Pickup ?

[Riffmeister]

I put a new pickup in my guitar, because the Super Distortion just had a bit too many highs for me. I put a Breed in and It sounded Awesome!

The thing is,now my rythm sound is great, but when I go to play leads (especially up on the higher frets) it seems like playing without any gain. Is this a trade off that I'll have to deal with? It seemed like my leads were pretty screamin when I used my MXR Micro amp, or a phazer , but to just play lead with my straight rythym sound it was a bit dead aounding.

The other thing I noticed is that this picup seems to sound better through my amp without the BBE. I have always been a big fan of the BBE and even though I still think that it adds something, lately it just seems like it is adding to much sizzle, which I don't like.

At one Point I had my Ultimate tone with the gear I have now, But I had a Tone Zone in my Sl-2. That tone didn't seem to mix well in a band situation though as it wasn't cutting through, but now stuff that sounded good to me then sounds like crap now and vice versa.

[jazzman]

Re: Pickup ?

You sound like me. I'll try something new, I'll like it for a while and then I hate it. Every time you add something new, It changes everything. It sounds like you have it figured out though. If the BBE ain't workin' Don't use it. The MXR boosting the input signal to the amp for leads should work. I've also tried a compressor in front of an amp to give leads more life. Like either a boss or the MXR dynacomp. Adds mad noise though. I used a noise gate to simmer that down. It worked for me for a while until I got sick of it. A friend of mine just got an onboard preamp for his guitar. It's made by EMG (I think) and seems to do a good job for leads also. Anyway, good luck there tone seeker. Hope it all works out.

[mm2002]

Re: Pickup ?

You guys remind me of my wife....never happy.

[jazzman]

Re: Pickup ?

My wife is the same way. Talks alot too. Mabey that's why when I'm home, I play through headphones and a POD. LOL

[Riffmeister]

Re: Pickup ?


I'm gonna re-wire my rack so that the BBE will only be on the Clean channel cause it really helps that, and possibly the lead channel, I 'll have to test it out and see what happens.

[jazzman]

Re: Pickup ?

Good luck. Post what happens. I want to know how it sounds. I'm a bit of a wacked out gear freak.

[Riffmeister]

Re: Pickup ?


Jazzman,

I'll postwhen I get it done and that will probably be sometime tommorow, I just wish someone would answer my other thread about doing the rack! I hate it when you ask a decent ? and none posts , buth the someone asks for the millonth time " How do you set up a Floyd Rose" or something like that and all the sudden there are answers [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

Anyway the real test will be next Friday, I have a show and I'm gonna do it without the BBE and then I'll let you know how that goes as well.

[jazzman]

Re: Pickup ?

I forgot to ask. What are you runnin? (amp,speakers,rack,etc) BTW, it's kinda funny you mention the Floyd Rose thing. I've seen things on other forums like, "Floyd Roses suck" But the same people ask, "I have a vintage style trem and I can't keep it in tune. What do I do?" Duh! The Floyd was the fix for that problem. Some people are freakin' stupid!

[Riffmeister]

Re: Pickup ?

Jazzman,

I have a Marshall Dsl 50 and I have a cab loaded with Vintage 30's. My rack has a Sennheiser wireless, that goes into a Sabine Rack tuner then into my Ernie Ball Volume pedal and into a Morley Bad horsie wha. That goes into a GCX loop switcher and it has a Tube screamer, an MXR phase 90 in thru the front of the amp.

It has another signal going thru the fx loop wich has a Rocktron hush, the BBE, A boss chorus, flanger, ge7 , mxr microamp, and a boss digital delay.

I hooked and unhooked up some stuff after the new pickup change and here is what I got.

1. Straight into the amp this pickup sounds great without the BBE.

2. When I hooked up the rack and everything and took out just the BBE, it sounded dead again. Jut Bla sounding.

3. It really needs the BBe, but the BBE is still adding a bit too much sizzle to it.

I tried taking out some other stuff also. When I took everything out of the FX loop, it didn't change the sound at all, so everything I have running thru it must be pretty transparent.

Then I tried taking out the wha and it really didn't make any difference. So the only things I have left were the volume pedal, which did seem to make the most difference and I just left it unhooked. I dont use it much anyway. The other thing would be the GCX unit in the front of the amp with the phase 90 and the tube screamer. Since those effects are taken out of the signal when not being used , the only thing I can think of that is causin the major difference is either the GCX itself, or my wireless, both of which are pretty much something I can't do without [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Man I'm sorry about this long freakin post, but that pretty much sums it up.

The BBE is definately needed when I run all that stuff, but it is adding a bit of something that I don't want, which seems to be to much highs or a buzzy kind of sizzle sound. Oh and the BBE is a MUST on the clean channel no matter what I have hooked up or not.

[jazzman]

Re: Pickup ?

Let me get this straight. It sounds good with guitar, cord, and amp. Adding anything in the FX loop the BBE is needed. Right? I've used rack FX, I've went dry, I've used compressors, eq's, gates, overdrive/distortion pedals, and dry again. I think it's all just the nature of the beast. But, it sounds like you know what you need. Too bad your BBE didn't have sizzle knob.

[Riffmeister]

Re: Pickup ?


Na the FX loop is fine, it's one of the things running in the front of the amp, the Gcx itself or the wireless.

[delt]

Re: Pickup ?

> A friend of mine just got an onboard preamp for his guitar. It's made
> by EMG (I think) and seems to do a good job for leads also.

the PA-2 gain booster. i ordered one a while ago at steve's music and they just received it today.... can't wait to go grab this thing and try it out with my kent armstrong ultra-distortion pickups..!!!!! (those are fkkn good pickups)

[jazzman]

Re: Pickup ?

I also know someone who just got the EMG preamp for his. It's pretty sick. I like the way you can use the knob to set the amount of boost then turn it on or off. If that's the one your getting, You'll dig it! (Huh huh huh I said "knob" huh huh)

[mm2002]

Re: Pickup ?

How many fancy guitar gizmos can you buy for the price of a decent amp? Just curious.

[jazzman]

Re: Pickup ?

Probably quite a bit. But, toys are cool. Even if they're impractical like the whammy pedal.