuracy thing, just an illusion caused by an upper midrange and treble boost.

It's much easier in the single-resonance pickup more IMD. I call it the "wrong unison".

[Joe Gwinn]

A complicated shape to the frequency response implies a complicated phase response too, therefore less phase linearity. So if what you said is correct, double resonance pickups should sound less articulate. (And more transparent at the same time?)

Myself I don't think the phase response of any audio component matters a hoot, except in so far as it determines the frequency response through Bode's relations.

It will depend on where in the frequency range one is. Around 3 KHz will be where it most matters.

These relations (and hence my whole argument) only hold for minimum-phase systems. Maybe Mike Sulzer would care to post a short dissertation on Bode's relations and the humbucker as a minimum phase system.

What does minimum-phase achieve here?

[Arthur Dent]

The 2-4 kHz range, known as the singers' formant, is the frequency range that contains most of what determines clarity of speech. If you EQ that out of your music, you usually can't understand the words. Having good response in that range certainly helps with clarity in pickups too.

A lot of the different ways we describe tone are not entirely accurate. For instance, a harsh or ice-pickey sound does not necessarily mean too much treble. A jagged, peaky midrange response is more often the cause of a harsh sound. You can have a whole lot of treble and not sound harsh, and you can have a whole lot of bass without sounding boomy. Most of the unpleasant characteristics of pickups are caused by the "texture" (peakiness or smoothness), not the shape, of the frequency response.