My first post: help for a noob please :)

[Meek]

Hi everyone

I'd be grateful if you could help me out with respect to some of the gear I have and what I want to do. Please bear with me, this is a long thead

OK, I own a Jackosn Rhoads Pro which is a bolt-on-neck and comes with Jacksons own pickups. Im using this in combination with a Line 6 Spider II 212 and I can get some nice cleans out of it and a crunchy distortion but its a fairly muddy distortion with only a little clarity on some notes, particularly when played fast. Now I have some questions here that I would like some comments/answers to:

1. I know that my current set-up isn't great but with my Line 6 Spider II 212 amp is it worth changing the pick-ups and is it going to make a huge difference? I'm under the impression it will obviously help and its something I want to try. Or are we talking expensive pre-amps and cab set-ups here before we start to notice? Also, with a cheaper guitar (although its still very nice to play, solid with a good action) is the quality of the wood going to influence the sound that the pick-ups produce? I don't know what wood type I have, sorry.

2. I live in England and due to the £/$ ratio right now it makes sense to purchase new pick-ups over the web and have them shipped to me. Is it ok to do this, surely pick-ups will fit any guitar right irrespective of country?

3. Im confused between these cheap Duncan's and the genuine thing. I was hoping to purchase a new neck and bridge pickup. Basically I want to make my Jackson as close to the USA model as I can without changing the guitar. Are the the SD-JB and SD-Jazz the real deal?

4. Finally, and this is going to sound really dumb now but I see accomplished players switching betweem their pick-ups with ease and frequently. With me, I tend to assume that my pick-up switch in the 'up' position is best used for lower, bassier tones whereas anything used for soloing should be using the bridge pick-up switch in the down-position. In the middle of the fret-board I leave it the middle position. Is this right? Why do players switch pick-ups over the space of a few frets? Im confused

Can someone answer my questions for a noob please? Cheers Guys!

[Lu_B]

Re: My first post: help for a noob please

Welcome to the forum! Its a great place to hang out as a noobi and you'll pick up loads of hints and tips.

Can't help you out with questions 1, 3 and 4 but can with 2.

Your quite right to think about buying your pups in the states as the $/£ exchange rate is so much in your favour at the moment.

There are a couple of guys here Lewguitar and Blackrose who are SD dealers and are great to deal with. And yep pickups will fit the country doesn't matter in the slightest.

[Aceman]

Re: My first post: help for a noob please

I'll take a swing at those - welcome to the forum!

1. Pups make a huge difference. But don't forget, it helps to know how to fiddle with the knobs on the amp. Just cutting the bass and pumping up the mid/treble or presence might help quite a bit. Wood does make a difference too, but it depends on what kind of difference you want. Ebony fretboards add some high end, rosewood is warmer. Same deal with different body woods. You really need to know what frequncy you are missing before you can figure out how to get it back. It's a lot about different as opposed to better.

2. US pups are generally not metric; Go for it. Pups from Italy might be a different story....

3. My belief is that the primary difference (besides cost!) is the quality of materials and location of production. Along with the stencil....so if you want the status, get the real thing. I have some Duncan Designed pups and really like them. I haven't done an A/B comparisons though. Let your wallet decide until your chops make you famous!


4. Again, it's a difference in tone. Want a fat Slash-like GnR lead, go neck. Want a crunch laden rhythm, use the bridge. Want to shriek and slice use the bridge for leads. Want to blend towards the bass and let the vocal through, neck for rhythm. Your call on what sound you want. Everyone prefers something different. It's not about the neck position. They change because they want to emphasize a particular sound for a given passage. Or the bumped the switch! I usually use one pup start to finish for a whole song and just boost the volume. But not always....sometimes I change it up for leads vs verse-chorus, and sometimes I'll start mellow and fat at the beginning of a solo and wrap it up with a crescendo using the bridge.

[HarrisonDavid]

Re: My first post: help for a noob please

To answer question 4 it's just preference in tone! Ever since I put an 81 in the neck of my guitar I use the neck pup more for different tone. I noticed after I set my guitar up with the 85 in the bridge and the 81 in the neck this is the same reason why Zakk wylde does this. If you watch him play he is constantly changing his switch, just for tone purpose.

Another way to achieve this though "old fashioned way" is to pick the string at different different parts closer to the neck and closer to the bridge. It's fun to experiment that way too.

To answer question 1 your amp is fine for enough power. If you changed the pups it would make a noticeble difference! If I was you.....I would look into some Bareknuckle Pups from the U.K! One of our forum bros Twilight Oddysee just got Endorsed by them hasn't got his set that I know of, but it could be cheaper for you. Thats what I would do anyways if I were you.

In that style guitar.....I would go for the tried and true JB/Jazz set up JB Bridge Jazz Neck. If you are wanting to go Duncan.

If you do go Duncan you possibly could buy from Lew.

If you go Bareknuckle give us some reviews some small time PUP companies make good PUPS too.

Bill Lawrence just one example.

[Meek]

Re: My first post: help for a noob please

Thanks for the quick replies guys although im getting a little confused on one issue here. My guitar is right handed and as you look down at the slanted 3 way switch when it is in the 'up' position this corresponds to the neck pick-up right? This tends to give me a very bassy, muddy sound in this position, noticeable when playing lower notes. In the 'down' position this is the bridge pick-up right? With this it is very light when playing the lower notes. I thought the bridge position was generally used for more 'crunchier, bassy' work?

EDIT: One final point, I've got a Flloyd Rose tremlo system although I'm not sure if it is a geniune one (I believe it is). I take it I need to get the trembucker versions? Have no idea if my Jackson pick-ups are trembuckers as opposed to humbuckers

[FretFire]

Re: My first post: help for a noob please

Correct, when the 3-way switch is UP that's the neck pickup, and vice versa. You can use whatever position you like for any situation. I usually use my bridge pickup when playing dirty rhythms (not porno music ) and the neck pickup for cleans and probably 75% of my solos. I really like the smooth, round tone a neck pickup gives once you start venturing up into higher registers.

[rspst14]

Re: My first post: help for a noob please

Yes, you'd want a trembucker spaced bridge pickup. Neck pickups aren't made with a wider spacing because all guitars have pretty much the same spacing at the neck pickup, regardless of the bridge type.

Typically, down selects the bridge pickup, up selects the neck. I usually use the bridge for anything that needs a nice distorted crunch. I use the neck for solos and clean parts, so I end up using the bridge the vast majority of the time.

Ryan

[Aceman]

Re: My first post: help for a noob please

It also might be time for your first "tech" adjustment. If the bridge pup sounds "light" it might not be adjusted properly There is a little screw that will raise or lower one side. Try raising the bass string side if the volume is too low.

And you can tell which pup is working by tapping on the poles when it's plugged in. The ones that are "selected" will make a loud pop. (not that loud - and it won't hurt the amp.

[Evan Skopp]

Re: My first post: help for a noob please

Other than welcoming you to the User Group, Meek, there's really not a whole lot of additional information I could give you that wasn't already covered by our knowledgeable tone bros.

Stick around. You’ll learn a lot very quickly.