Why Jackson? And why now?

[Bri]

Welcome to the Jackson family. I have Evo2 and Evolution neck in my kelly and I love the sound. I'd give it a try in the RR.

[PHILBERT]

Welcome to the Jackson family. I have Evo2 and Evolution neck in my kelly and I love the sound. I'd give it a try in the RR.

That might be a good choice. What is the difference between a EVO and a EVO2 in tone?

Now that my strings are broken-in, I am digging the tone even more. Plenty of chuga chuga chest pounding thump. The strings made a huge difference!

So I'm futzing with the single coil tones and notice something sounded "out of place". Almost like the pickups were in the wrong place...then :idea: it hit me. I tested to see what coils were active in split mode. THE WRONG COILS! So I guess I had to flip the black wire to ground and the green wire to the hot side of the pot. FIXED! Oh yeah!!! That hit the spot! Now it screams Strat...on steriods. Of course you can dial back on the gain, but these are very useful tones now. You would think Jackson would get it right, but no. After the swap all you have to do is ground the red and white wires (tied together under the shrink tubing) to kill the inner coil. Simple mod that adds 5 more tone choices for a total of 8. I do this to as many of my guitars as I can...that is if they have 4 conductor wiring. Maximum tone options make a guitar capable of doing the job of two or more guitars. Who ever thought a RR could sound like a Strat?

I also noticed the factory tone pots I replaced with pull-switch pots were 250K Ohm. Why 250K? That would have the effect of rolling off some high end when fully open. By changing it to 500K you "can" get more bite if you want it, or dial back a bit and your back to the stock sound.

I compared my modded RR1 to my other favorite guitars. It is kicking some serious @$$! I may just stay with the stock SD pickups. Rolling back the tone a little helps smooth it out for a more classic tone when you want that. This guitar now does quite a bit of different music. It may look total metal, but it does much more. I love it!

Phil

PS - Thanks Gartron!

PSS- Hellbat - I think I have one of those around here I'm not using at the moment. Nope...I have a SH6. I used the SH5 in my '68 Gibson SG back in the day, and it was such an improvement over the stock T-top. Perfect choice for the SG.

[DonP]

It's funny, but it's easy to tell young guys from old.

Young: "What's the hottest pickups I can put in my axe?"

Old: "I want honk, single coil, etc"



The Full Shred set has a very good split tone if you haven't tried those yet.

[vector]

It's funny, but it's easy to tell young guys from old.

Young: "What's the hottest pickups I can put in my axe?"

Old: "I want honk, single coil, etc"



The Full Shred set has a very good split tone if you haven't tried those yet.

Hmm. Guess I'm young at heart then- I love my SD Blackouts in my modded RR Ex and Hamer Diablo but the SD JB/'59's in my Charvel Star Std. are a close second. Congrats Philbert. Sounds like you've found a winning combo. I'll have to try the Elixirs.

[Mazz]

Ok, I've never found a gibson V that i've liked but that is actually amazing, I WANT!

[RyTard]

A good p'up suggestion. The duncan TB-5 has treated
My SL2HT pretty well. But that's on a string through non floyd.
The ceramic mags in the TB-5 pull a nice solid and thick tone but
Split a lot better than a TB-6 and most other ceramic p'ups
In my opinion.

[PHILBERT]

DonP - When I was very green, it had to be a DiMarzio Super Distortion...until I actually heard it, and how muddy it was. That was an eye (and ear) opener. From that point on it was tone that came first, then gain. Now I tend to like mid gain pickups. I can get gain out of the amp.

Full Shred? Maybe. I'll look at them. I have to guess about the tone of the wood and what will give the best balance. There is no easy way to guess, and it could add up to some bucks trying different types. The EVO worked perfect in my Agile, but that is a thick slab of mahogany. This guitar is not, so I need to reach for a different tone. Maybe I should throw a basic PAF in just to get a basline...and use the tone charts from there. The JB is OK, but I know these are rolled off on the low end, and that makes them a bit too bright. If anything, I would like to hear a bit more lower mids to mid mids, and maybe a bit of 2.5 K for clarity. As for single coil, the asymetrical coil types where the main coil is wound more work best in split mode.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[PHILBERT]

RyTard - That is a good pick from what I remember. My old SG was greatly improved with the SH-5 over the stock T-top. Is it hot enough to give me the metal edge? Maybe...I have to think about that since my old JMP was not near as gainy as my H&K. Hmmmmm...

[PHILBERT]

Ok, I've never found a gibson V that i've liked but that is actually amazing, I WANT!

It is funny that this model was on a blowout sale due to lack of interest from the Gibson fans. I got a screaming deal on it. I love it when I score something so amazing for a giveaway price.

It's a great guitar. The tuning system makes life easy on stage. The ebony fretboard and inlays look great (and feel great). My only complaint is the lack of a second volume pot. I like to run my neck pickup at a low level most of the time, and switch between the two levels on the bridge and neck. I put a pull-switch pot in the volume to give me an internal low gain preset volume pot in series with the main volume pot (still has some range control), but I have no more switching options to do single coil....other than drilling a hole and adding a pot or switch. I'm not wanting to do a mod like that, as it would ruin the value of the guitar. Who knows, someday these rare birds may become "collectable". Not many were made.

How else can I add a switch for single coil splitting without drilling? I'm looking for a way!

[PHILBERT]

Hmm. Guess I'm young at heart then- I love my SD Blackouts in my modded RR Ex and Hamer Diablo but the SD JB/'59's in my Charvel Star Std. are a close second. Congrats Philbert. Sounds like you've found a winning combo. I'll have to try the Elixirs.

Thanks, vector. The Elixirs last forever too. Saves money and stays great sounding for months. To extend the life even more I wipe the crud off them after every session. I wish I could wipe the crud off the fretboard after every session!

[Mazz]

It is funny that this model was on a blowout sale due to lack of interest from the Gibson fans. I got a screaming deal on it. I love it when I score something so amazing for a giveaway price.

It's a great guitar. The tuning system makes life easy on stage. The ebony fretboard and inlays look great (and feel great). My only complaint is the lack of a second volume pot. I like to run my neck pickup at a low level most of the time, and switch between the two levels on the bridge and neck. I put a pull-switch pot in the volume to give me an internal low gain preset volume pot in series with the main volume pot (still has some range control), but I have no more switching options to do single coil....other than drilling a hole and adding a pot or switch. I'm not wanting to do a mod like that, as it would ruin the value of the guitar. Who knows, someday these rare birds may become "collectable". Not many were made.

How else can I add a switch for single coil splitting without drilling? I'm looking for a way!

How's the Robot system working for ya? can you go into drop tunings?

[PHILBERT]

How's the Robot system working for ya? can you go into drop tunings?

Oh yes...and I do. All the way down to Drop C. I can't say it will work below that. I store 7 different tunings (standard is already a preset). I use the tightest acuracy, and it tunes in 30 seconds on new strings. Old dull strings take near two minutes, so it helps to have fresh strings. The battery holds a charge for months under use. I really like the system. And the truss rod in the neck does well to keep the neck stiff even when changing tunings all over the range. I was pleased to see they thought of that.

[PHILBERT]

PICKUPS! ARGH!!!

Well the Duncan JB is not working. Too gutless and anemic. They suck! I had one in a Les Paul before and had the same results...Just empty = NFG!

My other guitars...even the P90's...are blowing it away.

Even the Jazz in the neck is blowing it away! I like that Jazz pickup, so it stays.

I had to get something quick because I can't enjoy this fine RR1 with that $#!+ pickup. For the sake of keeping the set looking matched, I'm going to try another Duncan. Choices look very limited if I go by their tone chart. I have been to the SD Forum and heard all types of magnet and coil swapping tricks, but don't have enough parts to do that. For the type of sound I want I need much better lower mids, but no mud, and clear cutting upper mids, but not too bitey. I have used an SH-5 Custom in my old '68 SG and loved it there, but it was not a high-gain type pickup. Great in the SG though! I have never liked the tone of alnico 5 pickups, and most have a harsh sound to me, so it has to be ceramic, alnico 2, or alnico 8. Ceramics tend to be very bright and icepicky, and alnico 2 is warm, but not metal cutting. I have a SH-6 Distortion in my ESP. Good, but not cutting metal crunch sounding either...more loud hard rock. I went for the only thing left...the SH-15 Alternative 8 Trembucker. Lots of gain, and people claim the alnico 8 magnet is the right balance of everything. The lower mids are there and the upper mids too. I hope it is the right pickup (not muddy) for this Rhoads! :dunno:

Anyone ever try an Alternative 8 SH-15? Tone reports???

Phil

[jcm800x]

I'd try a PafPro, mid gain and nice mids with a tight low end.

[PHILBERT]

I'd try a PafPro, mid gain and nice mids with a tight low end.

I don't think a PAF Pro would be crunchy enough...or loud enough for metal. I have plenty of PAF guitars right now, so that is covered. But thanks for the suggestion.

I hope the Alternative 8 is the answer. My only fear is if it is too muddy, but people say the alnico 8 mags work well on lower mids without mud. It is a 16K pup, so that could cause mud. We shall see! I also have an EVH Frankenstein pickup shipping to me as well. That is going in my ESP.

Phil