HI guys, I recently bough a new Luke III and have a question about the new "high output" humbuckers. I have several high end guitars from PRS, Tom Anderson, Gibson, etc and I notice that the output of both humbuckers on my Luke III are lower output (as measured on my Fractal AXE FX3 input meter) than any of the my other guitars. Is that normal? The boost obviously makes the pickups really hot but without this it seems low for what is marketed as "high output".
- Thread starter PaulC
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beej
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Nice! I have 2 of them- an HH with the Transition set and an HSS with the newer pickups. Definitely a different vibe with the new humbucker.
PaulC - You posted this early march 2022, my luke III was built end of March 2022 - it still has a way looooow output vs my Custom V with Dimarzio Super Distortion (passive) pickups. I have a wireless reciever and have to adjust the gain up by at least 7dB to match the two Guitars. really thinking of swapping out the MM pups for the older Dimarzio Transitions.
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guitarnerdswe
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7 dB? Then something is wrong. Granted, the Super Distortion is very high output, but still. That's "this pickup is basically dead" territory. The MM pickups are way hotter than what's considered low output (PAF style), and close to the Transitions in output, but slightly brighter.
I've come across a LIII with MM pickups that had something wrong with it, which made the humbucker have very low output. Yours might have the same issue? You can try measuring it, it's supposed to be around 13.5 k. The fault can also be with the circuit board though.
I rechecked and it’s probably more like 6dB Delta. I may just swap the MM and put the Dimarzio SD that I currently have and see if it’s the board. Either way it’s very annoying to have to change the gain when swapping out guitars. Can I get a confirmation that the board output is fixed? Also, it’s almost as if the boost pot is de-throttling the output when engaged. I need to contact MM on this. I’ll try read the pickup resistance.
guitarnerdswe
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Ouch, that's a lot! Well, the guitar is active so it's hard to tell exactly how hot the pickups would be if everything was completely passive. I at least know that the humbucker output as is, is a lot louder than some other guitars I've compared them too.
I also tried to turn off the pickup compensation boost for the single coils in my HSS LIII. The humbucker was way louder compared to singles than the PAF-style pickups I tend to favour in HSS guitars. It drastically overpowered the single coils. But that's what the pickup compensation feature is for, to compensate. Checking with MM CS sounds like a good idea.
Gemmy
Well-known member
I was skeptical about getting the Luke 3 with the transitions pickups since they’re higher output but man oh man they are rich in character, glory and honor haha. Seeing Luke in live clips with his Heat treated single coil models makes me really want to try those
All of you here who have expressed concern or disappointment over the apparent low output of the MM “high output” pickups:
In frustration, I pulled out the MM pickups and replaced them with a couple of spare Seymour Duncan Jazz bridge and neck pickups. The output increase was nothing short of spectacular. Totally up there with my Super distortion. I checked the MM on a multimeter and my Bridge pickup had Zero response on the one coil and 679k on the other. Seems my MM pickups are wired single coil only. I have contacted MM (Friday am)
My advice to y’all, check your pickups for continuity.. If I were to hazard a guess, all of you with low output have shorted single coil connectivity on your humbuckers.
In frustration, I pulled out the MM pickups and replaced them with a couple of spare Seymour Duncan Jazz bridge and neck pickups. The output increase was nothing short of spectacular. Totally up there with my Super distortion. I checked the MM on a multimeter and my Bridge pickup had Zero response on the one coil and 679k on the other. Seems my MM pickups are wired single coil only. I have contacted MM (Friday am)
My advice to y’all, check your pickups for continuity.. If I were to hazard a guess, all of you with low output have shorted single coil connectivity on your humbuckers.
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coughlinkelly
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Hi there, I'm relatively new to this forum. I have a Luke 3 and if anything I noticed that my pickups are hotter than most of my other guitars....I actually love them so much I wanted to research them more and that brought me to this thread. I bought my Luke 3 used....should I contact MM and give them my serial number and ask if I need a replacement?
Iperfungus
Well-known member
Why should you replace anything if you like the guitar?
What's production year of your Luke III? Has it Transitions or MM pickups?
