I am playing my Explorer through my Helix and I'm not too satisfied yet

[Napthol]

I got my Epiphone Explorer back from my tech's shop today and it looks beautiful. I had a customized white pickguard made for it and I also put on gold speed knobs. Way better looking than black. I currently have a Custom 5 in the bridge and a Screamin' Demon in the neck. I have not tried the neck pickup yet as I'm trying to find a good sound on the bridge.

It almost seems like my guitar wants to sound dark and kinda bassy and boomy with that Custom 5 in there.

I do have two other Duncan Humbuckers in my box I could try. I have a JB and I have another Screamin' Demon.

Do any of you have any knowlege about how the Custom 5 reacts with Korina wood?

I just read that Korina is supposed to sound kinda like mahogany.

Please post some thoughts.

[freefrog]

I got my Epiphone Explorer back from my tech's shop today and it looks beautiful. I had a customized white pickguard made for it and I also put on gold speed knobs. Way better looking than black. I currently have a Custom 5 in the bridge and a Screamin' Demon in the neck. I have not tried the neck pickup yet as I'm trying to find a good sound on the bridge.

It almost seems like my guitar wants to sound dark and kinda bassy and boomy with that Custom 5 in there.

I do have two other Duncan Humbuckers in my box I could try. I have a JB and I have another Screamin' Demon.

Do any of you have any knowlege about how the Custom 5 reacts with Korina wood?

I just read that Korina is supposed to sound kinda like mahogany.

Please post some thoughts.

IMHO, it's not about the wood (and I'm not sure that an Epiphone Explorer can be totally made of Korina anyway: to limit the costs, Epi often uses various wood species in a same guitar, with a fotoflame or a thin veneer of "noble" wood above).

To me, what you experiment is an effect of the body size and mass : with such a big chunk of wood, more bass and low mids is expected. That's the reason why Fender did mount no-load tone pots in their "Magnificent Seven" Telecaster's with a Jazzmaster body.

Which gives a solution: try a no-load tone pot or a 1M one in your Explorer.

Or put a series capacitor between the output of the pots and the output jack. It will reduce the bass. I'll share some docs about frequencies cut by serial capacitors if needed...

Or set the bridge pickup farther from the strings on the bass side.

Or mount the other Demon in bridge position.

Good luck in your quest of solutions (the list above being not limitative). :-)

OT footnote, underlining the structural specificity of Explorer's (leading the body to promote low mids because of its way to vibrate) : https://www.acs.psu.edu/drussell/guitars/explorer.html

[beaubrummels]

A Custom 5 is not dark. It's like a loud Jazz bridge. If it sounds dark, the problem is something else.

[El Dunco]

What’s your signal chain in Helix?

Or put a series capacitor between the output of the pots and the output jack. It will reduce the bass. I'll share some docs about frequencies cut by serial capacitors if needed.

I would be very interested in this and a diagram.

[freefrog]

I would be very interested in this and a diagram.

More to come. Sorry, I will have to post a second answer since this one sends me an error message when I try to correct it.

EDIT: no way to repost anything in this topic now (!). I'll try to send you a PM...

EDIT bis: PM sent. It looks like editing any answer containing an internet link is impossible from my computer. :-/

[El Dunco]

More to come. Sorry, I will have to post a second answer since this one sends me an error message when I try to correct it.

EDIT: no way to repost anything in this topic now (!). I'll try to send you a PM...

EDIT bis: PM sent. It looks like editing any answer containing an internet link is impossible from my computer. :-/

Oh well. I could PM you my email address if you like.

[Napthol]

My signal chain has varied since I have downloaded a bunch of presets from Custom Tone and tried those. I can tell you the chain goes through distortion pedals and equalizers and delays and choruses. Some presets use two amps and two cabinets.

We can't forget that a pickup always interacts with the tonal properties of the wood that it is placed in. Plus I found out that the Custom 5 has a scooped midrange, which in my experience does make your sound more bassy.

I will have to keep experimenting.

The guitar plays really, really well and feels really nice to hold while sitting down and playing.

[Hsb]

Have you tried the guitar through anything but the Helix, maybe someone else's amp or using a completely different preset than you normally would?

[Napthol]

I do have a POD X3. I have not tried it through that. I tried it through a preset, an Iron Maiden preset which I downloaded from Custom Tone and the sound was much more clear with more mids and treble.

[gdboss]

I got my Epiphone Explorer back from my tech's shop today and it looks beautiful. I had a customized white pickguard made for it and I also put on gold speed knobs. Way better looking than black. I currently have a Custom 5 in the bridge and a Screamin' Demon in the neck. I have not tried the neck pickup yet as I'm trying to find a good sound on the bridge.

It almost seems like my guitar wants to sound dark and kinda bassy and boomy with that Custom 5 in there.

I do have two other Duncan Humbuckers in my box I could try. I have a JB and I have another Screamin' Demon.

Do any of you have any knowlege about how the Custom 5 reacts with Korina wood?

I just read that Korina is supposed to sound kinda like mahogany.

Please post some thoughts.

I have a Helix LT that is my only 'amp' (and a Powercab 212+). Every guitar I have sounds different (all mahogany, mahogany/maple top, etc.) IMO, when I hear tone sounding "dark" or "muddy" with respect to Helix, I might want to adjust Global EQ settings (per preset or snapshot if you want), especially the Qs https://helixhelp.com/tips-and-guide...rsal/global-eq Magnets, to me, manifest themselves in mysterious ways when it comes to the digital world, but there are so many great options to do more with what you have.

[eclecticsynergy]

Normally korina is much like mahogany with some extra snap in the upper mids. Still, every individual guitar is different.
Explorers tend to have some thump, even korina ones. And the Custom 5 has strong bass.
This pickup takes various magnets very well - ceramic, A4, UA5, or even A2 if you don't need it tight.
What type of music are you doing? You won't get tight chunk from A2. A4 has tighter lows than A5.

Custom with A3 is vintagey voiced, sparkly and sweet - but nowhere near beefy enough to pair with a Demon at the neck.

Are you sure the tone pot is 500K and wired correctly?

Putting a 0.1uF cap in line between the switch and the output jack will cut the low bass. You could try .068 if the 0.1 isn't enough.
In this situation, smaller values will cut higher bass - the opposite of how they work in a tone control.
A bass cut cap really lets a tube amp or OD pedal break up nicely.
I assume it'd probably do the same even with a modeler.

You might also look up Artietoo's De-Mud mod, which uses a cap and a resistor; it too cuts bass, but with a gentler shelf.
Leaves the body, cuts the boom.

BTW, Epi korinas have pieced-together bodies with veneer on the top & back, but traditionally the multiple pieces inside are korina too.

[Napthol]

Well I just tried plugging my Explorer into my POD X3 and I used the same preset I have used in that unit for years now and my Explorer just came alive and bit me in the face. That's the sound I want to hear.

I don't understand why it's so hard to get an in your face great sound with things like the Fractal or Helix. The X3 has a sensational sounding JCM-800 too. I've never seen any amp emulator that can match it.

I may just go back to using my X3. I have experimented with downloading and modifying presets that I have downloaded for the Helix but I can't seem to get as good of a sound as I can with my X3. And I paid $1600 for the Helix, and I paid $75.00 for the X3.

[freefrog]

We can't forget that a pickup always interacts with the tonal properties of the wood that it is placed in.

Nobody has denied the importance of materials (not only woods) but it doesn't make indifferent the questions of size and resonant mass.

My light and thin Epiphone Wilshire doesn't resonate acoustically like my Gibson Flying V, albeit they are integrally made of a "same" mahogany (not to mention their "same" fretboards, stop bars and bridge, and even strings). The bigger and thicker instrument logically spits more bass and mids.

Same thing if we lay an electric guitar on a resonant wood table and pluck the strings : the resonance of the table increases dramatically the bassrange.

And isn't an Explorer a bit like a guitar with a small wood table integrated to its body? :-P

Regarding an Epiphone Explorer "korina", as already mentioned above, we can also wonder about the wood(s) actually used, which has/have apparently varied with time:

https://www.thegearpage.net/board/in...#post-14342329

All that being said, Explorers are gorgeous guitars regardless of their brand and materials. Enjoy with yours.

EDIT - The better result through a X3 doesn't really surprise me: the relative "flaw" of the Helix might be in its way to reproduce more faithfully the whole original tone of guitars. And electric guitars are low-fi instruments, appreciating to be trimmed in their response (reason why hi-gain pedals and amps usually contain caps to limit the bass and high frequencies)... ;-)

[Erlend_G]

..I always loved the Explorer; because of it's fat sound- that I always thought was because of the huge body ...

Maybe a ceramic pickup would be a good match?

-.E ♪

[eclecticsynergy]

I've never seen an Epi Explorer that actually has a korina neck, but I've been told the Amos is not just all korina but long tenon as well.
Maybe some other limited editions were made that way too. The ones I remember seeing were mahogany neck.
I don't claim to be an Epi authority at all, though. Just going by my own limited experience.
I've owned two Epi korina Explorers, a '98 and another that I think was '010.