Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

[greekdude]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

Personally I consider my self shredder enough to know that most of the problems come from weakness in the hands/fingers. A real shredder should sound good even unplugged. Used to be haunted with similar problems, in my case i was considering boosting circuits for my EMGs in order to match the "shreddiness" of my livewires, but the mere truth was that the higher output livewires just hid my weaknesses while EMGs brought them to the surface. What I ended up doing was practice more. Once the left hand got strong enough I ended up ... modding the livewires for decreasing/taming their output Now i shred equally well across all my axes.
I am nowhere those 2 hand tapping monsters you see on youtube and/or famous bands/tutors, etc... but pretty good for 80s standards.
Rig-wise, i think i can nail at least 7-8 shredding tones (from deep purple - yngwie -> 80s -> randy rhoads -> thrash, nu-metal, etc..) with only Boss ME-25

[greekdude]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

Some of us are on the dimarzio forum...

and some of them with same userid

[King IzzO)))]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

Pedals...

[El Supremo]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

Glad to see it worked out for you.
Tried a DS-1 yet? Just dusted mine off and it's pretty awesome when plugged into a Marshall.
As far as Paul Gilbert goes, I guess he's just more partial to a brighter and cleaner sound than say Vai or Satriani.

[Mr. B]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

What kills me is I use to have 2 DS-1 pedals. I bought one on a friday, and then the next day I saw a kid a guitar center trying to trade another new one in for 20 dollars, so I bought his too. As a distortion pedal, I hated it, so I sold both of them, but that is not how Vai and Satch are using them apparently.

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

You might also try adjusting your pick location when using the neck pickup to compensate for the extra brightness. Pick closer to the neck (though it might slow down your picking-hand speed as the strings are not as tight).
Or, set an EQ pedal for neck solos, then kick it off when going back to the bridge.

Another point is that the neck pickup will pick up fret spank, where the strings are so low they're slapping against the frets, so you'll get a clanky sound.

[audiocheck]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

I've recently really gotten into some retro shred stuff, Petrucci, Gilbert, Vai, Becker, Johnson etc. I'm trying to set up one guitar dedicated to shred. My problem is the neck pickup. If I am using moderately high gain on my Marshalls, Fenders or even my Vox modeler, switching to the neck pickup when playing up higher on the fretboard is very unpleasant. Specifically, when playing on the high E, B and G strings up around the 10th to 15th fret, I get a clangy, brittle, glassy, icepick sound when playing single notes and bends. Its sounds microphonic, nonmusical, harsh.

At first I thought it was the Ibanez S470 guitar with the ZR bridge, and I DO think this accentuated it, but I also hear it with my Prestige RG with an Edge trem, and with my hardtail PRS. It happens with every amp when using higher gain settings. I've used the PAF pro, Air Norton, 59, Screaming Demon, Full Shred, and Pearly Gates Neck pickups and they all do it to a lesser or greater extent.

This does not occur when using the bridge pickup on the same settings. I know that with a single coil strat, you can't throw as much gain at the neck pickup as you do the bridge, but I don't see these Shred guys turning down the gain when they switch to the neck pickup. I don't get it. What am I doing wrong??

Are your frets dressed properly? Uneven frets will result in some nasty tones.

I use high gain with PGs 59 and jazz neck pickups, never a problem.

[Mr. B]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

Its not a problem with a guitar. I have the same problem with several guitars and all of them are set up well.

[El Supremo]

Re: Neck Pickup and Shred... Help me out Shredders..

What kills me is I use to have 2 DS-1 pedals. I bought one on a friday, and then the next day I saw a kid a guitar center trying to trade another new one in for 20 dollars, so I bought his too. As a distortion pedal, I hated it, so I sold both of them, but that is not how Vai and Satch are using them apparently.

Very rarely do I use a pedal as the main distortion. Sounds a lot better to me mixed with an overdriven amp.
1 DS-1 should probably be sufficient with your amp. Just keep the tone control on the pedal down and it'll be fat all over the neck. I also have a V1 Marshall Guvnor which has a 3-band eq. Also recommended for a liquidy smooth, but articulate lead sound.