Tried a fiore yesterday….

[henryjurstin13]

Got to compare a silver sky with a fiore yesterday at Barnett in Tulsa…. Fiore was very, very weak signal compared to the silver sky. Is this normal?

I expected the silver sky to be quieter/weaker….

 

[Boogie]

None of that matters when you dial-in the amp+pedals for the guitar. I’ve never eval’ed a guitar’s amplified sound with a store’s or buddy’s rig and paid much attention. It’s all about working with my stuff. Stick with playability and acoustic sound tests at a store.

 

[henryjurstin13]

No, I wasn’t comparing to see who was the strongest…. I was just surprised & making sure this is normal.

 

[Uncle Bob]

It’s totally normal for different types of pickup to have different outputs. It’s not just about how loud one is over another. It’s about their tonal qualities and how they respond to amplification.

 

[Uncle Bob]

None of that matters when you dial-in the amp+pedals for the guitar. I’ve never eval’ed a guitar’s amplified sound with a store’s or buddy’s rig and paid much attention. It’s all about working with my stuff. Stick with playability and acoustic sound tests at a store.

Well, yes and no. I agree with what you’re saying to a certain extent, but it does matter what the pickup is designed to sound like. Of course. Otherwise all pickups would be made the same.

 

[chicagoslim]

The Fiore does some series/parallel things, that can change the output level. Mark Lettieri designed the electronics, to give you a lot of options, and maintain a similar output level. It's a session player's guitar, with over a dozen switching options. It makes sense, that it would be lower output.

Mark explains it in this video.
PRS Fiore Demo - PG Gear Spotlight - YouTube

Fiore vs. Silver Sky, comparison.
PRS Fiore vs The Silver Sky Comparison - YouTube

 

[SinSir]

There always the setup on the two guitars too. Pickup height can factor in.

 

[Boogie]

Well, yes and no. I agree with what you’re saying to a certain extent, but it does matter what the pickup is designed to sound like. Of course. Otherwise all pickups would be made the same.

I think you’ve missed my meaning. Evaluating an amplified guitar at a store on foreign equipment and in an uncontrolled area will not tell you what you need to know about a guitar. It has nothing to do with pickups.

 

[Aahzz]

I think you’ve missed my meaning. Evaluating an amplified guitar at a store on foreign equipment and in an uncontrolled area will not tell you what you need to know about a guitar. It has nothing to do with pickups.

I'm going to disagree with you on that one - most guitar stores have at least one amp on the floor that I've owned before. As such, I have a good idea of what it should sound like through a Vox, or Fender, or various Marshalls...if I can't get at least a reasonable sound out of an amp with which I'm familiar, that tells me something I need to know. Further, if I can get a good tone out of an amp that's not my favorite, that tells me something. Playability is king, indeed, but if I can't get a usable tone in the store through an amp that also tells me I'm likely to need to change pickups at the very least when I get home, and I will not buy a guitar where the stock pickups do nothing for me. I *might* change them later, though I really prefer not to...it's a road that I've found generally leads to dissatisfaction and me selling the guitar. Will the in-store amp tell me everything I need to know? Nope - but it very well might tell me enough to know that it's not my guitar.

 

[SinSir]

I agree finding an amp you know and like is key. I can typically shape tone to my liking once home even if it takes the bench. Playability and feel in the store is king for me too.

I get more bummed when I love a tone at the store but don't at home than the other way around.

 

[László]

I find that I can tell a lot about a guitar at a store by playing clean through any number of amps.

I don't play with all that much gain, anyway, so evaluating the guitar isn't terribly difficult. I do agree strongly with Boogie that the acoustic tone of the guitar matters quite a bit - call it another standard of comparison.

 

[henryjurstin13]

Just for sake of the conversation, I played these guitars through a Sonzera 20. I don't own a Sonzera, but I've played these amps plenty enough in the last couple years to be very familiar with their tonalities.

 

[Drew]

I think you’ve missed my meaning. Evaluating an amplified guitar at a store on foreign equipment and in an uncontrolled area will not tell you what you need to know about a guitar. It has nothing to do with pickups.

100% disagree. I can plug a guitar into a random 5w Blackstar (or whatever) practice amp at a store and pretty much know all I need to know about a guitar. One of the most overrated ideas in the guitar playing world is "I need to play it through my rig". Most of the character in a guitar is in the guitar itself. That's why they call those noise making boxes "amplifiers", because they amplify the basic voice the guitar already has.