GMC:er Posts: 10
Joined: 23-July 08
From: warrington, england
Hi,
Recently i have bought some Bare knuckle "War pigs", i was very impressed with the sound but there was one thing that bugged me, when playing different chords it seemed muddy and was very hard to hear the different chords, and was wondering how i could make the pickups sound a bit more precise while keeping the great bass response i love about this pickup? i use a Vox AC15CC1 (The Top boost volume is at about 2 and the treble is at 3 and bass is that 6) i also use this with a Pod XT where my amp setting is a Brit J-800, my output is at 9, my drive is at 8, my bass is at 6, my middle is at 8, my treble is at 4, my presence is at 9, my channel volume as at 5, and my reverb is on 0, also if it helps i use the bridge pickup and i have a gibson SG special.
Recently i have bought some Bare knuckle "War pigs", i was very impressed with the sound but there was one thing that bugged me, when playing different chords it seemed muddy and was very hard to hear the different chords, and was wondering how i could make the pickups sound a bit clearer while keeping the great bass response i love about this pickup? i use a Vox AC15CC1 (The Top boost volume is at about 2 and the treble is at 3 and bass is that 6) i also use this with a Pod XT where my amp setting is a Brit J-800, my output is at 9, my drive is at 8, my bass is at 6, my middle is at 8, my treble is at 4, my presence is at 9, my channel volume as at 5, and my reverb is on 0, also if it helps i use the bridge pickup and i have a gibson SG special.
Loving the lessons and keep up the good work!
If you wanna play chords 'cleanly' WITH distortion you'll need to lower you gain by alot! Anyway, I am quite satisfied with my chords in distortion. I have my gain at 9 o'clock, trebble at 2, bass at 2 and maxed mid tone. And reverb sounds really nice with chords btw.
SOOOOOO, about your question. Naturally pickups affect your chords. First I would check their distance against the strings though.
Recently i have bought some Bare knuckle "War pigs", i was very impressed with the sound but there was one thing that bugged me, when playing different chords it seemed muddy and was very hard to hear the different chords, and was wondering how i could make the pickups sound a bit more precise while keeping the great bass response i love about this pickup? i use a Vox AC15CC1 (The Top boost volume is at about 2 and the treble is at 3 and bass is that 6) i also use this with a Pod XT where my amp setting is a Brit J-800, my output is at 9, my drive is at 8, my bass is at 6, my middle is at 8, my treble is at 4, my presence is at 9, my channel volume as at 5, and my reverb is on 0, also if it helps i use the bridge pickup and i have a gibson SG special.
Loving the lessons and keep up the good work!
Use an equalizer and remove some of the fizzy frequencies ~200khz or just a low pass filter, maybe scoop out the mids a tad bit. A lot of the higher overtones that cause a distortion sound to oscillate between frequencies are found in the upper register, well that's what distortion is... it amplifies most overtones so that "more" of one note is heard... It's actually like playing a lot of octaves at the same time but with other slightly different overtones as well, you can imagine that the more of the treble ones you have, the more they will oscillate between eachothers as frequencies. If you think of the sine-waves which are pitch frequencies, you'd have a lot more of them, so many more of each played pitch that they start to "overlap" each other unevenly. IF I remember my sound physics correctly, that's what causes it(and contributing pickup characteristics are independently relevant in regards to this, however (I doubt) not enough for it to be impossible with most pickups).
(The frequencies may collide at other points between bass and middle too.)
GMC:er Posts: 4.552
Joined: 30-December 12
From: Los Angeles, CA
Those specific pickups are VERY high output ... which equals less clarity. Especially with a decent amount of gain. Remember, Iommi (hence the pkup name) doesn't play with a ton of modern style gain. Also he uses an SG - a brighter and very articulate Gibson model.
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Some grea responses so far Let me share the "SECRET SAUCE" of getting tighter sound out of HIGH GAIN pickkups. It's an ancient trick that I"m happy to pass on )PRE - EQ!!!!!
This is truly the secret weapon IMHO Of getting articulate sound out of high gain pickups which tend to turn in MUD CITY at certain points. So, in practical terms...
1.)Put some sort of EQ, pedal, rack, plugin doesn't matter, some kind of EQ (hopefully parametric eq, if you don't know what the heck that even means, your not alone. It's just a type of eq that guitarists often use as it allows fine control. It's worth a quick google)
2.)Sweep the lower frequency band until you find the "boofy/boomy" frequency that is causing the mud.
3.)Reduce that frequency, and slightly boost the frequency above and below it to make up for any loss of amplitude/loudness.
In short, something like a SANS AMP PARADRIVER is the perfect tool for something like this and what the big timers use. Also, an older unit like the Rack Mounted PQ3.
Here is Michael Sweet explaining the process (NOT A HUGE FAN OF THIS GUY OR HIS BAND) but he does explain how to tighten up your signal using the sansamp. What he is talking about is not the "stryper sound" so much as the "Tight High Gain" sound.
He explains how to get rid of FIZZ and MUD.
QUOTE (jollygreengiant @ Jul 23 2008, 07:44 AM)
Hi,
Recently i have bought some Bare knuckle "War pigs", i was very impressed with the sound but there was one thing that bugged me, when playing different chords it seemed muddy and was very hard to hear the different chords, and was wondering how i could make the pickups sound a bit more precise while keeping the great bass response i love about this pickup? i use a Vox AC15CC1 (The Top boost volume is at about 2 and the treble is at 3 and bass is that 6) i also use this with a Pod XT where my amp setting is a Brit J-800, my output is at 9, my drive is at 8, my bass is at 6, my middle is at 8, my treble is at 4, my presence is at 9, my channel volume as at 5, and my reverb is on 0, also if it helps i use the bridge pickup and i have a gibson SG special.
Some grea responses so far Let me share the "SECRET SAUCE" of getting tighter sound out of HIGH GAIN pickkups. It's an ancient trick that I"m happy to pass on )PRE - EQ!!!!!
This is truly the secret weapon IMHO Of getting articulate sound out of high gain pickups which tend to turn in MUD CITY at certain points. So, in practical terms...
1.)Put some sort of EQ, pedal, rack, plugin doesn't matter, some kind of EQ (hopefully parametric eq, if you don't know what the heck that even means, your not alone. It's just a type of eq that guitarists often use as it allows fine control. It's worth a quick google)
2.)Sweep the lower frequency band until you find the "boofy/boomy" frequency that is causing the mud.
3.)Reduce that frequency, and slightly boost the frequency above and below it to make up for any loss of amplitude/loudness.
In short, something like a SANS AMP PARADRIVER is the perfect tool for something like this and what the big timers use. Also, an older unit like the Rack Mounted PQ3.
Here is Michael Sweet explaining the process (NOT A HUGE FAN OF THIS GUY OR HIS BAND) but he does explain how to tighten up your signal using the sansamp. What he is talking about is not the "stryper sound" so much as the "Tight High Gain" sound.
He explains how to get rid of FIZZ and MUD.
Hey! That's what I said! (Only you said it much better...)
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Sorry Didn't meant to repeat ya. But I agree with you 100 percent on your suggestions about tone Just wanted to simplify a smidge and add some vid.
I actually bought one of the Sansamp Paradriver Units and it's a miracle on a box It can take just about any guitar tone and tighten it up quite a bit. The FURMAN Pq3 was used by just about everybody for years for this purpose but they are quite pricey and hard to find in good shape as they have not been made in years. This handy little box is perfect for taming muddy hypergain. It's hiding in the rack of wads of killer players
Todd
QUOTE (verciazghra @ Sep 25 2013, 01:50 PM)
Hey! That's what I said! (Only you said it much better...)
Sorry Didn't meant to repeat ya. But I agree with you 100 percent on your suggestions about tone Just wanted to simplify a smidge and add some vid.
I actually bought one of the Sansamp Paradriver Units and it's a miracle on a box It can take just about any guitar tone and tighten it up quite a bit. The FURMAN Pq3 was used by just about everybody for years for this purpose but they are quite pricey and hard to find in good shape as they have not been made in years. This handy little box is perfect for taming muddy hypergain. It's hiding in the rack of wads of killer players
Todd
I'm glad you did, I tend not to be very pedagogic in my explanations and go on and on and using a lot of and in my sentences!
GMC:er Posts: 25.297
Joined: 23-December 09
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
I tend to espouse in a somewhat pedagogical manner without even realizing I'm doing it. I've been teaching for so long that everything comes out like a clinic/lecture The great thing about GMC is that everyone brings something unique in terms of experience and communication making each thread a wonderful example of different ways of conveying thoughts/ideas/suggestions. Gosh darn it, I LOVE IT HERE!!!
QUOTE (verciazghra @ Sep 25 2013, 05:54 PM)
I'm glad you did, I tend not to be very pedagogic in my explanations and go on and on and using a lot of and in my sentences!
But I agree with you 100 percent on your suggestions about tone 
