agile 3500 with jb/jazz combo

[extendedping]

hi all as per my previous posts i finally picked up my lefty agile 3500 with jb/jazz combo. playing it in rondo vrs other guitars including agiles it definately has a sweeter and more resonant tone. plugging it into my little marshall mg15dfx it is actually to my ears about 30 % louder then my mex strat or my peavey predator plus, and it also just sounds better. so overall im very impressed. the one question i have has to do with the treble/rhythm switch. i read on this site several days ago that treble = bridge and rhythm = neck. so in my case treble should = jb and rhythm should = jazz correct? what i find strange is that i can where i can tell a big difference between the 2 settings, i have to really strain to hear the difference between the midde setting (what i assume to be equally using both treble and rhythm pickups) and the rhythm pickup. i would think the rhythm setting would sound a bit more bassy or lower then the "neutral" setting but again to my ears they are basically the same. is this normal and if not does anyone have any thoughts on why this might be so? since this is my first experience playing a les paul type i really dont know what is normal. thanks and look forward to some feedback.

 

[Erlend_G]

Re: agile 3500 with jb/jazz combo

Uhm, well, this could be partly because your're playing trough a 15 watt marshall :smack: ...... no offense dude, but those amps tend to make everything sound the same .

It should be a good thing that the pickups are balanced in volume\output, but if you for example want a softer and lower rhythm setting sound, then just lower the pickup further away from the strings!

Personally i think the JB and the Jazz sounds as different as nigth and day

Anyway, don't be afraid to drop me a PM if you have some more questions!

-Erlend

 

[tone4days]

Re: agile 3500 with jb/jazz combo

there was a typo in your post, but i think i get the drift of what you are asking ...

and yes, erlend has made a very useful point by indicating that your amp will not give you as critical resolution of pickup differences .. this is because it can only take 'so hot' an input signal ... if each pup is really hitting it hard, the combination will just be that much harder and it wont be able to reproduce 'more' (bill lawrence once said, in response to a guy who wanted a really really really overwound pickup, "i can put the whole spool of wire on the bobbin, but it wont turn a 50w amp into a 100 w amp")

so now you have an excuse to buy a newer, bigger amp

adjusting the pickup heights is important ... try your best to match the volume of the neck to the bridge after you get the bridge as high as you'd like it to be ... don't be afraid to make little tweaks to the height while playing, it wont hurt anything ... once the bridge pup is set, adjust the neck pup to the point where their loudness is essentially the same when you switch between them ... and it is usually best to do this with a clean setting on the amp

as for the combination of both pickups, yes - typically this should be louder than either one by itself ... do the 'tap' test with a screwdriver by tapping on both pickups with the switch in the middle to be sure that the pups were installed correctly to the switch .... turn the amp to just a low volume and tap on the pups - tapping them should make a loud thud when they are selected and be essentially quiet when not selected ...

hope this helps - sounds like you have yourself quite a little player there

cheers
t4d

 

[extendedping]

Re: agile 3500 with jb/jazz combo

thanks tone and erland im taking it to a local guy to have a setup done so i can be 100 percent sure all is correct...but so far the sound is so much better then what im getting out of my mex strat i feel like using it for firewood.

 

[tone4days]

Re: agile 3500 with jb/jazz combo

sell the mexi strat and the marshall and use the money towards a better amp ... hell, a line6 would reveal the pups' true colors alot more than the marshall and not be THAT expensive ... if you doubt how good an LP copy and a line6 can sound consider this .... seymour duncan uses a line 6 and his tone is AMAZING .... and there is a thread by jolly over in the clips room that shows how cool an Epi and a line6 can sound ... let us know

good luck
t4d