There's a common perception of exclusivity on some products because their history, sponsored musicians or elaborated marketing lore. Casually, all this products are pricely which contributes to the sense of exclusivity and finesse. Just marketing for brand-believers. Tonerider prooves that affordable prices and quality are compatible so their rich sounding pickups are. No more mumbo jumbo mystic about coils handwired by tibetan monks in the heights of Shangri-La or the sacred deserts of New Mexican pyramids with the big eye above. Hey, brands, just stop your technical babbling and deliver the magic which you advertise about. I pay, you give me the sound I like, period.
By the way, we're used to compare features and hues between differente models and brands to describe the sound of each other but that doesn't let us get the idea or the whole picture. I mean, it's useful when comparing big commercial brands or boutique ones because they tend to clone their most succesful models into they're own copycats for competence sake but that comparative is not accurate when talking about pickups with their very own spirit and sound, like these. Comparing like that is like saying that a house has a roof more red o black than others, all of them are houses and look like houses, the important points are inside and how they can fit their inhabitants needs without additional gear.
Tonerider has deservedly got a name in the ruthless battlefield of guitar sound gear with pickups with unique flavors, no fair comparison possible.
Tonerider pickups are wax potted so no feedback is easily got unless you plug into a wall of amps. Do you?
They advertise features like the aleatory wiring and so but the most noticeable one are the silver nickel covers that let you play even softer with no treble or output loss.
E. Barrera
Luthier, Musician, Producer
OCTANE
Cocky powerful, a kick in the guts with angry bite and sustain. If you are into Hard, Heavy, Classic 70's Rock, Modern, Schugga, Math, Progressive, Satch or anything power with detail... you'll want Octanes forever. There are other Tonerider models for Rock but this one is the most comprehensive and uncorseted tool for all the Rock spectrum.
You feel the power under your palm and fingers with an incredibly accurate palm muting and detailed plucking. It's not another crazy high gain screaming mike, it's The Pickup for Rock with attitude and well shaped chords.
Moreover, all the high gain models by other major brands in the market tend to sound fluffy or dumb when turning down the volume pot, Octanes with lowering height or turning down the volume pot deliver awesome crunch for rock and punk and everything riot.
As a Musician
Not a bad tone at all ever.
Everything sounds good and inspiring.
Just use a good cable and you rule the stage
As a Producer
Confident on reliable tools for a fluid session.
No losing time rehearsing or trying to fix a bad sound in its origin.
Straight to the bone sound but could dress an average guitar for the better.
Quiet output with no hiss on the background.
As a Luthier
Easy as candy installation thanks to well designed schematics, available on the website.
Quick and comprehensive help thru their customer service.
Lots of combinations between their models and the coil splitting feature, really noticeable for good.