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Oh, Aeroband sent you a guitar? They either just made the dumbest move they could have, or they're confident in the changes that EytschPi42 said they made. He did also say they were lucky they didn't send one to you because of how brutal you'd be. Either way, I'm looking forward to that. "We're going to have a hanging... or a wedding... either way, we're going to have a lot of fun."

Well, on my ibanez swapping stock pickups for black winters made actual difference, especially when down tuning it's got noticeably more controlled and articulated low notes and in some way more pleasantly distorting highs. And cleans got much better, someone probably would say they are only subtle differences but I think my expectations were more realistic to begin with, haven't regretted even once.

I’ve had my Ibanez SA260 FM for almost 18 years now, and it still plays like a dream. And the price nowadays is around the €400 mark, so I would qualify this for affordable, well playing guitars

"A MINOR ERROR" took everything you said out of context... Get him.

Hey great videos, since I`ve started watching your content my guitar tone has improved drastically and I don't even play with high gain, thanks for all this usefull information.

I bought the Black Winter too, only one so only about 150€, and it actually made a huge difference to the sound of my Ibanez. Turns out the stock pickup wasnt wired correctly 😂 Oh well, nownI have some soldering experience.

I love how your videos backup what I have been telling other guitar players for years that the SPEAKER is the most important part for tone and sound. I personally still love my Eminence Lynch super v12 speaker.

I do love your pragmatism Glen, it's all about results with you - brilliant.

I think that between you and Jim Lill, it's been quite freeing to step back and really look at what affects my tone. I'm mainly a live local cover-band player and cost, size and use case is my priority. If you know that what really matters when it comes to creating good tone, then you can achieve exactly what you want for the money you have and focus on whether the gear you buy actually fulfills the practical benefits of your actual use case.

A full Kramer video would be phenomenal! I have a Baretta Special I got for $179, I cut out the capacitor on the volume pot to make it work properly, put a new set of tuners and a new nut, and it's one of my go-to guitars. They might have a bit of a "dated" look, but it's a great husk, even at an entry level price

Thanks for your insights, Glenn!

Coming from ESPs and Fenders, I was just amazed by the Squier Contemporary series, specially the Telecaster. First time I saw one in a store, I was amazed by how it looked and ended up trying it and just fell in love with the feel and the tone. It has a Humbucker omn the neck and a HotRail type on the bridge, adn it really feels like a 800+ bucks guitar for under 400! And the roasted maple neck is just gorgeous! I even lent it to a cousin who only plays American Fenders and he told me that finishes were top notch and that he would have believed me if I told him it was a Fender!

Did you say you're getting that toy guitar monstrosity for a review? I thought they've halted sending or selling them to anyone in fear of someone tearing them a new one... It will be glorious, can't wait!

Gleeeen!!! Ur awesome :) love from Saskatchewan

On the topic of gain at the pickups vs gain at the amp. It depends on the amp. Vintage high output pickups were made when the highest gain amps the highest gain amps you could get were a plexi or a JCM 800 effectively acting as a boost. With modern high gain amps it really doesn't matter. Hotter pickups tend to be a slight bit muddier, but if you have low output pickups a decent boost pedal will give you the same DB boost but with the benefits of adding a buffer or eq to the signal chain. There is no wrong way to do it. Just what works best for you, your ears, and budget.

Hi Glenn, I really like that you're one of the very few music youtubers that tells us to NOT buy unnecessary gear. I am not immune to the marketing tricks that companies like to play on us, but I was fortunate enough to see through the pickup marketing bullshit quite early in my 'career'. Out of curiosity I bought this Korean hot rails pickup for the equivalent of like 20 USD. Aside from the poor soldering from the factory this pickup is amazing. On the recordings I can't tell the difference between it and my LP studio. If I have a chance, I'll always go to the cheaper pickup first. If it works - awesome, if it doesn't - there are always other options.

Morning SMG buddies!

LMAO that Aeroband video is gonna be glorious. It's gonna be like an early christmas present. Bless you Glenn.

Glenn, I am so glad you've made these videos, because now my bandmates can't complain about my BC Rich guitars anymore!

Keep up the good work. The guitar gear industry is so vile and even pro musicians easily influenced. I remember when EVH released the 5150 Overdrive pedal. I tried one and realizied quickly it barely gets in the ballpark of the real thing. Pete Thorn did a video on it where he praised it for its accuracy. Someone who's "made it" as a known player has incredible influence, with or without a KZfaq channel. Even if they don't always get $$$ kickbacks, they are highly incentivized to say positive things about products when they have relationships with vendors. We live in an time when, with less than $1k of gear any pro player could buy what they need to get on stage and perform at professional level. It's all about the hobbyist and armature chase for the magic sword and giant egos that assume they have the talent part down and just need better gear. Target demo for gear vendors is mid-life hobbyist with money. Taylor Guitars, Gibson, Fender, etc.. that's the group they are marketing to.

Fun story. I am a 62-year-old professional musician and music teacher. I am tired now of playing on stages that are so quiet we could talk to each other and hear each other over the instruments. I miss the days of moving a lot of air with big amplifiers on stage, so I have started a new band. It is coming along nicely I am buying 100 w 412 stack to play in this band and move some air. Fuck the sound man we're going to move air off the stage just like the old days. Best project I've ever been a part of. Oh yeah now I can turn around my guitar will feedback when I face the amplifier.

Hi Glenn! Loved the video. I was once an electric tone wood believer but not anymore thanks to you

I've got to say own a couple of single cut guitars with similar specs for playing live, most have rosewood and one has ebony boards, the reason I gravitate towards the rosewood is because I'm a rhythm player and the looder grain feels more anchored for playing chords! Keep up the great work Glenn

I select those guitars and pickups that actually work for me. And yes, pickup choice can make a substantial difference. For a long time I was pretty happy to have a JB humbucker in the bridge of more than one of my guitars. In recent years I started to really hear its quacky, midrangey nature and it started to bother me. Eventually I pulled the JB out of one of my most played guitars and put in a regular Duncan 59 Bridge. Quack gone. I do like this better. I have another guitar that still has a JB in it, and both guitars with JBs did sound very much alike even to my ear. Now they clearly sound different even with a lot of overdrive, as one still has the JB and the other now has a 59 instead. Yes, pickup choice can materially alter your tone. NOT saying that EVERY pickup that's a different brand and model will have its own readily identifable distinctive sound or that it'll sound way different from others. I'm saying that SOME have a very clearly different tone than certain other models.

Super interested to see the upcoming video about the metal recording mic.

Awesome show man

You should make a video on changing volume/tone pots. A lot of times people consider swapping PU's when going from a 250k to a 500k is a far cheaper and more effective way to fix a dark sounding guitar.

I personally love the my Jackson JS32s. Especially my Rhoads but I know that they can be a hit or miss sometimes. However I would love to see you try one

Oh cant wait to see the Aeroband Guitar Review

As a non-guitar player that came to this channel to learn how to RECORD guitar, I've decided to pull the trigger on the Gotoh once I'm able and take some guitar lessons. I'm not looking to be a rockstar on guitar, just to be able to write the music in my head. Thanks for the suggestion!

Greetings from Ukraine! I don't usually working on metal tracks, but some of your advices are still legit for rock or even electronic music. Keep energy high and thanks for your enlightenment work!

I'd skip the Kramer. They have been crap ever since Gibson bought them out. Seriously, what can you expect from Sue Authentic. They have the reverse Midas touch. Everything they buy turns to crap. Case in point, Kramer, Steinberger, and Epiphony.

Thanks VG video. Next up checking out your bass software. Cheers!!

Good morning Glen happy Friday man!🎉

I want to be able to hear a 5% difference in tone. That's just amazing. I bet that guy could even score 100% on a blind test for pickups. If he saw the pickups first that is...

Looking forward to the minivan repair video!!!!!

Thanks Glenn! Love the show. I'm a 48-year old dad, a bureaucrat to boot, that plays guitar for my own enjoyment and recreation. I really like the LTD EC-10. It's about 250 €, has a nice heavy (as in weight) feel and I thinks it looks good! (in a sort of "where ever did my youth go" kind of way...) I plug it into a Scarlett 2i2 and the noise level is really nothing to bitch about. Let me tell you - this guitar will for sure last for many years before I'm "better" than the guitar as a player. Thanks for the show! It's awesome!

No computer could ever replace a Bass player!🎸🤘🤟

"Be excellent to each other" at the end. A Bill and Ted reference?? Fuck yeah, Glenn. Fuck yeah. Lol!

Glenn reviewer an Aeroguitar? Oooooh this is gonna be GOOD! XD

Definitely feeling the "amp Sims are easier" thing this week, I unplugged my amp and the ground prong stayed IN the wall outlet. I could still play, if I wanna ride the lightning ⚡

I love the feel and look of an ebony board. Never heard a difference from my rosewood Les Pauls. Just love the feel under my fingers much better.

As far as affirdable guitars go, I heard good things about Slick guitars. They are lookers for sure (at least on pictures) but it'd be cool to see you have your way with one.

A very ambitious Nashville musician did a very thorough comparison of guitar cab sizes, materials and speakers per cab, and the only significant recorded difference was the cab size affected bass response. Recording a 4x12 with one mic on one speaker will mainly just have some increased bass coming off-axis from the other speakers, and 4x12 IR's also tend to have a cancelation at ~700Hz. You want a 4x12'' mic'd sound from a 1x12". Put it in a bigger closed cab, or just increase the bass with an eq and maybe reduce ~700Hz.

There was a video of Jim Root years ago saying he doesn’t like maple fretboards, because he says they are too bright. Then he launched a new guitar with Charvel with a maple fretboard. He then came back later and says maple wasn’t as bright as he remembered.

2:09 I actually own the Kramer Nite V he's referring to and I absolutely love it, specially how the neck feels in my hands. Also, mostly stays in tune

OK then, subbed. looking forward to your reaction on the aeroband thing.. LOL.

As someone who’s been playing guitar for only a few years, I never thought to look into modding any of my guitars or getting any better gear like amps or cables. Almost all info I’ve gotten on different gear has come from you and one other person, and I’ve kept it all in mind! Also, I don’t know if you’ve already done this, but maybe you could test a couple Fender/Gibson guitars against Squier/Epiphone guitars to show the differences and similarities between them? Others have done this, but you go into much more detail about tone, price, and other equipment and how they effect sound. Anyway, great video and keep up the good work!

I agree with a lot Glenn said. I love my Strandberg guitar the most because of how comfortable it is to play. I do believe they are massively over priced but though. I just ordered a GOC to obtain almost the same concept but at a much lower price. Real funny thing is I know go back and listen to songs I’ve recorded and cannot tell which guitar I used when recording the song.

As a drummer I'm glad I don't have to worry about any of this. I just got a tube amp and a guitar that I thought looks cool. Sounds good and I'm happy. :)

Morning Glenn.... my bass player loves your show 😅😅😅😅😅😅😅😅

4:00 about wax-potting & saving money : it's actually not that complicated to wax-pot your pickups yourself rather than buying new pickups. I had to do it for my Squier CV Jag's pups because it was squeeling like crazy everytime I'd push the gain, and it did the trick just fine. No more squeeling and pickups became way less microphonics and didn't notice any shift in tone. Just gotta be careful with the temperature, wax/paraffin melts around 60° (celsius) and you need to control the heat so it doesn't go above 70-75°, you don't want it to boil but just become fluid and translucent. If you heat it too much it can be a nasty mess to clean up and it could ignite on its own so "bain-marie" is the way to go.

I bought a Kramer Baretta Special a while back. The stock pickup seemed way too hot for me no matter how much I lowered it. So, I changed it out for a Duncan Distortion. The sound of the guitar through my amp didn't change much, but the output was much more even, and in control. Feels much more satisfying to play to me. Was it worth the price? Probably not, but I'm happy with the result.

I enjoy your content a lot I hope the information just gets absorbed. I currently record from a moto smartphone and run a squire through a super cheap fender champ 20. It's super refreshing to find someone who reps cheaper gear and isn't just wow-ed over a price tag. I don't understand mixing or editing in the least yet as I don't own a computer or an audio interface yet but it's encouraging to see less "oh you absolutely need this, if you don't get this thing for this certain sound it's just not right" thanks for sharing the facts and helping broke people with dreams, do more than dream.

Damn man I might have to check out that bass sim. Been playing with having VST backups behind my physical recordings and am loving the sound so far. Plus I may or may not have been a rule #2 in my bass days lol

Thankyou Glen made my rainy day better. Now im procrastinatin openin this stageright monoprice el84 little combo. If I like it im sellin this st100 b52

I have a white Chinese Telecaster and yes it does give me great metal tones. The setup was fine, I chose it before I knew where it came from because it did what I wanted it to do. I changed the pickups on it and surprise surprise, no notable difference

Thanks Glenn, you and Jim Lill prove that most of what musicians and music producers assumed as facts were completely wrong and most of the time things that companies and gear snobs invented in order to spend as much money as possible in things that don't really matter. It's time to put into test most of the things that we considered as irrefutable truths about music production and sound. Keep going!!!

I have had a Jacson JS32 with a floyd for 5 years and i like it. good setup by a proffessional and its great for me. I also changed the bridge pickup to Seymour Duncan AHB 2B metal blackout.

I like the Ibanez GRG121DX-WNF. I bought it two years ago and must say the guitar feels nice and sounds nice.

GLENN!!! I play in a Heavy Metal band and recently the other guitarist and myself wanted to introduce some very needed change to our live shows, so each of us purchased a Jackson King V JS32. Both cost around 300€ and play very well. For cheaper guitars, they do have a couple of short comings such as the joint of the neck and body being a larger block like a Strat, instead of those smooth and more ergonomic ones that allow you for an easier access of the upper frets. The other issue would be the balance that's just a tad off but nothing like a cheap 90's BC Rich Warlock! No one attending our shows has ever complained about our sound. We both have more expensive guitars but these are just really cool guitars. Plus we're newer guitarists in a band that was founded in 1979, and we use multi-fx units and in-ear monitoring instead of amps, to the surprise of stage managers and other bands. Our gig set up (including festivals) got shortened to 10 minutes. If you can sound good and make the job easier for yourself and for the people handling the sound and stage, you owe this to yourself!

ESP LTD EC-256 Falls just under the $500 mark. I have a couple of pricey guitars (over $3,000) and about 50% of the time I pick up the LTD. I swapped the tuners out for some locking ones and it plays like a dream and is solid as a rock. I think they ship them with locking tuners these days, but mine doesn't have them. Even the stock pickups are damn nice and they have coil splitting as well, very versatile.

First, thanks for the great content Glen. The speaker argument was a complete eye opener for me personally. Pickups, I've kinda known this for a while but the examples you've shown sealed it. HOWEVER, as a semi-pro luthier for the past 20-ish years, I can add one tiny detail about pickups from personal experience: Yes, "tonal shifts" on high gain are mostly BS esp in a mix, but there is one damn pickup that now features on almost all my and my clients' guitars: Fluence. Why? It is the ONLY pickup I have come across that forced me to almost relearn guitar because of how unforgiving it is at showing your faults. Must be the PCB coiling because holy crap you can't hide any of your flaws (particularly sweep picking) if you're playing on fluences. Not tone, and I hate to say it, but individual note clarity.

GLEEEEEEEEEN. Cryogenic valves vs normal valves… Can you hear a difference ? This will get some peeps panties in a bunch. Love ya work man🤘🎸

Great info for anyone player or not

I bought a cheap 7string schecter guitar and changed the bridge pickup to 7stringed Paf, didn't do it for the sound change, but when i record direct into my daw via my soundcard, the lower output makes finding the correct gain level easier and a nice sideeffect is that electric noise from monitors and pc is reduced quite a bit:) Love the show Glen!!! and please, can we get more mixing tutorials, make a new series on maybe drum mixing? Maybe difference when mixing toontrack (or similar) or live sets? thanks yet again. (btw sorry English isn't my main language so sorry for any errors:P)

Hehe, nice Pulp Fiction quote Glenn!

True. Took me an eternity to mic up my Amps so i feel good with that. But Every Engineer loves a guitarist who knows how to set up his sound so it works well when miced up in the Mix. not just "in the room". btw the harley benton cab i use is more than fine.

I am going to have a great weekend, thanks

I have, since the 60s, gone through a number of guitars and put a staggering variety of pickups in them. My first good guitar was a '64 Gibson Melody maker D with those, I think that they were called, PU380 single coils that I bought for $50 in a pawn shop. But, having gone through those and everything from DiMarzio to Seymore Duncan and everything in between, I am forced to quote Bertrand Russell on his meeting with Lenin in 1920. " I was less impressed by him than I expected to be." I have now scaled back to one guitar, a 93 American Standard strat that I bought when it was brand new, still completely stock in every respect, and that suits my needs just fine.

Before this video, I also was considering the Kramer Nite V myself. It looked very well made!

Glenn you truly are the epitome of talking smack and backing it up. Looking forward to the reveal video and the ensuing debate in the comments.

Hey Gleeeeennnnnnnn !!! Greetings & Fuck Yous from Mexico City !!! Love your conscious and objective analysis on how speakers make these huge tone differences. I was wondering, since the mic is IMHO the other critical transducer on the signal chain, have you ever made any videos on how mic types / brands (aside form placement which is another whole world on itself) affect the high gain tone ? Would love to see a whole series on that. That's. For. Sure. LOL

Thanks brother

I think your pickup video worked cuz some guy is selling his set of SD Black Winters for less than a third of the price on Kijiji. Needed a set of high output pickups anyway for a project so thanks for the sweet deal Glenn.

I have been using a sE Electronics Voodoo VR2 Active Ribbon mic on loads of Sound sources. It sounds killer on what ever I throw at it.

“Pickups aren’t magic, they’re math.”-Jeff Kiesel

At 11:00, it reminds me of when I first saw Chimaira in 2001. They didn't have any cabinets on stage, but their sound was so massive and clear. They blew Slayer off the stage, which was the only reason why I was there (to see Slayer). I talked with their sound guy afterwards and asked him what they were doing, and he said they just went through their amp heads direct into the PA to then EQ out the mix for a full, balanced sound. I later saw them open for Fear Factory and Slipknot, and they blew them both off the stage as well at House of Blues in Myrtle Beach. It was a great concert mainly because of Chimaira. Threy made me look at gear set-up differently after that. Subscribed

I bought a Ibanez RGRT421for 495 euros recently and I'm absolutely loving it. Plays so nicely, looks so good. The only thing I regret is that I didn't ditch my Gibson 5 years earlier. I put some locking tuners on, and I'm probably gonna replace the nut. But it survived its first gig without a problem, and the tuning stability was amazing.

Dear sweet Glenn, I bought an Epiphone SG pro in Pelham blue (alot like your HB, but maybe a bit more pale in blue). And it was an awesome guitar. It was a “vintage reissue” and had humbuckers with coil tap. It was pretty affordable and really bad ass. I wish I kept it😢.

Glenn, I gotta say thanks for all the info during the last couple of years. Honestly, Im pretty pissed at all the bullshit I bought into from companies that were simply trying to sell a few more units. I always felt like I couldn't hear a difference between about 90% of the sounds of say before/after tube changes or between this pickup vs that when played through the same amp with the same settings. But I always assumed that maybe I just didn't have the "magical hearing" to find the differences. Thanks for helping me realize the truth of if it fucks like a duck, it's probably not a chicken.

According to Rick beato's interview, Yngwee run's a really clean single coil with an indecent radioactive level of gain at the amp. I guess the gain staging topic would deserve a deep dive at some point Glenn.

I bought a Jackson JS series Dinky 7 string a couple years ago for $279 CAD. I love the way it plays

When I changed the stock Epiphone pickup for a Seymour Duncan JB, it changed the tone drastically. Pickups DO change your tone regardless what anyone tells you 👍🤘

I just bought a new Jackson Adrian Smith quilt for $400 and it is outstanding in every way!!

GLENN! I would absolutely love to see you review a Squier Classic Vibe Bass VI. Sergio Vega used them on some Deftones stuff and mine is a lot of fun to play.

A couple of things I learned building some pickups: 1) for my tests what Glenn says about the relation of the output of the pickup and gain stage of the amp is correct 2) The type of pickups (single coil vs humbucker vs p90 etc), the size of the bobbin, magnets and diameter of the copper wire your using do change the sound of the pickup, but all the other bullshit like material (look at the prices of plain enamel wire ahah) of the wire, in my experience doesn't. 3) Inductance is the most important quality of a pickup, it can be controlled with how much metal is present in the pickup. Measuring and testing the Inductance with a LCR meter at specific frequencies is the only way i found to have an IDEA on how the pickup will sound, an higher value will make the pickup sound louder and darker. 4) Advertised DC Resistance is bullshit. It will change a lot with the ambient temperature and it will be only useful to get an IDEA of the output of the pickup. I could build 2 humbuckers with the same Resistance but with dramatically different sound because the inductance is different. 5) Magnets do actually make a difference. The stronger the magnet the more output and more string pull. Alnico magnets have also more iron in them, making the Inductance raise and consequently darker. Most of the advertised things are bullshit. And the most important thing is having a pickup not too bright or not too dark. If i had to choose i would say that a brighter pickup is better than a darker one though because most of the guitars have a (passive) tone knob.

Yeah, I just got me an HB R-446 with greenish flip flop (interference) color. Except the 1 or 2 things, this guitar is quite something for under 200 bucks. Don't forget to marinate the fret board in lemon oil if it's too sandy... for at least 10 days (and polish the frets). Greetings from Germany, Glenn! Always nice to hear from you. Hope to see you at the next Guitar Summit. 🤘 I'd love to see you maybe connect with other guitar nerds from here like Bernd Kiltz...

Since the early 2000's I picked up on the cab being key in a tone. I usually had five 4x12 cabs in an apartment, yeah I know, crazy right!! A mesa, 2 VHT's (slant/straight P50E's), custom Splawn with X pattern, and Marshall 1960. I know pickups don't change a lot, but there is a difference, and I still reference the Keith Merrow Duncan videos, I mean even you can't say those videos don't show off a difference. You mentioned a future remake of that test, still waiting on that one.

your miixees aare great mmaann

On great value guitars - my most reliable guitar is my 'old' Jackson Js23 HSS Dinky from about 2013 or so with the natural finish. The stock single coils are great, but I did put in a Duncan Full Shred as the output of it blends better than the stock humbucker did. (although it sounds great in the other guitar I put it in) I bring it to every gig. It is always rock solid in tune, the maple neck never seems to move, it's plays wonderfully with no sharp frets thanks to The binding, and the HSS pickups mean it can work for whatever style I need

Hey man love the vids helped me a lot with home recording. I think it would be pretty sick to review an esp e2 for a video. It's the middle ground of an ltd and a esp usa. Think about it maybe cause I've been waiting for a review on it.

I took the speakers (Celestion Gold + Celestion V30) out of a very expensive guitar cabinet. Sold the cabinet for €300 and bought a 2nd hand empty Harley Benton 2x12 for €90 to put the speakers in. Sounds killer!

I repair and do set ups on guitars and have a nice sound system For live and recording and I hate to admit it but just about everything Glenn says about sound is spot on correct from my view point.

On the topic of gain staging and pickups. I recently made the opposite rig choice by switching from high gain humbuckers boosted into a dimed amp to a Jassmaster into an amp at 3 o’clock. The amount of definition I have gained especially on the higher strings is insane. I think one of the biggest problems when room vs recording is that a dimed amp sounds great in the room but is super muddy when recorded.

I think it's generally hard to shop for instruments because the setup will change my perception of the quality completely. It's hard enough to guess the potential of the instrument in the music store, let alone if you decide to buy online.

I have a Washburn Parallaxe V260 from 2018 only thing i did was install Seymour Duncan invader pickups to replace the stock duncan designed ones. My favorite metal machine.

Can’t wait for the Aeroband lol

Someone needs to make a meme of Glenn's face with the writing underneath "Pickup companies hate this guy" 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Love the content Glenn. Keep at it my friend 🤘