EMG's + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

[Static]

I recently bought a '91 Soloist that came with EMG SA's and an EMG 85. This is the first guitar I've had with active pickups, my "rock guitars" have all had Duncan Customs. I don't know if EMG's just don't go well with Mesas, or if they are just overdriving the amp, but I can't get a decent tone out of the amp with this guitar. Either it's not crunchy enough, or it's pure mud, there's no happy medium. I love the tone of this amp (50w Rectoverb modified by Voodoo Amps) with my other guitars, but it hates the Soloist. Anyone experienced this? Aside from changing pickups, any ideas on how I can clean up the signal a bit? Maybe it's time for a VHT...

[ColdVayne]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

Most of my guitars have emg's and i have had a mesa triple rect and i used it and mine sounded beyond great, no mud at all infact it was sparklin clean. Maybe you might have to do some fooling with the pickup highth or it could be the battery is almost out because emg's turn to mud the battery is low at least on my guitars.

[LRGman]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

I just put an 85 and two SA's in a fusion sounds good. Mud is the last thing I would call it. I have a 3 channel triple. I wired mine 18 volts on advice of Clevland Metal Miester. One thing I notice in comparison to my Passives is that with the 85 I can run more treble cause the 85 doesn't have the treble breakup of my passives.

Anyway I have had to mess with my amp settings a little. The 85 is kinda bass heavy so with a bass heavy amp I have too compensate. I haven't ran it yet at my usual wall shaking volume but if its not muddy at lower volumes it sure wont be a louder volumes. My amp tightens up as its turned up. I run full power and diodes at all volumes.

Anyway I am not a treble or a presence fan so I was happy that I could use more of the amps treble for the the same top end without breakup as my passives, becuase to me recto gain seems so dependent on treble settings. I was runnig my red channel on 11 0'clock, now I am at 1 o'clock.

Lead runs are so much crisper with the 85 it's not even funny. Don't get me wrong I am not a full blown Active guy. I love the sound of my duncan in my Dinky, I just would'nt call the 85 muddy at all.

Try backing off the bass a little. Mess with the Mid and Treble then bring the bass Back up. Experiment. If you already have then I don't know what to tell you.

What type of tuning are you running? String Gauge? Lower tunings and bigger strings are harder top keep tight.

If you have a pickup you like, pull em put your Duncan Custom in and throw em up for sale.

Good Luck hope it helps. LRG

[ January 23, 2003, 11:57 PM: Message edited by: LRGman ]

[piranhaguy2002a]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

Try wiring the EMG's for 18 volts instead of 9 volts. This will give you a little more headroom and crispier transients. (spelling)?

[StuTDavis]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

I'd suggest maybe trying out an EQ pedal in front, especially lower the extra-low bass frequencies some, maybe boost the highs a tad...with a Mesa, I'd expect your mids to be strong enough, or I'd normally say boost them. Maybe an EQ in the loop, too. Try to lay off the amp's gain and bass a little if you can. You could be overdriving the front end of the amp, and it never hurts to check that battery too. The 85 is going to be more thick-bass-heavy than the 81, I'd guess, so you might actually do better with an 81...but I'd say going to the hassle of changing pickups would be last to try, because you can always check out an EQ in a store for free relatively easily.

[Svart]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

I got my Jackson in A# and don't have a muddy sound at all... I do use an eq and a sonic maximiser in my rack though, maybe that's why... but it should be possible to get a good sound out of emg's without turning into a mudpool...

[nor]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

A#??????

Doesn't gravity pull yer strings out of tune? [img]graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

j/k....

[Static]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

Thanks for the replies. I never thought of changing the battery in the guitar, I'll try that tonight. I have a Carvin bass w/active pickups and when the battery starts to die, it makes no sound at all.

I usually run my Mesa with a THD Hotplate so that I can get saturation at low volume levels, and when I used the Soloist with the Hotplate, it magnifies the problem. I use standard tuning, and I believe the strings are 9's. I did notice that solos sound so good with this guitar, but there is no clarity in hitting multiple notes across multiple strings (ie arpeggios). I thought this is what the 85 was *not* supposed to do.

I'm going to do a fell set up on it this weekend and try a few things. The pickup/control wiring looks like a hack job, so there may be some problem there as well.

[toejam]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

Check and make sure your cable is pushed in the guitar jack all the way. I had this same problem when I got my first Jackson with EMG 81/85. The jack is really tight and when I pushed the cable in and heard a click, I thought that it was in all the way. I played and heard some muddy distortion, and on the clean channel it also had a tiny bit of distortion, also it sounded a little staticky when turning the volume and tone pots. Someone on another board tipped me off that this happened to them, too, and told me about the cable. I pushed the cable in again until I heard a second click, and that sure enough was the problem. Not sure if it's the problem you're having or not, but it was for me.
BTW, I think EMGs rule!! My one Jackson has the 81/85 and the other has 85/60 (my favorite)!!! EMGs are well worth it, IMO. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[ January 24, 2003, 02:13 PM: Message edited by: toejam ]

[slayer]

Re: EMG\'s + Mesa Recto = Sonic Mud

I have a Soloist with an 81/SA combo, and run it thru my VHT Pittbull CL-100 2x12 combo with EQ and it totally rips. VHT`s are High and Mid heavy and the Celestion Classic Lead 80`s are very open sounding, that helps also. Your Mudd problem could be a single thing or a variety of things? Jack.