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First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

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  • #1

    First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

    Hi there, this is my first post and I'm looking for some advice. I've got a Warmoth Strat with Bare Knuckle pickups (Mothers Milk) - it's got a chambered alder body, rosewood neck and f/b, Callaham hardware. It's a great playing guitar, great action, resonant and nice light weight. I love everything about it except the pickups which sound a bit 'dead', a bit lifeless, not much variation of sound across the pickup selections etc. Also they hum - not so much I feel the need to look at the wiring, but enough to be annoying, especially in venues with interference problems.

    So I am thinking of getting the 'Everything Axe' set and have a couple of questions. First, I'm not really a super high-gain player and think the JB Junior may be a bit overpowered for my needs (but I don't know for sure), so I'm thinking a Lil '59 in the bridge as well as neck position might be better. Second, I'm thinking of wiring it with coil splits in positions 2 and 4 - would that result in a decent single-coil sound? Would it give me some strat 'quack' in those positions? Do you recommend 250k or 500k pots?

    Any advice from users gratefully accepted, and thanks for your help in advance...
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  • #2
    Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

    The little '59 is the most dead sounding SD makes.

    The little demon is much better. Splits decently, too.

    If you really want to wake the thing up (assuming you have a tremolo), the Pearly Gator will do that. Assuming you have a H route in the bridge.

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    • #3
      Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

      Hi there, thanks for your thoughts. I don't have an H route in the bridge position, so will have to go for a single coil-sized humbucker

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

        We tend to discourage 'everything' guitars, as it rarely works out, unless you're playing a few similar genres. Remember too, even if a guitar can pull it off, doing 'everything' and doing it well are two different things. You're usually better off with an additional guitar if you want to cover a lot of territory.
        "Completely Conceded Glowing Expert."
        "And Blueman, I am pretty sure you've pissed off a lot of people."
        "Wait, I know! Blueman and Lew can arm wrestle, and the winner gets to decide if 250K pots sound good or not."

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        • #5
          Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

          Originally posted by uOpt View Post
          The little '59 is the most dead sounding SD makes.

          The little demon is much better. Splits decently, too.

          If you really want to wake the thing up (assuming you have a tremolo), the Pearly Gator will do that. Assuming you have a H route in the bridge.
          Love the lil demon. I just moved one into an LTD strat style and it absolutely rips for just about any level of gain.

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          • #6
            Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

            Thanks for your comments. I don't fully agree that 'everything' guitars don't work - I've got about 10 different guitars ranging from an old Thinline Tele to a Les Paul, but I play in a cover band and don't want to carry more than one guitar to a gig, so a guitar that can cover lots of bases would be very useful, hence my post. My PRS Custom 22 did provide different tones but I sold that to a friend who really loved it. I liked it, but it always sounded a bit 'dead' to me, without much acoustic or plugged-in resonance. So my quest continues... Thanks for your thoughts on the lil demon, I'll look into those. Any thoughts on how the lil 59 splits?

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            • #7
              Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

              Originally posted by Spider7 View Post
              Thanks for your comments. I don't fully agree that 'everything' guitars don't work - I've got about 10 different guitars ranging from an old Thinline Tele to a Les Paul, but I play in a cover band and don't want to carry more than one guitar to a gig, so a guitar that can cover lots of bases would be very useful, hence my post. My PRS Custom 22 did provide different tones but I sold that to a friend who really loved it. I liked it, but it always sounded a bit 'dead' to me, without much acoustic or plugged-in resonance. So my quest continues... Thanks for your thoughts on the lil demon, I'll look into those. Any thoughts on how the lil 59 splits?
              I like my full sized 59, but there's no pulse in the Lil 59 in the bridge of my uncle's Strat. I would go with the Lil Demon and probably a true single coil at the neck and middle. Like a Custom Flat in the neck and a SSL-2 in the middle. Or go with the YJM Fury set.

              Depending on what your playing (give me a range of styles) depends on what we can suggest you. You can make a super hot pickup sound clean (my DD cleans up really well) just like you can make a super vintage style pickup sound really hot. It just depends on what else is in your rig.
              Schecter ATX Blackjack C7 BKP Painkiller (B) and Abraxas (N)
              Hagstrom Hj800 Jazzbox stock pickups
              Fender Jazz Bass EMG MJ Set
              Music Man SUB Ray5 stock pickups
              Line 6 Helix
              Dunlop Strings and Picks

              The opinions expressed above are my own and do not reflect normal levels of sanity.

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              • #8
                Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

                The Everything Axe set with the bridge replaced with a Lil Screamin' Demon is a nice setup. The Little 59, I've not tried in the bridge but it's certainly nice and lively in the neck.

                However, I would wire the Duckbucker in series rather than in parallel (so with the red and white soldered and taped, like the other two pickups). And don't do coil splits. The volume difference is huge and means that you're all over the place as you switch between pickups.

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                • #9
                  Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

                  To be honest, I didn't gearslut enough single sized humbuckers yet.

                  I know the demon in the bridge is cool.

                  But what's a good PAF-ish thing for the neck? I use the hot rails which are PAF class but of course they are pretty smooth, not exactly honkey.

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                  • #10
                    Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

                    Originally posted by jumble jumble View Post
                    The Everything Axe set with the bridge replaced with a Lil Screamin' Demon is a nice setup. The Little 59, I've not tried in the bridge but it's certainly nice and lively in the neck.

                    However, I would wire the Duckbucker in series rather than in parallel (so with the red and white soldered and taped, like the other two pickups). And don't do coil splits. The volume difference is huge and means that you're all over the place as you switch between pickups.
                    I just moved my demon - duck - demon combo from one guitar to another and realized that my duckbucker wasn't wired like the others. It went from being unusable to being well matched to the demons in the neck and bridge. I have started wiring my strats with either a master tone or one tone for the neck and one tone for the bridge pickup, leaving the middle "naked". Both of those setups work really well with the Duck in the middle. I may very well go with two Ducks and one Demon in the bridge when I put my old fender back together. Just to get a little more "spank" in the neck spot.
                    Last edited by chadd; 02-06-2014, 06:38 PM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

                      Many thanks for your thoughts - anybody have any experience with coil tapping a lil screamin demon? What about the vintage rails instead of the duckbucker? Any love for these?

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                      • #12
                        Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

                        Honestly, I think the JB is one of Duncan's most versatile pickups by far. You can always roll off the volume a little bit, and in every guitar I've played that has it, it cleans up really well and can handle pretty much any type of tone you throw at it, all the way up through metal.

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                        • #13
                          Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

                          My notes say the little demon splits "well", but no details.

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                          • #14
                            Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

                            Thanks for your input, everyone. The band I play in does covers ranging from pop-rock through some folk-rock stuff with the occasional bit of rock, if you get my meaning. Nothing heavy, hard, no metal. So my sounds need to go from clean with some effects through crunch with the odd heavier tone thrown in for fun. I have a few different rigs but currently have gone back to a POD HD500 going into a Yamaha powered wedge, direct out from the POD to PA. Not sure I like the POD that much in terms of its sounds, but it's nice to have a pedal, tuner and XLR outs in one transportable package. So my pickups need to cover a range of sounds but nothing too heavy...

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                            • #15
                              Re: First post, some advice please (Everything Axe)

                              Hi I've just upgraded my Strat a couple of weeks ago and I stuck a full size Pearly Gate in the bridge which I have coil split using 500k push/pull pots it sounds absolutely awesome. I changed my old cap for a 0.22uf cap to brighten the sound up, I read on here that the higher the cap is the more it 'gasses' the sound so I went lower, really happy with tone, i'd recommend Pearly Gates because its medium output and it gives a good amount of bass and mids with a touch more highs than a lot of pickups I've played and listened to. I play lots of different styles and it gives me a great clean tone but if I want to bosh it through distortions or overdrives it still has good detail, so far it seems pretty versatile.

                              If you don't mind using push/pull pots then I'd use them to coil split instead of using your switch. Heres the diagram I used if you're interested, I have SSH so I just wired the bridge single coil the same way as the middle pup in he diagram:

                              http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v630/jumblejumble/HSH1V1TPushPullTones.png

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