“The guitar is like a spaceship, like a Formula 1 car”: Uli Jon Roth says his Sky Guitar’s “Mega-Wing” active pickup system had so much output that it blew up his amps one by one

Uli Jon Roth wears a blue bandana as he plays a G3 date in 2018 with his Sky guitar.

When it comes to guitar players and their ideal electric guitar pickup, frankly, some like it hot. Some need the juice, the output to hit the front end of their guitar amp hard, to make it suffer. But how much is too much output? That is something that Uli Jon Roth has found out, to his considerable expense.

Roth likes ‘em hot. The former Scorpions guitarist speaks from experience when he says that the pursuit of super-hot active pickup tones can be powerful creative tool, and a destructive force.