I think it's time for new pups...

[Misanthrope189]

Hey,
I put SD Livewires in my Soloist...but I think they might be putting too much through my mesa to get a friendly tone. I can get cool tones out of them, but it seems like they put so much drive through the amp that it feedbacks and the tone gets just really LOUD and HARSH and BIG all of the sudden...but not warm big, and not good loud and nasty growling harsh...but just like, there's more output than tone coming out of those damn things, and you can hear the tone behind it, and get some neat sounds, but sometimes it just really feels like the output is too much, and I don't know if a bigger resistor on the pup would help, or if it's just time to give up the actives and get some different pickups that'll work. It's like a big belch...the sound just jumps out, not gurgly like a burp, but just like too much to make good use out of. What do you think would be best, bigger resistor, or new pups?

Thanks,
Nick

[parntz145]

Re: I think it\'s time for new pups...

Hey,I made the same mistake as you by putting those live wires in my old soloist.I could never get a good tone with those no matter what i did.My advice to you is either change them and put some emg in there place or if you call duncan up and complaine about the pups they will let you trade them on any other type of duncan pup.What i did was called duncan and traded for another type of their pups.Then i sold the duncans to a friend and bought emg.Hope this helps you.Paul

[slayer]

Re: I think it\'s time for new pups...

EMG`s, they are awsome!! They run on 9 volts and Live Wires run on 18 Volt, makes a big difference. Any combo of the 81/85, I like them both for different reasons. Jack.

[Misanthrope189]

Re: I think it\'s time for new pups...

yeah...my amp had problems for a long while that I didn't know about, and the EMGs didn't sound that great at the time through the Mesa...so I wonder now that things are fixed, if I put the EMGs back in if they would sound good, and fix this overly hot output issue I seem to have. But right now I don't have any money to spend on EMGs, but when I do I'll maybe get some. It's like someone said somewhere...maybe it was here...that when you spend a thousand dollars on an amp, it can't hurt to spend 100 dollars to try out tubes to find out what makes your 1000 dollar amp sound best...I guess that can go for pups too...

Thanks,
Nick

[StuTDavis]

Re: I think it\'s time for new pups...

How did the EMGs not sound good before?

And, are you using the Duncan Heavy Metal Live Wires? I've always heard nasty things about them. If so, just as an alternative, they do make Classic Live Wires, too, that I'd bet aren't nearly so nasty as the HM versions. Just a thought...

Actually running 18v vs 9v isn't quite the issue, I don't think, especially if you are using the HM versions. They are rated at ridiculous amount of ouptut and midrange, and it just creates such a strong output signal that they tend to overdrive an amp pretty easily. I have EMG-81s in almost all my guitars, and ones that I have extra EMG circuits in, I run 18v like a Duncan. It's supposed to increase headroom somewhat with the boosting, as I understand, not increase any actual output. I use the 18v in those guitars per an "expert"'s advice.

[Misanthrope189]

Re: I think it\'s time for new pups...

Well, as I understood it, the classic live wire pup was simply an active clean pickup, and the heavy metal live wire was the distortion pup, like if you related the EMG 60 and 81. So I got the HM for the bridge, and the classic for the neck. I also heard from people that the Livewires were good pups, and that the high mids were good for tone shaping. The EMGs were replaced by the SDs only because when I was demoing an amp, the guy at the store (he's respectable and knowledgable, so don't worry that he gave me mis-information) said the pups shouldn't be squealing like that, especially at the distance from the amp I was. So after talking to the EMG tech I sent them to him to get fixed...and that's how I ended up with Duncans.

Thanks,
Nick

[StuTDavis]

Re: I think it\'s time for new pups...

Yup...squealing was probably a problem somewhere, definitely not something I'd associate with EMGs hehe.

One thing you could try with those HM Live Wires would be to see what happens if you turn down the volume on your guitar. Even better would be to turn down the overall level via an EQ pedal, and/or the midrange somewhat.

My (completely a) guess with the Classic vs. HM versions would be that the HM version is more like based on the Duncan Distortion and the Classic is more like based on the '59. I'd bet it's not necessarily a "clean" pickup, like the EMG-60, it's just a lower output, brighter pickup.

The first I'd heard of anyone's actual experience with the HM Live Wires, though, was back in 1993, and I've personally heard nothing but negative about them since. I suppose if you are using a really lousy wimpy amp that absolutely needs some harsh slamming in the front, those pickups could be great, and that is the target audience I'd guess they are going after. But, for someone with something like a Mesa, that's already so girthy, It's probably just way more signal than the input on the thing can be happy with hehe.

[toejam]

Re: I think it\'s time for new pups...

Not to sound like a dickhole, but couldn't you just lower the gain on your amp?!? [img]graemlins/poke.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

[Misanthrope189]

Re: I think it\'s time for new pups...

Don't worry, you don't sound like a dickhole [img]graemlins/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] haha

I do turn down the volume on my guitar...if I get lucky with the settings on my amp, things'll be okay and I can turn the volume down about a quarter or less of the way back around, and it'll get rid of any extra noise. It doesn't help that high output, though. And I'm very careful with the gain...but you can't turn the gain down too much or what you have is a rock tone with super high output...I mean, I can drop the volume, and the gain, and you'll just have a loud, harsh clean tone made dirty because the pickup is dirty...and you mentioned something about Mesa not needing a signal like that...I think you may be right...I feel like I need to make use of the amp, and not use a pickup to make higher output...I'm thinking that I'll get some larger resistors - the pups come with a resistor, saying that some amps can't handle the high output - but I think I'll get a bigger resistor, and try that first before I decide to kick the pups out for different ones.

Thanks,
Nick