a custom Parallel Axis

[daemon barbeque]

Well
I E-mailed MJ for helping me to create a custom humbucker for me
I love my DD but the search for the ultimate tone never ends!!!
Some of you ma yknow Rich Ward(Stuck MOjo).His tone is a biiig killer.I saw him live ,how he played just with a modded JCM 800 and a LP!!!and man that guitar screaaaaaaaaaaaammss.!!:smokin:
Yeah it was a Pa-TB1 and i talked with him about this PU.He told ,he puts that in any guitar he buys(Mostly LP's).
So i begun to search more info on it.

Now i have the DD and my guitar is string/neck thru with tunamatic bridge and has lots of sustain.But i can't help this feeling to buy a PA humbucker.I mean
Is it possible to make real "bright" Paralell Axis design to suit my BassWood body Dark sound.

What do you guys think of it.Should i go with Blades or Parallel Axis?
How can i improve my DD.to be "fuller" and a little bit tighter.i need better power chords i think.and more sustain on high frets.!!!

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

The maple neck thru doesn't brighten the tone of the guitar at all? I know basswood is dark sounding, but maple is the polar opposite and it's running through the body. That would balance it out a bit, I'd think. I really don't see why a PATB-1 would be too dark in that axe with the maple neck thru, man. If you can explain it to me, please do.

EDIT: You might also want to look at different pot values. Maybe one 500K and another 1 Meg pot to brighten up the pickup if it's too dark sounding in your guitar with 500K pots.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

The maple neck thru doesn't brighten the tone of the guitar at all? I know basswood is dark sounding, but maple is the polar opposite and it's running through the body. That would balance it out a bit, I'd think. I really don't see why a PATB-1 would be too dark in that axe with the maple neck thru, man. If you can explain it to me, please do.

EDIT: You might also want to look at different pot values. Maybe one 500K and another 1 Meg pot to brighten up the pickup if it's too dark sounding in your guitar with 500K pots.

Thanx for your interest ,yeah my guitar is a dark guitar ,even with DD on it ,it's not bright at all.I like the EQ now ,thats why i need a custom Parallel Axis.
I read somewhere that some BAsswood Bodies can be even bright ,and some maple even dark.I don't know ,no wood is like the other ,and my guiitar has a Full low end and low mids.I never "roll" the Bass knob to 10.never!!!You can check my clips.I only play With my Bridge Distortion

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

Yeah 1 Meg pot is maybe a good solution ,but i have no problem with my DD.I would have problems with the PA-TB2...Wich Pot brand will you recommend?All-parts ,Dimarzio??

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

Thanx for your interest ,yeah my guitar is a dark guitar ,even with DD on it ,it's not bright at all.I like the EQ now ,thats why i need a custom Parallel Axis.
I read somewhere that some BAsswood Bodies can be even bright ,and some maple even dark.I don't know ,no wood is like the other ,and my guiitar has a Full low end and low mids.I never "roll" the Bass knob to 10.never!!!You can check my clips.I only play With my Bridge Distortion

That's pretty crazy. Maybe you could try a DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell in the neck. Might not be good for power chords and rhythm playing, but would be excellent for lead playing. But, since your guitar is very dark, it might be fine for playing power chords and rhythm. It's very bright, almost single coil-like, but it's a full sized 'bucker, and without the quack of a single. Pretty much just the high end, brightness, and clarity of a single coil.

I'm not sure if your best option would be to get a custom PATB or not. Have you tried other pickups in your guitar? If so, which pickups have you tried? Did they all sound way too dark in your guitar?

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

That's pretty crazy. Maybe you could try a DiMarzio Humbucker From Hell in the neck. Might not be good for power chords and rhythm playing, but would be excellent for lead playing. But, since your guitar is very dark, it might be fine for playing power chords and rhythm. It's very bright, almost single coil-like, but it's a full sized 'bucker, and without the quack of a single. Pretty much just the high end, brightness, and clarity of a single coil.

I'm not sure if your best option would be to get a custom PATB or not. Have you tried other pickups in your guitar? If so, which pickups have you tried? Did they all sound way too dark in your guitar?

I had first the Stock Peavey PU.It was a high output with loose legs pickup.So i Buyed a Fred To Tame the Bass and have crazy Harmonics.It was a real good PU ,i still use it on Neck ,but it has not the Balls i need ,and too "muddy" if you play speed riffs!!!
So i went to Distortion.Very Well ,balanced on my axe and not muddy ,still lacks on some tiny Articulation
I need a GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA sound.And i will search for it till i find it..

 

[sufferinrewind]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

I had first the Stock Peavey PU.It was a high output with loose legs pickup.So i Buyed a Fred To Tame the Bass and have crazy Harmonics.It was a real good PU ,i still use it on Neck ,but it has not the Balls i need ,and too "muddy" if you play speed riffs!!!
So i went to Distortion.Very Well ,balanced on my axe and not muddy ,still lacks on some tiny Articulation
I need a GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA sound.And i will search for it till i find it..

Hmm. I think a DiMarzio Steve's Special might be worth a shot. It's basically a 6 string version of DiMarzio's Blaze 7 string pickups that Korn and some other bands use. John Petrucci used the Steve's Special in the bridge before switching to the D Sonic (formerly known as the Drop Sonic) recently. I've heard that it's reeeeeeeally bright in an alder body/maple neck Strat. Might be what you need, man. It's scooped in the mids, which is probably good in your case for clarity. Aside from that, I really don't know. Maybe a Super 2 in the bridge? That's about all I can come up with.

EDIT: You may also like the Mo' Joe. It's like the FRED, but with more balls, basically. That might be worth a shot, also. Or, maybe you should just sell that guitar and find one that's not so dark. You'll have more options that way. Hope that helps.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

Hmm. I think a DiMarzio Steve's Special might be worth a shot. It's basically a 6 string version of DiMarzio's Blaze 7 string pickups that Korn and some other bands use. John Petrucci used the Steve's Special in the bridge before switching to the D Sonic (formerly known as the Drop Sonic) recently. I've heard that it's reeeeeeeally bright in an alder body/maple neck Strat. Might be what you need, man. It's scooped in the mids, which is probably good in your case for clarity. Aside from that, I really don't know. Maybe a Super 2 in the bridge? That's about all I can come up with.

EDIT: You may also like the Mo' Joe. It's like the FRED, but with more balls, basically. That might be worth a shot, also. Or, maybe you should just sell that guitar and find one that's not so dark. You'll have more options that way. Hope that helps.

Thanx man those are great advices!!!
Drop Sonic is a great PU.But i is good for bolt on guitars.THe resonance and sustain is really high on my guitar,but the attack is a little bit slow.Scooped mids make good sense ,but i cannot play without mids.Mo Joe has still The Fred character ,wich is good for melodic playing ,but too loose for my riffing.
And i want to stick wit SD,Dimarzos are fine ,but the phasing effect and the dark "groooooo" sound is not my taste.Just the X2N is atractng me.
And ,nothing is better than to have your "own" designed PU.unique and usefull!!!:smokin:

 

[Jackson Distortion]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

Is it possible to make real "bright" Paralell Axis design to suit my BassWood body Dark sound.

What do you guys think of it.Should i go with Blades or Parallel Axis?
How can i improve my DD.to be "fuller" and a little bit tighter.i need better power chords i think.and more sustain on high frets.!!!

First of all, in my opinion, a really "bright" PA design is why it doesn't seem to suit dark sounding bodies. From personal experience, currently I have the PA Distortion (what I call Distortion #2) in the bridge of my dark sounding Jackson DK1, and a DD SH6 in the neck. The combination sounds HORRIBLE. Having to increase mids (and general brightness) for the dark sounding body increases ample mids (and highs) in the pickup. My (humble) theory is that for dark sounding guitars one should go for a pickup with a less high mids or less treble- those two freq's boosted together leaves out room for a dialing in of 'brights' for the dark sounding wood.

Also, even though tones are subjective to one's taste, I'd be willing to say 9 out of 10 times, a similar combo like my example would be generally viewed as 'harsh tone'. It sounds really bad... makes my skin crawl just thinkin' about it lol.

As far as making the DD fuller and a little bit tighter, I get exactly what you mean! My solution that I will suggest shortly, virtually renders 'fuller' and 'tighter' as one and the same. The DD is full and tight but unflailingy distorted. I too have it hard to get a 'bead on' when playing any bassier notes (power chords and such) with the DD. You can't necessarily 'improve' this 'problem'. That's the nature of this beast.

The PA Distortion was my cure to this. Power chords are (to reuse this word lol) unflailingly punchier (fuller) and more ...constipated, for lack of a better term. As a comparison, the DD sounds like any modern (think mid '80's to today) Heavy distortion creating device from a 'Gainiac' and Boss pedal distortion to the DOD 'Grunge' to any specifically heavy metal gain producing amp- but without their actual flavors. Distortion in it's rawest form unbridled. Only you can tame it. Just ask Thurston Moore or that guy in Obituary (about taming distortion, not the DD).

Whereas, the PA's distortion sounds to me more like using a modern tube amp (think Crate V-series) that produces a healthy amount of gain, but wasn't quite intended to be used for more extreme forms of art- overdriven to the point of 'constipated' grainy (grindy) distortion, but the PA(TB2 that is) keeps it articulate and clear (transparent). It can accomplish the music styles the DD can, but with a different flavor of distortion. Oh, and sustain is no problemo with the p'up no matter the fret position.

Sorry to be long-winded, I tend to care a bit too much about these things :laugh2: and wanna pass info along to any guitarist searching for their ultimate, dream tone.

 

[Fusion1]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

Even thought the X2N is not really like the DD, I seemed to like it in my mahogany SG after I pulled the DD just to "try something different". Before the DD, anything I tried in the SG was horribly muddy (probably due to the standard Gibson 300k pots), but the DD cured that and the X2N seemed even brighter, with gobs of gain. It had that sound like you had to restrain it (in a good way). In any event I went back to the DD as that was the sound I was comfortable with and I still think the DD is one of Seymours best!

The 1meg pots might solve your problem. One other thing you can try is to swap the screw and slug polepieces with hex head pole pieces. Should tighten up the bass a bit for faster riffing keeping it well-defined and not loose.

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

First of all, in my opinion, a really "bright" PA design is why it doesn't seem to suit dark sounding bodies. From personal experience, currently I have the PA Distortion (what I call Distortion #2) in the bridge of my dark sounding Jackson DK1, and a DD SH6 in the neck. The combination sounds HORRIBLE. Having to increase mids (and general brightness) for the dark sounding body increases ample mids (and highs) in the pickup. My (humble) theory is that for dark sounding guitars one should go for a pickup with a less high mids or less treble- those two freq's boosted together leaves out room for a dialing in of 'brights' for the dark sounding wood.

Also, even though tones are subjective to one's taste, I'd be willing to say 9 out of 10 times, a similar combo like my example would be generally viewed as 'harsh tone'. It sounds really bad... makes my skin crawl just thinkin' about it lol.

As far as making the DD fuller and a little bit tighter, I get exactly what you mean! My solution that I will suggest shortly, virtually renders 'fuller' and 'tighter' as one and the same. The DD is full and tight but unflailingy distorted. I too have it hard to get a 'bead on' when playing any bassier notes (power chords and such) with the DD. You can't necessarily 'improve' this 'problem'. That's the nature of this beast.

The PA Distortion was my cure to this. Power chords are (to reuse this word lol) unflailingly punchier (fuller) and more ...constipated, for lack of a better term. As a comparison, the DD sounds like any modern (think mid '80's to today) Heavy distortion creating device from a 'Gainiac' and Boss pedal distortion to the DOD 'Grunge' to any specifically heavy metal gain producing amp- but without their actual flavors. Distortion in it's rawest form unbridled. Only you can tame it. Just ask Thurston Moore or that guy in Obituary (about taming distortion, not the DD).

Whereas, the PA's distortion sounds to me more like using a modern tube amp (think Crate V-series) that produces a healthy amount of gain, but wasn't quite intended to be used for more extreme forms of art- overdriven to the point of 'constipated' grainy (grindy) distortion, but the PA(TB2 that is) keeps it articulate and clear (transparent). It can accomplish the music styles the DD can, but with a different flavor of distortion. Oh, and sustain is no problemo with the p'up no matter the fret position.

Sorry to be long-winded, I tend to care a bit too much about these things :laugh2: and wanna pass info along to any guitarist searching for their ultimate, dream tone.

Oh!!!First of all thanx for your time ,
I really like my DD and it is the only Pu that inspired me really.But ,as i said ,there are things that can be improoved.I don't know ,maybe i should really just buy and try a PA-TB2 and if does not suit me , change it with a neck PU.I "lived" the power of the PATB-1.so i know the difference.well i will try it out.thanx for your input!!!

 

[daemon barbeque]

Re: a custom Parallel Axis

Even thought the X2N is not really like the DD, I seemed to like it in my mahogany SG after I pulled the DD just to "try something different". Before the DD, anything I tried in the SG was horribly muddy (probably due to the standard Gibson 300k pots), but the DD cured that and the X2N seemed even brighter, with gobs of gain. It had that sound like you had to restrain it (in a good way). In any event I went back to the DD as that was the sound I was comfortable with and I still think the DD is one of Seymours best!

The 1meg pots might solve your problem. One other thing you can try is to swap the screw and slug polepieces with hex head pole pieces. Should tighten up the bass a bit for faster riffing keeping it well-defined and not loose.

Ow the 1 meg pot was in my head but changing the polepieces is a new idea.Thanx man it can be really helpfull for my tone.!!!:laugh2::smokin: