AHB1S - disappointing?

[neverwind]

Hello,

I've recently bought a set of Blackouts (AHB1) for one of my guitars and I'm really disappointed in the results.
The thing is I was looking to get somewhere near Alexi Laiho's tone and while there seems to be the right amount of treble and bass, the pickups really don't give me much of those distinctive mids the tone is known for and the overall character of the sound is really a bit muddy.
The guitar mentioned is a mahogany body, front routed Ibanez RG350DX.
Is it the guitar affecting the tone so much?
I know mahogany is supposed to be a 'warmer' sounding wood and in order to counteract that I went for active pickups.

So, any advice anyone?

Thanks,
Bobby

 

[BRHGM]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

The Alexi Laiho set is a passive set with an active preamp. He may be dialing in more mids on his amp as well.

 

[neverwind]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

Yeah, I know - one signature set is on the way already.

On the other hand I've always wanted to try out some active pickups and I've read all over the net he had AHB1s in some of the guitars he used live so that's why I wanted to try those out.
As for the amp settings - I guess my setup doesn't really allow me to get the mids right.

 

[Mincer]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

Does your guitar have a lot of mids naturally? What did the old pickups sound like? Usually mahogany has a lot of mids and low-mids, but I've also heard bright pieces. Do you live in the US, and did you buy them new? You might be eligible for our 21 day exchange program.

 

[neverwind]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

A wouldn't say the guitar had 'a lot' of mids to begin with. The thing is by getting those AHBs (since they are active) I wanted to work around the guitar's natural 'warm/fat' tone.
It did sound a bit warmer with the old pickups (those were the ones it came with - Ibanez Quantum) but still even with the Blackouts it doesn't have that mid-range punch I was after.
The weird thing that baffles me the most is the bridge pickup sounds really muddy (almost like a neck passive pickup).
I'm not really sure how much the guitar itself does affect the tone of an active pickup - I've read it really shouldn't much.

I don't live in the US and though I can still return them (bought them new), I'm wondering if that's the expected result or there's some trick or something common to do that I don't know about.

 

[JOLLY]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

I love those pickups. you might want to try backing them quite a distance off of the strings as well.

 

[neverwind]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

Hey, I'm not saying they are bad, it's just I didn't get what I kinda hoped for with them
I will try lowering them down later and get back to you.

 

[Mincer]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

Let us know the results, and we might be able to help further.

 

[neverwind]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

So, I lowered down the pickups as much as the guitar allows me to and I gotta say the tone is much more clear this way but it is still missing a lot in the 360hz-1.2mhz range.
I know some of Alexi's guitars came equipped with AHB1, but those are alder and alder is supposed to have more mid focused sound, right?
So anyway, is this just the pickups or is it the guitar that could affect the tone much?

 

[jeremy]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

mahogany typically sounds more middy than alder

 

[JOLLY]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

So, I lowered down the pickups as much as the guitar allows me to and I gotta say the tone is much more clear this way but it is still missing a lot in the 360hz-1.2mhz range.
I know some of Alexi's guitars came equipped with AHB1, but those are alder and alder is supposed to have more mid focused sound, right?
So anyway, is this just the pickups or is it the guitar that could affect the tone much?

Are you using the same amp?

 

[neverwind]

Re: AHB1S - disappointing?

Well, since I live in an apartment I'm as close as I can get to currently to his old set up (which he's using for backup now).
So my set up is like this:
- Sansamp PSA 1 preamp (with Alexi's settings copied over from I picture I got from their previous show here)
- Mosvalve 982 amp
- Torpedo Live Speaker Cab Simulator with Rosen Digital Marshall T75 4x12 impulse response
- Palmer reactive loadbox

The thing is with my other guitar, which is also an Ibanez but with a Basswood body and loaded with stock Powersound pickups I can get much closer to the tone, but not the pickup response I need.