The Electra Forums

I know this has probably been discussed many times... But how do guys feel about the MMK45's? What would you compare them to? Vintage and new... Are they geared toward a certain sound/voicing?
I have read some discussions about them and most all are really positive; however a buddy of mine who lives a good distance from me has some in an Aria axe he has and tells me he is not all that impressed with them, he plays mostly blues/jazz stuff. I was noticing there are several up on ebuy and are pricey, not that I would buy any, but is part of the love for these pickups just vintage nostalgia or are they all that..

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Getting old, getting gray, getting ripped off, under paid. Getting sold, second hand, that's how it goes, playing in a band!!

MMK45's were very widely used, and they were put into many different styles of guitars, so that tells us something about them right there, that they were designed as a "shotgun" of sorts to hit many targets as opposed to being specific. Either that or they just designed the pickup and didn't care what it went into. I'd venture to say that the designers had the distortion/overdrive (rock) crowd in mind, as guitars with mmk45's were relatively inexpensive and were marketed with a hard edged flavor in many cases. Guitar companies really began catering to rock musicians around the time the MMK45's came out.

Unique sounding, yes, I'm used to hearing them and can usually pick them out. However they will sound different in different guitars! A mmk45 in an Electra Les Paul copy will sound a lot different than a mmk45 in a Westone Dimension IV! It's all subjective. The same pickup will sound like poop in one guitar and amazing in another.

Overall, I'd say that they're best suited to rock. To my ears they have a little hollowness to them that I like a lot. Again, different guitars will make them sound differently. What style do you play and what guitar might they go into?

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

Some light reading on the matter... http://www.matsumoku.org/ggboard/viewto ... &hilit=mmk

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

Thanks for the info man, I kinda thought they were more geared to the rock crowd, I do have a set in one of my Electra mpc models and I think it's awesome for playing rock and some metal. Your right about that hollow sound and to me it's really noticeable on clean settings, it's kinda mid-rangy to me as well, but it works great for 80's hair metal .
Yeah you are right about pups sounding different in different guitars, different wood/resonance etc..

I used to play a lot of metal back in the day, thrash metal was really my favorite and those MMK45 seem to work pretty decent for that...nowadays, as I've gotten older I play blues/jazz, some metal just not thrash so much anymore, but playing covers encompasses a lot of different styles of music, and it's easy to find the right tone with all the modeling stuff out there.
I don't plan on buying a set and putting them in a guitar any time soon. Thanks for responding man, I just wanted to here what you guys think about them, like you said it is really subjective.
Thanks for link as well!!

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Getting old, getting gray, getting ripped off, under paid. Getting sold, second hand, that's how it goes, playing in a band!!

You may like MMK53's better now, they may be better suited to how your musical tastes have changed. Getting older will change tastes, don't it?!

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

MMK53's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3odEjmKMqww

MMK45's:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wR9GUDLe_o

Both played through a Mesa Boogie pushed to overdrive. Both clean up well, not sure why they wouldn't be suited for just about any playing style. I think a players amp rig has more to do with the overall tone result personally. Modeling amps are not in their infancy anymore, and they do offer lots of features for the money, but there is a reason you don't see many pros touring with them...

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch

Right on, the rig! Amps make a TON of difference. I can get some sweet blues with my MMK45's through my Marshall that I can't get through other amps.

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"GREAT Googiley moogilie Jack...jumpin jehosephat, hot dang and all".
- jdwhealton

Have you had them out? Are you sure they are MMK's? The Vast majority of MPC guitars were made before the MMK had been invented (circa 1980). The last MPC's made were the Leslie West, X960 Ultima and some of the Vulcans. None of which I've seen first hand disassembled, so I'm curious.

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Electra Guitar Videos ===> http://www.youtube.com/user/mjm33mjm?feature=watch