Hot pickup
A pickup wound or magnetised to produce a much higher output than a vintage-spec one, so it drives an amplifier harder at the same volume setting.
Higher output usually comes from more turns of wire, a stronger magnet or both, which raises the output and the inductance and typically shifts the response towards the midrange while softening the top end. That makes hot pickups well suited to distorted playing, where the extra level pushes the first gain stage into clipping early. The cost is nuance: dynamics compress, and clean tones can sound flat and one-dimensional.
Example: a high-output bridge humbucker turns a modest amplifier into a heavy rhythm sound without any pedal, but it will not sparkle on a clean arpeggio.
See also
Related
- PageVintage-output pickup
- PageDC resistance
- PageHumbucker
- PageActive pickup
- PageAlnico
- PageBlade pickup
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley