Pickups or Amps contribute more to tone.

[Boonster]

Hey . I was just wondering whether pickups or amps would actually contribute more to the tone. Lets say for example i have maybe, a Roland Cube 20x that's a solid state practice amp .. If i actually changed my pickups from the samarium cobalts to maybe .. Cs69s or Big Dippers on my strat, will i be able to hear a difference? Will the difference be major or minor ? Also, lets say if i were to stick with my samarium cobalts and change my amp from a roland cube 20x to lets say .. A Fender Blues Jr tube amp. Will the difference from the changing of amp be greater or will the difference from the changing of pups be greater ? I'm now deciding whether i should actually swap out my pups first or continue saving for a new amp .. Hope you guys can help . Thanks !

 

[Breen]

Pickup tone and amp tone, and what they contribute to your sound is different from each other.

Pickups have characteristics and types that changes your guitar sound quite a bit. Humbuckers don't sound like single coils, stacked single coils don't sound like normal ones, P90s sound different from a Filtertron. So you should think of what you want to sound like and go for your pickups to change that.

AS for the amp, an amp takes all that sound from your hands and guitar and transfer it to airwaves for your ears to receive and transmit it to your brain for you to perceive the tone or music. Different types of amps, because of their construction, materials used, schematics and speakers as well as a whole host of detail orientated fairy dust would amplify your guitar sound to a tone that is with the character of the amp.

So, you got to decide which sound you want to change, your guitar's 'microphones', or your overall amplified sound.

A Strat will sound like a Strat tru a AC30, JCM800 or a Twin Reverb. But it's the amp's character that would shape how that Strat sound comes out, with the chimey brilliance of the first, the bark of the second and the, erm, Fender into Fender sound that blues, country, jazz, surf and rock of that combination sounds in.

 

[Zenzo]

Amps affect your tone more than pickups.
If I didnt remember wrongly,amp>effect>pickups,meaning that amp affects your tone more than the effect and pickups while effect affects your tone more than pickups.
Hope i helped!

 

[Boonster]

Thanks guys ! Well, the thing is that i can't stand the current pickups on my strat(SSS) because i'm actually looking for the more vintage sound but the pups on it is just bringing me elsewhere. I'm thinking of changing my pickups now but i was wondering whether i could actually hear a significant difference in the tone but the problem is that i have a fairly crappy Roland Cube 20x. So i was just wondering whether i'd actually get a better tone with the change of pickups through my roland cube 20x. If i'm not gonna be able to hear a significant difference, i'll just continue to save for the amp i'm intending to get rather than swap out my pups now and only achieve a little difference because of my current " crappy " amp.