No two electric guitars or basses sound the same. Various factors can intervene in tonal quality, one of them unmistakably being the pickup arrangement. Guitars hardly come with only one pickup, many of them sporting two or even three pickups. Readers may be wondering if the number of pickups makes any significant difference. What are…
There are few instances of electrical devices getting better with age. In the musical world, some guitarists may contend that guitars (particularly their pickups) get better sound as they age. But is that really the case? Does guitar pickup performance improve with age? A pickup doesn’t improve with age, although it doesn’t degrade significantly either…
Synthesizers are among the most unique instruments in the world, with so many differences between one synth and the next. The number of voices a synthesizer has is one of the many differentiators in its performance and sound. What is a synthesizer voice? A synth voice is a single audio path responsible for producing a…
Have you ever turned up the music in your car to really feel the music, but it left you wanting a little more? Though there can be a variety of reasons for this, the problem may be that the bass response isn’t what it needs to be to make your seats vibrate. The truth is…
If you have a car stereo that you love, but you don’t have it installed in a car yet, you might be wondering if you can still listen to music or FM/AM radio on it. If you have a car battery charger, you are in luck. Can a car’s battery charger run a car stereo?…
When you find that your car’s battery is draining and dying on you often, looking for the cause of the problem is the best thing to do. After finding a cause, you can start to look for solutions and answers to fix the problem with your battery. Do car audio systems drain batteries? Car audio…
Readers familiar with guitars may know that strings need replacement once every few months or playing hours. Restringings are very frequent, especially with metal strings. Conversely, other components, such as pickups, seem to last forever. But is that really the case? Do guitar pickups wear out, and if so, how? Guitar pickups don’t wear out since…
If you ever need (or want) to change your guitar’s pickup, you’ll be faced with a dilemma: what to do with the strings. By removing a set of strings, you might need to attach an entirely new set due to the damages caused during the initial installation. This could discourage many modding enthusiasts from even approaching…
Pickups are an integral component of every solid-bodied guitar. An underwhelmingly built or installed pickup can ruin a guitar’s sound quality, regardless of whether you have a good-quality set of strings or not. There are various types of pickups, classified according to various features. You may have probably already heard of active and passive pickups…
There’s great variety in electric guitar designs, which extends to the pickups. One aspect of the design is the angle, or lack thereof, at which the pickup shifts from being perpendicular to the strings. Why are some guitar pickups angled? Guitar pickups (typically single-coil) can be angled to achieve a certain “equalization” in an electric…
One of the most important things to keep in mind if you own a guitar or a bass is the status of your strings, as their vibration is what produces the notes. If the strings are faulty or worn, they will undermine the instrument’s full potential, no matter how good a guitar is. How often…
Playing a synthesizer through an amplifier and speaker gives you that rumble that only air being moved can generate. But what if the only amp and speaker you have around is a guitar amp? Can you play a synthesizer or keyboard through a guitar amp? A synthesizer can plug directly into a guitar amplifier with…
